You guys... These are sad muffins.
I know, they look so cute! How could I not want to devour these?! But we're about honesty here, right? I tell you about crappy vacations, cheesecake withdrawal... heck, I even post unfortunate photos like these. And we bond over it all. At least, that's what I like to think. You guys don't comment very often (wink wink, nudge nudge), so I'm not exactly sure what you think. But holding up my end of the bargain, let's talk about sad muffins.
I've told you about my muffin obsession before. So I thought I'd do something about it and whip up a fantastically good batch on my own. Problem was, every time I can remember having made muffins in the past, they were seriously lacking. There was a batch of blueberry muffins that tasted, inexplicably, like Play-Doh. But I was sure this time would be different, especially with a bananas-and-chocolate recipe in hand.
But, as much as Dave tried to tell me these were delicious, they just weren't. At all. The recipe specified to mix the ingredients until just combined, and I ended up with — gasp — bitter clumps of baking powder. And altogether flat, dry, un-banana-y muffins that were more of a vehicle for chocolate consumption than anything else.
So... share with me your favorite muffin recipes. Pretty please? Or share with me your baking failures. We all have sad muffin days once in a while, right? And then we move on.
Sad Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Um. Obviously I don't really recommend this recipe... but just in case you were curious.
1 egg
3 large bananas, finely mashed
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons baking powder
dash of salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tray with muffin cups.
Beat egg in a large bowl. Add milk, oil and mashed bananas and mix well. Stir in the remaining ingredients until flour is just dissolved.
Spoon into muffin cups. Sprinkle with additional sugar or chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.
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ooookay so i'm probably just being dumb and sleepy, but how do I subscribe to your blog?
ReplyDelete<3 laura
I have found that banana muffins ARE weirdly dry. I add sour cream, seems to help.
ReplyDeleteJust use your wonderful banana bread recipe! Add nuts/chocolate chips if you want. (Mini chocolate chips are best, I believe.) Scoop the batter into a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan. 350, about 12-18 minutes, until very lightly brown. Overcooking is the reason they get dry, so err slightly on the side of underdone. The sour cream tip is great too; I sometimes use yogurt if we are out of sour cream.
ReplyDeleteyes! my sneaky demand for comments is working ;)
ReplyDeleteLaura — In the right column a little below my photo, there's a section called "Subscribe to," and you can click "posts" under that and pick Google Reader or whatever. let me know if that doesn't work, maybe it's time to update! thanks for saying hello :)
Anon. — loove the idea for sour cream.. or yogurt! mmm
Banglabou — thanks for the tips! i was thinking about just substituting my banana bread recipe too... now i know how to do it!
I know exactly what you mean exactly!! All muffin recipes I've tried have lacked in taste and texture. I think it's because they mostly use oil and the mixing method. Even when I try subbing butter for oil, it's still lacking. So far, the best recipe I've tried is the blueberry muffin from chaos in the kitchen. Surprisingly it uses oil too, but they don't taste bad. They have what I think is the perfect muffin texture ie. not heavy like a cake, but not too lean like something low fat.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link
http://chaosinthekitchen.com/2010/04/blueberry-muffins/
By the way, I didn't make the topping and they were still good. I don't think a muffin should be judged by the extras on top for it to be the best. The important part is the actual crumb and texture. Of course, topping always takes it over the top though!
hi, Steph! thanks for the link! i totally agree that you can't fake good texture with a good topping... but mmm, that topping does look good.
ReplyDeleteI found you too! And I think your blog is absolutely adorable. I am going to live my dreams of baking through you, and maybe bake with you a couple of times this summer. Can't really comment on the muffin recipe because the only time I've made them is with the package! Lol, keep up the good work! Love all your stuff!
ReplyDeleteHi! I have the same problem with muffins...I actually tend to OVER MIX resulting in dry muffins. Here's a really good banana muffin recipe though: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Crumb-Muffins/Detail.aspx
ReplyDeleteAlthough your muffins may not taste the best, they certainly LOOK very good and cute =)
Carolynnn!
ReplyDeleteJudy has been driving me crazy at PT asking for a banana chocolate chip muffin! So, I'm finally going to make some tomorrow to bring in Friday. I found a recipe on line that has great reviews so I'm going to try it out. I'll let you know how it is!
Danielle — omg. you are totally helping me bake stuff this summer! let's do another dinner together soon :)
ReplyDeleteThe Food Junkie — ooh, thanks for the link!
Tracey — let me know how it goes... in your next email, which i have patiently awaited for over a month now!! haha
Lol. I love how you said the recipe sucks then wrote it out anyway. How awesome of you.
ReplyDeletestumbled upon this from foodgawker.com and its cute and funny, bravo!
ReplyDelete