Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a muffin that fits in with the season! (Unless you are in Los Angeles right now and experiencing huge Santa Ana winds and lots of heat).


Cidney the Girl Dog is going to be a Bumble Bee. Yes, there is even a little video. Yes, I'm obsessed. But let's move onto the muffin.


This muffin has pumpkin.
This muffin has cream cheese.
This muffin has a streusel topping.

What's not to love?

The muffin was moist, but I think I can get away with a smidgen less oil. Next time I'll try that and let you know.

These were really loved at my meeting...you should treat your co-workers to some!

Happy Halloween!



Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
Recipe from MyRecipes.com (Julia Dowling Rutland, Coastal Living, April 2013)

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (one block)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons butter, cold

Muffins:
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (original recipe: 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Prep muffin tins with paper liners - this recipe makes 24 muffins.
2. Cream cheese filling: Mix together cream cheese, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Streusel topping: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the butter until large crumbs form. Place in refrigerator until needed.
4. Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and milk. Fold egg/pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until just moist. Don't overmix!
5. Spoon batter muffin pan, 1/2 way to top. Dollop about 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture in center of batter (I used a small cookie scoop), and top evenly with remaining batter until muffin is 3/4 full. Sprinkle top with streusel mixture.
6. Bake 20 to 23 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

 

Pumpkin Muffins

It's Fall.

It actually rained in Los Angeles today!
Of course, we are expecting it to be 95 degrees on Saturday.

But the calendar says "Fall" so I'm diving into pumpkin 24/7.

How have you been? I think this blog is still turned on. I've been really busy lately and had some losses - don't worry, not deaths. My best friend moved 3,000 miles away and my boss of 9 years left for another library system. Very sad times. Oh, and it was 1000000000 degrees in Los Angeles for weeks so I didn't want to turn on the stove to experiment and try new recipes. I was still baking some mornings...but many of the same items I can make in my sleep - scones, brownies, cookies and Texas Sheet Cake.

Last week, on October 1st, it was the start of my pumpkin season. Here are some super easy pumpkin muffins via Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from American club, in Kohler, Wisconsin via Gourmet Magazine. It's an easy pumpkin muffin with a light dusting of cinnamon/sugar.

Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/3 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) sugar

Topping:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Place 12 cupcake liners (or spray with baking spray) in a muffin tin.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie pie.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs and sugar.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Don't overmix!
6. Dish batter into muffin tin.
7. Mix together the topping ingredients: sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over each muffin - you'll probably have leftover, I didn't use it all.
8. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

You know those bananas in the back of the refrig? The ones you brought home perfectly yellow, but then you forgot to eat them, and then it's so hot in the house that they ripen in a flash, so you put them in the refrig, and they turn brown, and they sit and sit?

Those bananas - get them and make these muffins!

On Monday, I woke up, remembered we had a meeting at work, threw these together, popped 'em in the oven while listening to NPR, jumped in the shower, dressed, took them out of the oven and threw them in the car for my commute. Whew! It's was a busy Monday.

Hope you are enjoying your summer! Are you participating in your library's Summer Reading Program (some have adult programs!)? I hope you are...it's a good way to stay motivated to read and relax a bit this summer. Read anything good lately? The last book I really enjoyed was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Food & Wine (The original recipe is for 24 muffins. I cut the recipe in half except for the chocolate - the original uses mini chocolate chips)

3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
3/4 stick butter, melted
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 eggs (To get 1/2 an egg, break one, lightly beat and use half)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 (192 grams) Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used Trader Joe's chocolate chunks)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prep 12 muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, bananas and eggs.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together just until the batter is moistened - don't overmix. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tin. Bake for 24-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
6. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing to cool.

Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Bananas.
Nutella.
All in a muffin.

Let's do it. I found this recipe on The Novice Chef's blog. I had some very sad looking bananas in the fridge and wanted to use them up...and I had a new jar of Nutella. Match made in heaven!


