A Muffin, supposedly, gets its name from the French term moufflet meaning some kind of soft bread, or from a German cake known as the muffe. In plain English speak, muffins are small, round, breads having a soft texture and sweet, doughy taste with a distinct flavor of good-quality butter.
Muffins come in all shapes, sizes and textures - they may be as small as two inches to 4 inches in diameter; hard-crusted or soft-crusted; very buttery and moist to quite dry and biscuit-like and so forth. Often, an innovative baker will provide finishing touches with some special flavor enhancer like the vanilla extract.
Muffin pans, again to put in plain English speak, are the utensils or bake-ware in which muffins ought to be baked. Gourmet cooks always like to have the appropriate kitchen utensil or tool for a given dish and mini muffins are no exception. So an expert baker will definitely want to know more about muffin pans before baking muffins. Muffin pans come in different shapes and sizes in the market, so it’s certainly worth knowing the types available specifically for baking mini muffins.
While buying a mini muffin pan, several things ought to be considered by a potential buyer or baker:
• Whether to buy a branded mini muffin pan or a non-branded one. Many popular brands such as Oneida, Cuisinart, Goldtouch™ and so on are available so choose wisely.
• The material of the pan – can be quite varied and includes steel, cast iron and aluminum.
• The design of the pan is equally important. Usually mini muffin pans with side handles are easier to hold and handle—especially when they are hot.
• If the pan has a non-stick surface coating as this will make the job of removing the muffins from the pan much easier. There may be other types of coating available in branded pans which need to be consulted about.
• Whether it will be possible to use paper liners on the pan to preserve the moistness and spongy texture of the muffins.
• The color of the pan. Dark colored pans, just by common sense, can be expected to absorb more heat and hence should be used with lower oven temperature settings.
• The number of cups or muffin dishes the pan has. Again this number varies from 6 to 24 and can be a factor for individual preferences.
• The diameter of each cup on the pan. This will affect the final size of the muffins.
A critical consideration in selecting a mini muffin pan is the coating on the bake-ware’s surface because this coating will, to a large extent, affect the quality of the final baked dish. So a baker is requested to exercise caution and good judgment in making a buying decision.
Certain portals, offering bake-ware through their store-fronts, have offered sound advice on comparing different branded bake-ware before selecting any. It may be worth one’s time to review the mini muffin pans featured in one of these portals before making a final purchase decision.
