preparing muffin batter the night before

[baerchen]

I just heard that you can prepare "some" types of muffin batter the night before, even portion them already into your muffin tin, store it in the fridge over night, and then bake them in the morning for breakfast. Sounds great to me as there is no way I'd be making the batter from scratch at 6 am. But would still like to have them occasionally to get my teens to eat some breakfast before heading to school. So any idea how I find recipes that would work for this? Something more ww and lower in fat would be great.

[Caroline1]

How well a batter stores overnight varies greatly from recipe to recipe, but when I want to make a batter the night before, whether for pancakes or muffins, I omit the leavening (unless it's a yeast batter) and then stir it in with a whisk or a wooden spoon, whichever is is appropriate, in the morning. Works for me!

[pikawicca]

Baked muffins freeze very well. Thawed overnight and gently reheated, they are excellent.

[chowser]

There's debate about it because leaveners like baking soda and baking powder don't work well if you don't bake soon after mixing. It can be done, but not as good as baking right away. You could keep dry in one container, wet in another and just mix in the morning which would be optimal. This article might be helpful and what would work and why.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/h...

[hotoynoodle]

that's exactly my advice. once the leavener gets mixed with liquid it starts to get to work. refrigeration may slow that, but you won't get light fluffy muffins.

you could make them ahead and warm them in the toaster oven too.

[sunshine842]

I wonder if the leavening agents work for the first batch, and then some strain of sourdough-type culture takes over after that?

[hotoynoodle]

do you mean on those 6-week muffins? it takes far longer to get a sour starter than 24 hours and i don't believe it will occur without yeast. the other stuff won't really ferment.

many moons ago i made those muffins, as a batch though, and they were like bricks so i never bothered again. it was from an age when that kind of veggie-hippie food seemed popular because it was "healthy", even though it tasted like cr@p.

[sunshine842]

You don't have to have yeast to start a sourdough...all you need is flour and water, really...sugar speeds it up...anything else is just accelerator.

[hotoynoodle]

it would take days at room temp collecting existing wild yeasts from the air, not going to happen after a few days in the fridge.

[cheesymama]

My Mom would often make what was called 6 week bran muffins. The idea was that the batter would keep on the fridge for 6 weeks and you bake it as you want it. I don't think that I've ever kept the batter that long, but probably 3-4 weeks and it still tasted good (and no one got sick!) I often make just half the recipe so the kids don't get sick of them!
You could easily sub in whole wheat flour for some of the a.p.
6 Week Bran Muffins

2 1/2 c sugar
1 c oil
2 c boiling water
2 c All Bran
4 c bran flakes
4 c buttermilk
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp baking soda
5 c flour
4 eggs

Pour boiling water over All Bran, let sit.
Cream oil and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add buttermilk and All Bran mixture, mix. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Fold in bran flakes at the end. Store in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.
Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.
You can add whatever you like (raisins, berries, nuts, you get the idea) to the muffins before you bake them.

[alkapal]

i remember those muffins! not bad at all, but very dense. sort of sweet, right?

[Toots4120]

Back in my "hippie" days, this was a staple of our diet - they were always good! Haven't made in years but may have to try it again soon. As a single, I'd have to make only 1/2 or less recipe - I'd truly get sick of it. Leavening was never a problem. One thing, the ingredient list says All Bran and that's what I used - don't think the flakes (mentioned in the directions) would work at all as they'd get really mushy really fast.

[cheesymama]

The recipe has both All Bran and the flakes, the flakes get folded in at the end. If you bake some up right away the flakes stand out on their own, as the batter sits the flakes soften up and "melt" into the rest of the batter.