As is, this recipe is pretty good for a basic muffin recipe. But it lacks some helpful tips in the instructions, and the ingredient list is typical. So here's how I amped it up. I whisked the melted butter with the sour cream first, before adding the beaten eggs - this adds fluffiness to the batter. Also, you never add beaten eggs directly into warm melted butter alone, or you might get wet scrambled eggs! In recipes like this one, it's also a good idea to toss fruit with a little flour so the pieces won't sink to the bottom of muffins or bread in a glob. To improve the taste, I added vanilla to the wet batter. I left out the cinnamon in favor of an equivalent, combined amount of the following: some allspice in the dry batter, and some cardamom, dried orange peel, and dried lemon peel in the wet. You have to experiment with these spices to find the ratio you like best, but they balance out the flavor of apples (I used granny smith) and also, alone or in combination, of pears. I also never use plain flour for toppings - it just adds more gluten without flavor. I substitute a slightly smaller amount of crushed cinnamon graham crackers, shortbread cookies, or butter cookies, depending on the recipe and my own preferences. This strategy uses up leftovers or stale post-party remains, and generally adds more oomph to my cooking. Hope all these hints and tips help!

Reviewed On: Oct. 18, 2009