Happy New Year

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and are expecting a happy new year!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE chocolate!
Well, Daddy found this site called CopyKat.com, and they have the recipes for all the best stuff from all the best places! Of course, I had him get me the recipe for Double Chocolate Chip Muffins! This one is from Dolly Madison.

Dolly Madison Double Chocolate Chip Mega Muffins
1 Box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1 Pkg. Chocolate Instant Pudding
1/2 Cup Water
3/4 Cup Oil
4 Eggs, Beaten
1/4 tsp. Almond Extract
1 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips, Frozen
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the Water, Oil, Eggs, and Almond Extract together in a bowl.
Mix the Cake Mix and Instant Pudding together in another large bowl.
Pour the mixed Water, Oil, Eggs, and Almond Extract into the bowl with the
Cake Mix and Instant Pudding.
Stir until blended and all the large lumps are gone (There can still be small lumps).
Fold in the Chocolate Chips.

Spoon the mixture into large muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for about 25-30 minutes until done, but do not over cook.
This makes about 8 large muffins.

Some of the ingredients.



My helper.




Dont forget to test the flavour!







These are SUPER chocolaty, and delicious!

Since the chips are frozen, they dont disappear into the muffins when they're done, but exist as melted bits of chocolate goodness securely wrapped within the comfort of the delicious chocolate cake! These didn't last too long!

This recipe is very similar to the Darn Good Chocolate Cake, and got me to wondering just what is the difference between a muffin, and a cupcake? I mean, they are almost the same.
The muffins look like they call for more oil and less water than a cake, but that cant be the only difference.

Here's what I determined.
For a cupcake or cake, you put all the ingredients, wet and dry, into the bowl and mix it all up really well. Then you run the mixer at a higher speed to work some air into the mixture. This produces a very smooth batter and a fine textured cake.

For a muffin, you mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, and then blend them together. The batter is not mixed as well, and it's not as smooth. This gives you the coarser texture that we like in our muffins. I also sprinkle just a small amount of sugar on top of the muffins to give them that cracked look and the crispy and tasty tops!