Classic Muffins With Variations
3.4
(108)
Active Time
10 minutes
Total Time
30 minutes
This basic muffin recipe has a neat trick: Instead of giving you instructions for making just one kind of muffin, it acts as a base recipe for making pretty much any kind of muffin you can imagine. We have a few variations here (including bacon muffins!) to get you started, but they’re illustrative of the many other things you can try. You can use the raisin variation, for instance, to make chocolate chip muffins or the fresh blueberry muffin instructions to make a cranberry version. If you want to get even more creative, you can even make chocolate muffins, or a double chocolate version, by adding a bit of vanilla extract and cocoa to the muffin batter before you mix in your chips. (While the recipe calls for buttering the muffin tins, you can opt to use silicone or paper liners instead to dress them up.)
However you flavor them, these quick bread–adjacent treats are delicious. They’re a bit heartier than the tender cupcake-style muffins you usually find in coffee shops these days. These have a dense, moist crumb, and the muffin tops are rounded and pebbly rather than puffy. They’re also really quick and simple to make—particularly since the ingredients are only lightly mixed—so you can easily throw them together for breakfast or brunch and serve with butter and jam or a swipe of cream cheese. If you make them ahead, store at room temperature in an airtight container.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘The Fannie Farmer Cookbook’ by Marion Cunningham. Buy the full book on Amazon.
Ingredients
Makes 12 muffins
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter muffin pans. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, and butter, stirring only enough to dampen the dry ingredients; the batter should not be smooth. Spoon into the muffin cups, filling each one about two-thirds full. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes each.
VARIATIONS:
Blueberry Muffins: Increase sugar to ½ cup. Reserve ¼ cup of the flour and toss with 1 cup blueberries; stir them into the batter last.
Pecan Muffins: Increase sugar to ¼ cup. Add ½ cup chopped toasted pecans to the batter. After filling the cups, sprinkle with more granulated sugar or brown sugar, cinnamon, and more chopped nuts.
Whole-Wheat Muffins: Decrease all-purpose flour to 1 cup and add ¾ cup whole-wheat flour.
Date or Raisin Muffins: Add ½ cup chopped pitted dates or ⅓ cup raisins to the batter.
Bacon Muffins: Add 3 strips bacon, fried crisp and crumbled, to the batter.
Mini Muffins: Swap standard muffin tin for mini muffin tin and bake at 375°F for 10–13 minutes. (Makes about 36 mini muffins.)
Editor’s note: This recipe first appeared on Epicurious in August 2004. Head this way for more of our favorite breakfast recipes →
Leave a Review
Reviews (108)
Back to TopI love this recipe! It's an old fashioned muffin, not very sweet. My kids like it and I've made it several times. If you're looking for a sweet, cupcake-like muffin, this is NOT it.
Mrs. Dash
Northampton MA
1/15/2023
Some people are being overly harsh with their reviews. This is, like the title says, a basic muffin recipe, not an overly sweet, pastry-like muffin of the current western world. I found them to be a bit dense and to be honest, they do taste more like a scone or a biscuit, but they are still delicious! They would be great served warm with some butter or jam, or both. I will definitely make them again.
Erin
Montreal, QC
12/9/2022
Bad :)
Anonymous
11/1/2022
THESE WERE DISGUSTING!!! I WOULDNT FEED THIS TO MY 10TH EX HUSBAND!!! AND I HATE HIM WITH MY SOUL!! I WOULD RATHER GO TO JAIL THEN EAT THESE EVER AGAIN!! I WAS AT THE FISH MARKET WHEN I TOOK A BITE OF ONE OF THESE AND I PASSED OUT ON THE DRAD FISHIES!!
Linda Sou
THE FISH MARKET
10/30/2022
THIS IS THE WORST THING ON GODS GREEN EARTH. I HAD TO WRITE MY OWN I SURVIVED BOOK ABOUT THESE “MUFFINS”. IF YOU WANT YOUR TASTE BUDS INTACT DO NOT EAT THESE.
SOMEONE WHO ALMOST DIED
THE GRAVE
10/30/2022
yucky not yummy REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
JOE BALL
ur mom
10/24/2022
By far the driest blandest worst things I have ever made. I am embarrassed by this trash. Whoever taught the author how to cook, needs to be beaten.
Hate this
Miami
9/5/2022
These muffins are delicious, especially hot out of the oven. The only tweaks I made were to add pumpkin spice and cinnamon. They came out nice and golden. The key is to not over mix and you will be fine. I will definitely be making these again.
Anonymous
Warsaw, Poland
8/16/2022
For all the people who gave this a low rating: this recipe is a traditional muffin recipe and is absolutely correct! These are true muffins, not the overly-sweet cupcake-type things people call muffins today. They are meant to be served warm from the oven with some butter and perhaps jam. Try it!
Baker1962
Alberta, Canada
6/11/2022
I think Epicurious meant " Biscuits" or scones.. While this muffin is really bad but it taste good with my homemade gravy.. That crumbly " Muffin" texture goes super good with sauces and Gravy... but as muffins Naww I dont think its the creator's mistake most likely Epicurious swapped the titles or something
Anonymous
Malaysia
5/14/2022
Nice easy n simple recipes very smart
Anonymous
Fiji Islands
1/6/2022
This is my go to recipe for basic muffins. My kids and I really like it. This isnt a cake-like muffin like sold in stores. I use this to make make breakfast muffins and add butter and honey to it at the end. I only change a couple of things. I use 2oz of applesauce to substitute the egg (I don't even add the sugar) and I only use 1 tsp of baking powder. I mix all the wet ingredients together and slowly add them, in case there feels like too much water. You don't want the mix runny but just right. Thanks for sharing!
Julie
USA
12/1/2021
I think this is an okay base recipe, but here’s what I did to produce a richer flavor. I used buttermilk in place of milk, 1/2 cup of melted butter added in last, 1/4 cup sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 applesauce for moistness. This is what I did, and the flavor was improved.
Vanessa
Queens, NY
11/16/2021
I have discovered something in previous attempts at making these add the milk before the butter. Add your butter last or the sugar and flour will soak it up leaving a dry mess. Do not just throw everything in one bowl without having an order to it.
I-Like-Food
dallas
2/5/2021
I have made the pecan version multiple times. They are amazing! I have started adding unsweetened shredded coconut and it is sooooo good. Definitely try adding some coconut.
I-Like-Food
Texas
2/3/2021
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