Basic muffin recipe

This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

It is a basic recipe guide that can be manipulated. Use your intuition, play with different fruits, and adjust spices to what you think will taste good.

I will be using blueberries for basic instruction of this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

DRY:

350g all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 tsp espresso powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

WET:

2 large eggs room temperature

80g brown sugar

110g granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 2 large lemons

1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup olive oil

260g thin yogurt (not greek or skyr)

ADD INS:

1 cup mashed blueberries tossed in 1 TBSP flour

1 cup whole blueberries tossed in 1 TBSP flour

FINISHING TOUCHES:

Turbinado sugar

Extra berries to put on top

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO READ BEFORE BAKING:

To make your own bakery style muffin liners cut a piece of parchment into small squares. Next cut a slit into two sides of your square, this will allow you to easily pop it right into the muffin tray. Continue this process until you have made enough liners to fill your entire tray.

Place eggs in warm water to bring to room temperature more quickly.

When leavening agents and salt touch a chemical reaction begins, for tall muffins and to avoid having these substances react prematurely do not let your baking soda, baking powder, or salt touch when measuring out your dry ingredients. Whisk together at the absolute last second.

Using fresh lemon juice will create a reaction with the leavening agents (baking soda, baking powder, salt) which will result in a different consistency of the batter. I specifically chose to use lemon extract to avoid this issue. Please be hyper aware of this if you decide to sub fresh lemon juice instead of the extract as your muffins may not come out correctly.

If using liquid vanilla extract or paste add to wet ingredients, if using dry vanilla bean powder add 1/4 tsp to dry ingredients, or use both!

It is important to mix the mashed and whole berries with flour, skipping this step will cause all of the fruit to sink to the bottom and you will not have proper distribution of fruit throughout your muffin.

If using frozen fruit be aware it has more moisture and may affect the texture of the batter.

I recommend using regular all purpose flour. Experimenting with other types of flour can cause the muffins to not rise as well and may yield and more dense or crumbly muffin.

Over mixing your batter produces gluten development, this results in a more dense and less light and fluffy crumb. To avoid this issue fold batter until everything is just combined.

For gluten free muffins use a gluten free flour and double the leavening agents and salt (4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt)

Using a thick yogurt like greek or skyr will affect the consistency of the batter, I recommend using a thinner yogurt.

Finishing the muffins with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar before baking will create the dunkin donut esq crunchy muffin topping.

Everyones oven is different, I recommend checking the temperature of your oven monthly with a heat safe thermometer to ensure it is properly calibrated.

Make sure your oven actually hits 425 before baking the muffins. A lot of the time it will say it is fully pre heated but the actual temperature will be lower than what you set it to.

Bake the muffins on the top rack since it is usually the hottest area of the oven. You will notice a difference in the rise of your muffins if you don’t bake them on the top rack.

Baking times will vary depending on your specific oven.

Muffins continue to bake while they cool once taken out of the oven, keep this in mind to avoid a dry over baked muffin.

The best way to store your finished muffins is to individually wrap them in aluminum foil and freeze them as soon as possible to preserve freshness. You can then defrost/reheat at your leisure. I like to cut mine in half and griddle them on a cast iron pan.

Ideas of what to put in your muffins end of summer/early fall:

berries

stone fruit

nuts/seeds

oats

MAKING THE MUFFINS:

• Preheat oven to 425 Farenheit

• Spray and line a muffin tray

• In one bowl measure out dry ingredients

• Measure out wet ingredients in separate bowl

• Set aside about 1/2 cup of berries to place on top of muffins before baking

• Mash 1 cup of berries and mix with 1-2 TBSP of flour until combined

• In a separate bowl measure out another cup of berries and mix with 1-2 TBSP of flour until evenly covered

• Whisk dry ingredients until combined

• Whisk wet ingredients until combined

• Gently FOLD and incorporate dry ingredients into wet with a SPATULA (important) until JUST MIXED there will still be dry flour present

• Dollop small sections of the mashed berry flour mixture all over just mixed batter, gently fold in

• Equally distribute whole berries coated in flour over the batter that now has smashed berries mixed in, gently fold into batter

• Using a cookie scoop add one scoop of batter to each muffin slot in the tray, then add another scoop, top each muffin with a third small dollop of batter (this will create a nice muffin top)

• Sprinkle with turbinado sugar (1-2 tsp) and top each muffin with fresh berries

• Bake 425 for 10 minutes

• Turn heat down to 375 and bake for another 15-20 minutes. They are done when golden, you can smell them, and if a toothpick comes out clean.

• Total baking time should be around 25-30 minutes depending on your oven