I’m always looking for new freezer-friendly ideas, so I was excited about Laura’s post on how to freeze unbaked muffin batter.
Has anyone done this before? I can’t wait to try it!
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I’ve done this many times, but I’ve always used reusable silicone muffin cups. I was afraid paper ones would get soggy, but with so many people reporting success with papers, I’ll try it that way next time. I usually bake it straight from the freezer, 350 for 25 minutes (instead of twenty if the batter wasn’t frozen) and they always come out perfect.
This is a great idea. I make muffins all the time and usually freeze after baking. I never thought of freezing before.
We’ve found that freezing the batter in a gallon ziplock bag actually works better. For many of our favorite muffin recipes, they do not freeze solid in the muffin cups and end up getting squished in the freezer. We just put the batter in a gallon ziplock bag, freeze it flat, and put it in the fridge the night before to defrost it. In the morning you can just snip of the corner of the bag and pipe it into the muffin tin. Works great and is less bulky to store in the freezer!
Great tip! Thanks.
I freeze cake/cupcake batter, and cookie dough all the time. Don’t know why I’ve never tried muffin batter, but I will now!
Oh yes. I’ve been doing this for years, back to the days when I lived alone, single and childless. I love fresh baked muffins and would eat too many if I baked an entire batch. I struggled with over-eating (still do), and this is a good way to exercise portion control.
I do the same with things like banana bread, corn bread, etc. Instead of a regular sized loaf pan, use three mini-loaf pans, bake one and freeze the batter for the other two. The mini loaf pans can be baked in a toaster oven, so no need to heat up the oven for one mini loaf. It’s just two of us — me and my pre-teen daughter who eats like a bird — this works great for a small family.
great idea but how do you cover and seal the muffin pans so they don’t get frostbitten or take on any odors of other foods?
Jennifer, I cover the muffin pan with plastic wrap and put in the freezer just long enough for the mixture to get solid, a couple of hours. Then remove them from the pan and transfer to a Ziplock freezer bag.
Click through to read the post where she talks more how to freeze them in plastic bags. I hope that helps!
We are a small family, so when I make applesauce cake, I bake one 8×8 and freeze the other one (raw) for another time – just pull it out of the freezer and bake, no problems. (My recipe is for a 13×9 pan, and rather than halve the recipe, this way I have a convenience food in the freezer.)
A friend doubles her pancake recipe and freezes half the batter for the next pancake day.
Thanks for this tip! I get exasperated with leftover batter!
I usually cook all the leftover batter into pancakes, then freeze them. It’s really easy to grab a few out and pop them into the toaster for a quick, convenient breakfast.
I’ve been freezing scoops of cookie dough for years but didn’t know muffin batter was possible. This is going to be life-changing. I can’t wait to try it. And this is really going to be a huge help during the holiday season when I rely on muffins for festive, quick breakfasts.
I have done many things to try to ease the morning rush of breakfast, but this is going to change my life.
Put my first muffin batter cups in the freezer early this morning!
Another really helpful tip: you can bake single muffins in coffee cups! Just pour some batter in the cup and microwave it for 1-2 minutes (depending on the size of the cup and the thickness of the batter). You don’t get the same texture on the edges, but the inside is the same. I love it because my favorite muffin recipe makes around 14 muffins – it would be a pain to use a whole ‘nother muffin sheet for just two extras, but I can make myself an extra-large mug muffin while the others bake and enjoy it that much sooner 😀
I used to do this all the time because I love a fresh baked muffin! I don’t eat them anymore, so I bake them all for the family at once….I guess I’m not so considerate of their preference for fresh baked vs day old. 😉
When we have the neighbors over for our annual muffin morning, I also just refrigerate batter overnight and bake the next day.
You can also freeze cookie dough. There are just the two of us, so when I mix up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, I only bake a few and freeze the rest of the uncooked dough. When we want cookies again, I just use a sturdy spoon to scoop out whatever we need and stick them in the oven (still frozen) and just add a minute or two to the cooking time.
We do something similar, I roll the left over dough into balls and freeze on a cookie sheet. Then add to a Ziploc. 🙂
I’ve read this tip on Martha Stewart’s website, so yes, you really can freeze muffin batter without sacrificing quality.
When Martha speaks, we listen!
I worked in a grocery bakery for 17 years and every so often (if muffins were going on sale) the bakers would make a huge batch of muffins and freeze the batter. You could never tel the difference.
Yes! I do this all the time, and it’s wonderful! You can do it with or without muffin papers too. It’s so fun to be able to cook up a variety of muffins all at once.
Some muffins work better with freezing than others, but I’ve only had a few that didn’t rise very well. I didn’t read the original post, so this may have already been mentioned, but it works best if you cook your frozen muffins at a lower temperature for a longer time than normal to give them enough time to rise.
Have fun with this! 🙂
Can not wait to try this thanks!