next time there will be brownies. tentative approval to go to gameclucks on april 20.
great games, everyone. i feel like i learned a lot. i hope i learned a lot. thank you for the workshop, heaton. have a lesson in muffins as my thanks:
tips:
-always mix your muffins by hand
-do not mix your muffins too much. what happens when you overmix your muffins is that you agitate the flour too much. the agitation of flour results in the creation of gluten, which can create 'snakes' through your muffins.
-use fresh baking powder or baking soda, and preferably aluminum free for the former
-let your muffins 'set' in the pan for five minutes, but no longer
-most recipes imply that you should be using the middle rack of your oven
-the darker and thicker the pan, the longer it will take to cook, by cooking times: dark > regular > glass. for glass you should turn down your oven by about 20F, and reduce your cook time by around two minutes.
here is the recipe i used yesterday:
yield: 18 muffins
prep: 10 minutes
bake: 20 minutes
1/2 cup butter, melted*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp (aluminum free) baking powder
1 cup (recommended amount, but you can eyeball it) chocolate chips
*if you use salted butter, use 1/8 tsp (or a pinch) of salt. if you use unsalted butter, use 1/2 tsp salt.
for the cinnamon sugar on top, about a 3:1 ratio
1 1/2 tsp sugar : 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1. preheat your oven to 375F. line your cups with some kind of liner. you can butter the cups too, but you probably do not want to clean that.
2. in a medium bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. this step will look rather ugly. if your concoction looks something like oily milk with half hydrogenated hash browns, you are on the right track.
3. in a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. stir in chocolate chips.
4. fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. you only just want to mix until barely combined. it is okay to have a lumpy ugly mixture. your batter should be very thick.
5. fill muffin cups to 2/3 full.
6. mix cinnamon sugar, and sprinkle onto batter.
7. bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. beware of stabbing a chocolate chip in this step. as long as you pull out no batter, the muffins are done.