Cranberry Vanilla Just-Add-Water Muffin Mix

Your family will love these scrumptious muffins, full of vanilla and complemented with the best cranberries we could find. They're very attractive and yet simple to make. Just add water.  It's as simple as that.

Your questions. Everything you wanted to know about muffins.

• I noticed in the pictures that you're not using paper liners. Why is that?  You can use paper liners. You'll get taller, prettier muffins if you don't.
• Will they stick? Will I have trouble getting them out of the pan? Use a nonstick pan and grease the cavities well. Loosen them with a soft spatula with a flexible tip. And timing helps.  Let them cool for just a minute or two and get them out. If you let them cool too much, the sugar in the batter, which melts in the oven, will set like concrete. Better to get them out of the pan too soon than too late. 
• These are big, high-domed muffins. Care to share your secret? It takes some experimenting, but there are three essentials: It takes a lot of batter to make a bigger muffin. The batter has to be thick so that it rises instead of spreads. Both the heat and the leavening have to be right. 
• What if mine don't rise like that? Check the heat of your oven. A lot of the rise comes from the steam.
• Twelve big muffins, we won't eat them all right away. How do I store them?  Let them cool and then freeze them. Store them frozen in a plastic bag.
• How do I thaw them? Don't put them in the oven; that dries them out. You can let them thaw on the counter, but I like to thaw them in the microwave so that they are warm--an instant breakfast treat.  
• Are they as good after being frozen? Pretty close. I don't think you can tell the difference, especially warm. And It's sure nice to have an instant muffin that you can grab and run.

Dennis Weaver

Baker's notes

In my culinary textbooks, the authors state that you can switch back and forth between muffins and a quick bread with the same recipe.  You can, maybe not universally but generally. That is, as long as you adjust the temperature.

Bake muffins at a high heat, 375 to 400 degrees. Much of the rise with muffins comes from steam. You want to convert the water to steam before the batter sets. And make sure your oven is hot before putting the pan in the oven.

It's just the opposite with a quick bread. It takes a long time to drive the heat through a dense loaf. You don't want a crusty loaf. So set the temperature at 300 to 325 degrees and let it stew. And if browns too quickly, top your loaf with aluminum foil.

I've noticed in the reviews that occasionally, readers make cakes or quick breads with their muffin mixes. Today, I read a review where the customer baked a muffin mix in a 9x9-inch pan and it was great.  

Ingredients:  (Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Cranberries, Quick Oats, Dry Milk, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil), Dry Whey, Dry Whole Egg, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Wheat Starch, Artificial Flavor, Corn Starch, Silicon Dioxide), Natural and Artificial Flavor.

This product contains wheat, milk, eggs, soy and may contain traces of nuts. Contains a bioengineered food ingredient.