I am going to attempt Orange Cranberry muffins in a slow cooker.

Cafe Society
#1

Both my kids are first responders (I ain’t bragging, it’s the truth. Also, I’m bragging a little) and have to work Thanksgiving evening and into the night. My daughter called and requested a Thanksgiving breakfast. Which works out especially well since our oven is on the fritz. It was an old oven when we moved into the house 11 years ago, we’ve had it repaired twice and now it smells like burning plastic when lit. A new stove has been ordered but it will not arrive until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

So, Orange Cranberry Slow Cooker Muffins it is. I’ve done a little research and I see no changes or allowances to recipes. Some tips that I’ve seen: Don’t seal shut, crack the top with wooden chopsticks. Do not put silicone cupcake holder thingies directly onto the ceramic bottom. Try to raise them from the bottom with a wire rack and add the tiniest bit of water on the bottom. Separate rows of muffins with parchment paper.

Any other tips or tricks? Am I crazy? Will I end up with glue? I guess I’ll find out late tonight.

#2

We’ve used a Nesco roaster for our traditional family Pillsbury Orange rolls for Christmas. A few years back, the littlest Mercotan was in the hospital for the holiday so we brought xmas dinner fixings in, plus the roaster to make the baked treats. It worked wonderfully, and made the hospital corridor smell like a bakery (a distinct improvement over the typical situation). We just set the temperature, and once the roaster was warmed up, put the rolls in the bottom.

No idea how it’d work with a slow cooker, though. I see a ton of recipes online for ‘slow cooker muffins’ and the cooking time seems to be around 6-8 hours for most of them. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

#3

Just in case anyone is wondering, they were a hit! They took FOREVER to cook. I put them in at 11 pm on Wednesday and they were finally done at 5 am Thanksgiving morning. Also, parchment paper was not enough of a barrier as the weight of the muffins on top squished the ones on the bottom. No one seemed to mind the irregularly shaped ones and the batter that dripped down the sides of the ramekin was crunchy and delicious.

#4

I’m glad they worked out well for you and yours.

You mentioned in the OP that baking then in the slow cooker was driven at least partly by the lack of a working oven. Do you see this slow cooker technique being generally useful even if you have an oven that isn’t on the fritz or is this an emergency only method?

#5

This was an emergency slow cooker muffining. I suppose if I ever need muffin 6 hours from when I thought to make them and I was leaving the house. . . nah. There isn’t enough room in my cooker for a muffin tin. If there was I’d consider set-it-and-forget-it muffins, especially in the summer.

Here’s them fresh out of the not oven!

#6

I would never have thought they would get hot enough to truly bake. I guess heat and time works for muffins as well as petroleum. (Not intended as a comparison!)

Dennis