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Muffin Recipes & Videos

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Banana Muffins Doughnut Muffins Mocha Muffins
Banana Muffins takes the Banana Bread recipe on the site and makes it into muffins. Full of mashed bananas and chunks of nuts it is the perfect breakfast food. more Enjoy this rich and buttery muffin that will remind you of a cake doughnut. It's coated in cinnamon sugar and is flavored with freshly grated nutmeg. more Mocha muffins are delicious, tasting of chocolate and coffee and we even add chocolate chips for more chocolate flavor.  more
Blueberry Muffins Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Coffee Cake Muffins
These Blueberry Muffins are moist and flavorful and bursting with sweet blueberries. They are also low in saturated fat which makes them a more healthy way to start the day. more Here is a delicious Banana Muffin that is moist and sweet with a lovely golden brown crust. It contains white chocolate chips and both white and brown sugars. more A moist and buttery cake-like muffin with a delicious brown sugar and cinnamon flavored streusel that sits both on top of the muffin and runs through its center. more
Bran Muffins Chocolate Chip Muffins Chocolate Muffins
These Bran Muffins are loaded with wholesome flavor. Bran, molasses, rolled oats, orange peel, and ground cinnamon make them an ideal breakfast food. more Chocolate Chip Muffins adds chocolate chips to a moist and flavorful vanilla scented batter. The final touch is a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. more Chocolate Muffins are delicious, tasting of chocolate which comes from adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips to the batter. more
     

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Strawberry-Banana Muffins

Chocolate Yogurt Muffins

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

Strawberry Banana Muffins are full of mashed bananas and bite sized pieces of fresh strawberries. Absolutely Delicious. more These Muffins have a wonderfully soft and moist texture with a complex chocolate flavor that comes from unsweetened cocoa powder and lots of chocolate chips. more These muffins have the delightful flavor and crunch of cornmeal and are bursting with fresh blueberries.  more

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Buttermilk Berry Muffins

Blueberry Bran Muffins

These Poppy Seed Muffins have a texture and flavor that is quite similar to a pound cake. To give them a little extra flavor and texture, I have added the zest of a lemon and some crunchy poppy seeds.  more

Buttermilk Berry Muffins are absolutely bursting with berries and you can use fresh or frozen. They have a beautiful golden brown crust and are absolutely delicious. more

Blueberry Bran Muffins contain both white and whole wheat flours, along with wheat bran and fresh blueberries, that give these muffins a delicious wholesome flavor. more

Bread Pudding Muffins

Cranberry Upside Down Muffins

Orange-Pineapple Muffins

This delicious recipe is a combination of bread, milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and flavoring that are baked in individual muffin cups. more Cranberry Upside Down Muffins start with a glistening cranberry sauce, flavored with orange, that is topped with a moist cake-like batter. more Crushed pineapple and orange zest give these muffins a wonderful citrus flavor with toasted pecans adding a nice crunch. more

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Orange Date Muffins

For this muffin recipe the blueberries are suspended in a cake-like batter and the finishing touch is a sprinkling of streusel. more

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins have a buttery flavor, dense texture, and are full of chocolate chips. more

These muffins are the perfect breakfast muffins. Full of wonderful ingredients like whole wheat flour, ground cinnamon, orange juice and zest, buttermilk, dates and walnuts. more

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Oat Bran Muffins Carrot Muffins
Black Bottom Cupcakes are made with a Devil's Food Cake batter. The center of each cupcake is filled with a delicious cream cheese filling. more Oat Bran Muffins contain both oat bran and whole wheat flour. These muffins have a delicious wholesome flavor that is complemented by brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, orange zest and raisins. more What makes these muffins so perfect is that they contain no exotic ingredients, just things like carrots and apples which most of us have in the fridge. more
Pumpkin Muffins Chocolate Ricotta Muffins English Muffins
These pumpkins muffins taste great. They contain whole wheat flour, bran, pumpkin puree, raisins, and yogurt (or buttermilk). more A delicious chocolate muffin that contains ricotta cheese which gives it a wonderfully moist and tender texture. more A yeast leavened muffin that's cooked on a griddle. While the outside crust is golden brown, inside it's soft and spongy with lots of nooks and crannies. Delicious with butter and jam. more
 
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins use whole wheat pastry and combine the sweet flavor of mashed bananas with pure maple syrup. more Try these moist and flavorful pumpkin muffins that have a delicious cheesecake-like filling. more  

The name 'Muffin' either comes from the French word 'moufflet', meaning a soft bread, or from the German word 'muffe' which is the name for a type of cake. Although there are two types of muffins: English and American, all the recipes on the site are for the American-style muffins.

What 'American-style' muffins means is that the muffins are made, not from a yeast dough like the English Muffin, but rather they use a chemical leavener (baking powder or baking soda). Maybe it would be better to describe them as a cross between a bread and a cake. American-style muffins can be further divided into two types: 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.  Once you determine which type of muffin you prefer, choosing recipes to try becomes easier. A basic muffin batter contains flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, eggs, a fat (liquid or solid), and milk (buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream). Often times fruit, nuts, chocolate, vanilla extract, spices, cornmeal, bran, oats are added to give the muffins flavor.  Sometimes a streusel topping or glaze is used which not only adds flavor and texture but it can transform a plain basic muffin into something special.

The 'perfect' American Muffin is symmetrical with a domed top.  The surface of the muffin should be bumpy and the volume of the batter should have almost doubled during baking.  The muffin should feel light for its size and when cut in half its interior should be moist and tender with no tunnels.  American muffins can be either sweet or savory and are traditionally served warm for breakfast.  They are best eaten the day they are made or frozen.

