Muffin Month

February has been a party month for me: a bridal shower, neighbors coming over for dinner, and my book club meeting here for "breakfast for supper." Actually the neighbors' gathering was to eat up the food that I had prepared for the book club, which meeting had to be rescheduled because of hazardous driving conditions. As it worked out, cupcakes or muffins figured prominently in this entertaining. For the shower, we ordered bakery cupcakes decorated with hearts. Friend and neighbor Genie bought a cupcake tree to display them. For the neighbor dinner I made some strawberry muffins. I used the excellent muffin recipe in my BEST RECIPE cookbook and added about a cup of cut up, fresh strawberries. I froze the uneaten muffins and pulled them out of the freezer yesterday and discovered they were as delicious as first baked. When the book club came the week after the cancelled meeting, I used the same cookbook to make what the authors call individual coffee cakes, but I'd called them cinnamon struesel muffins. This morning I made some banana muffins using the same recipe used for the strawberry ones, but with three mashed, very ripe bananas. I couldn't resist taking pictures of them. Here they are in the muffin tins, just out of the oven. (I've learned that the tins, given to us 50 years ago as wedding gifts, are smaller than today's tins. A recipe that supposedly makes 12 actually makes about 18!) And then I displayed them just for fun on that neat cupcake tree. I am having a hard time giving this back to its owner Genie! Daughter Susan and youngest grandchild Dawson are coming for a visit next week, so now those banana muffins are stowed in the freezer awaiting their visit.