Muffin Wednesday: Almond

That's right, folks, it's MUFFIN WEDNESDAY!!

Last week, Lindsey spotted an interesting recipe by Giada de Laurentiis in a newspaper food/advertising pullout and suggested I try it out with my students. It's unusual because it calls for olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sounds intriguing!

1 3/4 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar
4 eggs
2 t orange zest
2 t lemon zest
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T whole milk
3/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 c sliced almonds, toasted and crushed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. In a larger bowl, beat sugar, eggs and zests. Add vinegar and milk. Slowly beat in oil. Add the flour mixture and stir by hand just until blended. Add almonds.

3. Fill the cups almost to the top and bake until golden, 20-25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then another 5 on a wire rack.

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I doubled this recipe and had 24 perfect, golden muffins. I didn't measure out the zest, instead just used an entire lemon and an entire orange and called it good. WinCo bulk was out of sliced almonds so I opted for the raw chopped almonds. I toasted them while my oven heated and I whipped up the batter.

Surprisingly, I didn't screw up this recipe at all! I remembered all my ingredients and didn't do anything out of order. Yay me!

The batter came together quickly and easily - and tasted really good. The muffins baked up perfectly, and as they cooled, they sorta crisped up. The result was a very nice muffin top. And I now have that too from eating too many ;)

This recipe's a keeper!