If you love fluffy muffins, this roundup post is for you. With great flavor and all your favorite add-ins, these tasty, tender muffins bake up bakery-fresh in your kitchen. Nothing quite beats a perfect muffin pulled right from the oven and served while warm. Sink your teeth into the soft crumb while enjoying its unique flavor. I am sharing 12 great muffin recipes with you, along with some handy muffin-baking tips.
How Hard Is It To Make Muffins?
Muffins are a joy to make, especially when you realize how simple the process is. A basic muffin recipe can be whipped up using pantry staples. Just measure the dry ingredients-all-purpose flour, baking powder or soda, salt, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients-usually dairy, vegetable oil, and an egg and blend until the lumps of flour disappear, leaving you with a smooth, luscious muffin batter. Pour this into a prepared muffin pan, and you’re on your way to baking perfection.
You may think it requires special tools to mix the batter, but you can get away with a simple fork to blend the batter. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl as you work. Pay close attention to mixing right to the bottom of the bowl to avoid having unwanted clumps of flour when pouring the batter.
Thick muffin batter can be spooned into the cups, while thinner batter can be poured straight from the bowl.
How to Prepare Your Muffin Tins.
There are a few ways to succeed when pulling homemade muffins out of the pan. One is investing in a high-quality, non-stick pan. But even the best non-stick pans can become seasoned over the years and take a beating. That doesn’t make them any less useful. In fact, you can often get muffins out easily without paper muffin liners simply by using cooking spray. This is my preferred method.
If you are making muffins with a lot of heavier add-ins, though, you will likely want to use paper liners in your muffin tin. Why? This will help them come out because heavier cake-like muffins tend to pull apart when removed straight from the pan while hot, so leaving them to cool may be necessary.
Using a combination of methods when you know the muffin tops will pop over like bakery-style jumbo muffins tend to do will help release the muffins from the pan more easily. There’s nothing worse than having the muffin top stick to the top of the pan while it cools to discover you have to rip it out after all your hard work.
That’s where my biggest handiest tip comes in. After you’ve lined the tin, sprayed the top, and done everything you can to not have the muffin stick, it still happens. Using a butter knife, carefully loosen the top of the muffin from the pan. You can cut them apart if it’s conjoined with its neighbor. Carefully insert the knife by lifting the edge of the muffin top and then slipping down inside the base of the pan to release the moist muffin.
If you make mini muffins, the same tips apply on a smaller scale.
How do I adjust baking time and temperature for mini or jumbo muffins?
Well, it’s true that it can be hard to know how to adjust the time. A general rule of thumb is that the smaller the muffin, the less likely it will take more than fifteen minutes to bake. For instance, if a regular-sized muffin recipe calls for 20 minutes at 350°F, you can try baking mini muffins at the same temperature but for a much shorter time, around 10-12 minutes.
If you are baking a regular-sized muffin and the recipe calls for a higher heat to dome the muffins and then a reduced temperature to finish baking but wish to make mini muffins with the same recipe, leave off using the higher temperature. For a shorter time frame, your mini muffins will bake up just fine at the regular oven temperature of 350F.
What is the best way to store muffins to keep them fresh for longer?
Storing muffins is pretty simple. Let them cool completely so that all the steam can escape. Then, put them in an airtight container and leave them on the counter for up to four days. If you have ingredients like fresh fruit or cream cheese in them, you will be better off storing them covered in the fridge.
In fact, I like to make a batch of muffins for school or work lunches and wrap them individually in plastic wrap for transport. They can stay fresh for days, but I promise they won’t last long.
If you wish to freeze muffins later, I suggest flash-freezing the cooled muffins on a baking tray. Flash-freezing is a process where you freeze the items individually before storing them together. This way, you guarantee they won’t stick together when in the plastic bag. To do this, simply place the cooled muffins on a baking tray and freeze them for about an hour. Transfer them to a zippable freezer bag. To enjoy, simply remove the muffin or muffins you want and let thaw at room temperature.
Let’s cut to the chase. You’re really here for your next family favorite.
Without further adieu, here are the twelve muffins I promised. I am sure one will become one of your favorite muffin recipes. Be sure to stop by here the next time you’re in the mood for an easy muffin recipe with simple ingredients.
Find the best moist muffins with all your favorite mix-ins like chocolate chips, cream cheese chips, and fresh or frozen fruits. There’s no limit to muffin flavors. In fact, I pride myself on coming up with a bunch of different flavors. So be sure to come back again for more tasty muffins that aren’t your average chocolate chip muffins. And remember to share your baking adventures with us!
