Fresh {From the Freezer} Muffins!

With school approaching, I need to get my freezer stocked up with BREAKFAST! Today I am going to share a fabulous recipe from Jenny Stranger's book (love LOVE this book) Fabulous Freezer Meals! I love this recipe because it is so versatile! This method of freezing muffins is the best, your muffins are still fresh from the oven in the morning and it only takes 2 minutes of prep and 20 minutes to bake! This method will also adapt to any of your favorite muffin recipes!

Mix and Match Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1¼ cups filling (choose from list)
1 cup nuts or seeds or raisins / craisins (optional)
1 cup sugar
½ cup cooking oil

Filling (do not use dried fruit)

Apples, diced
Applesauce
Apricots, chopped
Bananas, mashed
Berries
Carrots, grated
Cherries, pitted and chopped
Lemon juice (only add 1/3 cup)
Oranges, chopped
Orange juice (only add 1/3 cup)
Peaches, chopped
Pears, chopped
Pumpkin, canned (add 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice)
Strawberries (well drained)
Zucchini, grated

*Some delicious combinations are banana raspberry nut, strawberry peach, pumpkin raisin sunflower seed, orange cranberry.

Place paper liners in a muffin pan and fill a baking sheet with paper liners and set aside. I like to use tin foil liners for the freezer. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, mix the remaining (wet) ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture just until moistened. (Batter should be lumpy.) Spoon batter into paper liners until they are 2/3 full. At this point you can choose to freeze or bake them. To bake right away preheat your oven to 350 and bake the muffinsfor 20 min. (I usually bake some right away, and freeze some for later).

Or you can freeze all the muffins (unbaked) for 1 hour in the muffin pan and then place frozen muffin dough in a large zip top bag or a plastic Tupperware container. When you are ready to use the frozen muffins, place the frozen muffins in a muffin pan and bake frozen at 350 degrees F for 20 min. Remove muffins from pan and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm topped with butter, jam or frosting.

I make these all of the time! They are a family favorite. Usually I make several different kinds on a laid back morning, bake some for breakfast and freeze the rest. The muffins shown are lemon blueberry, with a crumb topping (1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter)! Simple. Delicious. Fresh.

I like to link to these Fabulous Parties, come join the fun!