Muffin Madness!

Once I bought all the supplies for the freezer meal stock-up a few weeks ago, I decided to start the cooking and prepping with breakfast foods first. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in an earlier blog that I had the intentions of doing breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. I eventually cut out the lunch idea as we pretty much stick to grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches around here, but I still had my mind set on breakfast and dinner. Anyway, I was going to start with muffins. I had two separate ways I could prep and freeze them:
A. I could make the batter and then freeze the muffins uncooked in the tin, pop them out, and put them in a Zip lock bag or
B. I could make and bake the muffins and then freeze them once cooled.
I decided I would do both since I have three muffin tins. Chaos ensued...

I decided to try my hand at blueberry muffins first. Mind you, I've never made a muffin that didn't come from a pouch that you add water to. I figured it couldn't be that hard. I imagined it would be similar to a cupcake without icing. My kids say I "rock" at cupcakes so I had this in the bag. I made my first batch EXACTLY as the recipe stated, but I decided not to sift the flour. The recipe didn't call for it to be sifted and I had the pre-sifted kind anyway. I had the muffin pan lined with the little wrappers and ready to go straight into the freezer. I noticed the dough was thick though. Not a little thick, either. I pulled the spoon out and all the dough came with it. I walked into the living room and showed my husband the dough spoon. He shook his head and laughed and I decided that wasn't a good sign. I tried adding in another 1/4 C of milk, and then another, and then another. After I finally got them a decent consistency for pouring, I put them into the freezer. I wasn't very optimistic they would turn out edible, but I froze them anyway.

The second batch was a little different. I decided to sift the flour this time. This caused an argument in my house because my husband thinks he's a chef. He said it didn't need to be sifted, but I figured it couldn't hurt after the disaster with batch one. I made the same recipe again and it was still a little thick (nothing at all like the first time though). I added a 1/4 C of milk and decided to try making these with the slightly thicker dough. I had no extra room in my freezer for another entire pan so I decided to cook these.

The third and final batch of the day was a completely different recipe. I got so frustrated with the first recipe that I pulled out my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (seriously...I could be their spokesperson) and tried their muffin recipe. I got done adding and mixing the ingredients and stared at the dough. It was thick. What in the world? Why is muffin dough so blasted thick?! I just decided that would do and slapped it into the waiting muffin tin. I had lost all patience at this point. I threw them in the oven at the same time as batch two and waited. Once batches two and three cooled, they were bagged separately and frozen.

Final outcome? My husband and I decided we like the taste of the fresh baked muffins so we prefer the uncooked frozen ones that go into the oven straight from the freezer. My kids, on the other hand, like the convenience of the pre-cooked muffins as they have the patience of a house fly when it comes to food. Everyone agreed that batch two was the best. Batch one tasted a little funky although they were "freshly cooked" and batch three was very dry. The blueberries I bought were frozen so I couldn't really cut them up. I tried sticking them in my little slap-chop machine, but for some reason they tasted bitter smashed up. We just have giant blueberries in our muffins!

My family has officially demolished the muffins. They flew through three freezer bags of them. I am going to make some batches of blueberry muffins and strawberry muffins tonight. I still have enough fruit and supplies to make another 10-12 batches. I'm hoping to get at least 6 batches into the freezer tonight. Over the upcoming weekend, I plan on making waffles for the freezer and fresh oatmeal for the freezer that is made to be thawed and served with warm milk. I'm not sure how that will go over in my house with picky eaters, but I may as well give it a try.

Feel free to contact us and share your favorite freezer friendly breakfast recipes. :)

Happy cooking!

Muffin Recipe (for batch 2!)
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C flour (I sift mine)
2 t baking powder
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 C milk ( I add an extra 1/4 C milk)
1 C of blueberries or strawberries (frozen or fresh will do)
muffin pan liners or cooking spray

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the oil, milk and egg together and add them into the dry ingredients. Mix everything just enough to combine ( some lumps are okay). Fold in the fruit of your choice. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
At this point you can either freeze the muffins in the pan and then pop them out once frozen and bag them or you can cook them at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes and then cool on a wire rack. Once cool put them in a Zip lock bag and stick them in the freezer. You could also just make them for breakfast and not worry with the freezer! :)