Orange Poppyseed Muffins

 Costco Copycat Cupcake - Muffins from a Mix

Costco's 12-pack muffins are troublemakers, w-a-y too tempting to ignore when they are in the kitchen, but not quite compelling enough to justify a special trip to Costco. One lone box of cake mix in the pantry, on hand for emergency use, prompted my latest batch of Costco Copycat Muffins. Online recipes for these copycat cheaters only come close to the Costco originals, but that's close enough to satisfy an emergency craving. I love the lemon poppyseed combination, but other citrus flavors rank high on my list of favorites too. Here's a photo of the recent batch of orange/poppyseed flavored muffins that began with that lone box of cake mix. 

Cake Mix Muffins

Makes approx. 16 regular or 10 large muffins

Basic Recipe:

1 box cake mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 TBS  flour

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

3 eggs

plus flavor additions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix all ingredients just enough to incorporate well. 

Pour into lined or greased muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 until tops are lightly browned.

Don't even bother with frosting, these muffins are terrific without any. 

Variations:

Orange Poppyseed Muffins

Orange cake mix

2 tsp poppyseeds

2 TBS orange zest (or 1 tsp orange extract)

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Lemon cake mix

2 tsp poppyseeds

1 tsp lemon extract

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

White cake mix

2 tsp poppyseeds

1 tsp almond extract