anyone else want to discuss the essense of muffins?!?

[harmonic_tabby]

Thought I'd post a new message since this discussion was deep in another post and it's changed topic considerably from the original posting.  In reply to another message I said: 

I used a box of King Arthur muffin mix and I was disappointed.

( discussion of my baking attempts... )

[EDIT: so I did make that second box. It made 18 muffins in a regular baking pan, not the 12 listed on the box. They tasted fine but they were very like cupcakes, although not quite so tender of crumb. Perfectly acceptable but I'm going to switch back to the Pamela's baking mix recipe for my muffin cravings. Make of that what you will.]


and jesse_the_k  replied:  
 

 

Thank you for this detailed update.

I've never had a bad result from Pamela's mixes, either.

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever understood how the Platonic ideals of "cupcake" and "muffin" differ.

Are cupcakes finer-crumb, more consistent? While muffins are the granola of baked goods?

 

My response to this inquiry was:

OK, let's try an analogy.

Cupcakes are simple white bread and muffins are artisanal rye bread. That's how I experience them anyway. I guess you could also compare a nice pound cake to cupcakes and muffins to a dense fruitcake.

My expectation is for a muffin to have a bit more weight and chewiness. It doesn't necessarily need to have special inclusions like nuts, dried fruit or baking chips.

I admit to enjoying lemon poppy seed 'muffins' from a local bakery but, truly, according to this definition they're really just oversize cupcakes; a smooth tender batter with lemon flavoring and lots of poppy seed mixed in.

This is my take on the differences between cupcakes and muffins... Anyone else want to offer another idea? I make no claim I'm absolutely the expert on this and I'm curious to know what others might think.


and then runpunkrun  said:

All I know for sure is that cupcakes have frosting. They're also, in general, sweeter, with a finer, more delicate crumb and more fat.

Muffins, to me, are anything that feel appropriate to eat for breakfast, but mine are generally made with whole grains and fruits, and have less fat and sugar in them. But they can still have chocolate chips, as long as they don't also have frosting. :D