How to Jazz up a Store-Bought Muffin Mix

I love muffins! Muffins are comfort food and they remind me of big southern breakfasts and Saturday mornings watching cartoons (do they still have Saturday morning cartoons?). I’m a lazy cook though. I’d probably be a lot less lazy if I had more time on my hands but with as busy as I am I’m always looking for shortcuts which is why I love taking store-bought muffin mixes and jazzing them up a bit. They are good on their own but with a few tweaks, you’d never know they weren’t made from scratch.

I love using Martha White® Baking Mixes (check out this variety pack on Amazon) to save time in the kitchen. Their muffin mixes come in some great varieties and they are very affordable. I love keeping some on hand so my kids can bake on their own (I’m a big fan of getting my kids involved in the kitchen at an early age). Even my 7-year-old can make muffins on his own with these.

Martha White® muffin mixes are great on their own but sometimes we get a little creative. My kids love experimenting (and bonus: experimenting with a muffin mix instead of a scratch recipe means we usually don’t get many completely failed recipes). We’ve come up with all kinds of crazy combinations. You can find Martha White® muffin mixes at your local Kroger store or for a great price on Amazon.

A few of our favorite muffin mix tweaks are:

• Use fruit juice to replace the milk or water
• Add fresh fruit
• Add nuts
• Add peanut butter (sometimes you need a bit of extra liquid for this) or peanut butter powder
• Add pudding mix
• Add chocolate chips
• Add pureed fruit
• Make a streusel topping (this graham walnut streusel is my favorite)
• Top muffins with a bit of sugar for a crispy and sweet top
• Put a spoonful of jam in the center of the muffin
• Put a spoonful of peanut butter/chocolate hazelnut spread/cookie butter in the center
• Make fluffy pancakes

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There really are so many possibilities and this is such a great way to get kids baking and getting creative with food.

We had a few extra minutes the other day and my 3-year-old daughter has been begging me to let her make muffins. She really just likes cracking the eggs and eating the muffins but as long as I let her do that she’s happy.

Blueberry Orange Banana Muffins

These blueberry, orange, banana muffins combine some of my favorite flavors. I leave my bananas mashed in larger chunks so every once in a while you bite into a nice warm piece of banana. It reminds me of banana pancakes and I absolutely love those.

Ingredients

• Martha White® blueberry muffin mix
• Juice of 2 oranges
• 1 banana

Instructions

Mash up your banana a bit with a fork. I don’t go overboard on this because I like big pieces. If you want to get your kids involved, put the banana in a plastic sandwich bag and let them squish it around to mash it.

Juice your 2 oranges. You may or may not have enough liquid to completely replace the milk. I got most of the way there. Just use the milk for whatever extra liquid you need.

Combine your muffin mix with your orange juice/milk mixture then gently stir in the banana. Bake according the the directions on the package.

You’ll have muffins just the way you like them in no time and your kids will love that they helped to switch things up a bit.