Posts tagged ‘chocolate’

« Older Entries  |  
April 23, 2013

Double Chocolate-Mocha Muffins

by Shannon

I haven’t really been cooking as much as I want to, let alone doing much baking.  There are so many things to do, so many things I’m interested in, so many ideas, and so many plans on my mind.  It can sometimes seem a little overwhelming.  But then I remember than cooking calms my head and sometimes I forget just how easy baking can be.  I love the fact that most of the time, you can whip everything up in one bowl and once it’s in the oven, you get to leave it alone.  You can write, clean, do laundry, read a book, watch TV, anything you want.  Try doing that with a skillet of chicken and you’ll have your smoke alarm going off.  These Double Chocolate-Mocha Muffins are another one of those really easy recipes to whip together when you just have too many other things to do or think about.

Chocolate chips and cocoa are both added to this batter to make some really chocolate-y muffins and espresso powder or instant espresso is added to give it yet another layer of flavor making these perfect for breakfast, as a sweet addition to brunch, or even as a late night chocolate snack.  The recipe calls for chocolate chunks but I used mini-chips because I had them on hand so use any kind of chocolate you want.  I also substituted applesauce to lighten their calorie load and the end result was still a light, fluffy muffin.  Also consider replacing up to half of the flour with whole wheat flour.  These muffins puff up nicely, just the way you want a good muffin to and also freeze well.  Craving a little chocolate with your coffee?  Or a little coffee with your chocolate?  Just mix them together and make these muffins.

DSC04347

The ingredients:

DSC04341

Whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips in a large bowl.

DSC04342

Whisk together eggs and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; stir egg mixture into flour mixture just until blended, being careful to not overmix.

DSC04344

Pour batter evenly into muffin pans lined with paper liners.

DSC04345

Bake 18 to 20 minutes in a preheated  350°F oven.

DSC04346

Serve warm, or cool on a wire rack.

DSC04348

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:

  • Mini-chocolate chips
  • Applesauce

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Coastal Living magazine

Posted in Breads, Breakfast | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , ,
April 3, 2013

Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti

by Shannon

I’m back! Well, I’ve been back for over a week and had sooooo much fun in Vegas that I needed many days to recover. Well, not really, but I did need some time to recover but the other days away from my blog were needed to get my life back in order with routine, work, and eating. Before Vegas I hadn’t gone grocery shopping since I was going away and when I got back, I jumped right into work and sleep and never made it to the store so my eating habits consisted of coffee and any Asian chicken salad I could get my hands on. When it comes to sweets, I tend to reach for a small handful of chocolate chips because I’m one of those people who have chocolate chips on hand ALL. THE. TIME. Usually, I have some dried fruit as well, as I like to mix the fruit and chocolate with peanuts. Talk about a yummy little snack. Anyway, this Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti caught my eye because it’s two-thirds of my favorite snack rolled up into one little crunchy dunkable cookie.

Chocolate chips and dried cherries are mixed into a thick cookie dough batter, flattened, baked, cut and baked again to result in these crunchy on the outside but slightly soft on the inside cookies. I’d never made biscotti before as I’m generally not the biggest biscotti fan (too crunchy) but I loooooooved these! Maybe biscotti isn’t supposed to be a little bit soft on the inside but mine turned out that way and I was hooked. The sweet chocolate and tart cherries are a marriage made in cookie heaven. On a side note, I made these on a Saturday while Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close played on the TV in the background and I ended up watching the whole movie without meaning to. Now when I think about these biscotti, I can’t NOT think about that movie. Strange how certain foods will forever remind you of something completely unrelated to food.

DSC04281

The ingredients:

DSC04268

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and salt in a bowl; stir well with a whisk. Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 4 minutes). Add oil and extracts, beating until well-blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.

DSC04269

DSC04270

Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

DSC04271

Divide dough in half; turn out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Shape each portion into a 10-inch-long roll, and flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove rolls from the baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

DSC04272

Cut each roll diagonally into 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool).

DSC04273

Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

DSC04282

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Posted in Cookies/Brownies, Desserts | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
February 25, 2013

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies

by Shannon

Did anyone watch the Oscars last night?  Of course Bradley Cooper looked gorgeous, the dresses were stunning and Adele’s beauty and voice were flawless.  A while ago I thought about making some appetizers and inviting some girlfriends over to watch the show but after an impromtu Atlantic City trip on Saturday that didn’t get me in bed until 3am, my Sunday was unproductive.  On the ride home, I somehow started talking to my friends about the ridiculously insanely good brownie batter donuts from Dunkin Donuts and about my obsession with brownie batter in general.  Since I spent my Sunday napping and being lazy, I didn’t cook one thing but couldn’t stop thinking about brownies, including these Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies I made last week.

Lightened brownie batter is jazzed up with raspberry preserves and cream cheese and baked until light and cakey.  These brownies aren’t the most gooey brownies I’ve ever had but it’s hard for me to find anything bad to say about any brownies.  If you like your brownies cake-like and a little fancy, give these a try.  Any other preserves would work here too like cherry or blackberry.  These treats are great when you just need something chocolate and have brownies on the brain like I did.

DSC04309

The ingredients:

DSC04303

To prepare the filling, beat the sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, flour and egg white at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended, and set aside.

DSC04304

Lightly spoon 3/4 cup flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine 1 cup sugar and the next 6 ingredients (1 cup sugar through the 2 egg whites), stirring well with a whisk. Add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

DSC04305

Spread two-thirds of batter in bottom of an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray (do not coat the sides of the pan). Pour filling over batter, spreading evenly (the batter will be thick). Carefully drop the remaining batter and preserves by spoonfuls over filling; swirl together using the tip of a knife to marble.

DSC04306

DSC04307

Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool on a wire rack.

DSC04308

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine

Posted in Cookies/Brownies, Desserts | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,
« Older Entries  |  
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 162 other followers

%d bloggers like this: