Miscellaneous Muffin Monday

Hello friends!  I hope your summer is off to a splendid start.  Although it may be hard to believe, it has actually been hot in Cleveland during the month of June.  Today we got some rain and I got to turn off the air conditioner.  Feeling like I needed an indoor activity during this less than perfect weather, I decided to turn on the oven and bake something.


Before I go to much further, I must confess that baking is not my specialty.  My mom is most certainly the best baker in our family, and if you have ever visited my parents' house, and eaten a cookie/brownie/cupcake etc. you know what I'm talking about.

Nonetheless, my mom has managed to teach me enough about baking to get by and to turn flour into something edible.  Baking is a science and requires that you actually read and digest the entire recipe before you get started.  Also, there are really no substitutions in baking, so make sure you have all of your ingredients before you get started.

Tonight I share with you two muffin recipes for you:  a healthy recipe and a not so healthy recipe.  I'm sure it will be obvious once you read through the ingredient list which is the "healthy" recipe, but I encourage you to try both and enjoy the distinctively different subtle chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Chip-Coffee Muffins

2/3 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine ingredients first five ingredients; milk through egg.
3. Spoon the flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife.  Combine flour and next 4 ingredients; sugar through salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk.  Make a well in center of flour mixture.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stir just until moist.  Be very careful not to overmix!
4. Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until done.  Begin checking the muffins at 14 minutes, it is imperative you do not overcook the muffins or they will be tough.
5. Remove muffins from pan immediate and place on a wire rack.  Then enjoy, and don't forget to warm up the muffins before you eat them the next day. 

Chocolate Nut Muffins

1 cup walnuts

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, either in chips or if in a block, broken into pieces

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

generous 1/4 cup soft packed brown sugar

1 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

a few drops of vanilla extract

1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.
3. Coarsely chop walnuts.  Set aside
4. In a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt chocolate, stir constantly until smooth, remove from heat.
5. Stir flour, baking powder, and cinnamon into chocolate.  Add brown sugar and nuts into chocolate mixture.
6. In a separate bowl combine the milk, oil, vanilla extract and egg, and mix together.
7. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients together and mix until blended.
8. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen and firm. 
9. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Place muffins on wire rack to cool completely.

Today's toss-up survey question: baking or cooking?

Looking forward to a lovely Tuesday!