My house smells like muffins

In my younger days, when the internet was brand new and the world was a less stressed place, there was a thing called IRC and I spent a lot of time on there instead of studying. My nicknames was muffin cause I loved making them. Sweet and savoury - REALLY cheap eats for a student and filling.

I have perfected my recipe for a sweet muffin which is not too sweet, not cakey, and easily adapted to any fruit you've got around. I made some for us today as a breakfast treat because we have a weekend off together for the first time in ages. I thought I'd share my recipe. Please note that this is not a sweet or cakey muffin. They freeze well if wrapped up when still a little warmer than room temperature.

Melted butter for greasing the muffin tins, or a spray on oil, or muffin cases
2t garam masala or cinnamon or all spice
3/4C brown sugar
2C (300g) plain flour
1T baking powder
2 medium apples, cored and chopped (and peeled if you don't like the peel)
3/4C sultanas or nuts or seeds (optional)
125g salted butter, melted in a microwave-safe jug
2 eggs
3/4C milk or half milk half yoghurt or sour cream

Put the brown sugar and spice into a bowl. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together on top. I add a pinch extra to ensure that the muffins aren't too cakey and dense. Use a fork to mix the sugar and flour and spice together. Toss the apple into the flour and mix in well. Once the butter is cooled, add the milk and then the eggs to the same jug - less chance of them cooking that way! Whisk well. Pour into a well in the flour. Using a wooden spoon, mix together imperfectly - make sure you can't see any flour, and can't see any puddles of liquid.

Spoon into a pre-prepared muffin tin. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes. With lots of apple you'll get 16 or so regular-sized muffins. Eat hot or cold, with butter or lemon curd.

Savoury muffins - to make them, the recipe as written is fine as long as you have 1.5C or so of fairly dry filling that is ready to eat and remove the spice obviously. If it's less, or if it's wet, then you need to reduce the milk by a little or bake a little longer. Some filling suggestions:

- any fruit, and appropriate spices
- ham
- feta
- mozzerella
- sundried tomatoes
- salmon and dill
- cooked vegetables