DIY Parchment Paper Muffin Wrappers

 Last fall, in a sudden bout of craftiness, I decided to make my own parchment paper muffin liners when I was making a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

 (The fact that this feels crafty to me tells you exactly how crafty I am not).

And I loved the way they looked so much that I now frequently do it.

Last time I posted a muffin recipe – these double chocolate muffins – and used those parchment liners, several people requested a tutorial on how to make your own liners.

It’s super ridiculously easy, but it makes your muffins look like they came from an upscale bakery instead of your own boring kitchen, plus I love that my muffin tin doesn’t need to be scrubbed out AND I don’t lose half my muffin to a muffin liner (I always feel like so much muffin gets left behind with traditional muffin liners).

Also, they’re super forgiving – you don’t need to have them perfectly uniform or folded exactly right or cut to exact dimensions. Basically, my ideal kind of DIY.

And if you’re making muffins as a neighbor gift this week, it’s a super simple way to make them feel a little fancier.

(You can also buy them, if that’s more your speed, which I totally respect).

Anyway, all you need is parchment paper (I always buy Reynolds from my grocery store – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an off-brand parchment paper in any of the places I’ve lived) and some scissors.

And obviously a muffin tin and some muffin batter.

Cut squares out of your parchment paper that are about 5 inches long on each side (I tear off about a 5 inch section of the roll and then cut it into thirds).

Center the square of parchment paper over your empty muffin cup and press it down into the muffin cup, starting in the middle and then moving outward. You can carefully fold the edges if you want, but I just press them flat against the sides.

They won’t really stay in while you repeat it with the other 11 cups, but then you can just push them into place when you start spooning the batter in.

Once all your muffin tins are filled with parchment paper liners, hold the liner in place with one hand, and drop a spoonful of batter into the center. The weight of the batter will push the liner into place and hold it there while you top off the batter.

 

 

 Bake as normal and enjoy your bakery muffins (and the fact that the edges of the liners make it super easy to remove them from the pan).