Basic Muffins Recipe

Muffin Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C.
2. Line your muffin pan with cupcake liners, OR butter and flour all of the muffin pan wells.
3. Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk to mix really well.
4. Add any additions if you like, and toss to combine (leave out cinnamon if you’re making lemon muffins, or if you don’t want the taste of cinnamon). Set aside.
5. Melt the butter in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove. Let it cool slightly.
6. Add the sugar to the melted, warm butter. Whisk until emulsified. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla, and mix until smooth and well-mixed.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
8. FOLD to mix wet and dry ingredients. Take care not to over-mix, and make sure there are no dry spots (of dry ingredients) in the batter. It’s OK if the batter is lumpy.
9. Set aside for a few minutes to allow the flour to hydrate (about 2 - 5 minutes).
10. Divide the batter between the 11 - 12 muffin tin wells (about 4 ½ - 5 tbsp each). I use a cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly.
11. Sprinkle some raw sugar on top. (If you're making chocolate chip muffins, sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top).
12. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until a clean skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
13. Remove from the oven and let the muffins cool for 5 minutes. Then turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack.
14. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Stella Parks method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C.
2. Line your muffin pan with cupcake liners, OR butter and flour all of the muffin pan wells.
3. Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the sugar to the bowl as well. Whisk to mix well.
4. Add the softened room temperature butter to the dry ingredients, and use a hand mixer to cut the butter into the flour. Mix until the flour mix is mealy (looks like coarse sand), and there are no large clumps of butter remaining.
5. If you’re only making one flavor of muffins, add the flavor additions to this mealy mix and toss to combine. If you’re making multiple flavors, you'll be adding those flavors later.
6. Mix the rest of the wet ingredients (excluding butter and sugar) in a bowl.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold to combine.
8. Do NOT over-mix at this stage (as you might be mixing in more additions later). Evenly divide the batter to flavor it.
9. Add your choice of flavoring to each portion of muffin batter (chocolate chips, fruits etc.).
10. Using an ice cream scoop, evenly divide the batter between the muffin tin wells (4 ½ - 5 tbsp of batter each).
11. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until a clean skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Then turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack.
13. Serve warm or at room temperature.