The recipe is easy to make. Normal muffin blending with a dollop of Nutella on top. I ran about 1/3 cup of Nutella through the microwave for about 15 seconds. That made it easier to scoop and swirl. I also did not include the chopped pecans in the original recipe.


By the way, I found my camera! It's been "misplaced" for several months now...and I almost gave up hope. You know when you place something in a super SECRET place...so secret that you forget where you put it? That's me.

I could blame the fumes from the floor refinishing or paint, but I was trying to be clever...and so failed. The camera was put in a bin of kitchen equipment, with other stuff on top. I've lifted the lid on every box in the house and missed it. Yesterday, when I was putting away loaf pans in that box, I found the camera! Whoo hoo!

Note to my family and friends: Because I seem to forget this kind of stuff, I don't "hide" money around the house. Don't bother opening every book in the house looking for money when I'm gone... :)


All the muffins are unique based on your swirl pattern. Because of the Nutella, the top can get a little messy. You might want to serve them with a napkin (or you can just lick off the Nutella from your fingers!)



RECIPE:
Find full recipe on the Novice Chef's Blog here:  http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/01/nutella-banana-swirl-muffins/
My changes: Did not include pecans.

Nigella's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't find my digital scale. Eeck.

Due to some home improvements, things were moved around and crammed in other areas of the house and the garage. And I don't know where the digital scale went! Eeck. I use it all the time and feel like my arm is cut off when baking without it. Oh, and I can't find my camera too. It's kinda a disaster in the making. I'm lucky to have gotten these muffins out the door. I'll keep you posted on the lost and found that is the house.

These are Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. They have some cocoa powder and chocolate chips. I switched regular chocolate chips for mini chips because mini chips are cuter.

I really liked this recipe. Super easy to make and the texture was very good. I made them two days in a row and will definitely make them again in the future!

Let's hope my scale and camera show up soon!
(These photos were taken on my Samsung 4S phone with the VSCOcam app)

I slightly adapted Nigella's recipe from the Food Network

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder (I used Callebaut dutch chocolate)
3/4 cup superfine sugar (one time, I used granulated sugar and it turned out fine)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top (1 cup total chips - I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line a muffin tin with liners.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
4. In a measuring cup, mix together the oil, milk, egg and vanilla together.
5. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and mix together. Don't overmix - it's fine if it's lumpy.
6. Scoop into muffin tin.
7. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top.
8. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12 muffins.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Muffins

Thin Mint Muffins

Chocolate Muffins.
Girl Scouts Thin Mints.
Morning happiness.

These muffins are based on my favorite chocolate muffins - from King Arthur Flour. Instead of chocolate chips, I chopped up a sleeve of Thin Mints and added a few Andes Mint Chips too.

My UCLA college roommate, Agnes has two beautiful daughters, Lucia & Julia. They are in the Girl Scouts and each year I put out the cookie order form at work. To be honest, I don't know why anyone orders anything but Thin Mints... especially those Samoas covered with coconut (yuck!)

Over the years, I've tried to incorporate Thin Mints into favorite baked goods. You know, baking with seasonal ingredients and all. This year, I ordered six boxes of Thin Mints for myself. I'm not sure how long they'll last though. There have been incidents that require Thin Mint assistance: a bad week, nothing in the fridge to eat, and actors leaving Downton Abbey which translates into sad, sad endings (total thin mint worthy).

So, what have you been up to lately? Obviously, I haven't been blogging too much... I've been watching some TV. What's on your DVR? I have:

The Following with Kevin Bacon on Fox. Holy smokes. This show is fantastic but scares the beeejesuzzz out of me. I can't watch it on Monday night because then I can't sleep. I have to watch it on the weekend during the day. With the doors locked.

The Good Wife. CBS. Still a good show. Liked Julianna Margulies since her Nurse Carol Hathaway days on ER.

Elementary. CBS. Took some episodes to warm up to this one, but it's a good one to keep me in the Holmes world until the BBC releases more Sherlock.

