The Only Muffin Recipe You Might Ever Need — Three Many Cooks (2024)

FAQs

What is the most important rule to follow when baking muffins? ›

The number one rule for successful muffins is: Don't over-mix the batter. Use a rubber spatula to quickly fold (gently stir) the liquid ingredients into the dry ones. A few streaks of flour still showing is okay, especially if you plan to add in extra ingredients like fruits and nuts.

The main challenge of the muffin method is mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients without activating too much gluten. This is especially challenging with traditional muffins which contain relatively little sugar and fat that would help tenderize gluten.

Overmixing the batter.

When you overmix the batter, it crushes the air bubbles and ruins the fluffy texture. → Follow this tip: To ensure a batch of light, fluffy muffins, mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until just barely combined, and no more dry flour is visible.

Muffins have a thick batter that gives them a bread-like texture. They are either sweet or savory and have no frosting or icing. On the other hand, cupcakes have a light and fluffy texture. they are sweet and always have frosting or icing on top.

There are two types of muffins: bread-like and cake-like. Each type has its own technique for mixing the batter. Less sugar and butter makes a bread-like muffin. A higher sugar and butter content makes a cake-like muffin.

The idea here is to start the muffins in a very hot oven for just a short amount of time. This activates the baking powder and allows the muffins to shoot up in height quickly. We then turn the heat down and continue to cook for longer. This is done to avoid over-browning and overbaking.

Many muffin recipes use cooking oil instead of butter. Oil, being a liquid, distributes easily in the quick-mix batter and is readily absorbed into the baked muffin, producing a light non-greasy texture. Vegetable oil is ideal because its mild flavour doesn't compete with the main flavour of the muffin.

Refrigerating food prevents bacterial growth effectively, especially for muffins. To keep muffins fresh, refrigerate them due to their moisture and sweetness, which can attract bacteria. While the flour absorbs the moist ingredients in the batter, the starches have a greater opportunity to expand.

Rest the Muffin Batter

The first, most hands-off way to make your muffins pop (literally) is to let the batter rest. Make the batter, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the batter rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. If you're short on time, just 30 minutes can make a difference.

What makes a good muffin? ›

Let muffins cool a few minutes in the pan (follow recipe directions), then carefully remove from pan to a wire cooling rack. If the muffins stick to the pan, carefully run a small flexible metal spatula or thin-bladed knife around the sides to loosen. Muffins which are cooled in the pan too long may become soggy.

The oven wasn't hot enough or the muffins weren't baked for long enough. An undercooked muffin will have a center that is too moist and it doesn't peak enough.

Using two bowls, combine your dry ingredients in one bowl and your wet ingredients in another, then add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix only until the batter comes together. In culinary terms, this mixing process is called the Muffin Method (yes, that is the technical term!).

In general, there are three major stages in the baking process: expansion of the dough, drying of the surface, and crust browning. These can be subdivided into the following stages (in the order of temperature increase): Formation and expansion of gases (oven spring).