Ingredients:

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   2      cups          sifted all-purpose flour
   3      tablespoons   baking powder
   3      tablespoons   sugar
   1      teaspoon      salt
   1                    egg -- slightly beaten
   1      cup           milk
     1/4  cup           vegetable oil

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400 F. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together into a bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients. Combine egg, milk, and oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Sir only until flour is just moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Drop batter from tablespoon into greased cups of 2 1/2 in muffin pans. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Let muffins stand a few minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm with butter, jam or marmalade. Makes 12 muffins, Ginger Muffins - add 1/2 c. finely cut candied ginger to dry ingredients before mixing with the liquid. Cheese Muffins - Add 1/2 c. 1/4 inch cubes sharp Cheddar cheese to dry ingredients before mixing with the liquids. Banana Pecan Muffins - Prepare Basic Muffins but use only 1/3 c. milk. Add 1/2 c. chopped pecans and 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg to sifted dry ingredients. Add 1 c. mashed banana with egg, milk, and oil. Blueberry Muffins - stir 1 c. washed and well drained fresh blueberries into sifted dry ingredients before adding liquid. Orange Muffins - Peel 2 navel oranges and cut into sections. Drop batter into greased 2 1/2 inch muffin cups. Place an orange section on top of each and sprinkle with 1 tbls. sugar.