The Ultimate Muffin Book: More Than 600 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Muffins

This is the eighth `Ultimate' cookbook title for authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. Others have been on chocolate cookies, potatoes, brownies, shrimp, candy, ice cream, and party drinks. This is the first of this series I have reviewed and I sense the format works much better for a subject like muffins, brownies, and chocolate cookies, where all recipes have a lot in common than it does for potatoes or candy, where there is a large variation in cooking techniques.The cover announces that the book contains over 600 recipes for sweet and savory muffins. This blurb may be misleading in two ways. First, there are only 100 full-page recipes, with each recipe expanded by up to eight (8) variations, and each variation is treated as a recipe. The potential number of preparations may go well beyond the 600 if you combine the 100 basic recipes with the ten (10) toppings (icings) recipes, giving a thousand variations. For sure, some toppings will simply not go with some muffins, but you get the idea.By `muffin', the authors mean the classic American muffin that is a chemically leavened quickbread baked in a muffin tin, developing a domelike cap, and typically not iced. Unlike a cupcake, muffin recipes are meant to stand on their own, so they typically have more moisture and more flavor than the cupcake, since the icing is what usually carries the water for a cupcake. The authors specifically exclude the `English' muffin that is an entirely different animal.The very best part of this book is the first chapter, `Making Muffins' which includes just about every tip you could possibly imagine regarding muffins, plus important notes on equipment and ingredients. The authors get double points from me for including the simple recipe for making your own baking powder and for the suggestion to use powdered buttermilk. I had already discovered this product, but this is a boon to everyone who buys a quart of buttermilk to make a batch of biscuits or muffins and has ¾ of the quart go bad in two weeks. The authors are probably a little conservative with their estimates of the shelf life of baking soda and baking powder, although I will take proper note of their warning about measuring the life of baking powder from the date you open the can. Personally, I have successfully used an open can of baking powder for 6 months after opening. I also suspect the shelf life of baking powder is a lot longer than their 3 months. Unlike the mixture baking powder, baking soda is a simple inorganic chemical, almost as inert as salt unless it is added to an acidic liquid. The warning against using baking soda that has been used as a refrigerator deodorizer is not based on its loss of efficacy but is based on the noxious odors it may bring to the party.The 100 primary recipes are arranged alphabetically, which, in this type of book, is a really good idea until you get to recipes which are not named according to their distinguishing ingredient, as in `Basic Muffin' and `Mexican Muffin'. Otherwise, this is excellent for a book you will go to a few times a year for holiday recipes, bake sales, and special brunches. This organization is supplemented by a cross-reference of recipes by most important characteristic other than the dominant flavoring. This groups, for example, all bran, cornmeal, chocolate, gluten-free, and low fat recipes together.Considering the amount of detail given in the introduction cited above, the individual recipes are still quite detailed, with a prudent repetition of some of the more important warnings, such as the caution to use room temperature eggs and melted, but not too hot butter in the preparation.Any fault found with this book would never rise above the level of nit picking, as the book is so successful at being a guide to baking good muffins. One nit I must pick with the copy editor is the use of the term `silicon' baking tins where the authors surely meant `silicone'. What is meant was a flexible, stick-resistant plastic. What was said was glass. The authors did a great service in warning us about the fact that the volumes of muffin tins often vary and different sizes can mean different baking times. I think they could have improved this point and some others by a few simple pictures. In the `room for improvement' category, a cross-reference of recipes to holidays and seasons would have been keen, especially as there are some recipes for less well known Jewish holiday occasions (See Haroseth muffins, p. 98). The writing is not quite as entertaining as Jim Villas' quips in his book `Biscuit Bliss', but then, these authors are not Jim Villas. Get both books. There is no overlap, as both authors stay on message very well.This is an excellent treatment of a subject that works well with this approach. This gives us a great reference, saving us the journey through half a dozen other books for just the right muffin recipe.

Great book .Loved the variety. I turned it into a spiral bound… Perfection!

Too much of the same. Just small additions are claimed to be another recipe. Better recipes at allrecipes for muffins.

All the recipes are great and there are lots of instructions for variations!

I ordered this book because I love muffins. There are tons of recipes, but I find that the muffins are a lot of work and they do not work well. For example, the pumpkin muffin recipe was dry and needed a bit more baking powder or baking soda. I just made the almond muffins and the cooking temp was set at 400 for 20 minutes. I cooked them for 15 minutes and they were way overdone.. It was also a lot of work grinding and tosting the almonds. I am disappointed by this book and will be trying to find another one.

