Use this method for the best muffins or quick bread loaves you've ever made.

1. Start by preparing the muffin cups. Grease with a pastry brush and butter, brush or spray with oil, or line with paper liners. Arrange the oven rack in the centre position and preheat the oven (most muffins bake at 375°F/190°C).

2. Choose a large bowl in which to whisk dry ingredients together – this bowl will hold all the batter, so size counts.

3. There's no need to beat eggs separately; whisk them with the liquids before pouring over the dry ingredients.

4. Now sprinkle the add-ins onto the unmixed dry and wet ingredients. Feel free to improvise with them, interchanging dried fruits, such as slivered apricots, golden and other raisins, currants, dried cherries, cranberries and more. Or mix them up with chopped walnut halves, pecans, hazelnuts or slivered almonds. Chocolate chips are a delightful indulgence.

5. Use just a few deft strokes to bring the dry and wet ingredients together. Overstirring creates tough, tunnel-filled muffins. Stir just until there are no streaks or pockets of the dry ingredients.

6. A 1/2-cup (125 mL) ice-cream scoop with a release mechanism is the most efficient way to fill muffin cups equally. Or use two large spoons, one to scoop the batter and the second to push it down into the cup.

7. Since the leavening starts to work as soon as the wet and dry ingredients are combined, get the muffins into the pan and the oven as fast as possible.

8. When muffins are finished baking, set the pan on a rack for a few minutes. If you've greased the pan, run a knife around each muffin to loosen. Transfer to rack to cool, or simply tilt muffins up to cool right in the pan.

Ready to try it out? Try one of our tested-till-perfect muffin recipes:
Blackberry Lemon Muffins
Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
Anything-Goes Muffins
Carrot Pineapple Muffins

Excerpted from The Complete Canadian Living Baking Book by Elizabeth Baird and The Canadian Living Test Kitchen.