Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF.

Grease or line 16 muffin tins with baking paper liners.

To make these muffins, we will infuse the milk with vanilla beans. If you don’t want to use vanilla beans, that’s fine, simply skip this step and add the milk normally to the recipe as it’s explained below.

You can just add the vanilla extract if you don’t have vanilla beans, or don’t want to add them.

Pour the milk in a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half. Scrape the seeds into the milk. Also add the pod in there.

Bring the milk and vanilla beans to a boil. Turn the heat off when you see the first bubbles. Set the pan aside until the milk comes to room temperature. Once the milk cools down, remove the vanilla pod.

Add the cooled down milk, melted butter, vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract to a bowl. Whisk until completely incorporated.

In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together. Don’t over mix or the muffins can turn out dry or dense.

As soon as you see no more dry ingredients stop mixing immediately.

Divide the batter between the muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. You want to fill each one up until almost full, about 3/4 full.

Sprinkle about 1 tsp of coarse sugar over each muffin. You can use turbinado, or raw sugar, there’s a delicious vanilla sugar by Nielsen Massey, that is coarse, delicious and has vanilla aroma and taste.

Bake in the pre-heated 425ºF oven for 7 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350ºF and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes until golden around the edges, and a toothpick inserted in the muffin should come out clean.

Let the muffins cool down before serving.

Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl.

Add the milk, and the vanilla bean seeds, or 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract.

Whisk until incorporated. If the glaze is too thick, add a bit more milk. And if the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar to make it thicker.

Pour the glaze over each cooled down muffin.

The muffins will be the freshest the day they are made. But they can be stored in the fridge, or freezer.

To store the muffins in the fridge, place them in an airtight container. Keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days. Before serving, let them come to room temperature fully, or place briefly in a toaster oven before serving. The muffins stay well in the fridge for up to 4 days.

To freeze the muffins simply place them in a freezer bag or in an air-tight container and freeze for up to 2 months.

To thaw, let them sit at room temperature for about 1 hour, or in the fridge overnight.

You can also wrap the muffin in paper towel and microwave for 15 second intervals to thaw.

The other option is to wrap each muffin in foil, and bake them in a 350ºF oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, until completely thawed in the center.