Please note: This post was created in collaboration with Chase Freedom Unlimited. All opinions, images and content are my own.
I’m continuing to work on my “be a better baker challenge” in collaboration with my friends at Chase Freedom Unlimited. The project has been going on for a few months now, and I’ve learned a lot so far — practice makes perfect! One of the biggest takeaways that I’ve had as I tackle each new step working towards my goal, is that motivation (particularly on a warm summer day!) and inspiration can be my two biggest challenges. I have found that I get the best results when I’m feeling excited, motivated, and inspired by the baking challenge in front of me.
In order to muster up that baking motivation, I have been looking for inspiration in fresh places. This month I was aiming to tackle macarons, but the humidity has been a big challenge. Instead of hitting a wall when my plans were foiled, I decide to head to a local bakery and look for inspiration for my next bake over a box of warm, fresh baked goods — prepared by the experts! Using my Chase Freedom Unlimited card (which allows me to earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase, so I’m always earning!), I got a bunch of options to taste and found inspiration in the first bite of a decadent blueberry muffin.
It was so delicious that as I was eating it, I realized I had never baked a blueberry muffin from scratch. I’ve used box mixes to make muffins before and have certainly eaten my fair share of bakery-purchased blueberry muffins, but never actually baked them. It was just the motivation I needed to get back into the kitchen. I had picked up some beautiful muffin tins during my first week of this challenge with my Chase Freedom Unlimited card, so all I needed were fresh berries! I’m always earning with my cash back credit card, even at the local market. With berries in hand, I found a recipe for simple blueberry muffins with a crumb topping and got to work.
Like many of my baking experiments, this one had some good results and some less-than-perfect results. A few muffins towards the back of my finicky oven got a bit dried out and overbaked; but I corrected my course with a different muffin tin and the second batch came out really well. I shared them with my family when they were visiting, and second helpings were definitely passed around the breakfast table. I’ll be keeping the recipe in the mix for berry picking season next year. I plan on heading back to that bakery soon, with my Chase Freedom Unlimited cash back credit card for more inspiration as I continue to work towards my goal!
