Mini Saga Continued

So, my mission this week was to make mini-muffins. And, I’d like to say that my mission has been accomplished. However, there was a slight mishap with the muffins. Now, if you were to look at the picture you’d think, “What? A mishap? What does she mean?” Well…you don’t see a picture of the muffins out of the paper cup now do you? Haha. I had to go all low fat and use applesauce (instead of butter or oil). Why? I don’t freakin know. Cuz, I had some applesauce and not sour cream and I wanted some really moist muffins? Regardless, the muffins (that I could pry out of the wrapper) were fantabulous. Ok, it’s not quite as bad as I make it seem, but there was some serious stickage to the paper-age. I’ve listed the recipe as I made them, but would probably recommend adding a little fat.

Banana Muffins
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Yield: approximately 24 mini
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 small ripe banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners.  Set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, light brown sugar, applesauce, banana and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups just shy of the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Yield: approximately 16 mini
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.
In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, sugar, applesauce, lemon zest and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups just shy of the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate For Breakfast

Oh yeah!  Who wouldn’t want that for breakfast? 

I was minding my own business, perusing my Google Reader, when a Slashfood post caught my attention.  You pair chocolate with mini muffin tins and who wouldn’t want to check it out, right?  I clicked through to read the recipe and ended up on Marilyn’s blog Simmer Till Done.  I scanned a few more posts because I wanted to see what else this pastry chef had up her sleeve and found out she lives in the town where I went to school a bajillion years ago.    I miss Lawrence.  I have such fond (ok and not so fond, you dumb football jocks!) memories of KU.

Making mini muffins is an awesome idea because you can eat a few of them and not feel too guilty cuz they’re so small, right?  Right!  I even had a mini muffin tin (or so I thought) and all I needed were some mini muffin cups!

With mini muffin cups in hand, I set out to make these bad boys.  However, I was thwarted by the lack of my muffin tin!  I seriously have no idea what happened to it.  I know I had one, because I made some mini muffins a couple years ago (haha, yes, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it, so what?). But I was not to be deterred…regular size muffins it was.

Double Chocolate Muffins
Adapted from Simmer Till Done
Yield: 12 regular sized muffins (I ended up with 14)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Special Dark, which is essentially semi-sweet)
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled

granulated sugar for sprinkling (was in the original recipe, but I forgot and left it out)

Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a regular muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl (I just used a 2-cup measuring cup) whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Pour cooled, melted butter and egg mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just well combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle with an even layer of granulated sugar (oops). Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes (it was more like 20 min in my oven), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Watch muffins closely as they can burn slightly around edges if overbaked.

Cool about 5 minutes in the pan then cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

ENJOY!

[Insert Big Name Discount Store] You Suck!

Ran to Mal-Wart at lunch today to pick up a few things we need at home.  Just spent $130…not including any type of grocery item whatsoever! Lordy! Must return this afternoon, with MC, to do the grocery shopping, since I failed to do so this weekend, since cleaning the house got in the way. Knowing this, I armed myself with goldfish and juice.  Yeah me!  But, knowing Murphy, he’ll be whiney and need a diaper change.  I’m JUST SAYING!

Let The Picture Taking Commence

(MC drinking his juice in the hood, ok, ok, milk at home, whatever)

New camera is here!  May the picture taking commence.  Ok, maybe not quite yet.  I still have a lot to learn.  I did take a couple test shots, just to see how it felt.  I’m not used to having to look through a viewfinder, but I think I’ll live. 

Hubs is out of town for a couple days, so I have lone toddler duty.  Apparently MC hasn’t been sleeping the full two hours during nap time the past couple days, which I think is why he’s so cranky by the time we get home.  Not only is he hungry, but he’s sleepy too.  Great. 

He’s been eating like a mad man lately – not what I want him to eat, but at least he’s eating, right?  Maybe he’s going through a growth spurt.  Which reminds me, I better call his ped and make an appointment for his 2 year checkup.  I can not believe he’s going to be 2 in August.  He’s growing up way too fast for me.

Movies to Watch Before You Kick the “Bucket”

Ok, ok, bad play on words, but in all seriousness, The Bucket List was a pretty good movie.  It was heartfelt in a way that wasn’t overly cheesy and still made you tear up.  Ok, it made me tear up.  The Hubs doesn’t “tear up”.  Jack Nicholson played his normal obnoxious old man role and Morgan Freeman played the kind hearted intelligent blue collar family man.

Edward and Carter meet in a hospital (owned by Edward) while undergoing treatment for cancer.  Both are only given a few months to live, so they decide to do all these things before they “kick the bucket”.  Not a new concept or idea, but it was executed pretty well. 

The other movie we watched over the weekend was The Onion Movie.  Now, if you’ve never read The Onion, then you won’t really get this movie.  I’m not sure I even really got the movie.  They make fun of every stereotype possible, along with all the news in the world today, in a skit type format, but with the premise of a news show.  It was pretty hilarious…even the part where Gedde Watanabe says “me no rikey”.  Yes, it was offensive, but I’m weird that way.  I thought it was funny at the same time.