Earth Muffin Family & Friends III: (Double Chocolate Cinnamon) Bread for Noodle

I don't have a system for posting here and so I tend to forget you, blog, for weeks on end. This week I also missed the February Daring Bakers challenge (you can see some lovely flourless chocolate cakes and ice cream over at A Charmed Life and Dad ~ Baker & Chef).

One thing I don't often forget (although my mother's account may differ marginally) is my family. As previously mentioned, my middle sister Anna, also known as Nanna Noo, Noodlehead, Noodle, and sometimes Noods (not the most appropriate nickname to holler across supermarket aisles, yes, I am speaking from experience) stayed with me for all of January and now I am missing her constant company. She's in her final semester of college, and student teaching, so her life becomes more and more fraught with anxiety with each passing day. I know this because I've been there. Well, without the student teaching.

I constructed a care package for Noodle, which consisted of a heavily-stickered, reused toaster box, a hastily scribbled letter, and some of this bread, in muffin form. The muffins were the most vital part of the package, which is why I had to deceive the postal worker slightly, and inform her that the contents were not perishable. When they were. And also endure her ridicule upon viewing the heavily-stickered box.

Double Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg, beaten
1 banana, mashed
1 tsp. instant espresso, dissolved in 2 tsp. hot water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup cocoa
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees for muffins).
2. Beat sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, until fluffy.
3. Add applesauce, mashed banana, egg, milk, espresso and vinegar, one at a time.
4. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and add slowly to wet, mixing only until damp (mixture should remain lumpy).
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Mix remaining ingredients together to make cinnamon streusel.
6. Fill greased mini loaf pans 1/2 way with batter. Sprinkle streusel over batter, and add more batter to fill pans about 3/4 high.
7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf emerges clean (muffins will take 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees).

Another Berry Recipe: Multigrain Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

This will be my third iteration of a recipe involving chocolate and berries. Although I'm attempting to diversify my baking repertoire, my choices are severely limited by money, time, and the tastes of those who consume my recipes. Additionally, I am fond of experimenting with whole grains.

One of my favorite ingredients is Bob's Red Mill 8 grain hot cereal. The price on their site is $3.45, but it's often on sale at Shaw's, and I make porridge with it on cold mornings, and put it in so many of my baked goods. If you can't find this, any hot cereal or grain will do, including plain oats.

The frozen raspberries in this recipe are also relatively cheap, and an amazing way to remind one of summer. Which seems, by the way, too far gone to remember. I suggest you eat these warm out of the oven to avoid contemplating the fact that we have 5 MONTHS left of these dismal weather conditions. Those of us who live in the Northeast, that is.

Whole Grain Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Muffins

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup 8 grain hot cereal
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chips

1 package frozen raspberries
8 oz. chopped dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine milk, butter, and egg.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, powder, and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing just until moist. (Leave it lumpy!)
5. Fold in chips and raspberries.
6. Divide batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (apart from some gooey, delicious melted chocolate).

Christmas in July

These muffins are an old favorite, made in the throes of an all-nighter I pulled during my senior year. I was attempting to draw connections between Freud and Shaffer's Amadeus, and the baked goods that emerged from this frenzy were far superior to the other product: a half-assed paper. Oh well.

On the upside, this recipe won a contest! Here is the proof: http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/src/12_realepic/favourite-chocolate-recipe-A12days/

They are also a nice change during the hot summer months, reminiscent of the holiday season while still being light and easy to mix up.


Chocolate Mint ("Candy-Cane") Muffins

This makes 12 little muffins or ten big.
TIP: If you leave some muffin cups empty, put a little water in them. This protects the pan from burning or warping.

3/4 c. milk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp instant espresso powder (optional but highly preferred--particularly when you need to stay up until 5 AM!)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup mint chocolate chips. (I used two different kinds of Andes pieces, white & red and green & chocolate.)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork or whisk.
3. Melt the butter and mix in the egg and milk, adding the wet to the dry and mixing just until everything is damp. This is sort of my life motto: muffins are meant to be lumpy! That is the muffin method.
4. Spray the muffin pan with Pam, or grease with Crisco.
5. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Yes, I ultimately graduated, and I received in the way of prizes some Hotel Chocolat Pink Champagne Truffles (although I'm not a fan of alcohol in chocolates) and a beautiful cookbook with measurements entirely metric, by weight! I have to procure a kitchen scale.