Freezing muffin batter in individual muffin size portions saves you time without sacrificing the flavor or quality of your muffin. It allows you to bake either as many or as few muffins as you need, and always serve them fresh from the oven. Here’s how you can do that:
Start by lining your muffin pan with muffin papers and then set it aside. Following your favorite recipe or mix, make your muffin batter.
Fill each of your muffin cups with an equal amount of batter. Each muffin cup should be 3/4-7/8 full. You definitely do not want to over-fill each cup!
After each muffin cup is filled, place the entire muffin pan in the freezer on a flat surface (the flat surface is VERY important!). Allow the batter to freeze firmly. This will take several hours to overnight.
Remove the muffin pan from the freezer and carefully pry each frozen liner of batter from the pan. Be careful not to cut or tear the paper liner. You may need a long, slender, rounded tip knife to do this.
Label a ziplock bag or freezer container with the flavor name of the muffin, the date made, as well as the baking temperature and time. Then, stack the frozen unbaked muffins in the bag or container. Bleed out as much air as possible before sealing the container. Place the bag or container in the freezer.
Like scone or biscuit dough, muffin batter will keep 3-4 weeks in the freezer when properly wrapped and stored.
To bake fresh muffins, start by preheating the oven. Once the oven is heated, set your muffin pan on the counter. Go to the freezer and remove as many frozen unbaked muffins as you wish to bake. Place them in the muffin pan, and top as desired (sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, flavored sugar, or streusel, for example). Place in the heated oven and set your timer. Frozen batter increases your total bake time by 3-5 minutes. Set your timer initially for the time needed for fresh, non-frozen batter to bake. You can then add extra time in small increments as needed.
Check for done-ness by testing with a cake tester or toothpick. Your tester should come out clean when done.
