EASY MUFFIN RECIPE | Muffin Base Recipe

Hi everyone and welcome back to another video. Today we are continuing on with our quick bread series and I'm going to be teaching you today the first mixing method in this series and that is the muffin mixing method. Now this mixing method is used to make muffins as well as quick loaf breads like banana bread or zucchini bread as well as things like cornbread, pancakes and waffles. To teach this mixing method we are going to be using my muffin base recipe and going to add a few different add-ins into it to make three different kinds of muffins, blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins as well as pecan and cinnamon muffins. Now this recipe is extremely versatile and can be used to make all different kinds of flavors. So let's go ahead and dive into learning the muffin mixing method. Let's start by getting set up with our ingredients and equipment also known as our mise en For our dry ingredients we will need two cups of all-purpose flour, two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar, a half teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of baking powder. For our wet ingredients we will need two thirds of a cup of milk at room temperature, a half cup of oil such as a vegetable oil and one large egg at room temperature as well as one teaspoon of vanilla extract. We need very little equipment when using the muffin mixing method. You just need a whisk and a rubber spatula. You do not even need an electric mixer for this recipe. And since we are making muffins I also like to use a large cookie scoop to portion the muffins but a spoon will work out just fine. You also need a standard muffin tin with muffin liners or you can grease the tin if you prefer to not use liners. You also want to preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit before you start mixing your muffin batter. Now the first step in the muffin mixing method is to mix all of the dry ingredients together. So in a large mixing bowl I am combining my flour which is the main structure of our muffins with the sugar that is going to sweeten and help retain moisture in the muffins. I'm also adding baking powder which is our chemical leavening and that is going to make our muffins rise as well as salt to round out our flavors. Now just whisk all of those dry ingredients together until they are well combined. If your recipe does call for any spices you would also mix those in at this point. The second step in the muffin mixing method is to combine all of the wet ingredients together. So I have some milk in my large measuring cup here and I'm adding my oil, an egg, and some vanilla extract to it. Now use your whisk to thoroughly combine the ingredients making sure that the egg yolk breaks and is completely incorporated in. The milk is the main moisture for our muffins and is going to bring our batter together while the oil is going to add richness and tenderness. The egg is going to bind and help hold our muffins together and the vanilla extract only serves to flavor our muffins and could actually be left out completely or substituted with another extract or flavoring. Now we can move on to the next step of our mixing method which is to incorporate our dry ingredients with our wet ingredients. Go ahead and switch to a rubber spatula for this step as using a whisk can easily lead to over mixing our batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use your spatula to stir the two parts together until they are thoroughly combined. You do not need to be overly aggressive with your mixing here and it shouldn't take long to combine the two. Just about 10 stirs should do the trick. Over mixing your batter can lead to a final baked good that is chewy, dense, and dry and we definitely do not want that. So this muffin recipe is a base recipe and if you wanted to make the entire batch one flavor you could stir in something like blueberries or chocolate chips at this point. However I am leaving the batter plain today so that I can make three different kinds of muffins by adding a few add-ins into each. This batter makes 10 to 12 muffins depending on how big you make them and how many add-ins you add into the batter. My batter made 10 muffins today. I'm adding chocolate chips to the first three muffins and I'm using a toothpick to gently incorporate those in. Next I'm adding some chopped pecans and a dash of cinnamon to the next three and lastly I'm adding blueberries which is my favorite muffin variety. Now if you remember we preheated our oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit which is a fairly high heat. This high temperature is really the key to getting a nice dome to the top of our muffins. Remove the muffins from the oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a moist crumb. Allow them to cool on a cooling rack or go ahead and enjoy them warm. So let's quickly review the muffin mixing method. First the dry ingredients are mixed together in one bowl. Second the wet ingredients are mixed together in a separate bowl and then the two parts are combined together being really careful not to over mix. This method is designed to reduce gluten formation so that your muffins and other quick breads turn out really light fluffy and tender. Now I really hope you enjoyed this lesson and if you did please make sure you hit that like button and if you have any questions please leave them in the comment section I will make sure to answer them. And next week I will be showing you one more tutorial using this mixing method and then we will move on to the next mixing method in our quick bread series. If you aren't already subscribed make sure you hit that subscription button and ring the notification bell to make sure you never miss a video and you can follow me at Baker Buddy on Instagram and on Facebook. I'll see you guys next time, bye!