Chocolate Chip Muffins

As soon as I saw this chocolate chip muffin recipe, I knew I had to make them. And they did not disappoint at all. I love a simple recipe with a short ingredient list that yields amazing results. This definitely meets the criteria, and it it satisfied the chocoholic in me.

I wrapped several muffins individually in saran wrap very tightly, and then placed them in a ziplock bag before freezing them. After thawing in the refrigerator overnight, microwaving one for about twenty seconds yielded the perfect result. It is nice to have a stash of treats in the freezer…and it also prevents me from eating all twelve muffins too quickly!

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

I was wandering around Crate and Barrel the other day with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket when Baked: New Frontiers in Baking caught my attention. I will admit that the brown and orange book jacket drew me in because I love those colors together. But I also remembered seeing this book mentioned on a baking blog months ago and thinking that it sounded interesting. Written by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, it contains the most popular recipes from their bakery Baked, which they opened in Brooklyn in 2005.

The first recipe I flipped to was for banana espresso chocolate chip muffins. Oooh. The second recipe I landed on? Chipotle Cheddar Scones. Oooh again! And the book was on sale! So of course, I forked over my gift card and the book came home with me. I spent quite some time pouring over it before baking anything — it’s a great read.

The banana espresso chocolate chip muffins are super moist, light, and fluffy. The banana and chocolate flavors are strong. I would say these muffins are probably the best I have ever made. The one thing I would change for next time is to increase the amount of instant espresso and dissolve it in a bit of water first to see if that yields a stronger flavor. But overall, the muffins were absolutely delicious!

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins
From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Recipe posted with permission

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each cup about three-quarters full. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on the cooling rack.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Ever since I purchased Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours, I have pored over the recipes and drooled over the lovely photos.  The recipe introductions are written in a chatty and personal tone, and the instructions themselves are very specific and clear.  I could spend many more enjoyable hours reading through this book.

For a birthday dinner this weekend, I decided to bake the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes from Dorie’s book.

As I unmolded the cupcakes from the muffin tins, I noticed that they were a lot darker than the ones shown in the recipe photo.  I pondered this for awhile…and then it dawned on me.  I was supposed to melt two ounces of bittersweet chocolate for the batter and three ounces of it for the frosting…did I mix up the measurements?  Yup.  But fortunately, the cupcakes still turned out just fine!

This is an excellent recipe — simple yet delicious.  Two thumbs up for sure!  If you have this book and you like chocolate, I highly recommend trying these cupcakes.

Stay tuned for another Dorie recipe review later in the week!

Vanilla Cupcakes

This past weekend I cracked open my copy of More from Magnolia and baked the Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. I had high hopes for the recipe because it’s supposed to be Magnolia’s claim to fame, right? The cupcakes themselves turned out very nicely — moist and light, which is just how I like them. However, I was disappointed with the overly sweet frosting. A half batch of frosting (for a dozen cupcakes) required 1 stick of butter, ¼ cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Three!!! Technically, I should have added even more sugar (up to 4 cups) to thicken the frosting — you can probably see from the photos that it still looks a little goopy. Oh well…the very sweet frosting is bearable if I gulp down milk between bites!

Swiss Orange Chip Cupcakes

Another excellent recipe from Mary found here.

Cupcake, anyone? I’ve got plenty.