Muffins are a type of small American treats, similar to mini cakes. They can be served hot, cold, warm, covered with butter.
But they are tastiest on the day of their preparation. They are perfect for breakfast and look very beautiful. To make your own terrific muffins, you need to use cold, hard butter from the fridge.
The muffin dough needs to be stirred very gently, it must not appear to be lumpy or mixed inadequately. It's best to use a fork for stirring.
Once the muffins are baked, they will have risen and come off easily from the muffin cups, they are elastic to the touch and have a beautiful golden crust.
You can check the readiness of the dough using a toothpick which you stick in the middle of the muffin. If the toothpick comes out of the muffin without any dough stuck to it, it's ready.
Remove the ready muffins from the cups immediately because if you leave them in their bottoms will become moist. But if they have a filling of cream or jam, leave them for a few minutes in the cups.
Cold muffins can be frozen and stored in the freezer for 3 months. Wrap them in a plastic bag, squeeze out the air and leave them in the freezer.
To thaw them, remove the bag, wrap every muffin in foil, put them in the oven, preheated to 390°F (200°C), and bake for 20 min.
Do not thaw muffins in the microwave because they will fall apart and their filling will run out. If you thaw them in a regular oven, they will be as if freshly baked.
To maintain muffins' freshness longer, you can smear them with a colorful sugar glaze or buttercream. To avoid a dry crust from forming on top, after baking you can smear them with a knob of butter or honey.
