"The key to making great muffins is not overmixing the batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added to the dry, mix the batter by hand just until the flour is moistened, for no more than about ten seconds. Too much mixing can cause the muffins to be dry, tough or misshapen."

Servings: 12

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, or 2.25 cups pastry flour, sifted
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg (or 2 medium)
4 oz or 118 grams butter or 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Unwrap the butter and heat it in the microwave, in a microwave-safe bowl, for about 30 sec. until it's thoroughly melted. Set it aside at room temperature to cool, but don't let it solidify again.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add the sugar, milk and vanilla to the eggs.
5. Thoroughly grease a muffin pan (or use paper muffin liners).
6. Pour a tiny bit of the melted butter into the egg-vanilla-milk mixture and stir it in. Repeat 3-4 more times, adding a slightly larger amount of the liquid butter each time until it is all incorporated.
7. IMPORTANT: Don't add hot melted butter to the egg mixture as the heat from the butter would cook the egg, and that's not what you want to do!
8. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix no more than ten seconds. The batter should be visibly lumpy, and you may see pockets of dry flour. That's OK! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter, or the resulting muffins will be too hard.
9. Gently pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake immediately.
10. TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter must be baked right away.
11. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Notes:

If you want to spruce your muffins up a little bit, here's a recipe for a Cinnamon Streusel topping: This cinnamon streusel takes just seconds to mix up in a food processor, or you can just mix it up in a bowl using a fork. Then just sprinkle it over muffins right before baking. It's that easy!
Ingredients: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 stick unsalted butter 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.
Preparation: Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Alternately, you can mash the ingredients together in a bowl using a fork, or just smoosh everything together with your fingers. Sprinkle over muffins or coffee cake immediately before baking.

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