Pineapple Upside Down Muffins

I just found sand behind my ear, and it made me incredibly happy. No, I'm not finally off my rocker, thank you very much. I had spent the last two afternoons at the beach, once with friends and the other as a meditative post-jog revival. Finding mysterious sand on your body  means its summer in this beautiful town, and many an afternoon will be spent lounging on the sandy beaches and diving into the constantly frigid waters of Lake Superior. A cooler full of sustaining treats is the only proper way to prepare for a beach day, and in addition to frosty beverages, I like to bake for the beach. A tropical muffin seemed like a good fit for setting the mood for summer, so I thought I'd share my rendition of the pineapple upside down cake muffins.

Pineapple Upside Down Muffins

-3 1/2 cups flour

-1 cup sugar

-3/4 cup brown sugar

-2 1/2 cups buttermilk

-1 1/2 sticks melted butter

-2 eggs

-1 1/2 cup pineapple

-1 cup pecans

-1 cup cherries, chopped

-1/2 cup shredded carrots

-1 1/2 T. baking powder

-1 t. cinnamon

-1 t. ginger

-1 t. salt

-1 t. vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin generously with non-stick spray. Combine brown sugar, chopped pineapple and pecans in a medium bowl and spoon evenly into bottoms of muffin tins. Mix dry ingredients, and in separate bowl whisk butter, sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined, and then fold in carrots and cherries. Spoon batter evenly into cups on top of pineapple mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

The brown sugar and pineapple caramelize as they bake, making for quite a lovely presentation when tipped upside down.

I thought it was only fitting that the cherries and carrots went inside the to give the whole muffin flavor throughout. I've also used maraschino cherries to make it more authentic, and they're very good too!

It's always fun to experiment with flavors and classic recipes in a variety of different baked goods.  And it's still cool enough out to keep the ovens on for a while this summer, so bake your heart out while you still can! And go to the beach as much as possible to eat your baked creations too, because everything tastes better with a butt full of sand and a gorgeous view =).