By July 2020. The summer is full and hot and the days are long. The pandemic is not over, nothing is back to normal, but there is a rhythmic quality to the new normal that was not there in March. I know what the days look like now. I go to the daycare. I come home. I cook. I study. I call Gloria. Biscuit rearranges things in the night and I find them moved in the morning. This is the life.
I have been bringing homemade snacks to the daycare because the snacks the facility provides are processed and poor quality. Crackers that taste like salt and cardboard. Fruit cups in heavy syrup. I have been making things on Sunday evenings: banana muffins, oat energy balls with honey and almond butter, roasted chickpeas for crunch. The children eat them immediately and completely. The other staff started asking where the snacks come from and I said I make them and they looked at me the way people look at you when you do something that seems harder than it is. I said: it takes about an hour on Sunday. It is not hard. They just need time.
Tenth porch visit. I counted. Gloria has been sending me something every week and I have been bringing something every week and we have been talking through the screen for an hour every Sunday for ten weeks. I know more about what is happening in the Martin house right now than I have known in years because we are talking more, unable to do anything else. James has been telling me stories I have not heard before. His stories about growing up in Montgomery in the 1950s. The specific weight of those stories. I listen to everything.
The banana muffins and oat balls were the weekday workhorses, but some Sundays I wanted something that felt a little more like a treat—something that would make the children’s eyes go wide when I set the tray down. That’s when I started making these Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins. They have that same one-hour Sunday ease I was always talking about, but the caramelized pineapple on top makes them look like you spent all afternoon. After ten weeks of porch visits with Gloria and counting every small thing that was holding steady, I needed a recipe that rewarded the effort visibly. These do exactly that.
Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 37 min | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained, juice reserved
- 12 maraschino cherries, drained
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice (add milk to reach 1/2 cup if needed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin thoroughly, including the top edges.
- Make the topping. Stir together the melted butter and brown sugar. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup. Place one maraschino cherry in the center of each cup, then distribute the drained crushed pineapple evenly around the cherry.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, pineapple juice, and vanilla extract until combined.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined—do not overmix. A few small lumps are fine.
- Fill and bake. Spoon the batter evenly over the pineapple topping in each cup, filling about 3/4 full. Bake for 20–22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are golden.
- Invert immediately. Let the muffins cool in the pan for exactly 5 minutes, then place a baking sheet or large cutting board over the tin and flip in one confident motion. Lift the tin away slowly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 195 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 110mg