Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Originally the idea behind this muffin was to broaden the breakfast horizon.  I'm a sucker for a baked good, and if that baked good happens to have a smidge of chocolate in it, move outta my way.  I'm goin' in.  So it shouldn't surprise anyone that we plowed through these muffins so quickly that they only made it to one breakfast. 

We had a bunch of zucchini on hand from making veggie pizza, so zucchini bread or muffins seemed the natural next step.  No different than using carrots in a cake, right?  Pretty much. 

This recipe makes six muffins, so if you're anything like me you may want to double it so you have plenty on hand for midnight snacks, pinterest surfing snacks, no wait!  I mean...  while dinner is cooking snacks, No really - breakfast.  Yeah, that's it.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

|Yields: 6 muffins | Prep time: 5 mins. | Bake time: 20-22 mins.|

3/4 c AP flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c agave (a bit less if you're adding chocolate chips)

1 egg

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

1 c grated zucchini, extra water squeezed out

1/3 c slivered almonds or walnuts

1/4 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with baking cups.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a slightly larger bowl, whisk together agave, egg, coconut oil and zucchini.  Stor the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, careful not to over-mix. 

Fold in nuts and chocolate chips until just incorporated.  Fill cups about 2/3 full (I use an ice cream scoop for perfect measuring) and bake 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely if you have the willpower.
Adapted from taste of home

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Nutella Shortbread Bites

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Who doesn't love cookies?  Nobody I know.  There's something so comforting and homey about warm cookies and a glass of ice cold milk that makes everything in the world disappear for just a bit.

For as long as I can remember, my mom and I have made shortbread cookies at Christmastime.  Tiny little bites of shortbread perfumed with almond extract and then rolled in powdered sugar... so delish.  I decided to tweak the recipe and bit and turn it into a chocolatey treat.  It was a great decision, I have to say.

These Nutella shortbread cookies are little bites of Heaven.  Don't believe me?  Make 'em.  I dare you not to love them.  I rolled half of them in powdered sugar, and half of them in a combination of powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  These babies are dangerously yummy.

Nutella Shortbread Bites
| Yields: approx. 48 cookies | Prep Time: 10 mins | Bake time: 15 mins. |
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c Nutella
1/2 powdered sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
Powdered sugar
Cocoa powder

Beat butter and Nutella until light and fluffy.  Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into butter mixture and mix thoroughly.  Add in the egg yolk and vanilla, beating until smooth.  In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.  Then add to the wet mixture and mix until a soft dough is formed.  (Dough will be a bit crumbly.)  Knead the dough lightly.  Chill for several hours.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Form the dough into teaspoon sized balls.  Note to self: take off your wedding rings prior to ball forming.  Bake for 15 minutes.  While the cookies bake, prepare two small bowls for rolling the hot cookies.  In one bowl pour about a cup of powdered sugar and set aside.  In the other bowl, pour 3/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.  Stir until completely mixed.

The hot cookies are extremely delicate.  Gently roll the cookies a couple at a time in the powdered sugars, then set the cookies out on a baking rack to cool completely.  Store cookies in an airtight container.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Pin It Now! Not really sure this qualifies as a "recipe" but it's just so darn delicious that I wouldn't feel right not sharing with you.  I never met a chocolate covered anything that I didn't love, but strawberries have to be my favorite.  They make me weak in the knees.

I actually made these a couple of weeks ago after Hubby & I played farmer at Classic Organic farm in Gaviota.  We came home with loads of fresh picked strawberries so I couldn't help myself.

Make sure to use good quality chocolate like Scharffen Berger or Ghirardelli since the chocolate flavor is front and center.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Strawberries, washed and dried
6 oz chocolate, melted

Line a plate with parchment paper.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and remove from heat.  Dip the berries in the melted chocolate and place on the parchment lined plate to set.  Chill until chocolate is thoroughly hardened.

Chocolate Pudding for Grandpa

Pin It Now! The holidays tend to make me nostalgic.  And treat-crazy.  Every Christmas when I was growing up my mom and I would spend hours in the kitchen making shortbread cookies and fudge, my two favorite Christmas yums.

On Christmas Eve, we would light a fire in the fireplace, read the story of Jesus' birth and then tackle the presents.  I loved waking up Christmas morning to tear into the Santa presents under the tree and spend the day in my pajamas surrounded by wrapping paper mess.

