Muffins that elusive cousin of the cupcake that doesn’t ever turn out as pretty and perfect. Luckily, I have mastered the secrets to perfect muffins. Are you ready to be a muffin master?
If you follow along with our kitchen adventures on social media, earlier this week you saw a perfect bakery style blueberry muffins fresh from my oven. Well I’m here to tell you, that you too can get these amazing awesome results in your muffins if you use these 3 secrets! They aren’t hard to do, just a little different than what you’ll find in most recipes.
First secret, start with a good flour. We’re talking King Arthur, Bob’s Red Mill or another premium brand. Now why is this important you might ask? Well just like a good wine or a good craft brew, you’re getting a better structured flour. Your recipe has to have good bones to reach those lofty bakery style heights! Also, I never sift my flour before using but I do make sure to whisk it. We all know sifting is that task you give to your youngest helper because they can’t possibly mess it up. So, just get rid of that screechy hunk of metal and opt for your whisk instead. This aerates your flour in the same manner as a sifter, but it’s quicker and less mess.
Are you ready for the second secret? This one seems like a lot of extra work and planning but it is oh so important. That’s chilling your batter in the fridge for at least 1 hour before baking. Haven’t you ever wondered how bakeries have fresh baked goods all day long? That’s because they prep their dough ahead of time and bake as needed. Allowing your dough to rest and chill in the fridge develops flavor while allowing the flour to absorb moisture properly. Using this secret also will allow you to have fresh muffins for breakfast without all the mess. Just prep them the night before and bake fresh in the morning.
Now it is time for the final most important secret!! Are you ready? To get those gorgeous high domed bakery style muffins you have to bake them differently than you’ve ever read in any recipe. First fill your muffin cups almost all the way to the top! Since you’ll be baking them differently, they won’t spill over. Just trust me!
You have to start with a really hot oven and bake them for a short time to get that lift, then turn down the temperature to continue baking.
Regardless of the recipe’s directions, start your muffins off in a 425 degree oven and bake them for 6-10 minutes or until they pop those gorgeous domes of theirs over the top of your muffin cups. Then without opening the oven door (DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR) turn the temp down to 350 degrees and continue to bake until your muffins are done. That could be anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the muffins. Jumbos for example, take 10-15 minutes at 425 and then another 10-15 at 350 before they’re done. Regular size muffins will take less time to bake as there is less batter.
I promise that if you follow these 3 secrets to baking muffins, that you toobakery secret will get gorgeous bakery style muffins from your very own oven at home!! Try out my secrets and share your muffin pics on social media with the #Rosiediscovers so I can share your baking results.
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*For these muffins, I used King Arthur Flour’s recipe. I did make 4 changes, first I used only 2 cups WHOLE blueberries, second buttermilk instead of milk, no sugar sprinkled on top and I made jumbo muffins. This recipe made 7 perfect jumbo muffins.