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

FAQs

Should I bake muffins at 350 or 375? ›

Ideal Muffin Cooking Temperature

That being said, the standard oven temperature for baking desserts like quick breads and muffins is commonly set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Setting your oven to this temperature will almost always produce a well-cooked muffin recipe.

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.

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.

High to Low Baking Temperature

So for this batch I took the control recipe and started it off by baking for 5 minutes at 450°F, then turned the temperature down to 400°F and continued baking for slightly less than 15 minutes. These muffins were beautifully tall, attractive, moist, and soft.

The idea here is to start the muffins in a very hot oven for just a short amount of time. This activates the baking powder and allows the muffins to shoot up in height quickly. We then turn the heat down and continue to cook for longer. This is done to avoid over-browning and overbaking.

Is There a Difference Between a Cupcake Pan and a Muffin Pan? What is this? 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.

Method 1: Paper cupcake liners can work without a cupcake tray, especially if you are careful not to overfill the liners. You can then place them in a snug pan that will keep 5-6 paper liners upright.

Skip Silicone Muffin Pans

Plus, silicone doesn't conduct heat the same way metal does, and everything we baked in the silicone muffin pans we tested came out pale and underdone. Because silicone muffin pans are so floppy, they're often placed on a sheet pan and then into an oven.

The fluffy batter is what gives cupcakes their soft, spongy texture. Muffins, on the other hand, are moist and dense. Another important difference between a cupcake and a muffin is that cupcakes tend to have more sugar and so they're a lot sweeter than muffins.

Can you make muffins in a muffin pan without liners? ›

You can. I did for years, still do when I make corn muffins. You must grease the cupcake muffin/cupcake pan well. For corn muffins I just grease, for cupcakes I grease and flour.

First, cut a sheet of parchment into five-to-six-inch squares. Then, place the squares over the holes in the muffin tin, and use the heel of a small glass to mold the paper into the indent.

We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing. There's no question that the standard oven temperature of 350°F gets the job done for baking up muffins and quick breads.

Make sure you use the correct temperature. I suggest baking your muffins at 400 F. I know most muffin recipes (including the ones I have used previously) all tell us to preheat our ovens to between 325-375 F. That heat range is just not enough.

Muffins require a hot oven, between 375°F and 425°F. Follow recipe directions. When baking more than one pan of muffins, allow enough room around each pan and between the pans and the sides of the oven for the heat to circulate. You may need to rotate the pans during baking.

40 to 45 min. That is, bake it for 40 min and then check it to see if it's done (or otherwise check it 5 minutes earlier than you otherwise would). The difference between 350F and 375F in actual cooking is generally dwarfed by the temperature inaccuracy of home ovens.

Baking: Temperatures and Time

Some say to set a temperature of anywhere between 350 and 400 degrees with decreasing bake times as the temperature goes up. My favored way, though, is to heat the oven to 400 and then turn it down to 375 after putting the pan in the oven.

There's no question that the standard oven temperature of 350°F gets the job done for baking up muffins and quick breads.