My Grandma Knew

With mixes out there for decades and fewer people baking for themselves, some of what used to be common knowledge has been lost. We put together a family cookbook several years ago and a muffin recipe of my Grandma Shipp's from the 1950's was included. Here is her recipe:

4T. Shortening
1/2t. Salt
1C. Milk
1 Egg, well beaten
1/4C. Karo
1 3/4C. Flour
1/4C. Cornstarch
4t. Baking Powder

Beat all ing. til just blended. Pour into muffin tins. Bake in a hot oven. That's it! No temperature or amount of baking time. And did you notice cornstarch? When I first saw that I thought surely it must be a typo. It caused me to research it out though, and this is what I learned. Soft White Wheat is called Pastry Flour because it has less gluten than Hard Red Wheat Flour. So in order to get a lighter, fluffier result when using whole wheat flour for cakes, muffins and other products calling for baking powder, less gluten is advised. When you can't get Pastry Flour you may substitute cornstarch for a small part of the flour. Subtract 2T. flour in each cup of flour called for and replace it with cornstarch to make up the difference. But if you're making yeast bread you'll want the higher gluten content to help it rise. In baking, once ovens were made with a temperature control, a slow oven became 250-300 degrees, a moderate oven, 350-400 degrees, a hot oven, 400-450. And baking time for muffins is usually about 20-30 minutes.
I rewrote this recipe for how I'd use it. Here's what I did:

4T. Applesauce (no shortening or added fat)
1/8-1/4 t. Salt
1C. Soymilk or other milk of choice
1 Egg well beaten
1/4C. Honey
1 3/4C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/4C. Cornstarch
4t. Baking Powder

Mix all ing. til just blended. Pour into pan-sprayed muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes at 400. Makes 1 dozen. This is a nice moist, not too sweet basic muffin you can serve with dinner or to which you can add seasonings like onion, thyme or dill. You could make them a little sweeter by doubling the honey, adding a sweet streusel-top, or cinnamon, raisins, blueberries, or nuts etc.. Also, muffins with no fat should not be baked in papers as they will stick. * Clip art in the cookbook came from Colossal Clip Art by Dianne J. Hook. The monkey belongs to the Going Bananas At Mealtime Busy Family Cookbook by Bright Impressions and was not intended for other use.