Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Plain Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream together the melted margarine and sugar.
Add the egg, well beaten.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture.
Bake
Put the batter into twelve muffin pans well oiled with Good Luck margarine and made hissing hot.
Bake in a moderately hot oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Margarine (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness, and helps keep the muffins tender and moist.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise and become light.
- Egg (in the method)
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the main structure that sets as the muffins bake.
The step that matters
Putting the batter into the hot pans. Batter poured into well-oiled, very hot pans starts setting at the edges right away, which helps the muffins release cleanly and rise evenly instead of sticking or spreading.
“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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