Spiced Yogurt Muffins

Alright, I just have to say this now, these are the best muffins I've had in over 3 years, probably ever. And people, I've eaten a lot of muffins these past 3 years! But wait, thats not all. These muffins are healthy! No, really. Low fat, brown sugar, yogurt- it's all there. Really, you will not BELIEVE just how darned good these muffins taste. I know I hardly can! And I've been making them every few days since my first batch :)

Ok, ok, I'll stop going on and on, and just tell you about the recipe. But oh, before that, you need to know this, Singapore = food paradise. No, it's not not one of those random things I just like saying (though, now that we're on that topic, did I mention that I have about 2 whole hedgerows of basil at home? And that I can't think of anything exciting enough to make using basil? Sorry, back to Singapore). Anyway, the thing is, I spent the last 4 days there. And probably ate about a month's worth of food (I can see you turn green with envy! Poor you, I feel your pain. Honestly I do.) 

More importantly, I managed to bring home over 40 pounds (ha! it still feels so good saying it!) of food/cooking ingredients. Look! This is just some of the food that I bought back. I can't wait to get cooking with all this!!

Please tell me you're jealous now. It would make up for all those times I've looked at your blogs and wished I could just go shopping and buy cheese and fresh herbs, like you probably can.

Back to the muffins.

You will need - Low fat yogurt, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg, eggs, unsalted butter, applesauce (or milk), granulated sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla extract/vanilla bean, salt (that I haven't included, of course), and ground allspice (that I don't have)

It's very simple. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl (except the granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp nutmeg), and keep that aside. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce (or milk) and vanilla extract (if you're using a bean like I did, just scrape out the seeds and use the pod to make vanilla sugar). Fold yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the granulated sugar and remaining nutmeg over the muffins. Bake until muffins are springy. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Serve warm. And bake them again. And again. And again. And again... You get the idea...

RECIPE

(adapted from Food & Wine Magazine)

Ingredients:

all purpose flour - 2 cups

light brown sugar - 1 cup

baking powder - 1 tbsp

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

salt - 1/2 tsp

ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

ground allspice - 1/2 tsp

ground cloves - 1/2 tsp

freshly grated nutmeg - 3/4 tsp

eggs - 2 large (room temp.)

low-fat yogurt - 1 & 1/4 cups

unsalted butter - 4 tbsp

applesauce - 1/4 cup (or substitute with full fat milk)

pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp (or 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped)

granulated sugar - 1 tbsp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Keep aside the granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.

In a bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, applesauce (/milk), butter and vanilla.

Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. 

Sprinkle granulated sugar and remaining nutmeg over the muffins.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until muffins are springy.

Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Serve warm.