Muffins

 

Hello again to the Central Kitchen! We're returning to another simple recipe with one that was among the first I learnt, the muffin. I've been seeing recommendations about adding more images of the baking process in my blog and I will try to include images like that moving forward (after this one because I forgot). This right here will likely be the simplest recipe I post on this blog and can be completed within 20 minutes, prep and cook time included! This recipe is so good, a friend of mine ate these for a week straight and nearly burnt down his kitchen! As a little bonus, I'll include a picture of one of my earliest attempts at baking. Everyone has to start somewhere, even I started as a rookie. Without further ado, here is my recipe for buttermilk muffins!

Buttermilk Muffins

• 1 3/4 Cups Flour
• 3/4 Cups Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons / 3 oz vegetable oil
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fillings (berries, chocolate, nuts, whatever!)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 450 F
2. Mix your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder) together until combined
3. Toss in your fillings and coat with the flour. This will prevent the fillings from sinking to the bottom of the muffin 
4. In a separate bowl, mix in your wet ingredients (oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract). TIP: No buttermilk? No problem! Get half a cup of milk and mix in 1 & 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to curdle the milk enough to act as a replacement
5. Mix both together until no more dry ingredients are visible. Yes, the batter is supposed to be thick and a bit hard to handle. Mixing it too much will develop too much gluten and toughen up the muffin
6. Scoop up your batter and fill in your muffin tray. If you're not using muffin wrappers, lightly oil your tray first and then scoop. Fill it up around 3/4 of the way up. TIP: A new trick I've learnt is to only fill alternating spaces to allow your muffin to rise higher. The following picture is an example I've found online.
   
7. Bake initially for 10 minutes to give the muffins color
8. Lower temperature to 350 F. Bake for an additional 10-12 minutes.
9. Let the muffins rest outside the tray and enjoy!

Bonus Image

This was among one of my first attempts to bake...well anything! I started to experiment with the recipe and wondered what would happen if I used blackberries instead of the usual blueberries (blueberries are still my favorite). The answer was that, well, it just makes it weirdly purple! Maybe these would be good for Halloween, they do somewhat resemble brains...