 

BATTERS

The bread-like muffin batter is made using the "muffin method".  This batter can be assembled and baked 'quickly', usually in 20-25 minutes.  Only two bowls are needed to make the batter.  One bowl is used to mix all the dry ingredients together.  The second bowl contains all the wet ingredients.  The fat used with the bread-like muffins is usually in liquid form, either an oil or melted butter.  When the wet and dry ingredients have been mixed together separately, then they are combined.  The important step here is not to overmix the batter.  However, there is a tendency to over mix because the ratio of liquid to flour is quite high.  But mixing too much overdevelops the gluten in the flour which will cause a tough muffin with tunnels and a compact texture.  Only 10 to 15 strokes are needed to moisten the  ingredients and the batter should be still lumpy and you may still see a few traces of flour.  Don't worry about these lumps as the batter continues to blend as it bakes and any lumps will disappear.  Note:  Over mixing the muffin batter causes it to become very stringy.  This is the gluten developing in the flour.  Over mixing causes long strands of gluten to form making it hard for the leavener to work and causes long tunnels in the baked good. 

The cake-like muffin batter is prepared using the same method as making a cake batter.  The butter (room-temperature) and sugar are creamed together.  The eggs are mixed in and then the wet and dry ingredients are added alternately.  The higher sugar and fat content in this type of muffin act as tenderizers thereby producing a richer cake-like muffin with a softer crumb.  The increased fat content also minimizes the development of gluten which again helps to produce a muffin with a softer crumb.

PANS

Muffins and cupcakes are baked in a muffin pan or tin made of steel, aluminum or cast iron.  Make sure the pan you buy has rounded corners and seamless cups.  Non-stick surfaces are available which enables easy removal of the muffins from the pan.  Each pan can have 6-, 12- or 24- cup-shaped depressions and range from mini- to jumbo in size.  Mini muffin pans usually have 12 or 24 cup-shaped depressions.  Each little cup is about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter and 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) deep and holds about 2 tablespoons of batter.  The regular size muffin pans have 6- or 12- cup-shaped depressions with each cup about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter and holds about 1/2 cup or 4 ounces of batter.  Jumbo muffin pans have 6 cup-shaped depressions with each cup being 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter and 2 inches (5 cm) deep holding about 1 cup of batter each. 

There are also fluted muffin pans (also called bundt-lette pans) that come in 6- and 12- cup sizes made from heavy cast aluminum.  Each of the 6 fluted muffin cups measures 4 inches (10 cm) wide and 2 inches (5 cm) deep and holds 8 ounces (240 ml) of batter.   Each of the 12 fluted muffin cups measures 2 1/2 inches wide (6.25 cm) and 1 inch (2.54 cm) deep.  They can be used to bake both muffins and cakes when decorative individual cakes are desired. 

Note:  If using a dark colored pan, reduce the oven temperature, stated in the recipe, by 25 degrees F.  (This is because dark colored pans absorb more of the energy coming from the oven walls so they become hotter and transmit heat faster than light colored pans.)

Paper or foil muffin cup liners are sometimes used to line the muffin pans.  The advantage of paper liners is not only does it make clean-up easier but they also help to keep the muffins moist and help prevent them from drying out.  However, if you like your muffins to have a crust, do not use paper liners.  Instead, spray the muffin pan with a non stick vegetable spray.

BAKING

Muffins should be baked in the center of a preheated oven and are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges start to come away from the sides of the pan, usually 20-25 minutes at a 350 - 400 degree F (175 - 205 degrees C) oven. 

Spoon the muffin batter into the muffin tin using two spoons or an ice cream scoop.  Only fill each cup 1/2 to 2/3 full.   Even during this step, handle the batter as little as possible as too much handling will cause a tough muffin.  Fill any unused cups halfway with water to prevent over browning of the muffins or warping of the pan.  Turn the pan halfway during baking for even browning.  Make sure you do not overbake muffins or they will be dry.  When done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly (5-10 minutes) before removing from pan. 

PROBLEM SOLVING

Muffins have tunnels and are dry:

- batter was over mixed (too much gluten development)

- over baked and/or oven too hot

- too much flour and/or too little liquid

Muffins have an uneven shape

- too much batter in each cup (fill only 1/2 to 2/3 full).   Overfilling will cause muffins to have "flying saucer" like tops.

- oven temperature too high

Tops are brown but muffin is not cooked through

- oven temperature too high

- oven rack not in center of oven

Muffin does not rise sufficiently

- oven temperature too low

- batter over mixed or incorrect amount of leavener

Muffins Stick to Pan

- pan was not prepared properly. 

- let muffins sit in pan too long after removing from oven.  Try placing the pan on a wet towel for a few minutes to loosen the muffins.  Run a sharp edge around the inside of each muffin.

Streusel - Comes from the German word 'streuen' which means 'to sprinkle' or 'to scatter'.  Was originally made to be used as a topping for the German made 'Streusel Kuchen'.   Streusels are now used as a topping for cakes, coffee cakes, Danish pastries, muffins, pies, sweet breads, and tarts.

Streusel is a crumbly topping containing a mixture of butter, flour, and sugar.  Spices, chopped nuts, and oats can be added.  This mixture is sprinkled over the top of baked goods before they are placed in the oven.  It provides a crisp crust that adds both taste and texture to baked goods.

Note:  Resist the temptation to add more baking powder to your muffin recipe, thinking it will give you higher muffins.  If you over leaven your batter it will cause the muffins to over inflate when baked, which weakens the structure and will cause the muffin to collapse.  This will result in a heavy, compact textured muffin. 

General rule of thumb is 1 to 2 teaspoons of baking powder or 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 cup (120 ml) of an acidic ingredient, leavens 1 cup (140 grams) of all purpose flour.  The exact amount will vary according to the ingredients used and how the batter is mixed. 

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