English Muffins with Whipped Fall Butters – Homemade English muffins go great with a fun flavored whipped butter, whether it’s pumpkin butter, cinnamon raisin butter, or gingerbread butter.
Bread making is one of my favor things. You just don’t get any better than warm, homemade bread. It’s super soft, yet crisp on the outside and the smells coming from the kitchen are intoxicating.
I am always looking for new bread recipes to try. So when I saw this recipe for homemade English muffins, I just had to give it a try. But to make it even more fun, I made some new fall whipped butters to go along with them.
A few years ago, I introduced you to whipped pumpkin butter (which I made for these muffins). In addition, I made cinnamon raisin butter and gingerbread butter. A spread of these butters on a warm English muffins is like a fun twist of cinnamon toast. It’s spicy, warm, and so comforting.
Here are my English Muffins with Whipped Fall Butters!
Making the English muffins
The dough for English muffins is nothing unique. It’s made with flour, salt, yeast, milk, water, and a little butter and sugar. Those ingredients are formed into a dough and kneaded until soft and elastic. The dough is left to rise for an hour or so.
Next, the dough is divided into 12 even balls and rolled into a smooth ball. They are placed on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal and covered with plastic wrap. Another baking sheet is placed on top very gently. Gravity will press the sheet into the dough balls and flatten them into their final shape. Place them in the fridge to slowly rise overnight. This chill time also develops the flavor of the yeast to make the bread extra yummy.
Cooking the muffins
Traditionally, English muffins are cooking entirely on a skillet or griddle. However, this can lead to uneven baking and raw centers. So we just sear them on the skillet to give them those nice, brown tops and then finish baking them in the oven.
Remove them from the oven to cool for about 10 minutes. Serve them warm or toast them to get nice and crispy around the edges. Don’t forget to make these incredible fall butters to go with them!
Making the butters
Flavored butters are a lot easier to make than you think. The one thing to remember is that butter is mostly fat and it does NOT mix well with liquid. So when using liquids, it’s best to have them be viscous (like honey), use them sparingly, or add them in slowly.
First the butter is whipped to get it light and fluffy – this is much easier to do before adding any ingredients. Next the ingredients are added and combined into the butter. Finally, the butter is whipped again to get back to that fluffy consistency.
Tips & Tricks
- Weigh the dough. To ensure you have dough balls that are all the same size, use a scale to weigh them.
- Use enough cornmeal. Make sure you have a enough cornmeal on the bottom and top of the risen dough balls before placing them on the skillet. The cornmeal acts as a nonstick barrier between the dough and the hot skillet. You’ll know that you have enough cornmeal on the surface of the dough when your hand does not stick when rubbing it over the dough.
- Softened butter. The butter must be soft before attempting to whip it. To ensure it stays soft and whippable, make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.
- Chop the raisins. In order to make the cinnamon raisin butter easy to spread, you MUST chop those raisins before adding to the butter mixture.
English Muffins with Whipped Fall Butters
Ingredients
Homemade English Muffins
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup water warm
- 2 tablespoons butter unsalted, melted
- 6 tablespoons cornmeal
- whipped fall butters for serving (recipes below)
Whipped gingerbread butter:
- 1 sticks butter softened, salted
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ tablespoon dark molasses
- 1½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
Whipped cinnamon raisin butter:
- 1 stick butter softened, salted
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ tablespoons chopped raisins
- 2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
For the english muffins:
- Add flour, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk together. Add in water, milk, sugar, and melted butted. Add dough hook attachment and turn mixer on low. Mix until dough forms. Increase speed to medium low and knead until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes. If the dough is still sticking to the bowl after 8 minutes, add about 1 tablespoon of flour and mix.
- Place dough ball in a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes. Then, fold over the edges of the dough into the center. This should take about 6-8 pinches. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.
- Punch down risen dough and remove from bowl. Place on clean counter with a little sprinkled flour. Cut dough into 4 even quarters slices. Cut each slice into 3 even pieces. You should have 12 even pieces. Use a scale to ensure they are all even. Roll each piece into a ball, tucking under the edges to form a ball.
- Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of cornmeal over a half-sheet pan. Place rolled balls of dough on the sheet pan, with each ball of dough about 2 inches apart from each other. Cover tightly with plastic wrap so that no dough is exposed. Gently, top the sheet with another baking sheet. Place in refrigerator to rise slowly for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Remove dough from the fridge, remove baking sheet and loosen plastic wrap.Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Set oven temperature for 350 degrees.
- After an hour, set a large skillet over medium heat. Spray with a little nonstick spray. Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoond of cornmeal over the tops of the dough balls. Place four dough balls in the hot skillet. Cook until the bottoms turn deep brown, about 3-6 minutes (depending on the heat distribution in the skillet). Flip and cook until bottom is brown.
- Transfer browned muffins to a clean baking sheet and cook for 12-15 minutes or until center of the muffins register at 205 degrees. Let coolfor at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or toast to get the edges crispy. Make sure to use the homemade butters below!
For the whipped gingerbread butter:
- Add softened salted butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and whip with a whisk attachment until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add spices and whip together until well combined.
- Add molasses and mix until combined, then add the maple syrup. Whip for about 2 minutes to make the butter light and fluffy again. Serve immediately or store for later. Note: the butter will harden again when chilled so let it sit out for 30 minutes before using.
For the whipped cinnamon raisin butter:
- Add softened salted butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and whip with a whisk attachment until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add cinnamon and raisins and whip together until well combined.
- Add honey and mix until combined. Whip for about 2 minutes to make the butter light and fluffy again. Serve immediately or store for later. Note: the butter will harden again when chilled so let it sit out for 30 minutes before using.
Notes
More recipes you’ll love:
Sweet Yeast Rolls with Whipped Pumpkin Butter
Parker House Yeast Rolls
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Love all muffins. Their brown color always attract me.
Incredible! Tried the whipped cinnamon butter. It was so tasty, creamy and perfect for these chilly mornings! Can’t wait to try the gingerbread butter closer to Christmas!
Give me all the butters! Sounds sooo good all of it!
GINGERBREAD BUTTER!! Where has this been all my life! It looks heavenly (and so easy). I can’t wait to make it for my family this weekend!
Oh my deliciousness! These homemade English muffins look incredible. Love all the butters too!
This was such a hit! Thank you for loving all the ingredients, can’t wait to try this!
I love butters and these are just perfect with fall flavors!
I can’t wait to make these, it sounds like a divine recipe
Ooo these are my kind of butters! I am excited to try these out.