We'll call them Franken-Muffins

I found this GREAT post a while ago on tastespotting. It was a basic muffin formula that you adapt for whatever type of muffin you wanted to make, and it gave some suggestions for combinations. But really, give me time to peruse the grocery store and I can come up with my own combination rather easily. And that's just what I did. Introducing, the delicious and rather healthy Franken-muffin. OK, so the name may not work, but my combination of ingredients did!

Here is MY Version:
Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp spice cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Wet ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
scant 1 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cups grated apple

PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Grease a muffin tin (12 count- I needed about 14 muffin cups if they had all been full size, or 12 regular muffins and 12 minis) with grease spray or butter.
Get two big bowls. In the first bowl combine the dry ingredients except the dry muffinhancers.
In the other bowl combine yogurt, sugar, salt, melted butter, egg and extract. Mix it all up until it’s good and smooth. Now mix in both the wet and dry Muffinhancers and stir to distribute.
Make sure your oven is set and the muffin tin is greased up before you combine the wet and dry. It’ll need to happen pretty quickly.
Pour the dry mix into the wet bowl and fold gently with a spatula while you count slowly to 15-20. The result should be a very lumpy batter, with frequent dry floury spots. It’s better if it’s not a smooth batter.
Now use an ice-cream scoop or just a big spoon to fill the muffin tray evenly. Fill it up almost to the top of the tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 13 minutes for the minis). When they are done, turn it over onto a clean tea towel to let them cool.

And here is the basic formula:
Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp spice (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ground ginger, ground coriander, etc)
1 cup of dry Muffinhancers (can be chopped nuts, dried fruits, toasted coconut, chocolate chips, etc)

Wet ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter (or vegetable oil)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of wet Muffinhancers (can inc: mashed banana, grated zucchini, grated carrots, grated apple, frozen berries, mango puree, chopped up orange, etc)

PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Grease a muffin tin (12 count- I needed about 14 muffin cups if they had all been full size, or 12 regular muffins and 12 minis) with grease spray or butter.
Get two big bowls. In the first bowl combine the dry ingredients except the dry muffinhancers.
In the other bowl combine yogurt, sugar, salt, melted butter, egg and extract. Mix it all up until it’s good and smooth. Now mix in both the wet and dry Muffinhancers and stir to distribute.
Make sure your oven is set and the muffin tin is greased up before you combine the wet and dry. It’ll need to happen pretty quickly.
Pour the dry mix into the wet bowl and fold gently with a spatula while you count slowly to 15-20. The result should be a very lumpy batter, with frequent dry floury spots. It’s better if it’s not a smooth batter.
Now use an ice-cream scoop or just a big spoon to fill the muffin tray evenly. Fill it up almost to the top of the tray.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 13 minutes for the minis).
When they are done, turn it over onto a clean tea towel to let them cool.