So, I promised to bring muffins to my beloved father-in-law who is currently in a rehab hospital. Pumpkin spice seemed seasonally appropriate and the recipe online got five-star raves, so what could be bad? I donned my apron. When the muffins came out like soup, I was more than a bit annoyed. After all, I had followed the directions carefully.
Or had I? Returning to the website on which I had found the recipe, I realized that the 1 1/4 cups of flour was actually 1 1/4 pounds. Because we know several professional chefs who weigh their ingredients, I was aware of the practice, but had never actually seen a recipe calling for that.
Attempt #2 worked out much better, even with substituting half the butter with applesauce.
Next time I will try them using my very nice digital scale.
It is the attempt that counts. 1 1/2 pounds of flour sounds like a recipe for an army, or perhaps in this case, the entire rehab center. I do read ingredients very carefully since there are so many spices (all wonderful) that I do not like the taste of. However, I have discovered that with regard to store bought products, the term “spices” is so vague that when at home and after taking even a tiny bite, I have tossed out more food then some countries consume in an entire year.
I should have known better but was listening to the radio — “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me” to be precise — so was probably laughing and not paying attention.