Cupcakes and Muffins

There have been a lot of references to muffins around here lately, mostly by me, thanks to my muffin-disguised-as-a-cupcake-top that seems to overflow every pair of my jeans and capris.  I have been wearing a lot of long knit maxi skirts lately (thank goodness for knits), and even with their stretchy waistbands, I still have a muffin.  Enter tops with elastic waistbands.  I'm thinking a muumuu might be my next option.

Speaking of cupcakes, I don't think I need to see another one for a good 6 months or so.  This past week was Cupcake Mania around here.  

Last Saturday, for a Stake Activity Day, I helped Cheyenne teach a cupcake decorating class to about 80 girls and their moms (divided in to groups of 40 - 4 separate classes).  Shi and Chey were supposed to teach the class, but Shi ended up having to work so I kindly stepped in to assist.  Saturday morning I was up bright and early making 4 double batches of jello frosting (for the girls and moms to frost their own cupcakes with - which, btw, I didn't have to bake, thank heavens), and a single batch of cream cheese frosting (for demonstration purposes).  You can check out our tips and tricks here.

After I returned home from the activity, I went about making more frosting for the 150 cupcakes I had made earlier in the week for Brendon's Open House that evening.  I LOVED the recipe I used for Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting (also found on the Activity Day handout), and will have to post it here soon, preferably when I have a picture or two, because despite all that frosting and all those cupcakes, I neglected to snap any.

My cute friend Sara, expecting her fourth child (after 13 years), had asked if I would make cupcakes for her baby shower on Thursday, unaware of my cupcake overload earlier that week.  I tried to think of a creative cupcake to make, but my brain was a fog and I deferred to the same cupcakes I made for the Open House and Activity Day... sort of.

(I'm trying to forget that I TRIED to make some yummy lemon cupcakes, but they didn't turn out as "yummy" as I had hoped.  In the end, I sheepishly dropped off my Shower cupcakes - selecting the very best of both kinds - neither as beautiful or as tasty as I had planned - which happens when you try substituting yogurt for sour cream because you already made one trip to the store and just can't bear making another AND when you try adjusting one recipe to make it something it was never intended to be - you would think I had already learned that lesson a million times over).

Note:  Never make Berry Blue Jello frosting.  It tastes like bubble gum and isn't a great mix with a lemon-cleaner-flavored cupcake (a plain yellow cake would have been much, MUCH better).  Period.

Enough with the long cupcake sob story, and on to muffins (which I don't have a picture of, either).

The good news:  We grew a zucchini.  Garden success.  

I forgot to take a picture pre-shredding, but here it is.

I was hoping for more than one, but these punks have been nibbling on them:

Yep, if the hail don't git 'em, those little deers will.

Anyway, I thought I would share my best Zucchini Muffin recipe.

I was going to wait until I made them again so I could take a picture, but I'm not too sure we'll even get another one.  We've had a boatload of blossoms, and every couple of days or so I will check to see if we have any squash.  I usually find one or two baby zucchini, but find only a few short days later they have been nibbled to a STUB. 

If you're wondering, they look a lot like these (minus the bananas, plus a few green flecks):

The original recipe is called Ian's Sweet Zucchini Cupcakes, but since I don't know Ian, AND I think these make much better muffins (with a few slight adjustments to the recipe, which technically makes them mine, right?), I just call them

Zucchini Muffins.
If you are luckier than I and have a plethora of zucchini, you will thank me for this.
And, if you want to slap some cream cheese frosting on them, you can call them cupcakes.

1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups packed brown sugar (could be why they were originally called cupcakes)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
3 cups coarsely grated zucchini
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using dark pans).  Line cups of 2 standard muffin tins with paper or foil liners.  In a large bowl, mix together flours, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix in nuts, if using.

In another bowl combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add to flour mixture, and mix just until combined (do not overmix).

Divide batter evenly among cups.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool in tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes; turn muffins out and let cool completely.  Makes 24 muffins.