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Breakfast

Breakfast Muffins

Three old baking-powder muffin batters from a cookbook, each with its own ingredients and directions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Breakfast Muffins

eight muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together.

  2. Rub in the lard.

  3. Add beaten egg and milk, then flour. Batter should be rather thin.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill well-greased tins.

  2. Bake 15 minutes in hot oven.

Finish and bake

  1. Sift above ingredients together.

  2. Beat 1 egg light.

  3. Add 1½ cups of milk.

  4. Stir into dry ingredients.

  5. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter.

  6. Beat well.

  7. Bake 25 minutes in a moderate oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

948Calories
27 gProtein
39 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 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.

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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. 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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the muffin crumb together.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the muffins rise.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the muffins tender and rich in flavour.
Milk
Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
Sugar
Sweetens the muffins and helps the crust brown lightly.

The step that matters

Stir into dry ingredients. Stir only until the batter just comes together. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which makes muffins tough and tunnelled.

“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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