Best of Boston

2003 Best Muffin

Appleton Bakery Café

Enough with low-fat, no-butter baked goods. Muffins were meant to be savored. Appleton, the friendly, sunlit café, understands this, and answers the call with beauties made from hunks of fruit, rich butter, and inventive flavor combinations. The peach and walnut is cakelike, sweetly fragrant, and nutty. The caramel-and-apple version is a year-round Halloween treat. And the raspberry white chocolate chip is such a sensuous delight, it could double as an aphrodisiac.

123 Appleton St., Boston, 617-859-8222, appletoncafe.com/