All-request weekend

Moon girls  (click for closeup)

A mola from my collection, because Kelly likes to see them once in a while.  And the muffin recipe that several of you asked for last week. 

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Apricot Almond Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup diced dried apricots (I prefer Sun-Maid California sun-dried apricots. I use the full bag.)
• 1/3 cup sliced natural almonds

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

2.  Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.  Stir until well blended.  Add diced apricots, stir, set aside.

3.  In separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, egg and vanilla.  Add the liquid ingredients all at once and fold until evenly moistened.  Don't overmix! (The key to perfect muffins!)

4.  Divide the batter evenly among a dozen prepared muffin cups. (Butter or line with paper muffin liners.)  Sprinkle the almonds evenly on the tops.  Bake until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.  (20-22 minutes.)

5.  Cool on a wire rack before removing from pan.   Yield: 12 muffins.

Comments

[Norma]

Oh, yummy. I'd like your cranberry-orange recipe, too. I tried using the cran-orange bread recipe I love and made it into muffins. Learned a lesson. Quick bread does not instantly turn into muffins. It was delicious, but too sweet and too airy/soft/hard to get out of the pan and hold shape. We happily ate them all, but I would like a less-sweet, less soft version.

On another note, I too love Sun-Maid CALIFORNIA apricots far far better than the Mediterranean ones, but do you find them harder and harder to come by, as I do?

[Kristin]

Thanks for the recipe Jan! Sounds really good. I love making homemade baked goods with buttermilk. So yummy!

[Emily]

YUM. I know what we'll be having for breakfast next weekend.

[Carole]

Those sound great. Any of the other recipes you want to share would be terrific, too! Thanks, Jan.

[Elizabeth]

Love the mola and the muffins sound delicious. My boys like anything with apricots. I'll be trying this soon.

[kelly]

Thank you, thank you! Trying to catch up with everything after my vacation, and I was so thrilled to see another of your molas. I was actually just checking some out on eBay, but realized I'm not sure what to look for as far as quality goes. Do you have any tips? Or, maybe I just need to schedule in a visit to Panama...

[shobhana]

holy cow! that is beautiful!

[Chrissy]

Those sound like yummy muffins. I'm going to try to make them this weekend. Thanks for sharing the recipe.