Skip to main content
Dessert

Quick Muffins

A quick muffin recipe using buttermilk, eggs, flour, baking soda, and butter or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Quick Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk.

  2. Beat the egg yolks well.

  3. Add the beaten yolks to the buttermilk mixture.

  4. Stir in the melted butter or cream.

  5. Gradually mix in the flour until well combined.

  6. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  7. Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

Prepare and bake

  1. Preheat muffin tins in the oven.

  2. Grease the muffin tins well.

  3. Pour the batter into the hot muffin tins and bake until golden.

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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Buttermilk + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Eggs
Yolks bind the batter, and whipped whites add lift and a light, airy crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the muffins rise.
Buttermilk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and its liquid hydrates the flour for tenderness.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets as the muffins bake.
Butter or cream
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes richness and moisture.

The step that matters

Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Whipped whites hold air that gives lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and produces a denser muffin.

“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.

You might also like

Buttermilk PieButtermilk Pie12 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes