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 ↓
Rich Breakfast Muffins
11 muffinsIngredients
Directions
Make the first batter
Mix one quart of flour, three heaping teaspoonfuls of Star Crystal Baking Powder, two eggs, one or two tablespoonfuls of butter, one pint of milk, and one-half cup of sugar thoroughly.
Drop the batter into well-greased muffin forms and bake in a hot oven.
Make the second batter
Mix one pint of flour, two teaspoonfuls of Star Crystal Baking Powder, one cup of milk, two eggs, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and one tablespoonful of melted butter together.
Beat the eggs to a cream.
Add the milk to the eggs and mix with the flour to a smooth paste.
Beat in the melted butter.
Bake in buttered muffin pans for about thirty minutes.
Make the yeast dough and griddle muffins
Dissolve one-third cake (one ounce cake) compressed yeast in one-third cup of cold water.
Add the dissolved yeast with one teaspoonful of salt and one and one-half cups of warm water, and gradually stir into the flour.
Beat the dough thoroughly, cover, and let rise in a warm place until spongy, about five hours.
Shape the dough on a floured board into balls about twice as large as an egg.
Flatten the balls to one-third of an inch thick.
Lay the flattened dough on a warm griddle lightly greased and set on the back of the stove to rise slowly.
As soon as they have risen a little, draw them forward and cook slowly, turning often.
They should take about twenty minutes to rise and fifteen minutes to bake. Tear them apart and butter them while hot.
Bake the quick muffins
Mix one quart of flour, half a cup of melted butter, one egg, a quarter cup of sugar, two cups of milk, two heaping teaspoonfuls of Star Crystal Baking Powder, and a pinch of salt well.
Bake in a quick oven in muffin rings.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together738 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter 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 of the batter and dough as it sets.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the muffins rise and lighten.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and turns the flour into a pourable batter.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Compressed yeast (in the method)
- Leavens the dough so it rises slowly into a spongy texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the yeast muffins slowly on the griddle. Gentle heat lets the centre cook through before the outside browns, and turning often keeps the surface from scorching.
“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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