Muffins: Make ‘Em Moist and Flavorful or Not at All

Americans have suddenly discovered muffins, and all at once you find them springing up in bakeries and muffin shops. Some of these new designer muffins are as big as circus tents, others are no more than a bite for a baby. But in spite of the dramatic shapes, most of them don’t taste very good.

This is not new. When my children were young they dragged me to PTA bake sales every year. Every year a sad collection of dry, dreary, little muffins sat in a brown box. They were the perennial wallflowers of the sale--nobody ever wanted them. Where did those recipes come from? Why were they propagated over and over? Did anybody expect that they would suddenly get better, 50 batches later?

A good American muffin should have the taste of good ingredients; the flavor should be clear and well-balanced; the texture should be tender and pebbly, not cake-like. Above all, muffins should taste freshly made. This is vital, as quickbreads kept more than a day lose their sparkle. If you’re planning on storing your muffins, freeze them as soon as they are made.

Another chronic muffin flaw is lack of flavor, which allows the metallic taste of the baking powder to assert itself. You can actually reduce the baking powder by one-fourth without hurting the muffin; in fact, a dense muffin won’t get stale as fast as an airier one will.

You obtain the pebbly texture by merely moistening the dry ingredients. If you beat the batter until smooth, you will lose this quality and end up with a cake-like muffin that has small holes and tunnels. (But despite the warnings in many recipes, it is not true that muffins become tough with overbeating.)

This Fresh Apple Muffin has all the essential qualities of a good muffin. Not only does it taste good, but it works well as a dinner muffin when served with roast ham, pork or chicken. The Nutmeg Muffin is also a fine basic muffin--and one that can be modified with different spices and flavors.

FRESH APPLE MUFFINS

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup milk

1 cup chopped peeled apple

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter and brown sugar in mixer bowl until light. Beat in eggs until smooth.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in another bowl and stir well. Add to creamed mixture with milk, apple, raisins and walnuts. Gently beat with spoon until all ingredients are just mixed.

Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake at 425 degrees about 15 minutes, or until wood pick or straw comes out clean when inserted in center. Remove from oven and serve warm. Makes about 12 to 14 medium muffins.

NUTMEG MUFFINS

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 whole nutmegs, grated or 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup milk

5 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Stir well with fork. Beat egg in small bowl, then stir in whipping cream, milk and melted butter and blend well. Add cream mixture to flour mixture and stir only until there are no dry streaks of flour. Don’t overmix.

Spoon batter 2/3 full into each greased muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes or until rounded tops are light golden. Remove muffins from pan and serve warm. (Or cool on rack and store or freeze for later use, warm before serving). Makes about 1 dozen medium muffins.