Thursday, November 6, 2008

ModernGear Kitchen: Silicone Muffin Cups

I baked Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins yesterday and on the spur of the moment decided I should try the silicone muffin cups I had bought months ago but never tried.
I have a silicone madeleine sheet but I find its performance less than satisfactory - the mads stick like crazy to it and I didn't think the muffins would be any better. I am happy to report that I was wrong! The muffin cups perform beautifully. Without nonstick spray or flouring the inside of the cups (which is why I bought these in the first place, to skip that step), the muffins popped out without any problem. These are utterly fabulous.

I bought mine at Target but they're not so easy to find in the stores. Here are some you can get online:

Wilton Easy Flex Silicone Baking Cups
12 for $9.99
There are also Wilton Easy Flex Silicone Mini Cups, $7.99 for 12.
And I've never used anything like these, but you'd really be able to do something fun with more unconventional baking mold shapes like these:
Wilton Square Silicone Baking Cups, 12 for $9.99
Wilton Triangle Silicone Baking Cups, 12 for $2.99
Wilton Diamond Silicone Baking Cups, 12 for $9.99
Wilton Heart Silicone Baking Cups, 12 for $5.99
This morning I was raving about how great these are. Not only are they easy to use and clean, but super convenient too. How many times have you not been able to bake muffins or cupcakes because you forgot to buy muffin papers? My husband raised a good question, though - does the silicone off-gas? I knew I had to do a little reading before recommending them and I found a great article on this very subject from Green Living Tips. It seems they are safe but people do have mixed reviews about them (read the comments in the link). I can say with the recipe I used at least, the ones I have worked perfectly.

I'd love to know about your experience with them, so please leave comments if you have anything to share!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't tried them yet, but I am going to! Thanks for the link about the health aspects of them, because I was wondering.
C.

Mrs. Merriman said...

I have the square ones and I LOVE them! Use them all the time.. my MIL loved them so much I got her some for her birthday :)

ModernGear TV said...

Hi Mrs. Merriman! Do they make square muffins?!?!