Have you ever had an Emergency Chocolate Situation? I usually keep a bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips on hand for these moments. I eat at least three or four a day. I honestly can’t remember having gone an entire day without chocolate. Ever. So when I was craving something sweet, chocolatey and frankly buttery and fattening for our weekend breakfast, I immediately glanced over at “THE BAG”.
I will start with these lightly spiced cardamom and cinnamon, apple-blueberry muffins because most of you come here for the recipes and this one is a doozy—And it’s my own creation! Our biggest losers group started our diets again this weekend and weighed in. I brought muffins to share, and yes, I am a little evil.
Bullock’s tea room in Sherman Oaks, California was my Grandmother and my Mecca when I was little. She would take me shopping for the day, and we would take a mid-day break for lunch in their glorious tea room. As we were escorted to our table, I was in awe of the vast ceilings, plushly decorated room in velvety mauves and deep purples and the crisp white table cloths. The minute I sat down, a more than gracious waiter would present us with the largest popover I had ever seen. This was served instead of a bread basket. Can you imagine?
I am known to sing in the kitchen. Way too much. I don’t have a good voice, and I rarely know more than three stanzas to any one song, but I sing anyway because sometimes life is just THAT GOOD.
Hands down, this post has been the most popular post over the last year and a half for two reasons I believe: 1) Gingerbread doughnuts. ‘Nuff said. 2) My dog’s ridiculous tongue photo shoot. So here you go, while my kitchen is being finally finished…I have decided to repost this doozy.
O.K. friends, these soft and spicy gingerbread doughnuts are honestly one of the best things I have ever created. Did you catch that?!!! I created this doughnut recipe!!! I am very excited about this fact. Can you tell? The number of exclamation points are exponentially related to how excited I am.
For those of you who come solely for the food, these healthy-ish cranberry date muffins are perfect to add to any holiday brunch. They have a good dose of eggnog, a spot of rum and toasted hazelnuts atop. They are sweetened with molasses and spiced with cinnamon and cardamom.
Doesn’t that just sound like the epitome of a holiday muffin? And they could just about turn anyone’s pessimistic attitude about “healthy muffins” into blissful surprise.
I will bet you a million bucks that if you make these soft and spicy pumpkin muffins you will get “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” at from anyone you share them with, and you will never crave that bad boy coffee house pumpkin muffin again.
These muffins are full of warm autumn spices and molasses to make your taste buds very happy and the Greek yogurt gives them their moist and spongy texture without the fat.
See? Beautifully soft and fluffy!
Now I can’t promise that you will only eat one. They are kind of addicting, and if you are like me you tend to tell yourself that another one couldn’t hurt since they are good for you.
So here these little beauties are in all their glory, with their nutritional information.
Bet you a Million Bucks Pumpkin Muffins
Recipe has been mushed together from so many sources that it actually is legistically All Mine!
Makes a dozen regular sized muffins
Nutrional Info from Cook. Eat. Share. (Serving Size = 1 Muffin): Cal. 144 Total Fat 3.9 g. Sat Fat .59g Fiber 1.5 g Carb 22.8 g Chol 25 mg Protein 3 g Sodium 313 mg Potassium 223 mg
Ingredients
3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 c. dark molasses
2 T. maple syrup
1/3 c. nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 c. canola oil
3/4 of a 15 0z. can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie spiced)
1/4 c. of nonfat milk
2 eggs
1/2 c. chopped almonds
1/2 c. raisins
To make the muffins: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your muffin pan with muffin liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flours through nutmeg.
In another large bowl, whisk together molasses through eggs. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Then add the last 1/2 of the dry ingredients and combine. Don’t over mix, just stir together until flour has dissolved into batter.
Add your chopped almonds and raisins and stir to disperse. Using an ice cream scoop (because it makes it very easy) fill your muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Serve with coffee…it’s really the perfect pairing.
I know, I am supposed to be waiting for October to showcase my pumpkin recipes—that’s sort of an unspoken rule. Yes, I realize that summer barely has ended, but I am not very good at delaying gratification. So much for “good things come to those who wait”, because these muffins are oh so good and I did NOT wait until October.
“What’s for breakfast?” my sixteen-year-old, superglued to his computer, asks.
“Oh, I think I’ll make muffins,” I reply.
“What kiiiind of muffins?” he mumbles, not looking up for a second.
“It’s a surprise,” I say (aka – If I told you, you may not eat them). Continue reading
We just celebrated our twenty year anniversary. This soft but sturdy loaf of apricot and chocolate chip delightfulness was made to start our day as a sweet toast to our marriage. It’s a perfect summery change from banana bread and does not knock you out with sweetness.
Sweet And Crumby 