Versatile banana yogurt muffins

My friend Alison, who has a treasure trove of great recipes, sent me her favorite muffin recipe which I tried this weekend and loved. It's so easy and can be reasonably healthy if you swap the oil for applesauce. She loves raspberry chocolate chip, but R and I picked fresh blueberries recently and I decided to use them in these muffins -- delicious! (note: I added a pinch of cinnamon to the batter and brushed the tops lightly with cold water and dusted with granulated sugar for a pretty finish).

I'll post her original recipe and comments:

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With blueberries in season, this is a tasty recipe for brunch or just week day mobile breakfast. Strawberries seemed like a good idea but result was too soggy. My favorite combination is raspberry chocolate chip. Though the batter includes bananas, the flavor is subtle.

Versatile Banana Yogurt Muffin Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together ½ cup plain or vanilla yogurt, ½ cup oil, 1 cup sugar. Add 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 ripe bananas, mash by hand), 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla. Mix until fairly smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt.

Add dry to wet, mix until incorporated. Then add 1 heaping cup fruit, nuts or chocolate chips.

Pour batter into muffin tins (I use Texas-size pan to make six large muffins but you can make 12 regular size muffins) and bake 40-45 minutes, until top is golden brown.

Note: Can make muffins with blueberries (fresh work better than frozen), chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, raisins (dark and light), and chocolate chips. Topping of cinnamon sugar is nice too, can swirl cinnamon sugar in the middle of the muffin as well. When adding raisins or nuts can add ½ tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients. To make a non fat version, substitute ½ cup applesauce instead of the oil.