Pinterest certainly got it right in a lot of ways with marketing and target demographics, and I am no exception. I’ve had many successes (pretzel coated chicken breasts, homemade body butter, and a place to store the photographs of things in magazines that I take when I’m waiting at the doctor’s office). I’ve also had many fails, too. Roasted chickpeas, grilled cabbage “steaks”, and imitation Vick’s Vapor Rub discs made with essential oils and baking soda to toss in the shower were all attempted a few times before being deemed #pinterestfails in my house.
A lot of times I’ll find something that, with a little tweaking, goes from Pinterest average to Pinterest great. This further proves my theory that a lot of people pin and never test or try. If they did, they’d discover what would make something go from good to great. I mainly use Pinterest for food, and have things separated by what I’ve tried (and what has worked) and what I’m waiting to try. If it fails, it gets deleted.
These muffins are a great example. The recipe is just ok in my opinion, so not necessarily a true fail. I mixed it up to make it vegan (for no reason other than to make it vegan). What attracted me to it was that it had no sugar (it does contain maple syrup as sweetener) so I felt comfortable making it for my daughter. If you don’t want to make it vegan, substitute eggs for the bananas, as I note. The original recipe is very small and would make approximately .024965 muffins.* I tripled it so this will make about a dozen regular size muffins and a little more than a dozen mini muffins. With a few small changes, it’s definitely become a winner.
Carrot Zucchini Muffins (makes 1 doz regular muffins and 12-15 mini muffins)
5.5 cups shredded carrots and zucchini (doesn’t matter the ratio, I’ve used whatever I’ve had)
3 eggs (to make vegan, substitute with three large pureed bananas)
4 tsp vanilla extract
9 tbsp coconut oil (or butter if you don’t want to make it vegan)
1 cup pure maple syrup
3 tsp baking soda
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
Mix the wet ingredients together well, and mix the dry ingredients together well. Mix the dry into the wet and fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350, 15 minutes for the minis and 20 minutes for regular muffins.
So many things on Pinterest (and in life) can go from good to great with a bit of tweaking. If only it were as easy as adding some spices and taking out some raisins…..