Sundays with Joy -- Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Today is not Sunday, I know, I know.  But I did make these on Sunday, so I think it counts, right?  See, I am two weeks behind on my group because I joined late, but I don't want to be able to say I only did 98% of the recipes, so I am making up for lost time.  Which means this weeks we enjoyed the avocado fries and got some sweet muffins, as well.  Score!

Or so I thought...

First, I had to learn how to brown butter.  Really, it is not that tricky.  Seeing as it was a new skill for me I figure it might be a new skill for you, too.  And what a better way than to learn a new skill than from a video?  Not only can he cook, but he has a hot accent to boot.   (Don't we wish we all sounded like that?  Don't we all secretly think our sexy-factor would increase if we just had the accent, right?!)

For this recipe you will not add all the pepper and lemon and whatnot, just brown the butter.  But my goodness, I am ready to make some of that sauce for pasta this week!  Doesn't it sound incredibly delicious?

  Anyway, back to the muffins...

I opened the book, took out my ingredients, and followed along.  No adaptations, no ambitious attempts, just followed along.  And when they were cooking smelled so good.

But something was wrong.  They didn't cook all the way.  I had them at 375 F for the 18-20 mins, I did all the right proportions, I sifted the flour, I added the mixtures together in the right order...  So I turned back on the oven and stuck them back in. 

Finally they were cooked and they looked good, but they were dense.  I knew that it was something that happened because of me because, well, face it, Joy had this recipe go in a cookbook for crying out loud.  And people around the world were singing the praises of these little muffins.  Yet mine were just "eh",  and kind of thick.  Then it hit me: I have had this baking powder for quite a while now (remember -- I didn't really bake a lot for a long time).  I marched into the kitchen and pulled it out of the cupboard, flipping it over to see the expiration date.  04/08/2011

April.

Of 2011.

No wonder they didn't turn out right! 

The baking powder is now in the trash and the muffins sit there, staring at me.  Do I toss them?  Do I keep them?  They look so pretty... 

Whatever I do today, I know one thing: this is a recipe I am going to have to try again.  As I mentioned earlier, they smelled so good.  And in my experience smell usually is a good indicator of taste. 

"What every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential."

—Rob Bell