Southland. TNT. Great cop show...and I like seeing Los Angeles landmarks throughout. :)

House of Cards. Netflix streaming. Damn, this is sooo good. Kevin Spacey is amazing.

Comedies:  The Mindy Project, New Girl, The New Normal

Waiting for more episodes from: White Collar (season just ended), Mad Men (coming back in April), Downton Abbey (if they don't kill off everyone...)

I don't have premium channels on cable so I have to wait and buy Amazon instant videos of Homeland (don't tell me what happens in Season 2 please! :)

Fun way to start the morning. Or to enjoy while catching up on your DVR. ;)

Here are some other Thin Mint creations:

Thin Mint Scones


Thin Mint Brownies


Thin Mint Pancakes


Thin Mint Cupcakes

Recipe:
Thin Mint Muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour's website's: Chocolate Breakfast Muffins with added Thin Mint cookies and Andes Mint Chips.

2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa
1 3/4 cups (7 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cups (9 3/8 ounces) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, chopped (in 2013, that was about 15-16 cookies and equaled about 1 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup Andes Mint Chips
2 eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) milk (I used whole milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) butter, melted

Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Prep muffin tin (I sprayed mine with Pam with Flour spray).
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chopped Thin Mint cookies and Andes mint chips.
2. In a large measuring cup or medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar.
3. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend, just until combined. Do not mix.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin. King Arthur makes 12 muffins with big tops, but I made them smaller and made 16-18 muffins.
5. Bake the muffins for 18-25 minutes (depending on size), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, to cool on a rack.

Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins - Donna Hay

Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins

I need to get more organized. Um, it's June (how can it be JUNE?!?) and I've been saying this "New Year's Resolution" all year (and the year before that!)

I love to bake and should have an organized system of recipes to make. I've tried Pinterest, Google Bookmarks, calendars, "starring" things in Google Reader, printing out recipes and putting them "in a special place" (read: perhaps in a box or folder on my desk that quickly gets covered up...) to try to get organized.  I would like to have a calendar, shopping list and plan of action so I can prep the ingredients the night before. Right now, I roll out of bed and flip through some cookbooks or scraps of paper. This morning, I found milk chocolate chunk muffins from an old favorite, Donna Hay's Simple Essentials Chocolate cookbook and went into the kitchen for an early morning baking adventure.

Anyone have a good system of organization? If so, let me know! :)

This recipe is made with oil, milk and eggs as the liquid. I didn't have vegetable oil and used olive oil. I topped the muffins with some reserved milk chocolate chunks.

Finally, this has nothing to do with these muffins, but I wanted to share this photo of Cidney the Girl Doggie. She spends a lot of time, um, rolling around in the dirt in the backyard. When she comes back from the groomers, it looks like she got highlights in her blond hair!

Recipe:
Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Simple Essentials Chocolate by Donna Hay (on Amazon and in Libraries)

2 cups (300 g/10 1/2 oz) self-rising flour, sifted  (I didn't have self-rising flour - not a common item for sale in Los Angeles - so I used 284 grams all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and a dash of salt)
1/2 (40 g / 1 1/2 oz) cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder (see note above)
1 cup (220 g/7 3/4 oz) caster (superfine) sugar (I did have superfine sugar from C&H)
2 eggs (room temp)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (160 ml/5 fl oz) vegetable oil (I ran out of vegetable oil so I used light olive oil)
1/2 cup (125 ml/4 fl oz) milk (I used low-fat milk)
1 cup chopped milk chocolate (I used Trader Joe's block of Milk Chocolate, about 6 ounces)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with liners or spray with baking spray.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, vanilla, oil and milk.
4. Mix liquid ingredients into the flour mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Fold in the chocolate (reserve some to put on top)
6. Scoop into muffin tins. (Top with a few pieces of chocolate)
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (My muffins took much longer...don't know if it because I made several changes to the recipe, my oven or what.)
8. Makes 12 (I got 14 muffins).

