“Tough Muffins!”

Look at these muffins. Look how golden and beautiful they are.

Look at that crunchy streusel topping. They look like everything you could want in a muffin, right? Don’t they look absolutely delicious?

Well, they WEREN’T.

They were most certainly not what I wanted in a muffin. They came out dry, and besides the streusel topping, they were honestly pretty bland. So what went wrong?

Let’s start with what I was trying to do.

I was trying to create some muffins by “Frankensteining” two recipes together. One, the “Sweet Dreams Muffins” recipe from the Gooseberry Patch: The Country Friends’ Collection: Muffins cookbook, called for sour cream. The other, which was the “Bakery Style Blueberry Streusel Muffins” by LittleSweetBaker.com, called for blueberries.

The Gooseberry Patch recipe was something my Mom made growing up. I remember them being light and fluffy and just the right amount of sweetness, and I think sometimes she would put a streusel topping on them (although I honestly can’t remember if it was a different recipe altogether with the streusel topping). I wanted the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors of this recipe, but I didn’t want to use sour cream. And for some reason I wasn’t in the mood for blueberries, so I wanted to skip the blueberry part of the LittleSweetBaker recipe.

So I made the LittleSweetBaker recipe, sans blueberries, and added the nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon from the Gooseberry Patch recipe, and whipped up a traditional brown sugar / flour / cinnamon / cold butter streusel to top them with. The problem was, the removal of the sour cream and blueberries deprived my muffins of some much-needed moisture and acidity, which typically brings out flavor.

Needless to say, I was super disappointed. I’d been thinking about muffins all week long, and looking forward to making them. And they came out of the oven so pretty and the photos came out so beautifully and…they were just not good. And to top it all off, my kitchen was a big mess - which always happens when I’m cooking (and especially when I’m baking).

See? Mess. And that’s only one counter.

Side note. When you’re watching the Food Network or any other cooking show and see Giada De Laurentiis, or Rachel Ray, or Bobby Flay or anybody cooking in a spotless kitchen, just keep in mind that they have people to clean up for them. You (probably) don’t. I definitely don’t. What I’m saying is that it’s okay to make a mess in the kitchen. It means it’s being used.

Okay. Moving on.

So after such a disappointing recipe why did I take the time to make this post?

BECAUSE IT’S OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES.

It’s what cooking is about. As long as you don’t burn the house down, mistakes are okay! It’s all about learning. In this instance, I learned that I needed some sour cream, or blueberries, give moisture and flavor to my muffins. So I’m not going to try mixing these two recipes again. It’s also possible that I overcooked the muffins. The streusel topping was a little too crunchy. It’s also possible that I overmixed the batter, which is a big no no when making this sweet breakfast treat.

Did I make a mistake? Yes. But did I learn something? Yes, so I don’t have to beat myself up about it. This experiment gave me several things to pay attention to next time, and I had an experience to share with all of you!

So the next time you mess up a recipe, just say “Tough Muffins!”, wash those pots and pans, and make a note for next time.