Recipe #28: Chocolate-Raspberry Muffins

Chocolate-Raspberry Muffins

I'm not sure what was the problem with these muffins. They came out very gummy, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth gummy, which is not what you want in a muffin. I'm guessing the problem was with the cup of raspberry preserves called for in the recipe. Since there was only 2 cups of flour, a cup of preserves seemed excessive and I think that's why the muffins came out gummy. I'm not sure about the science, but I wonder if the jelly got cooked to the point of turning to gum. The top of the muffins even looked as if they had been boiled (see photo). It's the only reason I can think of. There is also a possibility that I cooked them too long; but if so, it was because they were not done in the 20 minutes called for in the recipe.

At any rate, though the chocolate and raspberry flavors were nice, the muffins were inedible.

Since this is the fifth recipe in a row that turned out bad, I've decided this recipe book is not worth continuing with. The recipes are simply too unreliable. If they were kitchen tested, then I can only conclude that the editing is so poor that the recipes have not been printed as they had intended to be made. If they weren't kitchen tested, then the publishers should be ashamed.

I may, however, continue to make muffins from the ideas presented in the book, just using different, and presumably kitchen-tested, recipes. After all, that is what attracted me to the recipes in the first place. If I do continue in that way, the next muffins will be Chorizo Corn Muffins. Stay tuned for more in the near future.