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A good homemade muffin just seems to make the day go a little better -- but who has time to make muffins when you're getting ready for a road trip?

Enter "The Refrigerator Muffin." With refrigerator muffins, you can make the batter ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. Just before you pack the car, take a few minutes and stick some muffins in the oven. You'll have fresh muffins as you head down Highway 20. You're taking the RV? That's even better. When you stop at the rest stop, fill your muffin tins and stick them in the oven.
Heading to Aunt Martha's for that special dinner? Mix up the batter before you leave, stick it in your well-iced cooler, and bake up a batch when you get there.

How does this work? There's nothing magical about it. Mix up the batter and keep it for up to three weeks in the refrigerator. Take what you want from the refrigerator and make up a few or a batch-whenever you want, as many as you want.

The recipe is easy, or if you prefer, make them from a mix and really save time. RoadTrip America® readers can get a free mix -- buy two and get a free bonus mix. Click here!

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

This is a heritage recipe that has been around for decades. You can make double or triple batches and always have batter on hand. My mother used to make batches by the tub to feed a houseful of hungry teenagers a ton of muffins.

Store the batter in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to two weeks, then fill the muffin tins that you need and return the rest to the refrigerator for another day.

The following recipe makes about 18 large muffins.

Ingredients

3 cups all-bran cereal such as All Bran or Bran Buds 1 cup raisins ½ cup melted butter 1 cup very hot water 2 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk 1 cup sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup stone ground wheat flour 1 tablespoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

1. In a medium bowl, add the cereal and raisins and then the very hot water. Stir in the melted butter. Set it aside to soak.
2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and stir in the buttermilk and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flours, salt, and baking soda together until well combined.
4. Make a crater in the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg mixture and the cereal mixture and then stir with a spatula until combined.
5. If you choose to make muffins now, fill well-greased tins two-thirds full. Refrigerate the remaining batter in a covered container in the refrigerator.
6. Bake the muffins for 14 to 18 minutes or until they test done. Let them sit in the tins for several minutes and then remove them to wire racks to cool. Freeze any leftovers.

Dennis Weaver -- having burnt food from Miami, Florida to Point Barrow, Alaska -- is RTA's road food expert. He has logged thousands of hours on the roads, trails, and waterways of America including many of Alaska's wilderness rivers and has consistently been elected the trips' "chief cook and bottle washer." Dennis is currently general manager at The Prepared Pantry, a company in Rigby, Idaho, that produces ready-to-eat meals and baking mixes packaged in Mylar. Weatherproof, bug-proof, and critter resistant, they're ideal for both roadtrips and back woods camping. Dennis may be reached at dweaver@preparedpantry.com.