I love blueberry muffins. Moist, soft blueberry muffins are right up there with chocolate, ice cream, grilled steak, and pancakes for favorite things to eat.
Renee, my boss at works, makes award-winning blueberry muffins. That isn’t a misnomer on my part, either; she entered them in the Orange County Fair last year and won first prize. My girlfriend, when I visited both at Halloween and over Christmas, made me very good blueberry muffins from a mix. They were large and fluffy and quite good—especially with a pat of butter and heated in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Mmmmm.
Said girlfriend picked up some of the same mix and left them here when she visited me. The first batch I tried to make turned out tiny—I misread the package and instead of making 5, I filled a 12-cup muffin tin. Oops.
This time out, knowing my mistake, I used the 6-cup tray. I filled 5 cups 2/3 full, just as the instructions said. Apparently I have small cups, because I had almost exactly enough to fill the last cup 2/3 full too, which I did. I baked for about 18 minutes (the package said 16-21—18 made them lightly golden-brown on top).
And I still got tiny muffins. They literally did not rise at all in the tin!
I brought two into work for a morning snack but showed them to Renee (and Dorothy, who is in the office next door and decided to be nosy). I explained what I did, but neither couldn’t figure out what I could be doing wrong to make them not rise at all. Then Renee had a thought, “Did you really beat the batter?”
“I made sure it was smooth.”
“There’s your mistake. In order for muffins to rise, you want to just make sure the batter is moist—nothing more. If you stir it too much, they don’t rise.”
Dorothy chimed in, “Yeah, you want to stir it like 5 times—just enough to moisten it. You almost want it lumpy.”
How the hell am I supposed to know that?
I am always impressed with people who can cook and especially those who can cook in a variety of different mediums (baking, sauces, stir-fry, steaming, roasting, broiling—whatever!). I have a few things I do pretty well, and I can (usually) follow a recipe to a pretty decent conclusion. I actually enjoy cooking, when I do it, even if I’m not that great. I think I like the challenge of it. But when I meet someone who can cook well, I like to stand back and watch in awe. I’m especially jealous of people who can get everything done roughly at the same time—that is a skill I have yet to master, although I’m finally getting better at it.
In my opinion, even if you are following a recipe, cooking is an art form. There is something to it that allows a level of creativity and secret knowledge that provides one with the skill to transform base ingredients into something magical. Cooking is alchemy. Taking lead and turning it to gold; not everyone can do that. Quite a few turn that lead into dirt or ash and some can only keep it lead. Many can turn that lead into brass or silver—perfectly respectable attempts, and valuable—but few have the skill and talent to turn what they touch into gold. If you take two people randomly off the street, put them in identical kitchen environments and with identical recipes and ask them to make the same dish, and one may make the best meal you’ve ever tasted and another will make something that tastes slightly better than burnt cardboard. It’s just the way cooking goes—not everyone can do it.
This week I will try another one of those mixes. This time, I will try my best to only just moisten the mix. We’ll see if I get better results.
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I'll have to go home and re-read the back of that mix. I don't remember specifically if that one says "batter will be lumpy". Most of the time they put that on the directions.
ReplyDeleteMy success has more to do with the fact that after about 5 turns of the spoon in a big bowl of batter, my arm gets tired and it looks good enough to me. I actually didn't know they wouldn't rise if you overmixed. Finally, a good part about being weak!
If memory serves me, your 6 cup tin is abnormally shallow, so it makes sense that you used all 6 instead of 5.
There are people out there who just can't cook, no matter how simple the directions may be. Muffins may not be your forte, but you make a mean stack of pancakes and have ruined me for grilled steak. When we actually spend more time physically together, I'll get to see the rest of your cooking skills :)
If/when my mother decides to speak to me again, there's a person you can stand back and admire for her cooking skills. With years of practice behind her, she can have a family dinner timed out perfectly. She makes beautiful pies and breads (banana/lemon/pumpkin.) Her specialty is shortbread cookies, though, with her own frosting that makes me detest most grocery store bakery cakes.
Mum enjoys cooking but since she lives alone, she doesn't have anyone to cook for anymore. She'd often send cooking in to work with me. I work with a lady in my current job who I also worked with in my last job, who is addicted to the shortbread cookies. She's jokingly asked me to somehow get my mother speaking to me again so she could have more cookies!!
While I am not proud of my mother's tendency to disown her children, I am extremely proud of her cooking. As a kid I used to sit and watch her make pies, cookies, breads, brownies, cakes, frosting. I'd get to lick the bowl. I'd like to think I absorbed something during all those times of watching her, but unfortunately I was not of an age where I can now remember exactly how to make a pie. I have a lot to learn. I just hope she starts speaking to me in time for me to learn it.
My grandmother (on my Dad's side) made the best molasses cookies, boiled icing, and white & brown bread, as well as pies. Unfortunately the recipe for molasses cookies went with her to the grave. My grandfather has searched the kitchen but never found the recipe, he thinks she always did it from memory. My Dad had the foresight to videotape a lesson she gave him on how to make bread, which he still has and is really glad he did so.
I have good cooking genes from both sides of my family. Although my attempts are usually modest and often involve a mix, I can usually execute them quite well. I am very good at following instructions - the more detailed, the better. Some people chastize for using mixes, but I don't agree (as long as you're not passing it off as your own original recipe.) The important thing to remember is that love/effort was put into the attempt, and the result is tasty.
Don't despair, Jaz--muffins are deceptive in their simplicity. I can make a whole turkey dinner with ease, and have an annoying habit of actually growing my own blackberries to make pie, but I still can't make a good muffin, even with mixes.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever get truly intrigued by cooking, try Cook's Illustrated magazine and their associated Web site. They strive to create the single best recipe for any given food, and they explain the research and reasoning behind their chosen ingrediants and techniques, so you understand that how and why the recipe works--plus get great results every time. It's the only Web site I actually subscribe to.
I can't wait for you to get up here so you and Liz can come visit. I'll prepare a feast. I'm quickly becoming known for them around here. (: I am one of those silly people you mentioned who can have everything finished at roughly the same time just in time to put dessert in the oven to bake whilst eating the main meal. Hehe! I've also got the flare for being able to add just a pinch of that and a dash of this to change the taste to something just so different and wonderful. Roomie, Buddy, G, DB, and many many others will gladly attest to that! haha!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely cannot make muffins though. They're usually small and although tasty, they're small. Very small. My mom isn't much of a baker or a cook, but my grandmothers on both sides of the family were always big with baking & cooking. I guess that's where I got it from. I absolutely love having company for dinner so I have the excuse to fire up the oven, stove, microwave & the bbq all at once making various things!
My fave website for great recipes that actually turn out is Allrecipes.com I haven't had anything there fail yet. They're all real recipes submitted by real people and reviewed by real people. Good stuff and lots of 'round the world cuisine to be found. My absolute FAVE place to find recipes though is actually Canadian Living Magazine. Mmmmm scrumptiousness!
Get yourself to SJ so you and Liz can make a trip here for some yumminess! (: