mia and muffins

Ack! It's almost been two weeks since I've made a single post. Bad, bad me. So much has happened in the last two weeks and I just went to download pictures off of my camera today, so there will be a few posts in quick succession. First of all, the reason why last week was so busy was ... wait for it ... I GOT A JOB! Okay, it was a temporary job that ended on Sunday, but still! And it was with Mamma Mia! I sold programs and CDs before and after the show and during intermission, so the rest of the time I was free to do homework or watch the show - which was amazing. Bass Concert Hall is a beautiful space. The renovation a few years back made it really modern and simple, just my style. Although now I can't seem to stop humming ABBA songs.


But in the mail I received a silicone muffin pan from an online offer thing.


So ... because I had these spiffy new silicone pans, I had never used silicone before, and I was craving chocolate, I decided to make some oatmeal chocolate chip muffins. I love these things and they're sort of my go-to recipe for yumminess. And the oatmeal makes me feel healthy despite all the chocolate. I'm not quite sure where I got the recipe from since I've had it for a while, but I've made it a few times (great each time). The recipe follows below.


Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (divided)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup (+/-) semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Process:

combine the oats and milk and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes - let the oats hydrate, otherwise the muffins won't be soft

stir in the egg, oil, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, and vanilla

stir the chocolate chips into the mix

in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt

once you have the two mixtures ready, add the oatmeal mixture into the flour mixture until just moist

fill the muffin pans about 2/3 full

sprinkle the tops with the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar

bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes

So what do I think of silicone? Eh, works okay. It's kind of annoying because since the pans themselves are pretty flexible, you have to put them on a cookie sheet when baking so they don't flop all around. Also, they don't brown as nicely so the edges of my muffins looked uncooked and kind of weird. On the other hand, they did clean pretty nicely and they are blue .... They might grow on me, but for now I think I still prefer metal muffin pans and glass for everything else. But for just a dollar, could you find a better muffin pan?