At what point does a muffin become a cupcake?
.
I did some research and found a lot of answers, ranging from the ratio of flour and sugar to fat, to the method of combining the wet and dry ingredients, to my favorite – the sound it makes when you throw it against the wall. Then, if course, there’s the old “does it have frosting?” method of deciding.
.
None of that answered the question of what to call these amazing little cakes. There’s no frosting, but they’re light and fluffy. They have a high ratio and sugar and fat, but the taste like muffins. Or do they? They definitely have a muffin-like thing going on, but they’re sweet and delicate and light. The BruCrew Life, the blog I was paired with for this months Secret Recipe Club, calls them muffins though so that’s what I’m going with. After all, it’s her recipe and who am I to argue?
One again, I was “stuck” with a baking blog for SRC… this event is going to be the death of my diet! BruCrew had so many great recipes to choose from. I was thisclose to making her Berry Burst Oreo Scones (um, hi!) when these muffins caught my eye. Bananas? Coconut? Toffee?! Sold.
.
I thought about messing with them,using whole wheat flour or adding flax, but in the end I kept them almost exactly as written. The only things I changed were using reduced fat cream cheese instead of regular and crushing up Heath bars rather than buying both toffee and chocolate chips. I’m glad I stuck with the original recipe because good Lord are these good. They’re seriously some of the best muffins (or cupcakes) I’ve ever had. The flavor is light and summery, the cream cheese keeps them moist and rich, and the texture is perfect. I’ve eaten 3 today. The rest are being brought to work tomorrow because I don’t trust myself around the – I need them out of the house! If you’re looking for a sure fire way to please a crowd, give these a try!
.
[print_this]
Banana Toffee Coconut Muffins
Yields 30 muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutesTotal Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 3/4 cupButter, softened
- 1 Package (8 ounces) Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
- 2 cups Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 3 ripe Bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 3 cups Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- Pinch Salt
- 1 cup Shredded Coconut
- 3 Heath Bars, crushed
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350*F. Line 30 muffin cups with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.Stir in the bananas.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a second bowl, the gradually stir into the wet ingredients. Stir in the coconut and Heath pieces.
- Using a Tablespoon or large cookie scoop, fill prepared muffin tins 3/4 full. Top with additional coconut. Bake for 25 minutes or until done.
[/print_this]
Dorothy at Shockinglydelicious says
06/28 at 7:08 pmHoly moly those look good! (Visiting you from SRC Group D.)
kristy @ gastronomical sovereignty says
06/26 at 12:20 pmhahaha – i do the same thing when i bake stuff. i eat a handful of whatever it is that day and then the rest comes to work with me for everyone else. especially when there is anything like cake around. i can’t control myself!
happy src reveal, friend!
Kirstin says
06/26 at 12:00 amYUM! These sound really good.
Joanne says
06/25 at 9:51 pmIn my opinion, they’re muffins so long as they don’t have frosting (but icing is okay) and you eat them for breakfast. These definitely qualify!
Kelley @ The Culinary Enthusiast says
06/25 at 9:01 pmI agree with Jocelyn – no frosting = still a muffin! haha
Sarah K. @ The Pajama Chef says
06/25 at 8:34 pmoooh these sound fantastic!
amy @ fearless homemaker says
06/25 at 8:11 pmyum! i often ask myself that, too – when does a muffin become a cupcake? i figure if you have something healthy like banana in there, it’s still a muffin. =) these look wonderful!
Lisa~~ says
06/25 at 7:08 pmTotally delicious looking and the flavors sound wonderful.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my group “A” SRC entry: Candied Popcorn.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Our Eating Habits says
06/25 at 5:57 pmYowza, that looks like one great muffin!
Jenni says
06/25 at 1:29 pmI love the flavor combination here! I always wonder about the difference between muffins and cupcakes, but I try to compensate by throwing as many healthy things into a muffin as I possibly can. These look awesome though, and look like they need no tampering with! Great job!:)
JoAnn says
06/25 at 1:28 pmJust wondering about the bananas? I don’t see them in the recipe’s ingredient list or instructions? Am I missing something?
Lauren says
06/25 at 1:39 pmwow, I must have left that step out – thanks for bringing it to my attention! I’ll fix the recipe.
JoAnn says
06/25 at 1:45 pmAwesome, thanks- they look wonderful and I’d love to make them for brunch sometime! 🙂
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life says
06/25 at 12:38 pmOk, so I was just randomly clicking links and clicked yours when all of a sudden it registered that this was my recipe:-) I am so glad you made these…they are my all time favorite muffin. Haha! I say anything without frosting is a muffin…although these are pretty close to cupcake!!! Hello genius idea to use milk chocolate toffee in place of the two ingredients:-) Thank you so much for doing my recipe proud! Yours look absolutely awesome!!!
Carrie@ Bakeaholic Mama says
06/25 at 12:26 pmGreat post! Jocelyn is one of my favorites. Everything she posts makes me hungry!