It took me over 40 years...to replace the baking pans I bought when I moved away from my parent's home when I was in my teens...like me, the pans had deteriorated over time...they had acquired dark spots...they had become scraped and scratched and covered with other unappetizing signs of age that no amount of scrubbing would remove...
Replacing them was not a conscious idea...although it should have been...I just happened into a Sur La Table one day...and asked the sales associate to show me the best muffin tin they had...one that would become seasoned over time so the muffins would pop right out without leaving their bottoms behind...
The pan she sold me is truly miraculous...it is metal with a silicone coating...so nothing sticks...it produces bakery-like muffins...soft inside with a crusty outside...
The pan is so good that paper cups are superfluous...any little bits that bake on the top fall right off with one swipe of a paper towel...
Fresh blueberry muffins...
I made fresh blueberry muffins today...thinking it was going to rain...at least that's what the weather people said...thinking it might be the last cool day before summer arrives full force...and as I was cleaning the pan...experiencing once again the wonder of the silicone finish...I couldn't help but think: wouldn't it be marvelous if every little skin tag...every venerable age spot...every tangible scar from childhood and beyond could be as easily washed away...