Add This Step Before Filling Muffin Cups

After filling your kitchen with the wonderful smells of banana nut muffins baking in the oven, it can be a huge disappointment if half of your muffin goes to waste by sticking to the side of the tin. Even worse, you end up with a cleaning nightmare. You can avoid one of the biggest mistakes when baking muffins by adding one step: Grease your muffin tin before you add the batter. Whether you are using metal, glass, non-stick, or silicone for your muffin pan, there's a possibility for the muffin to stick to the side. But adding oil, butter or a cooking spray to the bottom and sides of each cup can make it easier to get your muffins out whole. 

Even if you use paper cupcake liners, it's still a good idea to add a little grease, so the batter doesn't stick to the paper sides. A bit of oil can go a long way to create a cleaner edge when you peel off the paper, and you can avoid ruining cupcakes by having them pull apart at the liner. Ina Garten shared a tip on Instagram to also put some grease on the top of the muffin pan. That can help if the top rises over the edge, so you can keep every yummy morsel intact.

Some bakers have their own preferences for greasing a muffin tin. You can use softened or melted butter, vegetable oil, or shortening, either using a brush or a paper towel to wipe the bottom and the sides of each cup. (Or you can use the butter wrapper to line your pan.) Remember that butter or oil can affect the taste of the muffin, but shortening doesn't. If you use a cooking spray, be sure to fill in the corners, but don't spray too close to the pan or you could end up with too much grease. It's also a worthwhile step to sprinkle some flour on top of the grease because it can create a barrier between the grease and the batter, so it doesn't get absorbed or leave a crumbly mess despite your efforts.

When your muffins are done baking, let them cool in the pan for a few minutes. Use a butter knife around the sides of the muffins to loosen them, and if they are still sticking, try placing the still-warm pan on a wet, warm dish towel for a minute or two. That will allow the muffins to loosen up, so you can enjoy a perfectly whole muffin for your meal. Once you understand the art of greasing, you can experiment with all kinds of things you didn't know you could do with a muffin tin, like mini pizzas or taco salad cups, and cleanup will be a lot easier.