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Dessert

Whole Wheat Muffins

A quick muffin made with whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, salt, egg, sugar, milk, and melted butter.

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

Why it works: Wheat and milk 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 ↓

Whole Wheat Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together.

  2. Add the well-beaten egg, melted butter, and milk.

  3. Beat the mixture well.

Bake

  1. Pour into buttered muffin tins.

  2. Bake for 25 to 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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

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

Whole wheat flour
Provides the main structure and a denser, nuttier crumb than white flour.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise in the oven.
Egg
Adds structure and binds the batter as its proteins set during baking.
Butter
Adds fat, which tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter forms.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture well. Beating the wet and dry ingredients develops gluten in the flour. Some gluten gives structure, but too much makes muffins tough and dense, so stop once the batter is combined and smooth.

“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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