Baking Small Batches

In the eternal quest for edible, palatable, allergy-safe baking recipes, I used to find myself baking up whole batches of muffins, only to have to throw a whole tray full of "bricks" into the trash.  After that happened a few times, I decided that it was probably best to make 1/4 batches of new recipes.  Even with tried-and-true recipes, I often bake partial batches, because I only have one daughter and she does not need a full batch of muffins, just for herself.  Here are some of the tools that I use, when baking small batches.

Pinch, dash and smidgen measuring spoons - These measure out 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 of a teaspoon.  I often use this when measuring out salt or vanilla extract. 

Mini measuring "shot glass" - This measures 2 Tablespoons, 6 teaspoons, etc.  I use this when making egg replacer.  2 T. of warm water makes 1 "egg".  I can microwave it for about 15 seconds.

"Coffee" scoop - This measures out 1/8 cup which equals 2 Tablespoons.  When the flour gets reduced to "3/8" of a cup, it makes it easier to use this scoop, rather than trying to "eyeball" half of a 1/4-cup measuring cup.  It's also an easy way to measure out 2 T. of applesauce in a single scoop. 

Mini muffin pan - I don't always fill up all the cavities, and I have found that it's easier to get muffins and cupcakes to cook all the way through, if I made them smaller.  I typically prefer to grease the wells with Spectrum, rather than using paper liners, because the muffin often sticks to the liner.

"Whoopie Pie"/Muffin Top pan - I also use this pan to get around the fact that I have a hard time getting my batters to cook well, all the way through.  It's also a good pan for biscuits or rolls.

Cookie scoop - Getting the batter into those mini-muffin cavities is so much easier with a small cookie scoop.