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
They were great! The batter was pretty thick so I added 1/4 cup milk. Next time I will try it w/o since the last commenter said it was fine. I used olive oil since it’s healthier. I didn’t do fruit but I have in other recipes. Put them in a bowl with some sugar over night and then they’ll be really sweet.
The batter seemed quite thick when I scooped it out but they turned out nice and fluffy! We used mini muffins pans and cut the bake time to about 9 minutes. This is a great recipe for a quick, customizable, tastyt muffin!
Amazing but I found the cook time to be long. I would check at 16 minutes to be sure. Thank you!!
Amazing! They are big, Golden, and puffy! I love them!
super happy with how these came out! I had never baked muffins before and loved how simple this recipe was. After baking for 18 minutes they were beautifully golden brown on the top. The middle and inside were light and fluffy. For some, I swirled in some brown sugar and they came out delicious!
Hi just wondering how you cook your muffins if you’ve never eaten a ‘baked’ one?? I always bake mine I.e cook them in the oven. I do t know of any other way unless you do? Thanks 😊
I took it to mean she’s just never made muffins before. Not that she usually cooks them another way but has never baked them.
Tried the recipe and it came out so perfect. Thank you so much it’s simple and easy.
I love this recipe! I like to experiment with it because it allows for so much leeway. This morning I added a little extra milk and some cinnamon sugar to the batter. Then instead of muffin, I sprayed my bundt pan, added a little cinnamon sugar to the bottom and poured the batter over it. It’s almost like a snickerdoodle muffin cake, if you want to call it that.
sounds really good i am trying it in the morning by the way u wrote this on my bday so tell people tht its a special recipe in honor of thanks again for the coments
These are verygood. I used a small scoop and put the filling and then more muffin on top. Came out perfect.
Love these great job
I’m excited to try these. Could I use unsalted butter instead of oil?
Lovely recipe love it if just try it and is the boom
These muffins are delicious! I didn’t have any vanilla so I added a teaspoon of orange extract instead. Also added walnuts at the end. This is now my go to recipe for muffins!! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Made them tonight with whole wheat flour instead of regular all purpose and they came out just as delicious! Thank you so much!
OK. I just made them again. I did 4 with diced apple pieces rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon, 4 with diced banana, and 4 with a little blob of peanut butter. I just tried one…..YUM! This is the best base recipe in the world!!!!!! Thank you so much for this. It’s hard to find a recipe that come out right on Pinterest, but this is a keeper!
These were great! I just made mine with little diced apple pieces. YUMMY!
How long would you cook them as mini muffin?
These were not very good. The batter was extremely thick and they came out tasting more like biscuits than muffins. I baked them for only 17 minutes and they were brown and slightly crispy on the outside. I would not make these again.
I tried the recipe and found that the muffins stuck to the liner ?. Yummy… but bummed
I had the same problem the first time. I added a little more flour and a little less milk and they were much better. I also tried using a little ground oatmeal which was excellent for the apple and blueberry muffins. Just play around adding more dry ingredients and they do turn out.
I tried them and kinda feel like the finished product tastes like a buscuit?
Do you really have to spray the muffin cup papers with cooking spray? I would think that would soak through and make an oily mess. Hope I can get a quick reply as I just found this and am making 6 dozen muffins for church tomorrow. Thanks!
I use coconut oil spray. There wasn’t an oily mess.