A better muffin paper

Again, I find myself posting about food because I had a conversation with one person (in this case, my mom) about something and figured hey, if I'm taking pictures and writing something up, might as well post it here.

I've had a total breakthrough with muffins. Well, I'm sure others have figured this out before me, but it was a breakthrough for me. I've never liked using muffin papers -- they aren't attractive and they rip off a layer of the muffin when you peel it off. And even if you grease your tin instead of using papers, you can get some attrition there too. Besides, again, the too-smooth look of the muffins from the tin isn't that aesthetically pleasing to me. You know, it's like the bread that is baked in a loaf pan, versus bread that is baked free form. The loaf has that loaf-pan look and the crust that was inside the pan is never as good as the crust on the top.

So this morning I decided to make muffins. We had many bananas all ready to go, so I made these. Quite a good recipe, if you like banana stuff (sorry Mom). Anyway, I decided to try using just plain parchment paper as muffin cups. (I had no store-bought papers, but I'd also been meaning to try it.)

I figured out how big I needed them to be to line a cup (about 4 inches square) and cut out 12. Of course they paper squares aren't that willing to get into the cups, so to fille them, I had to sort of form them to cup shape, hold it with one hand, and drop a little batter in (enough to hold it down, I added the rest after I'd gotten all the papers anchored). After a couple of them, I pretty much had the hang of it.

The results were fabulous. They were interesting looking -- so much better than those crinkly muffin cups -- and looked great all nestled together in their papers. But unwrapping them was the real surprise. Not only did they not stick at all (not a single crumb lost!), but because there is space between the batter and the side of the pan, the entire muffin comes out browned. You get this interestingly shaped, perfectly textured little muffin nugget.

It is hard not to get some batter on the papers, but I think a careful cook could do better than I did. And I might do better next time. I was happy to discover, however, that if you wanted to serve these in the papers but make it look less like a five-year-old filled the muffin cups, those little crunchies come off the paper really easily. It's takes some of the pressure off to know that you can tidy them up somewhat without much effort.

I will never go back to the store-bought muffin straightjackets. Sure, this is a little more trouble than muffin papers, sure, but payoff in the appearance and the overall quality of the muffin were totally worth it.


The muffin, unwrapped.


Paper from the side.