“Some people…some people like cupcakes exclusively,
While I myself say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of God’s grey earth as that prince of foods…the Muffin!”The Muffin Man
Frank Zappa
I have to agree with Frank that cupcakes just don’t do it for me. It’s mostly the frosting - especially the current trend of outrageously thick clumps of the stuff, in quantities sometimes surpassing the amount of cake. Now muffins, oh how I do enjoy a nice muffin for breakfast. Alright, so perhaps they’re not quite the “prince of foods”, but delightful in their own way all the same. I frequently make a batch on Sunday night, freeze them, and use them for my breakfast during the week. If I take one out of the freezer before my shower, it’s nicely thawed by the time I get to work.
Orange and nutmeg are one of my favorite flavor combinations, and I’ve spent an unsuccessful couple of months now trying to make a muffin with these flavors that isn’t laden with butter or cream (so I can feel virtuous in the mornings). I tried using applesauce, which made the muffins taste vaguely of baby food, then buttermilk and yogurt, which lent a distracting tanginess, and also whole wheat flour, which was too dense and didn’t fit well at all with the delicate spicing.
With luck, I finally stumbled upon the magic ingredient: ricotta cheese! I just knew when I saw the recipe for Lemon Ricotta Muffins from Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums that my prince had come. I made a batch with some slight modifications and found them to be as deliciously fluffy and fragrant as promised. They are lovely as lighter sort of snack or breakfast, and during times such as when one notices that one’s pants are fitting a bit tighter since starting this whole blog thing. Ahem. Shall we move on to the recipe, then?
