The BEST Vanilla Muffins

I said it…these are the BEST vanilla muffins. Perfectly fluffy and bouncy, a gorgeous, crispy muffin top and noticeable vanilla flavor. The perfect base muffin recipe to adapt into other flavors. 

I really try not to call my recipes “the BEST” because there’s like a million out there that claim to be the best and aren’t so the term really lost its value lol. BUT I am actually obsessed with these easy vanilla muffins. 

Long story short, I tested A LOT of recipes and I always struggled with getting that perfect muffin texture. Then one of my readers asked me for a vanilla butter muffin… which would have never crossed my mind to make. 

I also normally used oil in my muffins so I got to work on this vanilla muffin made with butter. I think I got lucky or something because it only took two tries this time and OMG I think I’ve eaten more muffins in the last couple of weeks than I have in my whole life. 

What makes these simple vanilla muffins so great:

• Uses melted butter so no mixer required!
• Super easy muffin recipe that takes 5 minutes to make (minus waiting time).
• HUGE crispy muffin top, because that’s the best part.
• The perfect base to add in chocolate chips, blueberries, lemon zest, all your favorite things. 

This recipe was adapted into SO MANY variations, that’s how obsessed I am with it. I made carrot cake, blueberry, strawberry crumble, pumpkin, banana bread and more.

Ingredients

• Flour: I use all purpose flour in most of my recipes and I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured. 
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda: We’re going to need both here and a lot of them to get that gorgeous muffin top.
• Sugar: please don’t cut the sugar… 🙂
• Butter: I like to use salted butter but unsalted also works, just add ½ tsp of salt. 
• Eggs: I use room temperature, large eggs. Pop them in hot water for a few minutes if they’re cold.
• Greek Yogurt/Milk/Cream: I found my favorite combination to be half greek yogurt and half heavy whipping cream. I know it’s weird, most people don’t use cream in muffins but I promise it’s so good.
  • If you don’t want to use cream and you want to use milk, I would sub the greek yogurt for sour cream. The higher fat content helps keep these muffins more tender and moist. That said, you can also do greek yogurt and milk for a slightly healthier option. They’ll be good, especially right away but they might dry out a little quicker. 
• Vanilla: When I want a strong vanilla flavor, I usually combine two forms of vanilla. Here I did 1 tsp of artificial vanilla extract with ¼ tsp of vanilla powder (I make vanilla powder from dried out vanilla beans in a food processor).
  • You can also do pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, I’ve used both of those in this recipe as well. 

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar: let the butter cool a little before combining with the sugar.
2. Whisk in the eggs: this is important; whisk in one egg at a time for about 30 seconds, until it’s completely combined, pale and fluffy. Then add another egg, etc. 
3. Add the dairy: whisk in the greek yogurt and vanilla until it’s smooth, then add the room temperature cream and whisk until it’s smooth.
4. Add the dry ingredients: whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the wet ingredients until they’re completely combined.
5. Rest the batter: another important step – Cover the bowl and let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour. This allows the gluten to relax and the leaveners to get a head start. (If you’re in a rush, 30 minutes is fine but definitely don’t go past 90 minutes or you’ll get a wonky bake).
6. Fill the muffin tins: all the way to the top rim and top with ½-1 tsp of granulated sugar to make a crunchy muffin top.
7. Bake: for five minutes at 425F and then reduce oven temperature to 375F and bake for another 10 minutes. 

How to store vanilla muffins

I LOVE the crispy muffin top but if you store these in an airtight container, you lose that crispiness. So I leave them out overnight and then after the first night, I store them in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for 2-3 days.

You can also refrigerate them for up to a week or freeze them and bring them back to room temperature before serving but again, you’ll lose that crisp muffin top. 

How to freeze muffins

Bakes stay more fresh when they’re frozen. Place muffins in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to a couple of months. Bring back to room temperature before serving. 

Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below. Make sure to leave it in the comment section because I can’t answer in the rating section :).

If you make this vanilla muffin recipe I would love to see it so make sure to tag me @baranbakery on instagram!

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B