The holidays also make me miss my sweet grandpas.  Both of my grandpas lived good, long lives, and we were blessed to have so many years with them.  Al Chaparro and Jerry La Celle both served their country proudly, and are now laid to rest in National Cemeteries - Santa Fe National Cemetery and Arlington National Cemetery, respectively.


Albert Chaparro

When I think of my Grandpa Chaparro (daddy's dad) the first thing that pops into my mind is his laugh.  He had a very distinct laugh that makes me smile to remember.  He drank his coffee out of the same mug every day - his prized World's Greatest Dad coffee cup.  A tall, strong man with a loving heart, he wasn't much for words a lot of the time, but his stories were mesmerizing.  He had solid faith in God, which he instilled in his children and grandchildren.  The last thing he said to me was, "I love you, too, sweetheart."



Jerry La Celle

My Grandpa La Celle (mom's dad) was a tall, slender man with sparkling blue eyes.  99.9% of the time, you wouldn't see him without a bow tie on.  He loved to sit in his comfy chair and observe the commotion of our large family, and every so often he would "psst" at me and motion for me to come give him a hug.  Even as Alzheimer's robbed him of himself, he looked at a photo of me, said "That's my granddaughter..." and hugged the photo tightly.  And to the end, he loved chocolate pudding.  Six years ago today, he left us.  This recipe is for him.

Chocolate Pudding

2/3 c granulated sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 tsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
3 c milk (I used 1% cuz it's what we had in the fridge)
4 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional, but fantastic)
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Add 1/3 c of the milk, and stir to form a smooth paste.  Whisk in the egg yolks and remaining milk.

Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Do not allow to boil.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon and cocoa powder until smooth.  Cover and chill at least two hours.

Serve with shaved chocolate, whipped cream, or just dig in like Grandpa would!  Enjoy!

Halloween Brownies with Cream Cheese Spiderweb

Pin It Now! The other day I was perusing the King Arthur Flour website (one of my faves) and came across the cutest idea: spiderweb brownies!  Aren't they adorable??  I thought this would be a perfect potluck treat to bring to work.  I decided to use my own brownie recipe instead, but followed the recipe for the cream cheese spiderweb.

Cream Cheese "Spiderweb" Mixture
from King Arthur Flour
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature*
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp AP flour
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp mint flavoring (optional)

Mix all ingredients until smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag and set aside.  *Note: cream cheese MUST be very soft.  I was impatient and didn't let it completely soften, hence my disappointing results.

Brownies
1 c vegetable oil
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (variation: 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp mint)
4 eggs
1 c AP flour
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9x13 baking pan (or two 8x8, like I did) and line with parchment paper.  Butter the parchment paper for good measure.

Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment (or you can use a hand mixer if you'd like).  Mix together the oil, sugar and vanilla.  Beat in eggs.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and walnuts (if desired).  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until fully incorporated.  Spread batter into pan(s).

Take up your pastry bag with the cream cheese mixture.  Draw a small pool of cream cheese mixture in the very center of the brownies.  Continue drawing cream cheese circles around the pool, moving one inch or so out from the center for the first circle, another inch out for the second circle, and so on.  Then, take the back of a knife and drag it back and forth through the circles.  This will draw the "arcs" of the web.  Take your cream cheese mixture and draw over the knife tracks to fill in the "spokes" of the web.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brownies just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. 

Now, before we go any futher, you need to promise you won't laugh at my end result.

Promise??

Ok, if you promise...

I know you're making fun anyway!  My webs are laughable, but oh well.  It was a first attempt.  Had I been patient enough to let the cream cheese soften completely, my webs would've had the ideal arcs.  I'm thinking I may use this same idea for a fall treat, so stay tuned.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Pin It Now! Recently our good friends A & T invited us over for Fight Night.  I won't pretend to know the first thing about boxing or ultimate fighting or whatever it was, but getting together with friends is always great.  It's also a good excuse to get in the kitchen and make something yummy to share.

I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a creamy peanut butter frosting.  I can't remember what chocolate cake recipe I used for this particular occasion, but there are lots of good ones out there.  Yummy Mummy features the famous Magnolia Bakery chocolate cupcake recipe here.

When it comes to making frosting, I admit to completely winging it.  Here's the gist of it:

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar

Cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.   Add the vanilla and 1 cup of peanut butter and cream until well mixed.  Sift in powdered sugar (I usually go 1/2 cup at a time) until it reaches the desired consistency.  Finishing ideas: mini chocolate chips, mini peanut butter cups (Trader Joe's makes the perfect tiny peanut butter cup), drizzled ganache... Hungry yet??