Favorite Fruit Muffins

This is a template, not a one-trick muffin. Seven pantry ingredients and a cup of whatever fruit is sitting in your fridge or freezer. Raisins, fresh berries, chopped peaches, frozen cherries, dried cranberries: all of them slot in for the cup of fruit.

The batter is intentionally low-sugar and low-fat (no butter or oil) which lets the fruit do the flavor work. That means the quality of your fruit matters more than usual. Plump moist raisins, ripe berries, or perfectly ripe stone fruit will outperform a fancier muffin recipe made with sad fruit.

Like all quick breads, the cardinal rule is to mix just until smooth, then stop. Over-mixed muffin batter develops gluten and gives you rubbery, tough muffins with tunnels through the middle. A few small lumps are fine.

For twenty muffins, scoop scant ¼ cup of batter into each cup. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes, then check with a toothpick.

Pro Tips

• Toss fruit in a tablespoon of flour before folding in. Stops it from sinking to the bottom.
• Use frozen berries straight from the freezer, no thawing. Thawed berries bleed and turn the batter purple.
• Fill cups two-thirds full for proper domed muffin tops.
• Cool five minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack so the bottoms don’t steam soggy.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of cinnamon or ½ teaspoon nutmeg with the dry ingredients.
• Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or lemon zest for a flavor boost.
• Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar before baking for a bakery-style crunch.