Pecan Spice Muffins

It snowed here in Minnesota last night, much like it did in every other part of the country if Twitter is any sort of barometer for “Buckets of Snow Across the United States”. Yesterday was supposed to be a “laze around the house but still get things done day.” But it ended up a “Santa Story Time/Brew Beer/Shop with My Mom/Decorate the Tree/Pass out at 10:30 in Front of My Sims Day” kind of day.

Today is the day for Lazy. Which in my world means Ignore the Piles of Dirty Dishes/Cuddle with My Kids/Watch Videos and (most importantly) Bake Muffins!!

We have no money to buy fancy ingredients like “apples” or “bananas” or “apple sauce” so I had to go with what I had. Flour, eggs, sugar and spices. Mmmm. Spice Muffins!! Of course! To the recipe books I went and I found a Basic Muffin Recipe. Matt suggested I use brown sugar. I sense a “Let’s F— I mean mess with a base recipe and hope it turns out” moment.

Here’s the recipe that I threw together and that is now baking in the oven (translation: I have no idea if this will turn out)

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

(oops. Base recipe called for salt…)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I had this bag laying around and I thought I’d use it up)

1 beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil (I used canola)

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not the fake stuff)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 -cup muffin pan. Or be lazy and use some of the cupcake liners you’ve had for freaking ever. I went with the latter option.

2) Using a wooden spoon, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecans (if you want to get all fancy, throw in the 1/4 teaspoon salt the base recipe called for) in a large mixing bowl. After it’s mixed, use the back of the wooden spoon to lightly press the mixture along the sides of the bowl to create a sort of bowl in the flour mixture.

3) In a small bowl combine egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix together well. Pour the egg mixture into the “flour bowl”.  Stir just until moist. According to the book, if over-mixing may cause a tougher muffin texture.

4) Spoon into muffin cups, filling half way. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

5) Eat!

ooh! the timer just went off. Let’s go check!

Hmm…not bad. Could use some more cinnamon and nutmeg. Keep that in mind if you make these.

But hey! I totally just made up my own recipe! Sort of. Half way. Let’s try again:

I totally altered a recipe! WHOO!