I came back from a weekend in Maine with lots (and I mean lots!) of Wild Maine Blueberries. I find them about a million times better than the culivated high bush kind from New Jersey or Michigan or where ever else they are grown. In addition to the better flavor, I think that because they are smaller, they distribute better in muffins and such. So I made this “coffee cake” like blueberry loaf. Oh so good. Extremely light and fluffy and I am trying not to eat it all at once.
Breakfast/Brunch
I few weeks ago, I had run out of frozen blueberries (this is unusual) and wanted to make blueberry muffins before the shops opened so I couldn’t buy any fresh ones, so I resorted to using blueberry jam. Turns out: best. blueberry. jam. ever. And you don’t have to worry about having the berries. This would also work with other jam, so use whatever you’ve got!
This post is not about muffins. OK, maybe a little bit about the muffins, because these Cherry Peach Muffins with Vanilla Cinnamon Streusel are really good. It is more about the muffin hardware. The pan. The tin. The vessel in which the muffins were made….
As you can see, this muffin pan looks a little different than your standard muffin pan. It looks like a big, somewhat organized amoeba. Not like the usual, rectangular sort. It was touted as “a better muffin pan” so me being me, had to try it out. Apparently because of the alignment of the cups (closer together) and because it is made out of heavy gauge, coated aluminum (vs normal steel construction), your baked good get better heat distribution, thus better baking. So far, so good, as I guess the muffins came out well, though I honestly can’t say that they are a million times better than my normal muffins. Nevertheless, it’s a cool pan and so far, I like it.
(PS: It’s pricey at $35, compared to a normal muffin pan at $6-$12, but I had a gift certificate so I splurged. Who? Me? Slurge on bakeware? Never!)