Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tip: Baking Muffins


 Did you take Home Ec when you where in high school?  Did your school even offer Home Ec classes?  It was my favorite class when I was in high school-working side by side with my friends to make delicious food.  Oh, the happy memories!  The first thing we made in the class was an incredible Applesauce Muffin.  Maybe that is why I love muffins so much.

Here are a few of my favorite muffin baking tips:

1. Measure ingredients, don't eyeball it or estimate the amount you are using.  Level off measuring cups and measuring spoons with the back of a knife.

2. Always mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the well.

3.  Don't over mix.  The batter should be lumpy.


4. Preheat your oven.  Place your pan on the rack in the middle of the oven.

5. Dust nuts and fruit with flour before you add them to the batter to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin cups.

6. Grease only the bottom and halfway up the sides of the muffin cups.  The batter will cling to the sides of the cups giving you nice rounded tops.

7. Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups to 2/3 full.


8. Fill unused muffin cups 1/2 full with water for even baking.

On Friday, I will be posting my quick and easy Cranberry Corn Muffin recipe.

29 comments:

  1. Good tips to remember. I loved our cookery classes at school but I cannot remember now what I first made..... Diane

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  2. Great post! I loved Home Ec class.

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  3. I loved Home Ec, except for the first thing we did, sewing aprons. I definitely am not a seamstress and can just barely hem something. But cooking; it was great!!! Our first thing was an easy chocolate cake.

    Great tips you have, Linda! I will remember #6 as I have never heard that and see how that would really work for rounded tops. And #7 also. Otherwise, I do the rest of them.

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  4. Thanks for the tip. I haven't tried making muffin myself... I used to help my older sister that's all. I will do it by myself soon! Enjoy the rest of the week!

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  5. Thanks for the tips specially I'm looking for the one for the rounded tops.

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  6. Thanks Diane! I am going to hop over to your blog and see what you have been up to.

    Thanks Julie!

    Pam, I think we may have been separated at birth! I have improved in my sewing skills since my disastrous sewing project in my Home Ec class. For my sewing project, I choose to make a jacket. I picked beautiful material and what I thought was a simple pattern. After may hours of sewing, one sleeve was longer than the other and it all looked a little off.

    Lani, how wonderful you were able to cook with your sister! I love to cook with my sister Shelley!

    NS, I eat the rounded tops first. I agree with you, they are the best!

    Thanks Adventures in Domestic Cooking!

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  7. Lovely post. Very informative. I use OXO goodgrips cookie/icecream scoop to pour into the muffin wells. Less messy that way. I don't over mix and leave it lumpy.
    What I didn't know - #5, #6. Will keep in mind next time I make some.

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  8. Your new follower. I certainly would love to own that book of yours and try some recipes and post about it in my blog.

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  9. Cool Lassi, thanks for the tip on the ice cream scoop!

    I am glad you like my cookbook! The next drawing for a free copy of my book will be on Friday July 2nd.

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  10. ha i eye balled my daughters cupcakes ...and some came out a little to large lol! thanks for the tips!

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  11. Thanks Busy B! I am sure your daughter didn't care what the cupcakes looked like. Big or small, they are always tasty!

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  12. I loved cooking class in high school! Great tips!

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  13. I have to admit I enjoyed home ec, too. =)

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  14. Thanks Cinnamon-Girl and Noni, great minds think alike!

    Annelie, thanks for stopping by. Cupcakes or muffins, I love them all!

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  15. These are awesome tips! I didn't know a lot of those. I hated home ec. Seriously. I was not "domestic" at all and if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be a mom of 3, doing daycare, cooking every night and blogging about it I would have died right then and there from laughter. I still have a LOT to learn so thanks for the tips! That's why I love reading blogs too!

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  16. My sisters took Home Ec in high school, which I would have probably loved. Instead, my parents sent me to an all boys Catholic school where if you weren't on the football team, or sucking up to the football team, you were nobody! Thanks for visiting my blog, Linda and for your kind words. I'll be back to read more of your blog and offer my two cents.

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  17. Great tips! I only liked home ec because we got to eat what we made!

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  18. Debbie, I would never guess that you were not born to cook. Your blog is awesome!

    Joe, I am sorry you never got to take Home Ec. At my school the boys and girls both took Home Ec and Shop Class. It was a lot of fun!

    Pam, eating what you makes is for sure the a highlight of the class!

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  19. Home ec was my least favorite class! We did lots of sewing...Very little cooking. Great tips!

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  20. Great tips - now I want a muffin :)

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  21. Thanks Rocio!

    Bo, I feel your pain when it comes to sewing! Not my best subject. Lucky for me, our Home Ec class focused more on cooking then it did on sewing.

    Thanks Simply Life! I am making a batch of muffins to take to the radio station tomorrow. I do a segment on the radio called Fast Food Fridays. Cranberry Corn Muffins is the recipe I will be talking about. I will also be posting it on my blog in the morning.

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  22. what a great idea with the ice cream scoop!

    following back!

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  23. Good ole home ec, the place of my discovery, discovering that I could take a recipe and twist it around- making myself happy, but the teacher nuts!

    However seeing muffin tins and the scoop remind me of my start up job in a rather large baking company (hint St. Louis) making over a kazillion freakin muffins every night, LOL, until I finally got promoted- I still have night mares about blueberries chasing me down a long hallway...

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  24. Thanks Discovering the me in mommy!

    Chef E,funny story! My nightmares are usually about chickens chasing me. I think it's because I eat so many of them and invading my dreams are their way to take revenge for it.

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  25. Thanks for sharing tose wonderful tips with us. I'll bet your muffins are fantastic. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  26. I remember home ec, not fondly. I loved the little cooking we did though, emphasis on the little. Solid tip for achieving a great muffin.

    Cheers!

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  27. Thanks Mary! I love cooking tips.

    Lazaro Cooks! How sad that so many schools didn't focus on cooking in Home Ec:( You have made up for what your school neglected to do. Your food is fantastic!

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