When I lived in New York City, I couldn't stand the thought of baking in the summer months. I had a window AC unit but even with it full blast using my gas oven was out of the question.
I had to bake cookies in the summer once -- for a book expo -- and I baked them in a bikini. Even then I was dying so when Poochie tweeted she'd "baked" HH's chocolate zucchini muffins without and oven I had a thousand questions. Then I begged her to guest post her secrets.
Without further ado, here is Poochie :
I live in a 112+-year-old home and sometimes I wish for a "summer kitchen". The original owners of our home would have had a detached kitchen to help prevent fires as well as working to keep the home cool in the pre-AC days. But now, our kitchen is attached to the home, but we still don't want to heat up the house with cooking, especially in the sweltering South.
Does that mean I have to do without delicious muffins all summer long? Heck no! The key is a simple appliance that may already be hanging around in your cabinets... the electric sandwich maker .
I've had my sandwich maker since college (ages and ages ago) and have, frankly, only ever used it to make muffins. Lol! In my pre-vegan days, I would use this for a quick batch of Jiffy muffins, but now I whip up HH's blueberry or, in this case, chocolate-zucchini muffins . And using this for muffins could not be simpler.
How to Bake Muffins Without an Oven:
Make your muffin batter according to the recipe and then all you do is plug in your sandwich maker to pre-heat after giving it a quick spritz of cooking spray (I then give the panels a quick blot with a paper towel). Mine is so basic it doesn't have an off/on switch. I just plug it in.
Once the maker is hot, and spoon in a few spoonfuls of the batter. Try to avoid over-filling or you'll make a bit of a mess. Then close the lid. The 2nd indicator light will go out when the muffins are done but you can also open the lid to check on them. There isn't really a set time but I would say each batch takes about 5 minutes.
Once the muffins are done, you should be able to pop them out easily. I use a butter knife but the edge of a spatula would work too. You may need to give the panels another spritz of cooking spray, just to make sure nothing sticks.
You get 4 triangular muffins each time. The process is a bit more manual than putting the whole batch in the oven at one time but at least my house isn't 20 degrees hotter! The muffins also come out with a baked "crust" (think the exterior of your traditional muffin base) but inside they are just as fluffy as regular muffins. I actually like muffins better this way!
I hope this helps you enjoy HH's delicious muffins all year round!