Fresh Muffins

I was in the mood for some muffins this past Saturday morning and as I was pulling out all my stuff, remembered that since moving, I only have access to a little 6-muffin tin! I didn't want to run out to the store to buy a bigger one and I definitely didn't want to hang out in front of my oven all morning swapping out batches of muffins. What to do???

At just the right moment, I remembered an email my sister sent me about 6 months ago about a blog entry that a friend of hers posted, detailing how she and her family make muffin batter, freeze the batter in muffin cups and then pop out just as many as they need to bake on any given morning. I hunted down the email and gave it a try.

I whipped up a batch of the Buttermilk Spice Muffins and added in some shredded zucchini and pecans. I baked 6 muffins in the tin and when they had come out and the tin had cooled, filled up another 6 muffin cups with a paper liner and batter and then froze them. It did take a few swaps, but the batter only took about a 1/2 hour to get firm in my freezer so it still went fairly quickly. (And as it is still summer, it is much more pleasant to hang out in front of the freezer as opposed to the oven!)

I tried out a couple of the frozen muffins on Sunday morning and it worked beautifully!! Interestingly enough, the muffins that has been cooked from frozen batter had a much better consistency. The usual sink-hole that I get in the middle with gluten-free muffins wasn't there. A little weird, but I am not complaining!

Most of you probably have access to a regular size muffin tin, BUT, if you are single and like me, don't need to be left alone during the week with a whole batch of muffins to tempt you or if you like the idea of having warm, fresh muffins every morning with your coffee (or most mornings or just on snowy mornings or whatever your little heart desires...), here's the scoop:

- Make a batch of your favorite muffin mix.
- If you have the silicon muffin "tins" you can fill them right up with batter and then pop them out later. Otherwise, use the paper liners or some plastic wrap. Fill the muffin cups 1/2 way with batter and freeze for at least 30 minutes or until the batter is frozen.
- Put your little frozen muffin batter discs into a freezer ziplock bag and label with type and cooking instructions.
- When you are ready, pull out only as many as you want to cook. Fill any unused muffins cups in the tin about 1/2 way with water.
- Add an extra 5 minutes of cooking time and voila!! Warm, fresh muffins ready with your coffee!

Just so you know, this makes me really happy!