Orange Blueberry Muffins

Orange Blueberry Muffins

Things have been crazy busy lately. Don't quite understand how it got to be near the end of February! Where is 2012 going?!

Take a moment to slow down and make some muffins. Muffins are always simple and fast...they aren't called "quick breads" for nothing.

I received Sweet and Savory Swedish Baking by Leila Lindholm from my friend JustJenn of JustJenn Recipes. She selected this book because "it had little frosting." My friends know me quite well! :)

A bit of orange zest is added to the mix. I used frozen blueberries from Trader Joe's because I ate the fresh ones with my yogurt. And I always like a bit of sanding sugar atop a muffin for the great texture and bit of sweetness it provides.

Adapted from Sweet and Savory Swedish Baking by Leila Lindholm (Nine Classic Muffins, page 98)

Orange Blueberry Muffins
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 c milk (I used whole milk)
Zest of 1 orange (I used a Cara Cara orange)
2/3 c sugar (130 grams)
2 eggs, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 c all-purpose flour (326 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Dash of salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Sanding sugar

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep muffin tin with liner (12 muffins).
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Melt butter. Add milk and combine.
4. Rub zest with sugar. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until pale.
5. Add butter and milk mixture into egg mixture.
6. Pour wet mixture on dry and carefully fold together. Don't overmix.
7. Fold in blueberries, reserving a few for top of the muffins.
8. Scoop into muffin tin. (I use an ice cream scoop)
9. Top with the reserved blueberries. Sprinkle with sanding sugar (optional).
10. Bake, depending on your oven, until toothpick comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes (using frozen blueberries takes longer to bake).

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins - King Arthur Flour

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

Chocolate for breakfast. Sign me up!

This is pretty much a cupcake without frosting...so that makes it totally legit for breakfast. ;)

This recipe is super duper easy and from the fine folks at King Arthur Flour. You can throw the ingredients together in the morning and bake them while you are taking a shower. The muffin has Dutch-process cocoa and some chocolate chips for a double chocolate punch.


My friend Racheal came down with the dreaded cold... Have you had it yet? It is going around like crazy. I dropped this care package for Racheal and her cute son, Caden to get the healing started. Chocolate is medicinal, right?! Believe me, this is much better than a get well card.


Look what I bought myself for my birthday! A little stamp that says "From the Kitchen of...The Food Librarian." It's made by Three Designing Women. You can pick one up on Amazon - they mail you a blank stamp and a certificate to order the design online.

Recipe:

Adapted from King Arthur Flour's website

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-proces cocoa 

1 3/4 cups (7 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 1/4 cups (9 3/8 ounces) light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional (I used the espresso powder...coffee punches up with chocolate flavor) 

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips (I used Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips)

2 eggs

1 cup (8 ounces) milk (I used whole milk)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons vinegar

1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) butter, melted

Optional: coarse pearl sugar, for topping (I didn't have any pearl sugar (must get some, it is so pretty on the chocolate muffin)...I used some sanding sugar instead)

Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Prep muffin tin (I sprayed mine with Pam with Flour spray).

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. 

2. In a large measuring cup or medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar. 

3. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend, just until combined. Do not overbeat.

4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin. King Arthur makes 12 muffins with big tops, but I made them a bit smaller and got 16 muffins. Sprinkle with sugar. 

5. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, to cool on a rack.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins

Vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins

I woke up Saturday and wanted to bake something for the library (yeah, most days are like this). Working on Saturdays isn't always the most fun...especially when it's 85 degrees outside and the A/C in the library is broken.

However, I opened the refrig and realized I was out of eggs. What?! Out of eggs? What kind of baker am I? Anyway, I didn't find any eggs, but I did find some old bananas.


So, I searched for a vegan recipe and found Love and Olive Oil's Chocolate Banana Cupcakes. Her recipe has a frosting, but I skipped that so I'm calling them muffins.


