Not Your Average Muffin

Here are a few muffins that don’t taste like all the rest.

* Patticakes: This imaginative bakery/cafe offers a host of flavors, but if you love chocolate, this is the place for you. Order a Mexican chocolate muffin made of layers of ground Ibarra chocolate, cinnamon and a moist white muffin batter. The top is dusted with Ibarra chocolate, cinnamon and sugar. For a richer, darker flavor, try the chocolate cream cheese. The body of the muffin is devil’s food topped with a slice of cream cheese baked right in. Then it’s sprinkled with tart dried cranberries. (Both muffins, $2.50.) Patticakes, 1900 N. Allen Ave., Altadena. (626) 794-1128.

* French’s Bakery: There are two French’s bakeries in Costa Mesa, under different owners, so be sure to go to the French’s on 17th street if you want to grab a “Hawaiian bran muffin.” Moist and full of texture, it’s crammed with chunks of pineapple, covered with walnut halves, sweetened with molasses and honey and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg and a few other spices. The chewy, nutty texture comes not only from the walnuts but from the combination of whole grain and bran flours. Not a bad way to start the day. (Hawaiian bran muffin, 70 cents.) French’s Bakery, 273 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. (949) 642-0571.

* Back Door Bakery: Long before there was a Back Door Bakery, Deborah Gross baked out of her house for various restaurants and bakeries. One of her biggest mistakes quickly turned into one of her best sellers, “The Apple Ugly.” It’s a giant muffin so crammed with juicy pieces of apple, plump raisins and walnut chunks, it appears disfigured; thus its name. But once you take a bite, it’s one of the prettiest muffins you’ve ever tasted. (Apple Ugly, $2.50.) Back Door Bakery, 1710 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake. (323) 662-7927.

* La Brea Bakery: Find two surprising muffins here, one with a dollop of ricotta mixed with a tiny bit of creme fraiche inside, the other soaked in lemon juice. The ricotta, made with a yellow muffin batter and yogurt, is seasoned with fennel and topped with crushed walnuts. It can be eaten for breakfast or dinner. The lemon ginger muffin, on the other hand, is more of a breakfast or brunch item, made with a yellow batter as well, with buttermilk, freshly grated ginger, sugar and lemon zest. (Ricotta muffin, $2.25; lemon ginger, $1.75.) La Brea Bakery, 624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. (323) 939-6813.

* Doughboys: Temptingly displayed behind the front counter are rows of unusual muffins. Their difference lies in their shape--large, round, slightly flat--and their flavor, with choices such as orange cherry poppy seed, lemon yogurt blueberry and Granny Smith apple raisin, just to name a few. All the muffins are nonfat and naturally sweetened. (Muffins, $1.50.) Doughboys, 8136 W. Third St., Los Angeles, (323) 651-4202.

* Basix: If you’ve dreamed of a muffin that tastes like a moist, streusel-topped coffeecake, seek no further. This individual-sized coffeecake, made from a sour cream poundcake dough and finished off with a cinnamon streusel topping, was once a special muffin that Basix served only every once in a while, but customers demanded that it be offered every day. (Sour cream coffeecake muffin, $1.60.) Basix, 8333 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. (323) 848-2460.