Butter Rum Zucchini Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease 12 jumbo or 24 regular size muffin cups or spray them with non-stick cooking spray, then set the pans aside.

Place the shredded zucchini in a mesh strainer to drain. Set the zucchini aside while assembling the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla, butter extract and rum extract until well blended.

With your hands (or a potato ricer—it works great for this), squeeze the excess moisture out of the shredded zucchini, then stir it into the egg mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, pudding mix, salt, baking soda and baking powder then stir in the butterscotch chips. Add the flour mixture to the egg/zucchini mixture and stir just until combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups—a medium cookie scoop works great for this. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with raw sugar.

Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes for the jumbo muffins, 15-20 minutes for the regular muffins, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven.

Let them cool in the pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then run a butter knife around the edge of each muffin. Don’t wait too long or the butterscotch chips will cool and cause the muffins to stick to the muffin cups. Gently lift the muffins out of the pans to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12 jumbo muffins or 24 regular muffins.