Double Chocolate Muffins #Choctoberfest

It has been a while since I posted a recipe but this one was necessary.  It was suppose to be cold and rainy the next few days.  Anticipating some wild little ones, I whipped up these double chocolate muffins for treats and breakfast.

As I mentioned yesterday in the #Choctoberfest welcome post, #Choctoberfest is an annual recipe-sharing event. I'm joining other food bloggers from around the world to create delicious chocolate recipes. This year, over 70 bloggers are joining together for a week full of chocolate cakes, pies, cookies, puddings, tarts, candies, and more. Check out the welcome post for ways to enter the awesome giveaway.

Double Chocolate Muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast chocolate

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Ingredients (12 muffins)

• 1/2 cup canola oil vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F and line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners.

In large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, and milk. Stir in eggs and vanilla until well-combined.

Gently fold in sour cream until just-combined.

In separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Fold flour mixture gently into wet mixture, folding until just barely combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop chocolate muffin batter into prepared muffin tin, filling 2/3-3/4 of the way full.

Bake on 375F for 12 minutes (toothpick inserted in center should come out with a few crumbs.

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Christmas Morning Coffee Cake

Two layers of moist cake with a thick layer of sweet cinnamon sugar and topped with a whole bunch of crumb topping.

My favorite tradition for Christmas morning is waking up to do stockings. We do it first thing in the morning once everyone has gotten up and prepared a cup of coffee. It is amazing how long we can draw out the process of opening the little packages that fit into our now stretched out stockings.  

By the time the stockings are completely done our bellies are rumbling for some food. My family always has coffee cake Christmas morning. My mom wakes up early so we rise to the sweet smell of cinnamon.  

There is no official recipe for her coffee cakes although I know she rotates between two or three tried and true recipes from older church cookbooks. I tell you Midwest church cookbooks are a plethora of good things.  With Christmas coming oh so soon, I was getting in the mood for coffee cake. We aren't celebrating with my family this year so I thought I would whip one up for our own "mini" Christmas morning. 

This coffee cake is not the simplest to put together. More so it is huge and takes a while to bake. If you are like me and wake up hungry you will want some other snacks to munch on as you wait for this to come out of the oven.  But it is worth the effort. The best part is the massive amounts of crumb topping. It crumbles a bit with each forkful. 

Extra Crumb Topping Coffee Cake

by Emily Morris, Joy the Baker Cookbook

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast cake

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Ingredients (serves 12)

For the Topping:

• 1 3/4 cups (about 12 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (about 10 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

For the Filling:

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Cake:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (about 10 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 3/4 cups (about 18 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk

Instructions

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9- by 13-inch baking pan and set aside.

To make the topping:

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the butter and stir until thoroughly combined and the mixture resembles moist corn meal. Set aside.

To make the filling:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

To make the cake:

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until well combined, about 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the bowl down between each egg addition to ensure that everything is properly mixed. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and milk. It may be a bit lumpy. On low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter. As it incorporates, add half of the sour cream mixture. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remainder of the sour cream mixture. Mix until barely incorporated and add the remaining flour. Finish incorporating the dry ingredients with a spatula to ensure that all of the flour is well incorporated.

Spread about half of the batter into the prepared pan, pushing it to the edges with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the filling on top of the batter.

Dollop the remaining batter across the top of the filling and use a spatula to spread batter across pan. Use a butter knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter with a few gentle strokes.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter and bake the cake until is golden brown and a cake tester or wooden skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Cake will last, well wrapped, at room temperature for 4 to 5 days.

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Christmas Breakfast Ideas

We spend Christmas morning slowly opening our stocking gifts and snacking on coffee cake. Of course there are loads of other breakfast items, including make ahead ideas, to my your Christmas morning extra cozy and yummy.

