Muffins

I have been lurking on site for awhile. You all are very helpful and knowledgable. I have been open 6 months (only 3 rooms for now).
Do you freeze baked goods or always cook fresh in am? I am newbie and trying to simplify. Thanks.

We don't do baked goods any longer. However, a lot of folks do reheat pre baked muffins in the morning.

Some muffin recipes are better than others if made ahead, frozen and reheated before serving. You should try some of your favorites to see if they pass your taste test. I sometimes do reheat thawed muffins directly in the muffin pan and set the pan out on the buffet for guests to help themselves...it subtly suggests that they were just freshly baked instead of reheated.
I have often made up baggies of dry ingredients for the week ahead, labeled and stored them until the morning they are needed. This process simplifies morning baking considerably. With just the wet ingredients and muffin tins to prepare I can whip up a batch of muffins in no time and my guests are treated to the heavenly smells of freshly baked goods as they sip their first morning cup of coffee!

I usually bake the day or night before. I make sure the muffins are cool, then put them in bags or storage containers. In the am I gently warm them in a 200 degree oven. I partially wrap in foil, and let the tops stay open. I am too lazy to get up to bake! This works well with just about all muffins, biscuits, scones, except those with banana. I usually refridgerate them overnight.

On this same topic of muffins and freezing...I had some lemon poppie seed muffins I put in the freezer from NY's day and pulled this out this week and they were flattened like someone ran over them. Pretty funny really.
I have frozen blueberry muffins and they were fine, not the same as fresh baked, but not bad if microwaved and real butter tossed on them.
This is a good topic, the one people expect innkeepers to be having.

Yes, we do cooking days and then freeze them for the busy days ahead. We like to haul them out (what we will need) the night before and then just reheat them just before going into the dining room. Or we cook them while waiting for check-ins. Like today still waiting on the people who had to have a noon check in.

I make mini-muffins instead of the big size. I have found that I can make a half recipe of just about ANY muffin recipe and that will give me 1 mini-muffin tin (12) which is enough for 1 couple who will eat 2, maybe 3 of the 7 on the small plate on the table. I put the rest - including the remaining muffins on the table when they finish - in a ziploc bag and present it to them as a "care package" for the road.
If I have 2 couples or 3 (I have 3 rooms), I make a full recipe and get almost 3 dozen mini-muffins - enough for the table and care packages. It takes 16 minutes @ 350F to bake mini-muffins.

I bake my muffins and scones the morning of. Like Silverspoon, I'll premeasure my dry ingredients beforehand. Breakfast breads I make the night before. They really need to cool well I find. People still love to come into the dining room and smell something freshly baked. Even the night before, they smell the breakfast bread and ask me what I'm baking (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and I just tell them it's for their breakfast. Then they know that it is freshly made.
I just really love to bake and I don't find it a chore. I'm always looking to expand my baked goods menu.

Both and depends. When it comes to muffins, you can freeze the batter and bake from frozen. They are home made and freshly baked. When you have a full house, you can bake a batch, but in the off season you can bake from frozen.

I have a recipe for a bran muffin where you make a big batch of batter and keep it in the fridge and bake when you need it. I love this recipe for slower times of year. batter keeps for 6 weeks!

Aussie Innkeeper said:

I have a recipe for a bran muffin where you make a big batch of batter and keep it in the fridge and bake when you need it. I love this recipe for slower times of year. batter keeps for 6 weeks!.

Click to expand...

I use that one when I have a lot of guest turnover. Saves mixing up every morning. The recipe I posted on here is my version of it. Muffins Worth Getting up For