I recently heard someone ask about the current state of the muffin. You don't hear much about muffins nowadays, they pointed out. It’s all bagels, bagels, bagels.
I was aghast. Like Noah’s Ark, there is room in my heart for all baked goods, but muffins hold a special spot. Soft and tender, crunchy and crackly, studded with berries or packed with bran, they may not be the most groundbreaking bake, but they’re the versatile, shape-shifting, perfectly portable food we all need. I demand we give them their respect.
Our Test Kitchen is way ahead of me with their recent recipe for Easy Chocolate Chip Muffins, which are simple enough to stir together on a sleepy weekend morning; they also stay moist for days from the sour cream and oil in the batter, so you can make a batch to carry you through a busy work week.
With over 650 perfect five-star reviews, these Famous Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins are perhaps the most beloved muffins on our site — they even got a recent shoutout from the one and only Samin Nosrat. For more ways to use your summer produce in a muffin, we have this peach version, this zucchini version, and this chocolatey zucchini version.
I’m also partial to a good old-fashioned Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin, which my hometown coffee shop used to make with a filling of lemon curd hidden deep inside. Divine! But if you’re the sort of person who looks at that recipe and says it’s just cake for breakfast (it is), these hearty Morning Glory Muffins are a more substantial way to start your day — they’re made with whole wheat flour, grated carrots and apples, shredded coconut, and plenty of nuts and seeds.
Also! Exciting news: We have a brand new “Notes” feature on our recipe pages that functions like a virtual recipe card — you can jot down thoughts on bake times, pan conversions, oven temps, or secret ingredients to remember the next time you bake a recipe. Find it at the bottom of each recipe page, and let us know what you think!
