Customer Reviews

The Joy of Muffins: The International Muffin Cook Book

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book! It has been the joy of my kitchen for a year and I'm completely satisfied with it.

The recipes are very diverse, original and accurate. This is the first book on baking, in which sugar content is reasonable(!), so you get perfect muffins, not too sweet. Indeed the authers suggest using butter in all recipes, but you can substitute it for canola oil without any harm to the taste or texture. I also put at least 50% whole-wheat flour to make the muffins more healthy.

Some recipes are for 20 or 24 muffins, so you have to cut down the proportions twice if you just want a dozen.

This book contains numerous recipes ranging from hot to tangy to savory to sweet and covering just about every type of grain ingredient you might imagine. Not for the calorie conscious,however. I've got several muffin cookbooks, and this is by far the best single volume for the aspiring muffin cook I've run into.

THE JOY OF MUFFINS by Genevieve Farrow and Diane Dreher is an excellent small spiral-bound book (I take mine on vacation) full of muffin recipes from around the world.
Content sections are: Morning Muffins (whose recipe sections are Apple 4, Oat Bran 10, Banana 2, Blueberry 3, Bran 9, Main Course Muffins for Breakfast 3, A Miscellaney of Morning Muffins 7), Between-Meal Muffins 37, Main Course Muffins 33, Muffins for Dessert 9, A Miscellany of Dessert Muffins 26, and Microwave Muffins 8. Some recipes may fit more than one category so there may be slightly fewer recipes than a total of all the whole would suggest.

I agree with the reviewer who wrote that the recipes are accurate and the instructions are complete and accurate. The muffins I've made from the book's recipes have been delicious and easy. I like very moist muffins so I use canola oil instead of butter. And I agree with the reviewer that the recipes are generous. The first recipe I used was one that made 12 muffins. When I portioned them into a 12-muffin plaque and baked them, the results were drier than I like, so since then I have been baking fewer but larger muffins and I'm very happy with the result.

This is a terrific book that is reasonably priced, especially considering that one can find used copies in excellent condition.

This book has many good muffin recipes. It has many international recipes that are very good. The recipes are not low in fat though, using oil, shortening, or butter. They taste great though, and if you know how to make adjustments for lower-fat versions, then you're in business. Even with the full fat content, if you realize the fat content of one muffin, it is not all that bad, since moderation not elimination is the key to a healty diet. I highly recommend this book.