The Insufficient Kitchen Makes Muffins
Welcome to The Insufficient Kitchen. All blogs must begin somewhere. This one begins with muffins. I bake a lot of them.
For years I struggled to find a breakfast my husband would tolerate. John is not a breakfaster. More accurately, he finds any food before 11a.m. unbearable. I wasn’t pleased about this.
Finding him the perfect weekday breakfast became a quest. It had to be portable and imperishable yet appetizing. Hopefully healthier than a doughnut.
Fruit worked sometimes, especially seasonal berries. This left the months lacking seasonal berries. Months like winter. Paging through Joy Of Cooking, I found quick breads and test drove a few with limited success. Returning to Joy, specifically, the much maligned (wrongly, I feel) 1997 edition, I found “About Muffins.”
Jackpot.
For years baking intimidated me. Thanks to David Lebovitz and Deb Perelman, that’s slowly changing. But muffins are not baking. Officially they’re quick breads, meaning they are friendlier and more forgiving than layer cakes or tarts. Muffins are casual, readily accepting additions or substitutions. Soon I was tinkering, tossing in nuts, following the seasons with appropriate fruits, baking with milk and buttermilk, sour cream and ricotta, apples and lemons and even oranges. John approved.
Breakfast is no longer a struggle. The home-baked muffin—not the plaster imposters sold in coffeehouses–doesn’t overwhelm the hesitant morning eater. A home-baked muffin is light in the hand, easy on the digestion.
This is a basic lemon muffin recipe that can be baked any time of year. If Meyer lemons are available, they add a wonderful lemony flavor, but regular supermarket lemons are delicious, too. Organic lemons are preferable because you’ll be zesting the lemons, but if yours aren’t, just scrub them well with a brush.
This recipe is based on the basic muffin recipe in 1997 edition of the Joy Of Cooking, a much-beloved cookbook in the Insufficient Kitchen.
Lemon Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Approximate Baking Time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 Large Lemon
- 2 Cups All Purpose Unbleached Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Cup Cream (alternatively: 1 Cup whole milk or half and half.)
- Scant ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 (8 tablespoons) Stick Sweet Butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F
- Line a 12-cup muffin tin with baking liners. Alternatively, you can use non-stick spray, or lavishly butter each muffin well.
- You will need two large bowls.
- Scrub the lemon. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the peel off in long strips, avoiding the white part, or pith. I like to chop it into fairly large pieces, but you can also grate it with a Microplane grater. Set the peel aside in small bowl.
- Juice the lemon. I often do this right over the peel. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the second bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Melt the butter in the microwave or over the stovetop. Stirring constantly, add to the wet mixture. You don’t want to scramble the egg. Add the lemon mixture and stir briefly. The mixture might look curdled. That’s okay.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry bowl. Stir only until the two are blended; do not overmix. Lumps are okay.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin. I find a using large spoon and spatula together do the job best. Aim for an even amount of batter in each well. The batter will look shaggy. That’s okay: it will collect itself during baking.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a tester comes out cleanly. Cool on a rack.
- Keep 2 days at room temperature, wrapped; muffins are best reheated in a toaster oven or low oven. Microwaving leads to rubberiness. I’ve frozen muffins for months; so long as they are well-wrapped and carefully reheated, they come to no harm.
Notes:
- After years of shunning muffin tin liners, I caved. They make cleanup immensely easier.
- If you bake lots of muffins, a quality muffin pan is a worthwhile investment. After years of cheap tins, I invested in a professional-weight muffin tin. The difference is shocking. The muffins are lighter, the cleanup easier. Good cookware is expensive but worth it.
- About Vanilla: the late, great Laurie Colwin gives a wonderful recipe for making your own: drop a vanilla bean into a bottle of inexpensive brandy. Continue refreshing each regularly, dropping in the used vanilla pods from other baking projects. You’ll never look back.
Thank you for reading.
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