Muffin Wednesday: Pineapple Upside-Down

What to make for this week's Wednesday treat? How about Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins? Sounds awesome!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin.

1/4 c melted butter
1/3 c brown sugar
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 c buttermilk
2 T melted butter

1. Spoon melted butter evenly into prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Spoon pineapple over brown sugar. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Make a well in the center.

3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist and blended.

4. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

5. When cool, remove muffins from pan. Serve pineapple side up.

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Melva was again my trusted assistant with today's muffin prep. (Then she got all camera shy!)

We doubled the recipe and made 24 muffins -- but I did not double the cinnamon, using just 1 t for the entire thing. As I often do, I forgot to bring my 2 c of (butter)milk from home. We had some Cacique Crema Mexicana in the CE2 fridge left over from our holiday sopes meal. Since it's just cream and milk (and some thickeners) and is slightly "sour," I decided it would work - and it did.
These muffins used "normal" ingredients that I always have on hand, plus the pineapple, which is super cheap and found at any store. And they were fairly quick to put together. Having to wait for them to cool was the hardest part - we were all tortured by the yummy smell. The one complaint is that they didn't un-mold perfectly... some of the pineapple stuck in the cups. But I just used a butter knife to scoop it out and put it back where it belonged on the muffin butts. Also - they puffed up a lot, so they rocked around on their tops instead of sitting all nicely on the plate.

Overheard in CE2:
"Brilliant"
"Delicious"
"Really good"
"One of my favorites that you've made"
"Wonderful"

Definitely a hit! :)