Standard Muffin Recipe – A plain muffin batter is added to a muffin tin, then you can add your favorite flavors (fruit, nuts, chocolate, etc.) to each muffin. Great for kids and guests because everyone gets to choose the type of muffin they want.
About a year ago, I noticed several recipes trending on Pinterest involving pancake batter and muffin tins. Some people called them puffins, some people called them individual baked pancakes. The general idea was to take pancake batter and pour it into a muffin tin, then top the batter with your favorite flavors (fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, oats, etc.) and bake it. I thought it was a great idea, so I tried it. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it. The thing about pancake batter is, it’s not very good on its own. That’s probably why most people douse their pancakes in lots of maple syrup. Even when I added syrup to the baked pancakes, or whatever you want to call them, they still weren’t my favorite.
But, I still really liked the idea of being able to use a bunch of different flavors/toppings to add to one standard batter. The batter just needed to taste better. So why not use the muffin tin for it’s actual purpose, making muffins! Muffin batter is lighter and sweeter; and you can still add all of your favorite additional ingredients to it.
This is great for house guests, kids, and picky eaters because everyone can choose their favorite flavor of muffin to make. It’s also a great way to get creative in the kitchen. I tried a lot of different flavor combinations and some of the ones that sounded a little strange ended up being great, like dried cranberry and sweetened coconut.
All you do is follow the standard muffin recipe below, fill a muffin tin with the batter, and top with your favorite muffin flavors/additions. Use a toothpick to push the additional ingredients down into the batter and swirl them around a bit. This way the additional ingredients are spread throughout the muffin and don’t just sit on top of it, as you can see in the blueberry muffin pictured on the right. Then, just bake and cool the muffins like any other muffin recipe. 
The amount of additional ingredients you add is up to you, if you like lots of chocolate chips in your muffins, then add lots of chocolate chips. I ended up using about a tablespoon of each additional ingredient.
I experimented with lots of different flavor additions for this standard muffin recipe. Here are a few that I tried: blueberry (pictured on the right), banana nut, chocolate chip, dried cranberry & sweetened coconut, mango & sweetened coconut, Peanut butter & jelly, and brown sugar & oats.
This brown sugar and oats muffin was another one of my favorites. The brown sugar addition really sweetened it up.
I do have a suggestion for your flavor additions. If you are adding an ingredient that is not very sweet, like blueberries, you may want to roll that ingredient around in a little sugar before you add it to the batter.
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Standard Muffin Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup skim milk, or your preferred milk/milk alternative
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place muffin liners in a muffin tin and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
- In another bowl, add the sugar, milk, vanilla, egg, and oil. Whisk to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined; batter should be lumpy. Do not over mix.
- Fill the muffin liners ¾ of the way up.
- Add your favorite muffin flavors/additions (fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, oats, etc.). Take a toothpick and push the additional ingredients down into the batter and swirl them around a little.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
If you want all the same kind of muffins, would it be easier to add the ingredients to the batter?