Here are some of my favorite breakfast ideas.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Flour's Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Morning Glory Muffins

Raspberry Yogurt Muffins

Classic Banana Muffins

Oatmeal Maple Muffins

Blueberry Oat Muffins

Hash Brown Sausage Egg Bake Casserole

Ham and Asparagus Quiche

Breakfast Casserole

Browned Butter Maple Cinnamon Granola

Banana Bread Granola

Chocolate Coconut Granola

Gingerbread Granola

Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Frosting 

Extra Crumb Topping Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Banana, Blueberry, Chocolate Baked Oatmeal

Oatmeal Maple Scones

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

I am embracing Fall full on right now. That means, Ugg boots, hoodie sweatshirts and lots of pumpkin goodies.  Last weekend I wanted a big, warm and sweet breakfast. Temperatures had turned cold overnight and the wind picked up. 

It was the perfect morning to enjoy this Baked Pumpkin French Toast casserole.  I made it the night before so all we had to do in the morning is pop it in the oven and watch the leave blow down from the trees. 

Forty some minutes later and the house smell so good of sweet cinnamon.  We munched on this leisurely as Olivia kept asking for "More, more."  We couldn't resist the maple syrup but the dish is pretty sweet all on its own.  I am thinking this would be a great way start Thanksgiving morning.  

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

by Emily Morris, From Two Peas and Their Pod

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast pumpkin

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Ingredients (serves 16)

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 6 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Streusel Topping:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

Instructions

Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Tear French bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly place in the pan.

In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour evenly over bread. Cover pan with saran wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add butter pieces and cut into the dry mixture using a fork or your hands. Combine until the mixture resembles sand with a few pea sized chunks. Cover and store mixture in the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to bake the French toast, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove French toast from refrigerator and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the French toast is set and golden brown.

Serve warm with maple syrup.

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Flour's Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

We eat a lot of bananas and typically run out before the week's end.  Even when I try to buy extra to have for baking purposes we normally end up eating them all.  This week however we ended up with a few spares.  I am a big fan of banana bread and due to the banana issue banana bread because a few and far between treat. 

When I asked Mr. J on Sunday if he wanted some banana bread he enthusiastically said yes.  Miss O cooperated by taking a long nap allowing me to jump into the kitchen and bake some up.

I have posted several different banana bread recipes in the past.  There is the classic, with blueberries, with cinnamon, with chocolate chips, made with butter, made with oil.  I could go on and on. This one is a variation on the famous Flour's bakery recipe.  We didn't have a ton of butter on hand so I opted for this oil based recipe.  I left out the walnuts and added chocolate chips. 

This makes one dense banana bread loaf.  It is pretty darn tasty without the chocolate chips but that addition made this loaf a truly special treat.  We managed to do quite a bit of damage in the first 24 hours.  Miss O was in heaven when I gave her 1/2 slice for dessert the first night.  She was quickly frustrated that she ate those pieces so fast and didn't get more. 

Flour's Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45-50 minutes

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Ingredients (1 loaf)

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
• 2 sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a stand mixer beat sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium high. Turn to low and drizzle in oil slowly.

Add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool on rack for about 5 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before slicing.

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Brioche #secretrecipeclub

Oh my why do weekends have to go by so fast?  We had a lovely visit from my parents this weekend.  They did some expert babysitting while we got some things done around the house. We also explored the park and of course ate quite well. 

I cannot believe that it is already May.  I am not really sure where April went.  But I will take May and hopefully the warmer temperatures.  Every warm day we go outside and have such a fun time with Miss Olivia.

Last week I posted for the last time for the Secret Recipe Club under group D.  The member list for group D had dwindled down and we ended having each other as partners over and over again.  Not a bad thing as there were always tasty recipes to be found but it was decided that we would divide up into some of the other groups.  I am now in group A posting at the beginning of the month. Thus this back to back Secret Recipe Club posts.

If my pick for group A shows what is to coming I will be having many more months of good finds.  Rachel of Pizza Rossa is from Australia but currently lives in Geneva.  She has many vegetarian dishes as her and her family eat without meat. However what really drew me in was her bread recipes.  There are a ton.  There were several that caught my eye like the Vanilla Ricotta Bread and the sticky Caramel Swirl Bread.  Can you blame me?  I am actually impressed now that I bypassed these the first time around. 

