Muffins
intro
Light, fluffy vanilla muffins with a tender crumb and crisp golden tops, quick to prep and endlessly customizable for easy sharing.
Ingredients
Steps
Preheat Oven, Prep Muffin Tin
Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F) with a rack positioned in the middle slot. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper baking liners, or lightly grease each cup with a thin coating of nonstick spray or melted butter to prevent sticking.
Whisk Dry Ingredients
In a large 2L mixing bowl, whisk together 240g (2 cups) all-purpose flour, 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar, 10g (2 tsp) baking powder, and 3g (1/2 tsp) fine sea salt for 30 seconds until fully combined, with no visible clumps of baking powder left in the mixture.
Mix Wet Ingredients
In a separate 1L medium bowl, whisk 2 room-temperature large eggs (100g total) until smooth, then stir in 180ml (3/4 cup) whole milk, 85g (6 tbsp) melted and slightly cooled unsalted butter, and 5ml (1 tsp) pure vanilla extract, mixing until fully smooth with no streaks of unincorporated egg visible.
Fold Wet Into Dry
Pour the entire wet ingredient mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Use a silicone spatula to gently fold the ingredients together for 15-20 seconds, stopping as soon as no dry flour streaks remain; the batter will be visibly lumpy. Fold in add-ins like fresh blueberries, chocolate chips, or chopped nuts now if using, taking only 2-3 extra folds to distribute them evenly.
Portion Batter Into Cups
Use a 45ml (3 tbsp) cookie scoop or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly between the 12 prepared muffin cups, filling each cup exactly 2/3 full to leave adequate room for rising. Do not fill cups to the brim, as excess batter will overflow and burn on the tin during baking.
Bake the Muffins
Place the muffin tin on the middle oven rack, bake for 5 minutes at 200°C (400°F), then lower the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) without opening the oven door, and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes. Muffins are done when tops are deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a middle muffin comes out with 1-2 small moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven, let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips
2.The initial 5-minute bake at 200°C (400°F) creates tall, domed muffin tops by giving the leavening a quick burst of high heat, before lowering the temperature to cook the crumb evenly without burning.
3.Let muffins rest in the hot tin for 5 minutes after baking before moving them to a wire rack; this helps them set properly so they don’t stick to the paper liners when peeled.
Game changer! I’ve tried so many vanilla muffin recipes that come out dense or dry, but these were perfectly fluffy even after I stored them in an airtight container for 3 days for meal prep. Took me literally 10 minutes to mix up, total cook time was right on the 35 minute mark so no guessing. My 7 year old ate two for breakfast before school and asked if we can have them every week!
These are so good with my morning latte! I added a handful of white chocolate chips to half the batch for my roommate and we both agreed they’re better than the bakery down the street. Super easy too, I’m a total beginner baker and didn’t mess them up at all.
Solid recipe, but I found my muffins stuck to the paper liners a little bit. Did I do something wrong? Flavor was great, super fluffy, just the sticking issue was annoying when I brought them to my office brunch.
Made these for my neighbor’s block party last weekend and they were gone in 10 minutes flat! I topped mine with a little vanilla glaze and sprinkles for a fun pop, and people kept coming back for seconds. Can’t believe how easy they are for how impressive they turn out.
Perfect for my dorm meal prep! I don’t have a fancy mixer, just used a whisk and a bowl and they turned out fluffy as can be. Way cheaper than buying muffins from the campus cafe every morning, will be making these bi-weekly for sure.
Made these for family dinner last night as a side to our chili, and even my super picky teen said they were ‘actually not bad’ which is high praise coming from him. The vanilla flavor is just right, not overpowering at all.
Wait help—mine came out flat? I followed the recipe exactly, used fresh baking powder, oven temp was right, but they didn’t rise at all. What did I do wrong? They tasted okay just not fluffy like the pictures :(
OMG these are the perfect base muffin! I did a batch with blueberries, a batch with cinnamon streusel topping, and a plain batch, all turned out incredible. The texture is so light and fluffy, not dense like so many other muffin recipes I’ve tried. 10/10, new go-to.
I love that these aren’t overly sweet! I’ve been looking for a lower-sugar vanilla muffin recipe that I can grab on my way to early morning gym sessions, and these fit the bill perfectly. I swapped half the butter for Greek yogurt to add a little extra protein and they still came out so fluffy.