Oh So Sinfully Delicious...

There is an interesting blog entry on allrecipes.com (the Canadian version) on the difference between cupcakes and muffins. On DifferenceBetween.net you can read more about the differences between the two. Below you will find the main ones:

Cupcakes are lighter in texture while muffins are more dense.
Cupcakes are pretty much mini cakes where there is more of an emphasis with decor - such as icing, sprinkles, and other edible decor, whereas muffins are like mini breads that are sweet.
Cupcakes tend to stay within the rims of each cupcake pan, while the muffin tops overflow the rims giving them that crunchy texture (which makes it the best part of the muffin!)
Cupcakes are generally eaten as a desert, whereas muffins are eaten for breakfast.

This week we're doing Butterscotch Chip Banana Muffins. The banana muffin recipe was taken from Patricia Scarpin beautiful blog, Technicolor Kitchen. Any changes to the recipe are written in italics.

Butterscotch Chip Banana Muffins

4 ripe bananas (We used 3 large ones)

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (Omitted)

1 1/2 cups (210g) all-purpose flour

Small handful of hazelnuts, toasted and peeled (Omitted)

And/or 1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC) and line muffin pan with muffin paper cups.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well. Set aside.

Chop the hazelnuts and reserve 1 tablespoon for sprinkling on top

Place the bananas in a large bowl and mash well. Add the sugar and the melted butter. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and then add the butterscotch chips. Mix just enough to bring everything together. Don't overmix.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 to the top and sprinkle with the reserved chopped nuts.

Baked for 20 minutes or untill the muffins are golden brown.

Makes 12 muffins.

Ann's Thoughts

This had to be the fastest recipe that we've done so far. It took us like five minutes to mix it all together and scoop the batter into the muffin trays - okay so I'm exaggerating but it felt that fast. We didn't know exactly what to do with ourselves for the next few hours or so after we took the muffins out of the oven. Anyway, these muffins turned out great when we decided to change the recipe up a bit by using butterscotch chips.

In Patrica Scarpin's Banana Muffin recipe, it calls for hazelnuts but because I can't eat nuts we decided to subsitute it with something else. Now, I've seen and tried banana and chocolate chip cakes, but we wanted to do something different so we thought about doing either white chocolate or butterscotch chips. Personally I liked the combination of banana and butterscotch. It tastes.....different - but a good different. Ana was concerned over the oilness of the muffins - probably due to the 1 cup of butterscotch chips, which was a bit much. If we do this recipe again we'll cut the amount of chips to 3/4 cup.

Ana's Thoughts

Super easy, super simple and super yumy muffins. Go make them. Now. Oh, wait....read my thoughts first. ;)

I've made this muffins a thousand times before. And they never failed. They're always fluffy and moist - even the next day! This was the first time that I used the butterscotch chips, though. The verdict? They gave an extra flavour and sweetness to the muffins but I have to say I still prefer them plain. Nothing to compete with the banana.

You can make half plain and half with the chips and then compare. And then tell me which one is your favorite, okay? See ya next week!