This is basically a late 19th century muffin recipe with a bit more sugar. Certainly a nice addition to afternoon tea.
For those not familiar with muffins of the 19th century and earlier, these are not the kind of muffins cooked in modern muffin pans. For these, think English Muffins or crumpets. They are “baked” in rings on a flat griddle. Before the late 19th century, these almost always used yeast to make them light. In the 19th century, as baking powder and baking soda became more accepted, we see them used in muffin recipes.
And of course, here is the typical early recipe, with about zero instructions.[1]
I reviewed a few other similar recipes to put together the instructions for this one.
The texture on these comes out very similar to pancakes, which is hardy surprising, given the similarity of the recipes. They made a nice breakfast with a bit of homemade apricot preserves.
Puffets for tea
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 cups milk
- 6 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Start a griddle heating. Ideal is 350-375F
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs well, then slowly pour in the melted butter while continuing to beat.
- Beat in the milk and sugar until dissolved.
- Gradually beat in the flour, until you have a moderately thick batter. It should be a bit thicker than a typical pancake batter.
- Place greased muffin rings on the griddle, and fill them 1/2 to 2/3 of the way.
- Bake for approx 5-7 minutes until browned, then remove the rings and flip.
- Bake for another 5 minutes.
Notes
This recipe will make approximately 24 muffins. I cut the recipe to 1/3 which made 8 very nice muffins.
When cooking the first side, when bubbles break the surface and stay open, this is a good indication that the muffins are ready to flip.
