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Muffin Recipes From Scratch
Merriam-Webster defines a muffin as a quick bread made of batter containing egg and baked in a pan having cuplike molds. I find that to be an overly simplified and lacking description of the abundant little cups of joy that muffins can truly be. Not to be confused with the English muffin, which is a yeast-leavened flat muffin, the American muffin is not leavened with yeast.
Many people have the opinion that muffins are breakfast breads, they are not only for breakfast. Muffins can be sweet or savory and made out of many types of flour, cornmeal, oatmeal and other grains. Muffins can contain fruits and nuts, and even veggies or meat.
I grew up eating a variety of homemade muffins. Mother used to make them sometimes for breakfast, but more often as our bread with dinner. I can remember in the mid-80’s muffins started becoming more popular for all occasions.
The plain muffins of our forefathers have more or less gone by the wayside, evolving into Texas size muffins and mini-muffins, chocolate chocolate-chip muffins, cheesecake muffins, and other combinations that are as creative as they are delectable.
Many people make muffins for health reasons. The consistent and usually small size (excluding Texas muffins) make them easy to regulate nutrition values. Whole grains, bran, and fresh fruits make muffins a perfect treat or addition for the health conscious.
Baking muffins is a little different than baking quick breads in loaves. There are some things to remember for ultimate muffin success.
- Always use fresh ingredients, such as baking soda or powder for best results
- Do not over mix ingredients. Muffin batter is supposed to be lumpy
- Coat your add-in ingredients such as nuts, chocolate chips or berries in flour before adding them in. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin
- Grease muffin cups with cooking spray, or a paper towel coated with shortening, or line with paper liners
- Grease the top of the muffin pan for easy cleanup of dripped batter
- Only fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full for rounded tops; overfilling will result in flat muffin tops
- Fill every other muffin cup, in case you run out of batter. Put 2 or 3 Tablespoons of water in the empty cups, for even baking
- Cover and refrigerate unused batter while waiting to bake the next batch
- Bake muffins on the middle rack for more even baking
- Check for doneness with a wooden pick (toothpick) inserted in the center of the middle muffin; when the toothpick comes out clean they are done
- After you remove the muffins from the oven, cool in the pan on a wire rack for about five minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and continue to cool on the rack
- If the muffins are sticking to the pan, set the pan on a damp towel for a few minutes to loosen the bottoms
So, whatever your muffin wishes, may you find they all come true.