buttermilk-cinnamon mini muffins

Small is beautiful. A classic muffin in its is already quite a big chunk to eat. You can easily have it as a breakfast or an afternoon pie. But the little sister "mini" is a snack that you can eat all day long. With a cup of coffee or tea. Between two meetings, classes or patients. Or in the evening in front of the television. Below is the recipe for easy buttermilk-cinnamon mini muffins. But of course you can vary with spices and flavors to your heart's content. Read more about muffins, recipe ideas and buttermilk below the recipe.

The difference between mini muffins and classic muffins

In this case, size really matters. Mini muffins are of course much smaller than the larger standard muffins. As a rule, you can count on a ratio of about one to three. This means that a recipe for 8 large muffins can make 24 mini muffins. You can adjust the ingredients linearly between the different muffin sizes.

Because they are smaller, the baking time for mini muffins is of course shorter. Depending on the recipe and the temperature at which you bake, the mini muffins will vary between 15 and a maximum of 20 minutes. Also check your oven regularly. Just because they are so small, they might turn hard or roasted quite fast.

Do you have to use mini muffin papers or a cold?

Paper forms for mini muffins do exist. But I always bake muffins, and certainly mini muffins without a paper directly in the greased mold. In the photo carousel below you can see the 24 mini muffin mold I used for this recipe. Just let them cool down a few minutes after you retire them from the oven. Then you can easily remove them from the mold without breaking them.

So, for muffins@home I always use the mold without paper forms. However, situation might be different when you transport them or share with people outside your household. Then I would advise to use the papers, as they protect against breaking. And if you meet with other people, hygienic measures also become much more important. For both reasons, it is preferable to use muffins papers. That is also the reason why they will be wrapped in paper in your local bakery.

Create different flavors for your mini muffins

For these buttermilk-cinnamon mini muffins we opted for nutmeg in the batter and a topping with cinnamon and sugar. But of course you can vary endlessly with extra flavors.

You can of course also use the classic seasoning in the dough right away. A tablespoon of cinnamon or gingerbread spices will also do great in these mini muffins. Other tasty options include chocolate chips, dried fruit or ground nuts. Other classics are jam, chocolate, Biscoff spread and even lemon curd. Also some zest of a lemon gives your muffins a very unique taste.

I would be careful with the usage of fresh fruit like blueberries in mini muffins. On the one hand, they bring a lot of moisture, and of course they also take up much more space in a mini muffin, percentage wise. The result could be that the muffin is not stable and falls apart.

More surprising.muffin

Apart from our buttermilk-cinnamon mini muffins you can find thousands and thousands of muffin recipes on the world wide. I had the inspiration for this recipe from runcible eats, an Irish blog. But on surprising.recipes we also have some more great muffin recipe ideas:

• Easy Flemish gingerbread muffins
• Delicious Halloween pumpkins
• Sweet potato muffins
• Saint Nicholas peppernuts (you might also bake them as a muffin).

About Muffins

Muffins find their origin in the United States. They are small sandwiches or cakes for one person. In England, they are originally known as cupcakes: cakes that are baked in a cup. Traditionally cupcakes are prepared as sweet cakes. Muffins on the contrary are more hearty with fruits and so. But meanwhile both names are used for all these kinds of cakes.

Often you will see muffins with a paper sheet. But this is not necessary. In earlier times they used the papers to prevent them from sticking to the mold. But nowadays the materials for the molds are so good that the risk of stickiness in none when you grease well. The paper is not really needed anymore, unless for hygienic reasons.
Did you know that the first cupcake recipe was found in a cookbook of 1828? And that you can find these recipes still on the internet nowadays? If you want to make a cupcake with a recipe from 1828, you can try these ones:

• New York cupcake
• ginger cupcake

About buttermilk

What is buttermilk? Originally buttermilk is the byproduct that is remaining when making butter from milk. Hence the name buttermilk. It has a lot of flavours and no fat, as the fat goes into the butter. In the days before refrigeration, it kept longer than normal milk. So it was very useful in cooking.

Nowadays it is not a byproduct anymore. But it is made directly by injecting pasteurized milk with the cultures that transform it to buttermilk. And as you can imagine, different kinds of buttermilk can be made from no-fat over low-fat to full fat. Depending on your calorie preferences.

One big advantage of buttermilk is that it keeps longer than normal milk. And as there is so much usage for it, chances are good that you will never have to throw leftovers away. By the way, you may also like these American ricotta-lemon pancakes with buttermilk!

You want to learn more about buttermilk? Then you might want to read these articles:

• What is buttermilk? Where it comes from and how to use it (Southernliving)
• Is buttermilk good for you? Benefits, risks and substitutes (Healthline)
• What is buttermilk (The spruce eats)

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.