Mission 4: Muffin Madness Part 2

Ok, so after burning the last set of muffins, I was sure I had this one. I found the recipe for 'basic' blueberry muffins in Joy of Cooking. I had studied the recipe, read the section on making muffins, and even read the section on muffin mixing techniques. I was pretty confident I couldn't mess this one up...

Well you can already guess what happened.

I sat near the oven waiting intently as they baked, and a few minutes before the cook time...I noticed they looked a little brown....but they were still liquidy in the middle. When the timer when off I look them out, and what did I see??

Burn muffins. Again.

The muffins were totally burnt around the outside, and totally under cooked in the middle. WTF?? How could this be happening again! I practically studied for this!

However, at this point I can’t help but completely laugh at myself. I mean who can’t bake a simple muffin recipe? Apparently me. I CANNOT make muffins, muffins hate me, my oven hates muffins, or there is a sabotaging muffin elf who lives in my kitchen!! I try to pout and complain to Jorge, but underneath it all I cannot stop laughing at myself and my ridiculous inability to cook a simple batch of muffins….

Jorge and I drive to the store at 9pm at night to see what I can buy to redeem myself. There’s no pre-baked goods that will work, so we find Jiffy muffin mix for $1 a bag. Jorge says “Why don’t you see if you can make boxed muffins first, then try making them from scratch”…huh, that’s kind-of a good idea I guess. Although deep down inside I feel like I’m cheating.

The boxed muffins turn out ok, a little brown, but definitely not burnt! I few people at work even tell me they taste really good (they are boxed after all). Ever time someone tells me that I feel like a big fat cheater, but I just smile and say ‘thanks! I had a little help from Betty Crocker…’

Ok new idea, I master the ‘boxed’ muffins first. Yes, boxed muffins sound about right.