Tips and Tricks

Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your muffin tins. Have any tips of your own? Let me know, and I’ll post them.

Use a silicon muffin tray. They save you so much heartache.

Muffin tin recipes should stand in the pan for about 5 minutes before unmolding and, if needed, the edges can be loosened with a butter knife by gently moving it around the edge. Remove muffins after 5 minutes to a rack so muffins don't get soggy.

You can use almost any cake or quick bread recipe you like in a muffin tin. Typically, muffins bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit so adjust a recipe accordingly.

An ice cream scoop can be a handy tool for filling muffin cups.

When making muffins or min loafs/cakes, leave a few lumps when mixing the wet and dry ingredients. Over stirring can toughen the end result.

When you run out of fillings, don't leave the remaining cups barren. Heat can warp the tray while the food cooks if you do so. Filling empty cups half full with water will help evenly distribute the heat from the oven and keep your pans level. This step is unnecessary for cast-iron and silicon muffin trays.

Dark muffin trays absorb and retain more of the heat coming from the oven and transfer heat to food more efficiently than silver versions. So you may need to reduce the temperature a recipe calls for by about 25 degrees when working with dark bake wear.

Ladle extra soup stock into jumbo tins and place them in the freezer. Once the stock is frozen, pop the portions out and store in resealable freezer bags.

A paper towel dipped in a small amount of vegetable oil will usually suffice for greasing a muffin tin. Those oil sprays are a highly processed item that I prefer to avoid. It's also a good idea to lightly grease paper liners.

Non-stick parchment paper, cut into about 5-inch squares and pressed into the cups, gives dessert recipes such as strawberry tea cakes an elegant presentation. Greasing the muffin cups with oil first helps keep the parchment paper in place.

If your recipe is sticking to the bottom of the muffin cups try placing the hot muffin pan on a wet towel for a couple minutes.

When working with cast-iron muffin trays clean any food that has stuck to them by rubbing the iron with kosher salt and then rinse. Repeated use of soap and hot water is not recommended for cast-iron as it can eat away at the seasoning.

When using muffin tins to make muffins if they are filled more than 3/4 full the muffins will come out of the oven with flat, “flying saucer” tops. Sufficient room is necessary for muffins to expand before reaching the top of the cup.

Often it’s better to use ingredients that are at room temperature.

Ovens vary markedly so cooking times given for the recipes on this site are estimations. Check your food starting about 5 minutes before a recipe says it will be done to prevent burning or drying out the recipe.

Keep baked goods in an airtight containe on the counter or in the fridge. Or wrap individually in plastic wrap, place all in a zip-top bag, and freeze up to one month. For fast thawing, you can do so in microwave for 10 to 30 seconds.