I ended up making the Brioche.  Brioche has been on my baking bucket list for years. I love sandwiches with brioche buns.  I opted to follow the recipe this first time around and made a loaf but I will be attempting again for rolls.  Like many breads this took some planning as it had a few rise times. However, the wait was well worth it.  

Brioche

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes plus rise time

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake bread

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Ingredients (1 loaf)

• 7 tsp tepid milk
• 1 tsp dry active yeast
• 2 2/5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 rounded Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 1 egg yolk beaten with Tbsp milk, for egg wash

Instructions

Heat the milk in a small bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve.

Put the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and pour in the milk and beaten eggs. Mix on low speed for five minutes, until completely combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula, then mix at medium speed for about 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth.

Switch to a dough hook, and, with the mixer running at low speed, add the butter a teaspoon at a time. It will look very buttery at first, and will take about ten minutes for the butter to be completely incorporated.

When the butter is all incorporated, increase the speed and mix for about ten minutes, until the dough is very smooth and comes away from the bowl.

Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl with a damp towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about two hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

Knock the dough back by folding it over two or three times with a bowl scraper. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least six hours (overnight works well).

Remove dough from fridge and bring to room temperature for about 2 hours.

Heavily butter a 9 inch loaf pan.

Scrape dough out onto work surface and knead gently into a ball, then stretch and roll into a log. Place dough in loaf tin and brush lightly with egg wash.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 2 hours, until doubled in sized.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Brush the brioche lightly again with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for a further 30 minutes.

Let the brioche cool in the tin for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Keeps for 2 – 3 days wrapped well in aluminium foil in the pantry.

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Golden Milk

I thought I had beat the year for colds and all things unhealthy. This past winter was the worst with illnesses and I was hoping to put it behind me as fast as possible. I was wrong.

The past few weeks I witnessed co-workers and colleagues come down with colds, stomach bugs and allergies.  Despite my best efforts this week I came down with sniffles and sneezes galore. 

In order to gain control of the situation and end things as soon as possible I thought I would try out golden milk or turmeric latte. Have you heard of this before? It is making the rounds on the internet. People swear by it. 

Turmeric has long been used for colds, congestion, headaches and sore throats. It is suppose to fight depression. Turmeric also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. 

I just took my first batch? today and we will see if it is the miracle cure everyone says it is.  

The taste is different but not bad.  The honey helps with the bitterness as does the cooking time with the turmeric. The longer you simmer the less bitter the drink. 

Have you heard of golden milk?  

Golden Milk

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Keywords: beverage

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Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon dried turmeric
• 1 teaspoon dried ginger
• 1 teaspoon honey
• A sprinkle of black pepper

Instructions

Place milk in a saucepan over medium heat.

Add turmeric, ginger, and pepper. Stir well in order to incorporate the dried spices.

Let the milk begin to simmer. Allow to heat for another minute or two being careful not to let the milk overheat and boil.

Turn off heat, cover, and allow the mixture to sit for ten minutes to improve the infusion of flavors.

Serve warm.

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Morning Glory Muffins

I need a pause button on life. It is flying by. This weekend was amazing. Lots of sunshine and family time. But nothing got done; I need me some clean clothes. I cannot believe it has been so long since I last posted.  So much has happened since then. Tomorrow a big updates post is coming. Until then I have muffins.

Truth: I really love Morning Glory Muffins. They are muffins and super good for you.  The added benefit is they are filling. This is not the kind of muffin where you are hungry again 30 minutes later. Morning Glory muffins have carrots in them and typically raisins. 

These also have coconut and pineapple.  The pineapple makes them sweet without adding a ton of extra sugar.  The recipe is slightly adapted from Andie Mitchell's new cookbook Eating in the Middle. I love it so far and cannot wait to find time to make more recipes. 

These muffins gave me a much needed of extra time this week with the no thought grab and go breakfast they provide.  The five minutes was spent throwing in a load of laundry for those much needed clothes.

Morning Glory Muffins

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast carrot coconut cinnamon

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Ingredients (18 muffins)

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 3 large carrots, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 18 standard muffin tin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the oil, eggs, and pineapple. 

Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Using a spatula, stir in the carrots and coconut. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full, about 1/4 cup.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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