I love baking, but it sure has become a more difficult task in recent years. Everything takes longer because I have six pairs of hands trying to cook, instead of two. Instead of taking 30 seconds to crack 4 eggs, it now takes 5 minutes to painfully watch my little helpers “crack” the eggs, and then another 5 minutes to dig all the pieces of eggshell out of the batter. I’ve now conceded that when baking, I need to plan for two things: 1) Expect “help” from the tiny sous-chef team. 2) Get more mileage out of this patience-requiring and slow-paced baking experience by making an extra batch or two of treats in one-shot.
This is one of my favorite muffin recipes that whips up in a jiffy, is packed with fruit/veggies, freezes easily, and is perfect for last minute play dates, brunches, etc. Feel free to scale the recipe – the one below makes over 4 dozen muffins!
Ingredients – (Makes a Whopping 48 Muffins!):
4-1/2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
2-1/2 Cups of White Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1-1/2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Cups Vegetable Oil
6 Eggs
3 Cups Shredded Zucchini
1 (20 Oz) Can Crushed Pineapple, drained
3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. If you plan to cook a batch immediately, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour as many muffin pans or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the oil, eggs, zucchini, pineapple, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
3. Set 4 Ziploc Gallon Freezer Bags up in measuring cups/containers. I find that old deli and large yogurt containers work best for stabilizing the bags because they’re deep enough to make filling the bags easy, but wide enough so you can roll the top that the bag over to keep things in place.
4. Divide batter evenly into the 4 freezer bags nested in containers. I find it easiest to use a clean measuring cup to scoop out the same amount batter for each bag, and then divide the remaining batter by eyeballing it. Remove the bags from their containers, squeeze out air, and freeze flat (to save space).
5. When ready to use the muffin batter, simply thaw, snip the corner of the Ziploc bag, and then pipe 2/3 to 3/4 full into paper-filled muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Voila! Fresh-baked muffins ready to go in a jiffy. Your tiny sous-chefs will love helping you squeeze the muffin batter out of the Ziploc bag, and you’ll love how relatively mess-free the task will be. You’ll be amazed by how little time this takes! I’ve actually been in such a hurry before that I’ve even shamelessly defrosted the muffin batter in the microwave the morning-of. It’s okay… nobody will know. ;)
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