Muffin liners are subject to an exceedingly strange pantry phenomenon. You either have so many stacked together on your tallest shelf that they frequently fall on you from odd angles, or they’re impossible to find when you swore you had some. But being without store-bought muffin liners doesn’t mean you have to go without muffins. In fact, there’s a helpful kitchen hack that can work even better for gorgeous, easy-to-release muffins, cupcakes, and egg bites: Parchment paper.
If you’ve ever been to a café or bakery where gorgeous muffins are nestled in tall pieces of paper so that they look like potted plants, you’ll get the idea. When you settle small squares of parchment paper into your muffin tin, you can not only lift your finished muffins out more easily with extra paper to hold onto, you can also serve them as is on a helpful square of crumb-catching paper.
The technique is simple. For a regular-sized muffin tin, cut out 12 5-inch by 5-inch squares of parchment paper, then nestle the squares into your muffin molds before greasing the pan and filling with your favorite muffin recipe as usual. Be sure not to cut your squares of parchment paper too big or they’ll start to brown on the edges as your muffins bake. For a jumbo muffin tin, go ahead and bump the squares up to 6-inches by 6-inches. For mini muffins, we’d recommend thoroughly greasing the pan instead. As a note, this hack only works with parchment paper, so be sure not to try it with wax paper or another paper type.
A few more tips when trying this muffin liner hack
Store-bought muffin liners not only have fun colors in their favor, but they’re also manufactured to fit smoothly in your muffin tin. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to make your parchment paper squares fit seamlessly in the pan. First, you can try the molding method. Find a glass, can, or condiment that’s about the same size as your muffin well, then mold each square firmly around it until it has a dent to match the muffin pan. Your parchment paper will now sit still in your muffin tin while you fill it with batter.
If the molding method sounds like too much work or you’d rather not have that many folds in your muffin liner, try this method instead: Take your square of parchment paper and make two small cuts on one side, about 2 inches in from each corner, 1-inch apart, and 1-inch deep. Then do the same on the opposite side. Your parchment square will now fit a bit more smoothly into the muffin well. If you’re throwing a party or have the time or inclination to fancify your liners, you can also cut scalloped edges along each of the sides — your guests won’t believe you made them yourself.
