Making Muffins from Scratch - Basic Muffin Recipe
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One of the best ways to be frugal in the kitchen is to make your own foods. Don't use all of the prepackaged products available all over the grocery store. Just walking down the baking aisle will show you dozens of options for muffins and quick breads. On the bottom shelves you will find the sugar and flour and things that you will need to make your own. Initially purchasing these ingredients will cost more than a box of muffin mix, however you will be able to make dozens of muffins out of these ingredients. It should be well worth the money.
I have a basic muffins/quick bread recipe that I add different flavors to. It is very adaptable and easy to use. But first I will give you the true recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl beat the egg, milk and oil. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. At this point you will add in your flavors. Our favorite is chocolate chips and I purchase them in bulk at Sam's club. 1/2 cup of chocolate chips stirred in at the end makes for some really great muffins. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full and bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. This makes one dozen muffins. You can also adapt this for a quick bread. Pour all the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 400 for 45-50 minutes.
Now for other options. I also use this recipe for blueberry muffins. I add 3/4 cup of blueberries and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice at the end of the recipe. You can also add some lemon zest if you would like. Another good option is cinnamon raisin muffins. At the end of the recipe add 1/2 cup of raisins and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
This recipe also allows for easy substitutions. I frequently use original flavored rice milk in place of milk. I have also substituted 4 oz of applesauce for the egg. ( I have a child with food allergies). I usually don't use only all purpose flour. I will use about 1/3 whole wheat flour and 2/3 white flour. I also sometimes add wheat germ to increase the nutritional value. When adding wheat germ or using wheat flour, you usually have to increase the amount of milk called for to get the right consistency. Leave the baking times the same.
I have found that having homemade muffins and breads available, we eat hardly any processed breakfast foods. Processes breakfast foods such as frozen waffles, toaster struddles, cereal, and burritos will increase your grocery bill by a lot. Cooking our breakfasts from scratch (not always in the morning, I frequently throw in muffins when I am cooking dinner) has saved us a lot of money over the years.
I also have a mini muffin pan that I will use to make muffins for snacks. The kids love these bite size muffins and beg for them when they see me making muffins. Snacking on muffins is more filling than prepackaged snacks and there are no additives and preservatives in them. So next time you reach for the boxed muffin mixes, look a little lower and grab the flour and sugar instead. Making your own has never been easier!
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Comments
loved reading your receipe. Seems simple and easy. Im a blueberry or chocolate chip fan. After i make them, ill let you know how they come out!
GREAT RECIPE! I just made 3 different kinds: blackberry, blueberry, and banana muffins. All came out awsome. I used regular sized muffin tin and also Jumbo muffins. THANKS!
Sounds like a tasty, easy and adaptable muffin recipe. I need to avoid dairy because of allergies, has anyone tried to adapt this recipe to be dairy free? Thanks for the information.
Gissella, my daughter is allergic to dairy so we have to avoid it as well. I use rice milk usually when I make it, just the original kind and it doesn't change the flavor. I also buy chocolate chips from Walmart, their store brand is dairy free. Good luck!
I just found this recipe and I am going to try it. It seems much better that the recipe I just made. I have an ancient Better Homes and Garden Cookbook that was my mom's and just made a muffin recipe from it and I'm not quite sure I like it. It is my turn to make snacks for our Sunday School class and I was thinking muffins from scratch was simple, tastey and filling , plus something that I could make tonight and it would still be good in the a.m. Thank You for the recipe, and may God Bless You....
This recipe sounds great..I can't wait to try it
Thank you for your recipe Jennifer.My son searched and found your recipe...so we tryed it and they are so tasty and easy to make...thank you very much.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I tried it for the first time today and used pomegrante seeds as they are in full season here and they came out excellent. I did a second batch and used a slab of chocolate broken into pieces and then shaved some chocolate with a potatoe peeler and sprinkled it on top, also I sued 1 and half cup plain flour and half cup brown flour, my husband really liked them. They are for a meeting tomorrow and I will let you know what comments I receive. Thanks again.
Jai from Israel
I Googled "basic muffin recipe", and yours was the first and only one I looked at. Very awesome sounding, I'm eager to play around with flavors. Raspberries are on sale this week for $2.00 (6oz carton), and so are strawberries. I know that the chocolate chip muffins will be winners in my teen's eyes, she's such the Chocoholic! Oh, and I posted a link to your recipe page in a recipe group I belong to on www.cafemom.com. A mom in the group was looking for a cheap & easy muffin recipe, so I told her about yours!
thanks Beth! I did make this recipe this summer with raspberries and it was very good. Of course I am like your daughter though and prefer chocolate! Enjoy!
Everyone at the meeting enjoyed the muffins very much. I have made many more since then including a small loaf when I ran out of muffin cups. Today I used the same recipe and added cinnamon, apples and pomegranates as apples and pomegranates are the friut for Rosh Hashanna and baked it in a cake tray with apple slices over it. It looks fantastic
Jai, that sounds so good! I am curious how you use the pomegranates in baking though. Do you eat the whole seed? Thanks for sharing your version. One of the reasons I like this recipe, is because you can adapt it to anything.
