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Dessert

Whole-wheat and Corn-flour Muffins

A muffin made with whole-wheat and corn flour, sweetened with syrup and baked with milk and fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Whole-wheat and Corn-flour Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the whole-wheat flour, corn flour, baking powder, and salt.

  3. In another bowl, combine the syrup, fat, and milk.

Mix and bake

  1. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

  2. Spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin.

  3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

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.

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. Wheat + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

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

  3. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole-wheat flour
Provides structure and a nutty, earthy flavor while adding fiber-rich body to the batter.
Corn flour
Gives the muffins their corn flavor and a slightly tender, crumbly texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas when moistened and heated, lifting the batter so the muffins rise.
Milk
Hydrates the flours and helps set the structure while adding moisture and richness.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
Fat
Tenderizes the crumb and adds moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Stir the batter until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which makes muffins tough and tunnelled. Stop once no dry flour streaks remain; a few lumps are fine.

“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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