Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Muffins

The first official gift I ever gave Big Man was a heart-shaped box of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

It was Valentine’s Day of our senior year of high school and while we weren’t officially a “couple” we had gone out on a couple dates and school formals. I worried for a week before the holiday about whether or not I should get him a gift. Basically I could envision two scenarios: 1) He gets me a gift and I don’t get him anything (awkward), or 2) I get him a gift and he doesn’t get me anything (seriously awkward). Fortunately, all my worrying was for naught as he gave me a rose, I gave him candy, and the rest (as they say) is history.

The point of that story is to say that the chocolate/peanut butter combination is very yummy and has a personal connection with Big Man and me. So when I saw these muffins over on Annie’s Eats a while ago I put them on my “must try” list.

Wow. Seriously, wow. These are amazing. The chocolate muffin is moist and not too sweet and the peanut butter swirl tastes like peanut butter cookie dough. Little Man ate two of them for breakfast, and I’m not even going to hint at how many Big Man and I ate. Let’s just say it’s a good thing the recipe makes 20 muffins so we still had enough for breakfast the next day.

This recipe is only slightly different from Annie’s. The only changes I made were substituting dark cocoa powder and adding a couple tablespoons of flour and reducing the baking powder to compensate for the high altitude here.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Muffins

(slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats)

Muffins

6 tbs. unsalted butter

2/3 cup chocolate chips, divided

2 cups + 2 tbs.* flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup dark cocoa powder

1 tsp* baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

* Adjustments for high altitude.  If not baking at high altitude, use 2 cups flour and 1 tbs baking powder.

Peanut Butter Swirl

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tbs. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin cups or use paper liners. To make the muffin batter, melt the butter and 1/3 cup chocolate chips together in the microwave or in a double boiler. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined. Stir in melted butter/chocolate mixture and fold in remaining chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups no more than 2/3 full.

To make the peanut butter swirl mixture, melt the peanut butter and butter together in the microwave. Whisk in powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Add a small spoonful (~ 1 tsp) of the peanut butter mixture to each muffin and use a knife to swirl gently.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool in pan 5-10 minutes before removing. Enjoy with a large glass of milk.

Even if you don’t have any sentimental connection to chocolate and peanut butter, you need to make these muffins. I promise, you won’t regret it.

Read Full Post »

Project Pastry Queen: Caesar Salad Pizzas

This week’s Project Pastry Queen recipe was chosen by Alice over at This Home Plate (click on over to her site for the full recipe). The recipe was for Caesar Salad Pizzas, and I have to say that I was skeptical of this recipe from the start.  I’ve never been a fan of “salad pizzas.” To me it seems like a lose-lose compromise; the crust gets soggy from the salad dressing and the salad gets wilted from the hot crust. But, part of the reason I joined the PPQ challenge was to get myself to try recipes I normally wouldn’t. So. . .

I made these pizzas as lunch for Big Man and myself, and since it was just the two of us I cut the recipe in half. I also left out the semolina flour and red pepper in the crust since I didn’t have either. I didn’t put the anchovy in the dressing because Big Man doesn’t like fish in any form, and I’m not crazy about anchovies. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  The Parmesan crust was excellent, and I’ll definitely be using the crust recipe for homemade pizza in the near future. The Caesar dressing was also very good, and extremely easy to make. I didn’t even use a food processor, just a bowl and a whisk and it came together perfectly.

As for the final product, Big Man and I agreed that the pizzas were a good light meal. But neither of us was enthralled with the “salad pizza” concept, so I think in the future I will serve the salad with the Parmesan crust on the side, maybe in bread stick form. Overall, the recipe was a success since I now have a great pizza crust recipe as well as a recipe for homemade Caesar dressing. Win!

Read Full Post »

Pick-Me-Ups

The past few days have been rough. Little Man has a cold and Little Lady has been off her sleep cycle somewhat. Big Man and I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep and the stress level in the house has been pretty high. And I know it will be better in a few days and that this is just one of those times that Homekeeping is a really hard job. I know that having hard days doesn’t change the fact that our family is incredibly blessed. I know that I can and should choose to be joyful and I am working on it. But on days when I’m really pushed to my limit, cliche solutions aren’t gonna cut it. Seriously, if I ever meet the inventor of the “Hang In There” Kitten Poster, I think I will punch them in the face.

I also know I can’t be the only homekeeper out there who has days like this. So here is my list of “pick-yourself-up-and-get-back-on-the-horse-with-a-smile” things.

• Brownies or Almond M&Ms (duh. chocolate. self-explanatory.)
• Hugs and kisses with Big Man (again, duh.)
• Failblog (because nothing raises the spirit like making fun of others)
• Window shopping on Amazon (because putting things on a wishlist is free!)
• Might-as-well-eat-a-candy-bar-coffee. (Froo-froo Starbucks drink or my at-home version: Sugar, dark chocolate syrup, half-and-half, and just enough coffee to fill the rest of the mug)
• Painting my toenails (pretty toenails = happiness)
• Comedy movies/TV shows: The Princess Bride, Psych, or this (credit to Big Man on the last one because he is the one who found it first)
• Sudoku
• Romantic movies: Up!, or this (that’s right, no Matthew McConaughey. Guess I’m not as predictable as the chocolate and painted toenails would lead you to believe)
• Online gaming: World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings (geek-ness FTW!)
• Yummy-scented bubble bath or lotion (LUSH, anyone?)
• And again, chocolate.

So there it is. My arsenal of weapons to take out any pity-party that tries to pop up. What’s on your list?

Read Full Post »