Print

Muffins, Many Ways

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes 12 medium or 8 large muffins 1x

Time about 40 minutes

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted, plus more butter for the muffin tin
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk, plus more if needed

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper or foil muffin cups if you like.
  2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Use a large spoon or rubber spatula to combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating; stop as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. If the batter is very dry and doesn’t come together easily, add another 1 to 2 tablespoons milk.
  3. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about two-thirds full and handling the batter as little as possible. (If you prefer bigger muffins, fill 8 cups almost to the top; pour cup water into each of the empty cups.) Bake until golden, firm, and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the muffins. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tin. Serve warm or keep in an airtight container for a day or so.

— Recipe from How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition 

Recipe variations

Bran Muffins
Compact, but not at all dense: Substitute 1 cup oat or wheat bran for 1 cup of the flour (you can use whole wheat flour for the remainder if you like). Use 2 eggs, and honey, molasses, or maple syrup (add it to the liquid ingredients) as the sweetener. Fold 3/4 cup raisins into the prepared batter after mixing.

Sour Cream or Yogurt Muffins
Reduce the baking powder to 1 teaspoon and add 1/2teaspoon baking soda to the dry ingredients. Substitute 1 1/4 cups sour cream or yogurt for the milk and cut the melted butter back to 1 tablespoon.

Spice Muffins
Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon each ground allspice and ground ginger, and 1 pinch each ground cloves and mace or nutmeg to the dry ingredients; use 1 cup whole wheat flour in place of 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Add 1/2 cup raisins, currants, or chopped dates or dried figs to the prepared batter if you like.

Blueberry or Cranberry Muffins
Try substituting cornmeal for up to 1/2 cup of the flour. Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Stir 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or cranberries into the batter at the last minute. Blueberry muffins are good with 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest added to the batter along with the wet ingredients. Cranberry muffins are excellent with 1/2 cup chopped nuts and/or 1 tablespoon minced orange zest added to the prepared batter.

Cheese and Chive Muffins
Reduce the melted butter to 2 tablespoons. Cut the sugar back to 1 tablespoon and increase the salt to 1 teaspoon. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or Gruyère cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives to the batter just before baking. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container after a couple hours.

10 Additions to Virtually Any Quick Bread, Muffin, Biscuit, or Scone
You can change up the recipes in this section simply by adding an ingredient—or two or three. Just use a little common sense so flavors and textures don’t clash. I’ve given some guidance for the quantities, but again you’ve got to go by your taste and good judgment.

  1. Spice mixtures like chili or curry powder or single spices like cumin, saffron, cardamom, or caraway seeds. Generally no more than 1 tablespoon, whole or ground as you like. Add to the dry ingredients.
  2. Traditional Pesto or any other herb purée, 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Drizzle it onto the batter once it’s in the pan and use a knife to swirl it in like marble cake.
  3. Minced or sliced pickled jalapeños, from 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup. Add with the liquid ingredients.
  4. Grated cheese, either soft, melting, or hard types; from 1/2 to 1 cup. Add to the dry ingredients.
  5. Molasses or honey, in place of some or all of the sugar (if there is any); use about half the volume. Add with the liquid ingredients.
  6. Minced herbs, up to 1/4 cup mild ones like mint, parsley, or cilantro; up to 2 tablespoons of strongly flavored ones like rosemary, oregano, or thyme. Add to the dry ingredients.
  7. Sautéed onions, shallots, or leeks, about 1/2 cup. Add with the liquid ingredients. (If there is milk or other liquid, with this and other very savory additions, using stock for half the volume enhances the umami flavors.)
  8. Chopped nuts or seeds, like almonds, pecans, or pumpkin, poppy, or sesame seeds, up to 1/2 cup. Add to the dry ingredients.
  9. Dried cherries, blueberries, or cranberries or raisins; soak in a little warm water first and drain well. Up to 1 cup. Add to the finished batter or dough.
  10. Grated citrus zest; about 1 tablespoon. Add to the dry ingredients.