This is the Nordic Ware Naturals 12-cup muffin pan — a pure aluminum muffin tin in the standard 12-count size every muffin and cupcake recipe specifies. The cups are the standard 2.75-inch diameter that fits paper liners off the grocery-store shelf, and the 12-cup count is sized for a regular batch from a boxed muffin mix or a from-scratch dozen.
Pure aluminum heats evenly across all twelve cups, so the muffin in the middle bakes at the same rate as the ones at the corners — the biggest difference between a pure aluminum muffin pan and a cheaper nonstick tin, where the edge muffins finish long before the center ones. The uncoated raw aluminum finish doesn’t peel or flake, and the reinforced rim keeps the pan flat through years of oven cycles.
Nordic Ware has been manufacturing bakeware in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1946. The company invented the Bundt pan in 1950 and still casts, spins, and coats every piece in its Naturals, Bundt, and cast aluminum lines at that same Minnesota factory — one of the last family-owned American bakeware makers still building its core products at home.
