You, too, will become obsessed with muffin batter after you read this.
Muffins. They are everywhere. I can’t seem to stop myself.
If you could look into my freezers right now, you might wonder if I had an unhealthy fear of an impending muffin shortage. Or that perhaps I was planning to feed muffins to my family every meal for three weeks and then force ziplock bags full of leftover muffins upon the mailman and the unsuspecting neighborhood boy walking his dog . You might wonder if I am planning a bake sale, featuring all varieties of muffins, baked by the happy, grinning muffin lady.
The practical side of you might also wonder if I’d recently found chocolate chips on sale. At our house, muffins and chocolate chips often go hand in hand just because they do.
It is also possible that some of you might look into my freezers and somehow not even notice the muffins while you think to yourself, “What is this unorganized mess and when is this girl going to defrost her freezers to make them more efficient?” To which I would answer, “Who has time to organize or defrost freezers when one is so busy making muffins?”
We shall blame this latest muffin craze on Vicki – a reader who has now changed my life, or at least my breakfast. I’m telling you right now: Get out your muffin tins, paper liners, and mixing bowls. You will want to partake in this time saving, delicious, breakfast and snack baking activity.
The Great Freezing Muffin Batter Tip
Stir up your muffin batter as the recipe states. (You’ll find many muffin recipes here.) Scoop the batter into well greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Do not bake. Freeze. (Not you, the muffins. This is not a hold up.) Once the muffin batter is frozen, take the frozen batter balls out of the tin and place them in a freezer bag. Store them in the freezer for up to three months.
When you need muffins, do one of two things:
1. Place frozen, unbaked muffin batter balls into muffin tins overnight, set it in the fridge, then bake the muffins as normal the following morning. Or
2. Place frozen, unbaked muffin batter balls into muffin tins right when you need them, bake as directed, only adding a few more minutes of baking time.
It’s not like it’s hard or time consuming to mix up muffins and bake them. But I’m all for cutting down on dishes, and getting food made ahead of time to make life and healthy meals more convenient. This wonderful muffin batter freezing tip rocks my world – and fills my freezer with dozens of muffins in many varieties. It also saves me money and effort. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made muffins, stuffed them in the back of my freezer for a busy day, then pulled them out only to find them freezer burned and dry. This freezing method ensures I have fresh, tasty muffins every time – within minutes and without dirtying dishes.
A few additional tips:
If your batter is thick enough, skip freezing it in the muffin tin. Scoop the batter in muffin-sized balls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Transfer frozen balls to freezer bags and use when needed.
Label your muffin batter balls so you can easily tell what is available in your freezer. If you have several different varieties of muffin batter prepared and in your freezer, you can pull out a few of each kind and bake an assortment, just for fun or to please picky palates.
This idea even works for mini-muffins.
Because I have muffins on my mind, I have more fun muffin tips coming up this week. (Subscribe for free updates if you don’t want to miss!) And be watching for an awesome Strawberry Cream Muffin recipe too!
I have to know: Is this “freezing muffin batter” a brand new idea to you, or have you tried it before? Once I tried this and learned how well it worked, I went on a muffin freezing frenzy (as confessed above). I now have Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin batter, Blueberry Muffin batter, Chocolate Chip Muffin batter (recipe in Kids in the Kitchen eBook), and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin batter in my freezers. Told you I couldn’t stop myself. What a time saver!
