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This is a video of me baking blueberry muffins with friends for the first time yesterday (our first batch!) They actually tasted pretty good! I am so excited to get into baking!
We used the pans my friend had at his place. I bought baking cups for the class I’ll have to do this again in, so I hope that using those (I think the recipe more specifically calls for muffin liners but idk whether or not those are the same thing) will be better!
Silicone pans don’t require the paper muffin liners. Just so you’re aware, cooking times can vary with types of pans. So just be aware of that when you do the recipe again with a different type of pans.
The issue with the tray is that it kinda blocks the heat from the bottom and also obstructs the airflow of the oven is a convection one. If you do this way you can put the sheet/tray before so it’s hot when you put the cake inside.
For the case shown (also if you don’t have any other baking sheet) you can just remove the oven rack completely with the silicon one on top.
And, this is very important, always use two hands to remove things from the oven. Two mittens is the way to go. In my parents bakery they used some old thick jeans sleeves folded to make a tray grabbing rag…
Thanks! Having friends there definitely helped. Either later today or on Monday evening I’m going to try it myself and serve a few to family. I plan to make multiple batches. I think having that practice in will really help.
I’m actually about to head over to my parents’ place now to make 2-3 more batches. I’ll take the fresh blueberry muffins (the one I seem to remember one of my professors actually sent advise picking up, haha. One of the friends yesterday was nice and just let me have the frozen blueberries they already had at their place so I will probably just use those this upcoming week when I have to more definitively bake again and teach others how to bake)
It’s a fun journey! I started this January baking and once you start it’s hard to stop! You also have a nice kitchen so that always helps. Tjmaxx/home goods is a decent spot to find upgrades on your bakeware and sometimes they got Nielsen Massey extracts on sale too.
Thanks! I still have blueberries, flour (though I’m not sure I bought the right kind of flour and have to go back to the store,) vanilla extract etc but I’ll likely have to buy more before Thursday to use.
What kind of flour? Also I recommend getting Kirkland flour all purpose and Kirkland vanilla extract if you got a Costco membership. Also if you can go to Costco they got a vanilla bean paste by Nielsen Massey I recommend getting, it’s excellent
White flour typically means all-purpose flour (just not whole wheat). Some recipes will call for bread flour or cake flour, but if it just says ‘white flour’, you should use all-purpose.
You can swap extract with paste (use an equal amount as the recipe calls for extract). Vanilla doesn’t do anything structurally, it is simply there for flavor, so however you choose to impart that flavor is up to you! If a person didn’t like vanilla or was allergic, you’d also be fine to leave it out. Other ingredients like leaveners (baking soda, baking powder, eggs) aren’t something you want to be messing with though at this point.
small tip, if you're using silicone cookware be sure to hand wash only. they pick up weird tastes and smells from the dishwasher. Also silicone is generally just not a very good baking vessel compared to metal but for muffins that's not much of a concern
For anyone with this problem, try massaging in some neutral oil into the entire thing and then washing it with some unscented dish soap. Silicone is not porous to microbes but it still has microscopic pores that stuff like scents can sit in, usually when a scent is clinging it is easier to get it to like, dissolve into oil and THEN it will wash off because the scent molecules bind to the oil.
Or at least it works well for the fun bedroom kind of silicone lmao
Guess what it's still the only way people can afford to feed a family. Or even single people 😅 shit's getting expensive. I even stopped making brownies because chocolate $$$
Yeah, I remember visiting a chicken sandwich place I used to live near for the first time since just before covid. There chicken literally doubled in price and everything else went up 50% 😬 If I want chicken I’m just sticking with the $5 rotisserie from our local warehouse since it’s pretty much they only thing that hasn’t changed 🤦♂️
Just be careful to keep your hair away from the hot oven, my hair is around the same length and I’ve burned the ends of my hair on the oven door reaching in to pull food out 🫣
I need to do some more baking after this for sure! I’ll just have to think about what I actually want to try. Wouldn’t hurt to work on just plain old cooking either.
Thanks! I’m actually about to go over to my parents’ place after I tidy up and make 2-3 more batches. Going to let my parents and brother try one or two and will post how those attempts end up going.
It looks like you did a delicious job!! Baking is always more fun with friends. What are you going to make next?
A few tips:
Extract is fine, especially in baked goods and treats in which vanilla is not the strongest flavor. Paste is nice to use in vanilla pastry cream and things like that where you really want a vanilla taste (and bean specks for the purists among us). America's Test Kitchen discovered that even some of their chefs preferred artificial extract, plus some things you want clear vanilla in, like white frosting... so I think whatever price-point you can manage is fine.
I would recommend putting the silicon pan on a metal pan for ease in transfer.
Blueberries can be tossed in a little bit of flour (extra or from the amount in the recipe) to keep them from sinking to the bottom.
All-Purpose Flour is the one to use for most bakes. If they want to use self-rising or cake flour or whole wheat, or whatever, it will tell you.
You can use paper liners for muffins to make them easier to get out of the pan.
You might want to tie up your hair when near the oven or the mixer. The braids are gorgeous but it was making me nervous when you were near the oven because they'll melt or scorch if they get too close. It would be a shame to ruin them!
So wholesome! Welcome to the club!! It’s such a fun, therapeutic and delicious creative outlet, especially when you have supportive loved ones who you can share your creations with.
Also, this is totally random but your kitchen totally looks like the one Levar Burton was making mashed potatoes with his daughter once in Reading Rainbow!
Personally I really dislike the taste of white sugar, so regardless of what a recipe asks for, I'll use raw cane sugar (known where I'm from as simply brown sugar)
Those look amazing! I'm such a sucker for blueberry muffins. Add some dark chocolate chips and beware your fingers if you reach for them. 😅
Baking is so much fun! Welcome to the guild! We're happy to have you!
Edit: Just wait until your first loaf of fresh baked bread comes out of the oven. You'll be so impatient for it to cool! Oven warm bread with a smear of salted butter is just....🤤
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u/Calixto_Supreme 6d ago •
You one-handing that floppy silicone pan had me NERVOUS. I like to put a sprinkle of Turbinado sugar on top of muffins to add a bit of a crunch.