Good hub, and an interesting muffin mix.
your recipe is just what ia am looking for but what is a cup? Do you do English pounds and ounces or even metric grams. I should love to start and I know I shall use your recipes a lot once i get going. Marcia England. x
I am doing a science project, and its over microorganism.
okay so the purpose is: to see if baking soda can substitute for baking powder In a recipe to see if it will effect the rising or height of the muffin. AND your recipe is so simple, were using it!! I tell you what happens!
-shelby
Hi,i just found your recipe online and sounds great can't wait to try it for X-mas and New year especially and if there's any muffins' club online i don't mind trying.thanks.
just made these.... i left out the oil, added a little more milk and flavoured them with sultanas, dried goji berries, cinnamon, sunflower seeds and almond meal. YUM! :)
i forgot to mention. i used half organic white and half wholemeal flour. on my next batch i'm going to chop up some apricots and add them too. thanks for a great base recipe!
I'm going to try this recipe looks Delicious
Great basic recipe.
Another healthy approach is to add a grated carrot and a small apple with some flax seeds or sesame seeds.
I can't wait to try this recipe tomorrow, my 2 year old loves to help me bake, so this should be easy enough for her to help with thank you!
Did Shelby get back with you on the baking powder verses baking soda? I do not like using baking powder because it has aluminum in it. Purchased some aluminum free baking powder but that was over three years ago when we went to the Amish Market in Indiana and I think it is flat since when I make them they do not rise.
ur muffin recipe is the best i looked a ll the others but they were useless ur the bomb
Hi Jennifer,
I tried your muffin reccipe,and it was great. It is so easy to make and also very testy. thak you Jennifer for a great great recipe.
just wondering if you can freeze these at all?
manda I freeze muffins all the time and it works great.
I just tried out your muffin recipe!!! Except i didn't have any chocolate chips or any fruit or anything, but i had a lot of packaged maple and brown sugar oatmeal that people had given us so i added that into the mix, and sprinkled it on top of the muffins, i hope that they turn out!!!!
They are delicious!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
I love your recipes, and this one is certainly one of the best. I even place my mini muffins in a plastic bag and freeze them. Just thaw them when you need some quick snacks for the next day.
i cant wait to try the recipe
Thanks for posting this recipe! I made strawberry banana muffins!
hi,
great recipe base! we have a small cafe and we use this recipe because it is so easy to make the base then flavour from there!!
This recipe is really easy to double and triple without any problems.
our best seller is cinnamon and brandied cherries! yum yum :)
hi,
great recipe base! we have a small cafe and we use this recipe because it is so easy to make the base then flavour from there!!
This recipe is really easy to double and triple without any problems.
our best seller is cinnamon and brandied cherries! yum yum :)
this is good i added vanilla and rains in mine though yumm and it was fast to make my little sister had fun :) ..so did i
Hey Jennifer,
I tried the recipe and it turned out really well. Thanks. :-)
Great basic add-to muffin recipe. I've used this several times and have added all different combinations of items to it to make a totally "different" type of muffin. Today was bananas and blueberries. Yummy.
Hello! I'm thirteen, and your muffin recipe was the first thing I ever baked from scratch. I set up a "Muffin Stand" and including lemonade, I made a ten dollar profit! (I sold them for 0.50$ each, because they were tiny)
Thank you!
Hello! I'm thirteen, and your muffin recipe was the first thing I ever baked from scratch. I set up a "Muffin Stand" and including lemonade, I made a ten dollar profit! (I sold them for 0.50$ each, because they were tiny)
Thank you!
is there any way to leave the oil out? I eat low fat and would love a way to sub the oil for something without fat??
Stef, you could try applesauce as a substitute for oil. I frequently use olive oil, as that is healthier for you. It doesn't change the flavor.
My sister's birthday is tomorrow and this recipe is a LIFESAVER!!! Now I can make a delicious muffin basket for her to enjoy! Thanks a bunch,
Kristen
excellent recipe...easy and quick. I added a teaspoon of real vanilla, a few choc chips and craisins. a keeper!
hi jennifer
I am 15 teen and love cooking but i can't find recipe for my sister. ( she has cancer ) She was not allowed to have the oil or apple sauce ( tried both) what should i use?
thanks
wow .... this is awesome hub .... very nicely explained ... very informative ..... well written ..... keep up the good work ..... god bless u ......
This is a great basic muffin recipe that is not too sweet (which I prefer!). I filled the cups almost full and they rose nice and high without overflowing. This time I tried chocolate chips, but I'll try something else next time. Making things from scratch I find is much healthier, tastier and cheaper. It also can be easy like this! Thanks!
GREAT RECIPE! :) I made it doubled up then split the dough and did half with about 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and a handful of chopped raspberries. The other half with chocolate chips. both turned out soo good! Thanks for sharing, this one went straight to my index card collection.
Great recipie!!! looks easy and yummy. thank you
I'm made these for a grade 8 Life skills home lab assignment. They were really easy! I did the cinnamon raisin ones..I'll let you know if I get an A+
Somehow I ended up with fairycakes...hmmm
my sister and I are making these as i type! only 12 more minutes till they're done!
Amy says:
2 years ago
Thanks for the recipe. My kids love muffins for breakfast and I've been looking for an easy muffin recipe. I think I'll have to invest in one of those mini muffin tins, I know they love muffins for snacks.