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Dessert

Graham Muffins

A muffin made with graham and wheat flour, sweetened with molasses and baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Graham Muffins

Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Graham Muffins

a dozen muffin cups
Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Mix the graham flour, wheat flour, salt, and baking powder together, then sift them into a bowl.

  2. Beat the egg until light, then add the milk and molasses.

  3. Combine the wet mixture with the dry ingredients and beat vigorously for about a minute.

Bake

  1. Fill a dozen well-buttered muffin cups with the batter.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Provides the coarse, nutty body and structure that gives these muffins their character.
Wheat flour
Supplies gluten for structure, helping the muffins hold their shape as they rise.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, lifting the muffins as they bake.
Egg
Adds structure and richness, helping bind the batter as it sets.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth of flavour, and moisture, and helps the crumb brown.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and tenderness, hydrating the flours and helping the batter come together.

The step that matters

Beating the wet and dry ingredients together. Once the liquid meets the flour, gluten begins to form. Beating vigorously for a minute develops it for structure, but overmixing can make muffins tough. Bake promptly, since baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it is wet.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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