"These are the best muffins you've ever made."

I made these muffins a while ago, using apricot jam that I had leftover from making thumbprint cookies. I had a whole second jar of jam, so I brought it to my friend's house to use up more and to leave it with them.

I made the muffins while they were working on dinner, which was a delicious fish of swordfish steaks, crab cakes, and green beans with garlic and onion. The meal was fantastic, but I won't go into details about it because I did nothing to help prepare it, and it seems unfair to take their credit.

Around 4:30, I decided I was too hungry to wait for dinner. So was Kendo Bird. So I decided to make the muffins I had promised Darth Bird, while they worked on making the crab cakes and the swordfish.

They came out of the oven around 4:40.



Except for the second one that I spent a while resisting, they were all gone by 4:46.



Everyone ate two muffins, while they were still steaming from the oven. I had almost burned my hands getting them out as quickly as I could. And they were instantly destroyed.

They're also delicious in the mornings, microwaved to the point where the jam is once again hot and bubbly. They're light and, dare I say it, fluffy, with a slight hint of cinnamon in the dough. We've used six different jams now: apricot, black cherry, red plum, peaches, raspberry, and blackberry. I've only eaten the apricot and red plum. We played muffin roulette. Made two dozen muffin, with four of each, put them all on a giant plate, and spun it around. I got red plum, but my diet stopped me from taking two or three more, like I really wanted to.

These are certainly a new favorite. I can see making these for parties, although I'd love to find a way to make them look prettier...



I dunno, they look pretty good on their own.

Cinnamon Jam Roulette Muffins
(Makes 12 muffins, with 126 calories and $0.21 per muffins)

1.5 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2.5 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup jam

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375.
   
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
   
3. Combine yogurt, butter, milk, and egg in separate bowl.
   
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, just combining.
   
5. Spoon one tablespoon batter into each liner.
   
6. Top each with 1 teaspoon jam, and then top with remaining batter.
   
7. Combine extra tablespoon sugar with extra cinnamon, and sprinkle over batter.
   
8. Bake for 15 minutes.
   

Today's lessons learned:

• My friends really, really like muffins.
  
• Six varieties of jam, and no one can decide which was best....