Honey Buttermilk Muffins

Warm and tender muffins, fresh from the oven are something which is welcome in my home any time of day. Generally speaking I will usually have one for breakfast if I am going to have one, but, in all truth, I would never turn a fresh muffin down!
Especially when they are as delicious as these Honey Buttermilk Muffins! Dense with a moist crumb from the buttermilk and sweetly flavored with honey, nutmeg and vanilla, they are a real treat without tasting like dessert! I adapted the recipe for use from another Canadian food blogger, The Kitchen Magpie.

Mine turned out a lot darker than hers. I am not sure why that is. Perhaps it is because I use organic unbleached sugar, which isn't totally white? I also used raw honey. Its hard to say as I am not that knowledgeable about such things.
What I can tell you for sure is that they are delicious. Perfect as perfect is as far as muffins go. Not too sweet, with a nice crumb and a bit of a tang from the buttermilk. Prepare to fall in love.
Honey Buttermilk Muffins

One thing I really love about muffins is that they are fairly quick and easy to prepare. You can mix up the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients (separately) the night before you want to bake them, leaving the dry ingredients lightly covered on the counter top and the wet in the refrigerator.

Just ready to quicky stir together and quickly bake when you get up in the morning. I speak with great authority on how much help the smell of baking muffins is when it comes to getting sleepy heads out of bed!

If my kids smelled something baking in the morning, they were always quick to rise and come down stairs. Muffins where like a magic wand for me in getting them up, at 'em and out the door on school mornings!!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE HONEY BUTTERMILK MUFFINS
Simple every day store cupboard and baking drawer ingredients! You will need either a 12 cup muffin tin to bake these or two six cup tins. I used tins with medium sized holes.

2 cups (264g) all purpose plain flour
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup (75.6g) of butter, melted
1/4 cup (85g) liquid honey
1 large free range egg, beaten lightly
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

If possible make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This is easily done by taking everything out of the fridge about half an hour prior to starting.
If you don't have buttermilk you can make a great substitute in one of two ways. You can stir together equal parts of whole yogurt and whole milk to combine, or you can add a TBS of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup and then fill it up with whole milk to the measure.
In both cases leave the mixture for five minutes prior to using so that it clabbers properly. (ie. curdles or clots.)

You are going to get the best nutmeg flavor if you grate your own. I always do. I keep whole nutmegs in my spice cupboard and then just grate it fresh whenever I need some. You will not believe the difference in flavor!
If all you have is solid honey, you can heat it up gently in the microwave to liquify it. Today I used half and half because I ran out of liquid honey. It worked perfectly.

HOW TO MAKE HONEY BUTTERMILK MUFFINS
Simple, simple, simple. They follow the rule of most quick breads. Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together. Combine thoroughly but lightly without overmixing. Easy Peazy.

Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/gas mark 5. Butter a 12 cup medium muffin tin really well, or line with paper liners.Whisk the flour, soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar together in a large bowl.Whisk the melted butter, honey, egg, buttermilk and vanilla together in a large beaker.Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients all at once. Stir together just to combine. Do not overmix. All of the dry ingredients should be moistened without any dry streaks. There will and should be lumps.Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, dividing it equally amongst the muffin cups. They should be about 3/4 filled.Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Do check them at 10 minutes to be sure. (Mine needed a bit longer. I would say about 18 minutes.) A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

HINTS AND TIPS FOR PERFECT MUFFINS
Muffins are not all that hard to make. The secret to a perfect muffins is proper mixing. Most muffins are prepared by first stirring the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and then the wet in another. A well is made in the center of the dry and the wet are added all at once.
Although sifting isn't necessary, do give the dry ingredients a good whisk to make sure all of the leavenings (soda and baking powder) are evenly distributed! There is nothing worse than catching a mouth full of soda or baking powder!
The most important thing to remember is NOT to OVERMIX the batter. Just stir everything together until the mixture is moistened without having any dry streaks. The batter will appear lumpy and this is perfectly okay! In fact it is desirable.
If overmixed, the muffins will have undesirable characteristics, such as being touch and having too many tunnels. What you are looking for is a rounded muffin with a uniformly shaped top that is free from peaks.
The crust should be golden brown, tender, shiny, and pebbled or slightly rough. That is the perfect muffin.

This was a nice muffin, plain and simple. The nutmeg was not overwhelming. You could taste the honey which went very well with the tang of the buttermilk!
They were light and came out with a perfect texture. They are delicious split open and spread with butter, or . . . dare I suggest it? A bit of jam or marmalade? There, I said it. I don't apologize. If you are going to have a bit of a treat for your breakfast, why not go all the way!

Some other delicious muffin recipes which I have baked in here that you might enjoy are:

SPECIAL K BREAKFAST MUFFINS -These are the PERFECT breakfast muffins. Quick and easy to make. Delicious. I highly recommend. Simple and filled with fiber. You can use ordinary Special K cereal, or you can be a bit more extravagant and use one of the varieties which contain fruit. This recipe makes half a dozen fabulous muffins.

ULTIMATE BUTTERMILK BRAN MUFFINS - I think one of my favorite types of muffin of all the types of muffins you can get today are plain old fashioned Bran Muffins. There is nothing pretentious about them. They are simple and they are delicious. This recipe for Buttermilk Bran Muffins is especially delicious, yielding a muffin that is super moist and delicious, with a well rounded top. You cannot go wrong with one of these!

Yield: 12Author: Marie Rayner