From Scratch

Kitchen toys are my weakness. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a gadget, a small appliance or a re-invention of the wheel, if it can make life easier or more fun, it calls out to me. Take Saturday. I was in the gizmos aisle at the supermarket and spotted a set of six brightly-colored jumbo silicone muffin cups. Combine their eye appeal with my plans to make a new oat bran and blueberry muffin recipe, and they were in my cart. The thought of doing away with sprays and liners and fussy drying when I don’t use liners was irresistable.

But I’d never baked in silicone, had no idea how it would behave or whether it would need the same time as a tin, and decided a familiar recipe would be the best learning tool. I turned to a favorite which I provided a link to in my review of allrecipes.com, but I’m including it here because I’ve noted the weights I use and other information. This recipe yields only eight muffins in a standard 12-cup tin, so I use the jumbo. 

The silicone cups came with four instructions: grease or spray them like a tin, put the cups in a tin, let the muffins cool completely before removing them and pop them out upside-down. I did not spray them — why did I buy them? — and I didn’t put them in a tin, just lined them up on a small baking sheet, as you see, and put them in the oven. I did let them cool completely but merely pulled down the side to remove them. [Update: Having used these several times now, they often benefit from being sprayed and usually need more baking time. I’m finding them most useful for melting chocolate in the microwave. I won’t buy more silicone for baking.]

Here’s the recipe. My note about baking time in jumbo cups refers to tins, and 28 mins is usually fine for me then; they needed the full 30 minutes in silicone and even though a toothpick came out clean, another minute wouldn’t have hurt. I almost always use frozen wild berries. I make the topping in a mini-chop and it’s usually crumblier, but this time I used less butter simply because I was unwilling to open another stick for about a tablespoon.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (180g)
3/4 cup white sugar (150g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
Optional Topping:
1/2 cup  white sugar (100g)
1/3 cup  all-purpose flour (40g)
1/4 cup  butter,cubed (2 oz.)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil, then the egg, into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add enough milk to fill the cup.

Mix this with flour mixture. Add blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture, optional.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together with a fork 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  (see Notes)

NOTES : Notes to self: I used my 6-muffin jumbo tin. The recipe fit into them fine, but they needed 28-30 minutes in the oven when using that tin, and should be left in the pan to cool for about 10 minutes instead of the usual 5.
       
Uploader’s note: “These muffins are extra large and yummy with the sugary-cinnamon crumb topping. I usually double the recipe and fill the muffin cups just to the edge for a wonderful extra-generously-sized deli style muffin. Add extra blueberries too, if you want!”

Add to: | del.icio.us

Sphere: Related Content

Tags: consumerism, kitchen tools