Makes 12

1 cup chopped plumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon rum flavoring *

½ cup sugar

½ stick butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2/3 cup cold water

Bakers’ syrup

Place the chopped plums, sugar and rum flavoring into a small and allow to sit for  fifteen to twenty minutes.  Preheat the oven to 425°.  Prepare the muffin tins by wiping with vegetable oil or spraying with non stick spray. 

 In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon.  Add the eggs and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.  Add the plums and stir.  Sift all dry ingredients together and add to the bowl along with the water.  Mix only until the dry ingredients are just moistened.  Fill the prepared muffin tins with the dough and place on the center rack or the preheated oven.  Bake for twenty to twenty five minutes, or until a slim bamboo skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  As soon as they come out of the oven, paint liberally with warm bakers syrup.  All to sit in their pans for two to three minutes before removing. 

* Rum flavoring is one of the few places where the real thing doesn’t work.  If you try to use real rum instead of rum flavoring or extract, you will be greatly disappointed.  No matter how much rum you add, the flavor cooks out and the end result is quite disappointing.