Muffins are such a treat that you might wish to bake them all the time. Some people only make muffins on special occasions, but other people will choose to make muffins to accompany various dishes.
If you’re a big fan of muffins, then you might make them pretty often. Sometimes things can go wrong, though, and the muffins might not turn out like you expected them to.
When your muffins come out of the oven in a ruined state it’s going to be frustrating. No one likes spending all that time baking something only to get poor results.
Is there something that you can do with ruined muffins so that they don’t go to waste, though? Read on to learn what you can do with ruined muffins.
1 – Try Reviving the Muffins If Possible
There is a possibility that your muffins might not be as ruined as you think. For example, you might think that your muffins aren’t good to eat because they’re really dry.
You might be able to revive muffins when they’re in this state. Some people have had really good luck when putting a bit of water on the muffins and placing them in a paper bag.
They might come out significantly less dry than before. Some choose to place the muffin bag in the oven for just 10 seconds to create some steam that can help the muffins to become moist again.
It’s worth a shot if your muffins are just a bit too dry, but reviving the muffins won’t always work. Also, you can’t fix muffins that taste horrible or ones that are way too burned.
2 – Just Eat the Parts That Are Still Good
Perhaps the most obvious thing that you can do is try to eat the parts of the muffins that are still good. For example, you might have burned the muffins, and this means that parts of the muffins will be too hard and burned to eat.
That doesn’t mean that the entire muffin is bad, though. You might find that the tops of the muffins will be perfectly fine while the bottoms of the muffins will be really bad.
You could just choose to eat the tops of the muffins so that you can enjoy what you baked. This might not be ideal in many ways, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t eat the good parts.
If you don’t like wasting food, then there’s nothing wrong with doing this. So long as parts of the muffins still taste good, it’ll be easy to do this and have a good experience.
3 – Use the Muffins as a Topping for Another Dessert
Using the muffins as a topping for another dessert will be a very good way to ensure that your muffins get eaten. You can use the same concept as above to pick out the good bits of the muffins that can be eaten.
You might have some portions of the muffins that still taste great while others will be not so good. Pick out the good parts of the muffins and create a pile of muffin crumbles that you can use.
Now you’ll be able to use those muffin crumbles as a topping for various desserts. This might help you to make things such as ice cream taste that much better.
You can easily make your ice cream taste amazing if you put some muffin crumbles on top. If you’re feeling bold, then you could even add some chocolate sauce, caramel, or whipped cream on top to make it a truly decadent delight.
Muffins might make a good topping for other types of dessert, too. You might enjoy muffin crumbles on top of certain types of cheesecakes or pies.
Just try to find a dessert that sounds like it could use a muffin crumble topping. You could experiment and see what types of good combinations you can come up with.
4 – Consider Making Bread Pudding
There are many ways that muffins can become ruined, and depending on what happened, it might be possible to salvage things by turning the muffins into something else. If your muffins came out of the oven way too dry, then they still might be useful to you.
You could use dry muffins to make bread pudding if you want to. Bread pudding is a very tasty type of dessert that many people consider to be a favorite.
It’s not very hard to make bread pudding and it isn’t even going to take a ton of time or anything. You can repurpose your ruined muffins and ensure that they will be eaten instead of going into the garbage.
If you want to make something that your family can enjoy, then bread pudding fits the bill. It might not be possible if you have really burned muffins or if the muffins taste terrible, but it’ll be just fine if the only problem is that the muffins are dry.
5 – Cake Balls
Cake balls are another dessert that you can make using ruined muffins. Of course, this is assuming that there are parts of your muffins that taste good enough to use.
The idea is to get enough crumbly muffin bits that taste good so that you can roll them up into balls. You’ll make a type of tasty apple butter frosting that goes along with the muffin balls.
When you’ve finished rolling the muffin crumbles into balls, it’s going to be necessary to put them in the refrigerator or the freezer. You chill them like this before serving them as a refreshing dessert.
It can be a real crowd-pleaser when you make the apple butter frosting just right. It’s a good way to use the good portions of your ruined muffins and it doesn’t take a ton of effort.
6 – Throw Ruined Muffins Out
Finally, it just might not be possible to save every type of ruined muffin out there. Sometimes muffins will come out of the oven so ruined that trying to eat them would be a bad idea.
If your muffins are horribly burned, then you might not be able to salvage many edible bits from them. It’s even possible that the muffins might taste bad if you didn’t get the recipe right.
You should always taste your muffins first to see if there is anything wrong with them. If the muffins taste funny, then you shouldn’t bother with trying to repurpose them in any way.
There isn’t a good reason for you to try to force yourself to eat ruined muffins. Often, it’s going to be more practical to simply throw the muffins away and try to do better when baking muffins next time.
Just be honest about the condition of your muffins and whether they’re going to be able to be used in another dish. If they aren’t good enough to eat in any way, then they’re destined for the trash bin.
Final Thoughts
You have options when you’re trying to use ruined muffins. Some people will try to make other types of desserts using the ruined muffins, but others will try to just eat the bits that still taste good.
Muffin crumbles can be utilized as toppings on other desserts. You can even make delicious bread pudding using muffins that are too dry.
Just use the information above to help you decide the best course of action. You might not have to throw the ruined muffins out if things aren’t too bad, but you’ll be able to make the right call after examining things thoroughly.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Film/Video/Media Studies, as well as an associates degree in Communications. I began producing videos and musical recordings nearly 15 years ago. I am a guitarist and bassist in Southwest MI and have been in a few different bands since 2009, and in 2012 I began building custom guitars and basses in my home workshop as well. When I’m home, I love spending time with my three pets (a dog, cat, and snake) and gardening in my backyard.