chocolate

KNR, p. 336 “Hazelnut Muffins with Crumble Topping”

A very long time ago, we decided that chocolate was soooo delicious that it should be its own food group. Nobody listened to our reasoning, but maybe some day they will come to their senses. In the meantime, we discovered that we can add hazelnut spread to a chocolate muffin recipe. Hooray!!! Here’s what Sheila came up with…tender and easy, it’s a keeper!

Hazelnut Muffins

Sheila Kerrian
Chocolate and hazelnuts together!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 8 jumbo muffins

Equipment

  • Jumbo muffin tin
  • jumbo muffin papers
  • Standing mixer

Ingredients
  

Topping Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup chopped, skinless hazelnuts
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 Tablespoons softened butter or margarine

Muffin Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup hazelnut flour
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 & 3/4 cups cake flour (cake flour creates a very tender muffin)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup hazelnut cocoa spread
  • 1 & 1/4 cups milk

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Place jumbo muffin papers into the jumbo muffin tin.
  • Use a medium sized bowl and mix all the topping ingredients together with a fork and set aside.
  • Use a large bowl and mix together 1/2 cup hazelnut flour, light brown sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  • Add hazelnut cocoa spread, vanilla extract, and milk to dry ingredients and mix well. The standing mixer will work nicely at this stage.
  • Pour the batter into the 8 muffin papers.
  • Spread the topping (about 2 teaspoons each) on top of each muffin.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
  • Remove muffin tin from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove muffins from the tin to continue cooling on the rack.
  • Serve warm with butter or cold with ice cream.

KNR, p. 336 “Hazelnut Muffins with Crumble Topping” Read More »

KNR, p. 327 “Mocha for the Holidays”

If there are no paragraph separations in this article, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.

“Mocha” refers to a coffee drink that combines strong coffee (or espresso) with chocolate, and milk. The chocolate is added in the form of powder, chocolate syrup, or melted chocolate. 

Sheila and I both love coffee and if you have seen our recipe list, you know that we enjoy chocolate quite a bit as well. It didn’t occur to us to put the two together until we were stuck with terrible coffee at a motel. In a life-changing happenstance, a server placed packets of hot chocolate powder near the hot water and a light flashed on in my brain. I dumped the mix into a paper cup of the muddy water they had labeled as coffee, and we now had something drinkable…dare I say ‘transformative?’

We were hooked by the flavor combo, so why not make mocha at home using the delicious coffee we love?

The balance of ingredients is fairly standard:

Mocha for the Holidays

Sheila & Charlie Kerrian
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Course Beverage
Servings 1

Equipment

  • 1 quart-sized pan

Ingredients
  

  • 6 ounces strong, hot coffee (or espresso)
  • 1/2 cup hot (not boiling) whole milk
  • 2 Tablespoons Ghirardelli chocolate chips or chocolate syrup

Optional: candy canes, cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, sugar, mini-morsels, Bailey's

Instructions
 

  • Brew your favorite coffee as you usually do.
  • Place the whole milk in a pan on the stove, add the chocolate, and whisk together.
  • Heat on medium high and continue to whisk until the milk starts to simmer around the edges (do not boil) and the chocolate is thoroughly melted.
  • Pour the heated milk/chocolate into the coffee, stir and serve. You have an easy, yummy hot drink in a few minutes.

Notes

At the holidays, we serve the mocha drinks with whipped cream on top, and/or plop a cinnamon stick into the mug. The photo shows the variations of the basic recipe, with ground cinnamon, frothy milk, or chocolate powder on top for enhanced flavor.
These days, we travel with hot chocolate packets which mix nicely with a 6-8 ounce mug of coffee. The chocolate covers a lot of nasty notes of suspicious brown liquid presented as coffee.
Keyword Coffee, Chocolate

 

 You’re welcome!

 

KNR, p. 327 “Mocha for the Holidays” Read More »

KNR, p. 204 “Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins”

Sheila tried out a new muffin recipe. And the muffins have PUMPKIN in them. Big smiles here.  She said that these were for breakfast, but since I was hanging around for taste-testing duty, I had the first one for an afternoon snack. She made some with chocolate chips and without, and both types were great. Chocolate and pumpkin, though? Perfect together!

In case you were wondering? No bodies anywhere in the kitchen or dining room. I always check. 😉

Print
 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Sheila Kerrian
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Standing mixer
  • Jumbo Muffin Pan

Ingredients
  

Topping

  • 3 Tablespoons   brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons pecans, chopped and ground
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffins

  • 1/3 cup sunflower seed oil (or other nut oil)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs      
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached King Arthur flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 1/4 cups organic canned pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Mix topping ingredients together and set aside.
  • Pre-heat oven to 375. Use standing mixer on slowest speed. Do not overbeat at any step.
  • Cream oil and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just mixed.
  • Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, a little at a time and mix until evenly moistened.
  • Add pumpkin puree and mix until just blended. Add chocolate chips and stir with large spoon until evenly distributed throughout the batter.  
  • Divide mix evenly among 6 extra large greased, floured muffin tins (or use jumbo baking cup papers). Divide topping equally and sprinkle on top of the muffins, about 2 teaspoons each.
  • Bake 20-25 minutes in center of oven - until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, muffins are springy to the touch, and lightly golden brown.

Let rest on cooling rack for five minutes, then enjoy!  🙂

 

 

 

KNR, p. 204 “Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins” Read More »

Scroll to Top