The recipe includes coconut milk, banana, cocoa powder and a bit of cinnamon. I doubled the amount of cinnamon because I love it.

Quick and easy to make...the resulting muffin is moist. If you are vegan or don't find any eggs in your refrig, give these a try!


Recipe:
Love and Olive Oil's Chocolate Banana Cupcakes
Notes:
1. I used 1/4 t cinnamon instead of 1/8.
2. I did not make the frosting.
3. I used Callebaut Dutch processed cocoa powder.
4. I overfilled my muffin tins and got 10 muffins. Baked for 24 minutes. Next time, I will definitely shoot for 12 muffins!

Meyer Lemon Ginger Muffins - Lemon Week 2011

Meyer Lemon Ginger Muffins

For the past couple years, I've dropped off a big bag of Meyer Lemons on justJenn's porch...a lemon fairy. justJenn had Lemon Week 2009 and 2010 and this year, I'm celebrating my dad's Meyer lemon tree with a week of lemon recipes too. Sure, I'm losing enamel on my teeth, but Meyer lemons make your kitchen smell fantastic so it's worth it!

It's Lemon Week 2011! Check out what justJenn is making, and check out my friend Mary on the East Coast who received a box of lemons from the Lemon Fairy. So far, she's made scones, muffins, and pasta.

This recipe has fresh ginger and lemon zest. You whiz them together with some sugar in a food processor.

I always use a disher to, well, as the name implies, dish out the batter so they are all relatively the same size. The crown on the muffin is really nice and perky. :)

After coming out the oven, a lemon/powdered sugar glaze is drizzled on top while the muffins are still a bit warm.

Recipe:
Simply Recipes - Lemon Ginger Muffins
My adaptations: I used Meyer lemons, I rubbed the zest into the sugar before adding it to the butter, and I used sour cream instead of yogurt because that's what I had in my fridge! I made 1/2 the recipe and got 9 muffins...so you might get more than 12 if you make the full recipe.

Coffee Jello & Coffee-Break Muffins (Wake Up Care Package)

Question: How can you help friends turn from night people into early morning people?
Answer: Caffeine.

I have some friends who switched their work schedule and now start really early in the morning. By the second day of the new schedule, it looked like everyone just got off a transatlantic flight and had some major jetlag.

So, I made a Wake Up Care Package. Everything with sugar. Everything with caffeine. That's how I roll. Well, that's how I gift.

I made Coffee Jello. Since I first created and posted this recipe, it has been much clicked on and made. And I must say, It. Is. Fantastic. If you are a coffee drinker, you'll like it.

I also made Dorie Greenspan's Coffee-Break Muffins.

The only problem with this care package is that as I was preparing it for delivery, I kept eating the end pieces of the Coffee Jello and had to try one of the muffins (quality control people, quality control). But I don't drink caffeine so I got so. freaking. wired. My heart was racing and I was talking a mile a minute. I already talk fast, so I was like that "vintage" FedEx commercial guy.

Then I got a big headache and remembered why I don't have caffeine. Anyway, make these treats for a friend (who is accustomed to caffeine) as an edible wake up call.

P.S. Come back on Saturday as I lurch toward my 40th birthday. I'll be 39 8/12 and I'll be having another giveaway!

Recipes:
Coffee Jello (blog entry and printable recipe)

Coffee-Break Muffins
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1 stick)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I added)

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Prep 12 muffin cups.
2. In a big bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Stir in the brown sugar, making sure there are no lumps.
4. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk the coffee, melted butter, egg, and vanilla until combined. (I used Starbucks VIA (one packet). Since the coffee needs to be cool, I used about 1/3 cup boiling water, mixed til dissolved, and filled it with 2/3 cup cold water.)
5. Add mini chocolate chips. Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and, with a whisk, gently but quickly stir to blend; don't overmix.
6. Scoop into muffins. I use an ice cream scoop.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean. Transfer pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.