43 Unexpected Muffin-Tin Recipes You've Never Tried (2024)

FAQs

What can you use instead of a muffin tin? ›

You can use alternative items such as ramekins, silicone baking cups, or even a regular baking sheet lined with parchment paper to bake muffins without a muffin tray.

If you have cupcake liners, all you need to do is create stronger liners by stacking them on top of one another before placing them in a regular baking tray. If you don't have liners, you can make your own using square pieces of parchment paper and a cup.

We're overlooking the most useful and smart way to utilize a sheet pan. Take any basic batter, from brownie batter to cake batter to muffin batter, and spread it onto a parchment-lined (or well-greased) sheet pan with high edges. Bake until just set and golden on the edges, then remove from the oven and let it cool.

The fastest way to remove the cupcakes cleanly from the pan is to place a baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and invert. They should all come out in one fell swoop.

Muffin pans and cupcake pans are exactly the same.

However, in yet another difference between cupcakes and muffins, cupcakes always use liners and muffins are often baked without liners.

Whether they're made out of ceramic, silicone, or paper, baking cups can definitely go in the oven! While ceramic baking cups can generally withstand very high temperatures, when it comes to paper baking cups, there are limits to how high the oven temperature should be.

Allowing them to cool slightly in the pan before removing them will help keep them from falling apart. This being said, you only want to leave them in the pan for a short amount of time—about five minutes. Any longer, and you run the risk of your muffins going soggy as they cool off.

What do eggs do in baking? When added to a recipe, eggs take on a few roles. They may be used to add structure, flavor, texture or act as a leavening agent. Interestingly, depending on whether the recipe calls for whole eggs, egg whites and egg yolks also affect what an egg does during baking.

So, yes. You can make cup cakes, corn muffins, blueberry muffins, anything that would be put into the cupcake containers to bake without paper liners. Just remember to use cooking spray in each compartment and around them as well.

Whisk together water, oil, and baking powder.

This is a great substitute if you need to replace multiple eggs in a recipe, as it won't make the baked good too greasy or change its flavor profile (like some other substitutes). A simple combination of water, baking powder, and vegetable oil mimics eggs almost to a T.

Why do you fill empty muffin tins with water? ›

If you've used all your batter but still have empty cups remaining in the tin, fill each empty cup with a few tablespoons of water. This will promote even baking, and can help keep the tin from warping as the muffins bake.

Add Fresh or Frozen Fruit to the Batter

Add strawberries to chocolate muffins. You can even experiment with crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges to add a citrus twist to your favorite muffins. We recommend adding 1/2 to 1 cup of fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) fruit. Gently fold into the batter.

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

Did you know you could make a baking pan completely from aluminum foil? You can! The trick here is to first create an outline of the shape of the baking pan you need by folding foil to create the walls of the pan. You'll then need more foil to cover that outline with more foil to create the bottom of the pan.

The trick's to draw the outline of any shape that you want by folding foil to create the walls of the pan. You'll then need some more foil to cover the outline and the bottom of the pan. Just like that, you can make any shape and size cake pan!

I couldn't detect any difference in how the cupcakes baked; the results were identical to those baked in paper liners in height, shape, and color. If you've got foil liners in your cupboard, they'll work well.