Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
Adapted from a recipe on www.bettercrocker.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 1/3 all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seed
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 10 medium muffin cups with paper baking cups (or spray cups with cooking spray or grease with shortening).

In large bowl, stir together the sugar, oil, egg, and almond extract. Beat in sour cream and milk until blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and poppy seed; stir until well blended.  Add dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients; gently stir just until all dry ingredients are moistened.  Lumps are okay; do NOT overmix.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle batter with the almonds.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (my muffins were lightly browned at 19 minutes). Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm or cool.

I mentioned awhile back that I found store bought muffins (gasp!) at home when I came back from my Alaskan cruise.  Since Zach has been wanting to learn to cook this summer, I told him we could make muffins at home so he could learn about baking.  He's been so busy this summer that I offered to just make the muffins for him, but he said he'd like to make them with me.  That sure warmed my heart!  We made these muffins the other day and they turned out great.  Since the muffins have such a nice, moist texture, we talked about how one could use a muffin recipe like this and convert it to make other varieties (ie. blueberry, chocolate chip, and so on...)

This recipe is DEFINITELY a KEEPER!