One Common Mistake Will Seriously Ruin Your Muffins

There are countless varieties of muffins running the gamut from savory to sweet, but the appetizing common denominator is a tender and slightly crumbly texture. Most recipes are simple enough that even a culinary newbie can get through them, but mistakes can be made. One rookie mistake is filling every cup in the muffin tin with batter. Yet, according to Laura Kanya, a research & development chef at Ann Clark Ltd., there is an even bigger blunder that guarantees disaster before the batter ever hits the muffin liners.

Kanya laid bare the simple process for perfecting every batch of muffins. "Avoid overmixing the batter, fill the muffin batter ¾ full and bake at high temperature (reducing to a lower after 10 minutes or so)," she said. "These key factors will get that nice peak that are full muffins."

Only filling the cups partway makes sense as they need room to rise in the oven, but what exactly does overmixing the batter do? "Overmixing results in a tough, dense muffin," Kanya said. "Dense" is certainly not a descriptor you want to hear or experience with these baked goods. The culprit behind that density is gluten. "When you combine liquid and dry ingredients together, gluten starts to form," she said. "This is a protein network that if you mix too much will get too strong and tight, especially with a higher protein flour like all-purpose or bread flour." The term "overmixing" is a bit subjective to those who aren't expert bakers, but you can find the sweet spot by observing visual cues in the batter when making it.

Muffin mix is one of the most finicky batters to get right. One thing that will help you concentrate on the task is planning ahead and having everything you need ready to go. "The key is to have your oven on, all ingredients measured out," Kanya said. "Then add your wet ingredients into your dry, mixing about ¾ of the way (still see visible flour) before adding in your inclusions/add-ins." If you aren't including in any extras, you want the batter to be free of any visible raw flour, but who wants muffins without mix-ins like blueberries or chocolate?

Let's face it: Muffins without little treats stashed inside are really just cute hunks of bread. Kanya said, "I think the muffin also needs adequate sweetness to balance the whole recipe." If you mix the batter thoroughly so it is oven-ready before tossing in your goodies, the act of folding those additions in can result in a dense disappointment. However, even if the batter is blended just shy of complete, as Kanya described, you don't want to use a heavy hand when incorporating extras, as tempting as that might be. "When giving add-ins such as frozen fruit it's best not to add too much, or [it] will result in a dense and gummy muffin," she said. Even the best mix-ins won't fix that mistake.