There’s an infinite number of ways to achieve a perfectly perky muffin, from not overmixing batter to using jumbo molds or fancy industrial ovens. But as a former professional baker, I’m here to share one more trick that helps muffins rise to the occasion. And it all has to do with how you fill—scratch that—how you don’t fill the muffin tin.
I learned this clever practice when I worked at Levain Bakery in New York City. Instead of filling every cavity, like most recipes tell you to, use every other cavity. At the bakery, we’d generously spray the pans with Pam, add fat plops of batter, and be rewarded with super-domed muffins. Kind of like an Alice in Wonderland toadstool, only made of tender cake and studded with jammy blueberries.
Though I never got access to Levain’s top-secret cookie recipe, learning this muffin trick was the next best thing. It’s missing from most cookbooks I’ve read—have you seen this anywhere before? Let me know in the comments—but with enough digging, I found a couple mentions from sources who take their muffins very seriously.
“Alternate the filled muffin openings with the empty ones as much as possible to allow space for the tops of the muffins to spread,” writes cookbook author and pastry chef Elinor Klivans in her big-top corn muffins recipe featured in Fearless Baking: Over 100 Recipes That Anyone Can Make.
In Good to the Grain, Kim Boyce details using the skip-a-space strategy at Campanile in Los Angeles under the helm of esteemed chef and baker Nancy Silverton. “We’d alternate the cups, filling every second cup and leaving the others empty. This meant that there was enough room for the muffins to have rounded tops and crusty edges without crowding into each other.” Boyce goes on to explain that due to better air circulation, all the muffins baked evenly.
Rest the batter
In her recipe for Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins, Michelle Lopez lets the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour. At the bakery, we’d chill it overnight. Either way, “the starch molecules [in the flour] are absorbing the moisture, so the batter becomes more thick and viscous. You’ll notice after you rest and scoop, it holds its shape much better,” Lopez explained when I reached out about the mechanics of Levain’s muffins and her reverse-engineered version. What’s more? Resting allows for two more reactions in the batter: The gluten relaxes and the leavening agents stretch their rising abilities. The result is a mountainous exterior with a sleeping-on-a-cloud interior.
Use a big scoop
Forget what you’ve been told about filling each muffin hole two-thirds of the way. Instead, imagine the most perfectly round scoop of ice cream perched atop a wafer cone. The bakery tool to achieve that is a 4-ounce disher scoop, like this one. The batter should mound slightly above the lip—if your intuition tells you the cavity is overfilled, don’t listen!
Start the oven on high
Bake your muffins at 400°F for the first 5 minutes, then drop the temperature to the more standard 350°F for the remainder of the bake time. This method sparks the leavening agents (especially baking powder) in the batter to react quicker, creating that gorgeously risen top.
Granted, by using these pro tips, you will produce a smaller yield than what a recipe states (instead of a dozen, you’ll probably get nine.) But riddle me this: Would you rather have 12 meh muffins or nine stud muffins?
Perfect Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Whole Grain Sweet Potato Muffins
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Apple Muffins
It's here: Our game-changing guide to everyone's favorite room in the house. Your Do-Anything Kitchen gathers the smartest ideas and savviest tricks—from our community, test kitchen, and cooks we love—to help transform your space into its best self.
Grab your copy
Written by: Justine Lee
Popular on Food52
24 Comments
Adapted from her website -
Make from scratch batter and Cover your batter tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can go overnight as well). Preheat your oven to 425F. (Ignore the typical 350) and place muffins in top 1/3 of oven. Spray the top of your muffin pan with non-stick spray. Line the pan with cupcake/muffin liners. The batter will be thick, gently stir but don't overmix or deflate. Fill the muffin papers and leave about 1/8". If you have empty cavities in your muffin tin (not enough batter), remove the liner and add 1/2 cup water in each. Bake 6-9 minutes at 425. She says the high heat will cause the batter to have great oven spring or rapid rise for first few minutes. The muffins should be about a 1/4″-1/2″ above the paper. That’s the sign the heat can be turned down. Reduce heat to 350 but do not open door and bake for 6-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out barely clean (crumbs are OK). *Note: this will depend on your actual recipe. Remove from oven and cool on rack a couple of minutes then remove from pan and cool on rack. This will prevent the sides from becoming soggy.
Baking soda only acts once. Batters leavened with it should be baked as soon as is possible after the soda is added in order to make the best use of the leavening action.
Baking powders are sold as either single- or double-acting; most of what's available in grocery stores is double-acting. Batters leavened with double-acting powder might benefit from resting. Baking powders containing SAS (sodium aluminum sulfate) react with both liquid and heat. Most of the rising happens during heating, so batters leavened with these powders can fairly safely rest and will benefit from thickening during resting. Non-aluminum baking powders are activated by liquid; most of the CO2 is released before baking, so letting batters leavened this way rest for too long is risky.
It's worth noting that many aluminum-free baking powders contain cornstarch, which will help to thicken the batter a bit.
I find that if I let a muffin batter rest, it's best to add any fruit (tossed w/flour) after resting in order to avoid extra liquid seeping out of the fruit into the batter.
Join The Conversation