The recipes may be great, but without pictures it's like reading a textbook. Who makes a cookbook without mouthwatering pictures?

she got it last week and likes it a lot.

I've had this book for about 9 months now and I've made at least a dozen different recipes from the book. All were good. I bake muffins most weekends because I want my teenaged son to have something easy to grab for breakfast, that's relatively healthy, as he runs out the door for school. His favorites are the banana muffins. We also like the peanut butter muffins (I add 3/4 cup peanut butter chips), pumpkin muffins, bran muffins, carrot muffins and others. These recipes are robust enough to handle substitutions and additions. There is such a variety of recipes that I can always fine one to make with ingredients I have on hand. The basic techniques and instructions are very good. I typically substitute half the regular flour with whole wheat pastry flour and they come out just fine. Also, since my husband has cholesterol issues, I substitute an equal amount of healthy oil for the melted butter, and again, they come out just fine and taste good. One note: my oven seems to run a little hotter than the authors', so I set my oven temperature to 385 degrees instead of 400 and check the muffins 2 minutes earlier than the recommended baking time. Ovens vary and you may need to experiment a little yourself.And in response to everyone who complains about the lack of photos: honestly, one muffin looks like another. You don't need photos to make a muffin that tastes delicious.This is good practical versatile collection of muffin recipes and I highly recommend it.

Really a great zucchini muffin recipe and I can't wait to use the other recipes.

There are TONS of yummy recipes in this book! However, there are no pictures whatsoever.

I love this cookbook so much that I bought one for my best friend. She kept asking for my muffin recipes so I knew she would love it as much as I love mine.

Absolutely amazing cookbook. The sausage pizza muffins are RIDICULOUS! I have made them twice already! I have a habit of putting little markers in to mark what I would like to make from cookbooks. I need to take the markers out, because everything looks fascinating. Next up, the corndog muffins and root beer float muffins.

a lot of real good recipes

Lots of recipes to pick from....my go to book when I want to make muffins.

Good recipes although I don't like to look for them in alphabetical order.

What a great book for muffin making! I was so impressed with the care and detail given to each and every recipe. There is such a great variety of recipes from sweet to savory to variations on basic muffins. It is obvious that a lot of thought, work and research went into producing this book. I commend the authors on their excellent work in producing this. Having said all this, I must confess that I'm gluten free but the book gave me so many ideas for muffins (including several GF recipes). One of the outstanding features of the book is the detail given to ingredients - what they are and where to find them. And, too, the baking tips were the best I've found in many a cookbook. It is fun to go through the recipes and then see the many variations of each one (i.e., a muffin recipe followed by variations, ingredient additions, etc. Many thanks to the authors for the great book.

I purchased this cookbook after reading the introduction. The introduction alone made it sound like they got all the recipes right. But after making just 2 recipes, I found I was mistaken. I made the chocolate chip and corn muffin recipes. For each one the recipes should be pretty simple and should come out moist and soft. But they both turned out to be hard and dry. Maybe the sour cream in both had something to do with it. Will try it again omitting the sour cream next time. I'm giving this cookbook 2 stars because of the variations they have in making muffins, but the two recipes I've tried I would give this cookbook 1 star.

I actually was going to return this book. I do not like cookbooks that do not include pictures, granted these are all muffins but still I like to compare mine to what they are suppose to look like. Plus, the pages are all faded and yellow so that along with no pictures made this book look very cheaply made. There are some good recipes in there, but nothing I cant find online for free.

I like the book and the many suggestions for variations. Recipes baked up well, but some adjustments to baking time were needed. Lowfat recipes were also tasty. Overall, I am very satisfied with the purchase of this book and recommend it to all muffin makers!

There's a muffin in here for every occasion. I've tried several so far, and their variations, all of them have turned out delicious! If you're concerned about health, there's low-fat, low-sugar, and whole wheat options. If you want something a little more sinful you have to try the chocolate-chocolate chip muffins or the pinneapple-upside-down muffins. There's even cheddar muffins or pizza muffins for Italian night. Even though I've tried several of them, there are still so many more to try, although I think I'll skip the Earl Grey Tea muffins (to each their own). I also found the section in the front, that includes several muffin making tips, useful. It helped me understand why my muffins always turn out so tough. If you love muffins (or even just like them) you'll want to own this book!