How to Make Muffins without a Muffin Tin

By Amber Dubin 5/11/2010 English 393: Section 03

Intro: Who? What? and Why?

Who would make muffins this way?

Anyone who has the resources and wants a healthy snack College kids or anyone else who doesn’t have a muffin tin What is this mysterious method of muffin making?

Ice-cream cones can be used in lieu of a muffin tin This method can be used for both Cupcakes and Muffins For the purpose of this tutorial we will be making Strawberry Muffins using a recipe from Stonyfield Farms yogurt Why use it?

Even if you own a muffin tin, this way makes muffins look festive More eco-friendly than cupcake paper and require less cleaning

Safety Concerns

Raw ingredients and improper sanitation methods can cause food poisoning Hot surfaces can burn skin Beware of sharp objects

What You Need:

12 Flat-bottomed Cake Ice Cream cones Some kind of flat baking sheet if no muffin tin is available Two mixing bowls and basic cooking utensils Ingredients for Stonyfield Farm strawberry muffins: 1 cup All-Purpose flour 1 cup Whole Wheat flour ½ cup sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda ¼ cup melted butter 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup Stonyfield Farm yogurt 1 cup chopped strawberries

Step 1: Pre-preparations

Pre-heat oven to 375°F Start warming butter on stove on very low heat Clean and chop up strawberries (most time-consuming step) Leave in measuring cup until needed

Step 2: Combine Ingredients

Part A: Mix together flour, sugar and baking soda Part B: In a separate bowl mix eggs, yogurt, butter and vanilla Part C: Toss chopped strawberries into flour mixture Last: combine contents of two bowls and stir

Step 3: Pour into Cones

This may seem like the easiest step, but without a muffin tin, this is actually the on that requires the most care The pan must be put in the oven ahead of time and each cone must be filled individually and placed on the pan to avoid imbalance on a flat pan Each cone should be filled up to ½ or ¾ from the top of the cone to allow room for the batter to expand

Step 4: Bake

Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops of muffins are golden brown When muffins are done, knife inserted into center should come out without batter on it Burn warning: be sure to let cool before handling or eating

Step 5: Eat Them!

Decorate and enjoy!

General Problems

Muffins are temperamental: they require special environmental conditions to keep them in peak condition.

Muffin cones in particular should be eaten the day they are made because the moisture from the cake will cause the cones to lose their crispness Their beauty is skin deep: even though sometimes the slightest mistake can make your muffins not come out looking the way you want them to, thankfully they should come out tasting just as good as long as the correct ingredients were used.

Problem Muffins fall flat

Troubleshooting

Cause Too much yogurt Solution Try them anyway!

Muffin or cupcake cones are top-heavy Muffins Explode Too much icing plus the shape of the cone causes top-heaviness Use container that accounts for the height of the muffins Cone was over-filled or previously damaged One full ice-cream scoop of batter per cone should be the perfect amount

Solution for Top-Heavy Muffins: A container like this is perfect for keeping this type of muffin upright

FAQs: Overflows and Explosions

Being in contact with the hot pan will not cause the cones to crack or explode Muffin explosions should not happen often as long as the cone is filled no higher than ½ inch below the rim of the cone

Filling to Prevent Overflow

Correct!

Incorrect!

Questions?

Visit How to make a Cupcake cone at WikiHow at: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Cupcake-Cone For more specific instructions