I've had a muffin pan in my cupboard for years that hasn't had much use.  The point of it from what I can remember was to create only muffin tops, and not an entire muffin.  I guess there are some individuals who prefer eating the puffy crispy top of a muffin and not the entire thing?

I can't imagine, because I don't hesitate for one second when I'm eating any part of a muffin.  But I bought the pan anyway. I'm incorrigible when I see something that is different.  Different as in — that's the strangest thing I've seen — and then toss it in my cart.

It's been used for tarts, mostly, because the cups are so shallow.  And it's been used for brownies because they pop right out and there's no cutting necessary.  It's also been used for a dessert I still haven't posted that keeps taunting me because I can sort of remember how I made it, but not exactly, so there the lovely photos of it sit, reminding me I should be more organized when I experiment.  Right.

But recently, I actually made muffins in the pan — finally.  The recipe I used to make these Carrot Raisin Muffins caught my eye because it was staring at me from the back of a box of Sun-Maid California Golden Raisins one morning when I was trying to dig my cereal out of the mess that is my son's pantry area.  I'd had carrot cake on the brain for a while and had been looking for a recipe that wasn't drowning in oil.  Instead, this recipe uses some butter and buttermilk. 

Maybe if I used the shallow muffin pan, I'd have little carrot cakelets…okay, muffin tops.

Continue reading Carrot Raisin Thyme Muffin Tops