Trio of Christmas Muffins

I'm a big fan of playing around with a recipe, and found a customizable muffin recipe somewhere. I divided the recipe into thirds, and in one fell swoop, made 3 kinds of muffins, following the Post-Thanksgiving challenge and my cabinets as my guide. They turned out pretty well, so I thought I'd share. This recipe cuts down on time, but does dramatically increase washing-up, so consider that if you don't have a dishwasher.

First, in 3 bowls:
For Gingerbread-pear muffins: Peel, seed and chop a small pear. Mince one 1” square of candied ginger. Mix together with 1/8 cup molasses, a dash of cinnamon and a dash of clove.

For Tropical Fruitcake muffins: Chop dried tropical fruit mix (e.g. dried papaya, mango, coconut, pineapple and cashews) Pour 1/8 cup of sherry or rum over. Microwave for 20 seconds or until warm. Allow to soak for at least 5 min.

For Cranberry-marmalade muffins: Chop 1/3 cup of fresh cranberries, cover with 2 tbsp sugar and allow to sit for a few minutes. Mix with 1/3 cup of orange marmalade (I think this would improve even further with a dash of orange zest.)


1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick melted butter
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 regular size muffin tins or 24 mini muffins or line with paper muffin liners – there will be extra batter, so use a few tins in a second pan, filling the empty tins with water.

In yet another bowl, mix first six ingredients. In still another bowl, mix remaining wet ingredients. Combine the two mixtures. Divide evenly into the three bowls containing the flavoring ingredients and combine gently. DO NOT OVERMIX, batter will be lumpy.

Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake at 400 for 20 minutes for regular or 10 for mini, or until muffins are golden brown and test done.

Wow -- those all sound excellent . . . and perfect for the season. Your take on "fruitcake" is very interesting and creative. Did you have a favorite?

Thanks! The fruitcake is probably the best one, seconded by the pear gingerbread (although you have to be careful not to have too much pear) The cranberry muffins were fine, but nothing really special...