Thank-You Muffins

Well friends, I have officially finished respiratory therapy school. Oh what am I saying... that sentence totally deserves an exclamation point. I've officially finished RT school, whoo hoo!!!

It's been a long hard road to get here. BSU's RT program is one of the toughest in the country, but also with one of the highest passing registry rates. What this really means: these professors put your brain through the ringer, feed you important information until don't think you mentally have room for it anymore, teach you concepts that you never think you'll be able to wrap your head around... but when it's all said and done 95% of BSU's students pass the written registry on their first try, and, more importantly, they graduate some of the most skilled and knowledgeable RT's in the country. I am proud to be among this year's graduates.

But along with mentally torturing their students, the professors of the BSU RT program are also some of the kindest, most generous people I've ever known. Each of them genuinely cares about the success of every student, and they will go to great lengths to ensure that each person understands the material. Their doors are always open, for a question or a conversation. They're fantastic examples of great clinicians and great people. And for that I feel I owe them the world.

So, as puny a gift as it seems in comparison to the tireless hours of work they've put into my success, I made each of them a little gift of muffins in gratitude. Of course, I couldn't make just one kind of muffin... you may remember the episode this last Christmas in which I made two different kinds of cookies and chocolate-covered pretzels, afterall. No, I made four different kinds of muffins. Overkill? Maybe. But the effort of one afternoon of baking and a messy kitchen pales in comparison to the hard work of my lovely professors. Plus, don't tell anyone... but it was kind of fun too. After a long semester of stress and burn out, it was nice to be able to spend a whole day in my kitchen guilt-free.

On the menu...

Apple-Pecan Muffins, from Ellie Krieger. A healthier option for those concerned with that kind of thing. (Expect to see a post with this recipe very soon.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins, from Annie's Eats. Talk about yum! These lovely little treats taste more like a peanut butter cookie than a muffin! Good thing I've given most of the leftovers away, because I totally eat a whole batch by myself with a gallon of milk.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins, from Joy of Baking. These muffins are moist and crumbly, with a gratuitous amount of blueberries... perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. (Another post coming soon with this recipe too.)

And finally, Raspberry Muffins, again from Annie's Eats. Even though these guys were probably the least photogenic of the bunch, they were my favorite in terms of flavor. They're moist and subtly sweet, with big raspberry flavor. Annie's recipe features fleur de sel, but I used kosher salt instead since fleur de sel is just ridiculously expensive. I also left out the coarse sugar because I didn't have it, but I didn't feel like they were missing anything at all. This recipe will definitely be going in my back pocket for future muffin-requiring occasions!

I dropped off the muffins yesterday morning, and they got rave reviews! It sounds like favorites were the raspberry and peanut butter chocolate chip, although I have one professor who was apparently trying to steal everyone else's blueberry. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed them! I'm going to miss these people, and I hope they know just how much I appreciate everything they've done for us. 

Now on to graduation tomorrow! Whoo hoo!