Food Staples: Mini Muffins

For years I have loved having muffins on hand as a snack.  When I was in college my mom experimented with freezing muffin batter in silicon muffin pans.  She would store the frozen batter discs in a ziploc bag in the freezer, ready to pop into the oven at a moments notice for fresh muffins.  I followed in this practice for a few years.

Then I realized starving toddler plus tired mom does not make time for preheating and baking muffins.  Or remember the batter discs are waiting to be baked.

The next phase was to start baking muffins and freezing the already cooked muffins in the freezer.  1 minute in the microwave and we are good to go.

The final discovery in making muffins a food staple at our house was using mini silicon muffin pans.  I have two of these and LOVE them.  The muffins slide right out with out any help from me.  It takes three mini muffin to equal one typical sized muffin.  This means I can eat a muffin as each batch comes out of the oven (!!!) and the kids waste much less food.  Nathan can down 4-5 without blinking, which I prefer to one and half and wasting the remains.

I have tried a number of recipes over the years, but I ALWAYS go back to Mels Kitchen Cafe.  She has muffin making down to an art and science.  I make a double or triple batch of each recipe at bake it all at once.

Healthy Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Whole Grain Peanut Butter and Honey Banana Muffins

The Best Zucchini Bread (I make muffins)

Once the muffins are cooled I store them in a gallon sized ziploc bag or, my new favorite, a ice cream container. With the mini muffins, 20-30 seconds in the microwave makes them as good as hot out of the oven.