Tagged baking

Chocolate Chip Muffins

These chocolate chip muffins are deliciously moist and fluffy, the perfect hand held school lunch box treat! I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now.  I was looking for a muffin recipe that was slightly healthier than a piece of a cake – i.e a little less butter and sugar! Don’t get me wrong these muffins are not a health food but they are a yummy treat with not as much butter as say, your average snack cake recipe! Their secret is a blend of non-fat yogurt and buttermilk which I think gives them a great texture and amazing flavour.

I found the original recipe here: http://www.thecurvycarrot.com/2011/04/13/chocolate-chip-sour-cream-muffins/ but adapted it to use ingredients I had on hand and reduce the sugar.

My kids absolutely love these chocolate chip muffins – they feel they are getting a real treat akin to going to Starbucks. What I love about them, though,  is the portion size is much smaller and I am in control of what I put in them – also much cheaper than coffee shop baking!  So if you are looking for a mid morning coffee snack that is the perfect size and not too sweet, but still a treat, these muffins are for you! Hope your family enjoys them as much mine! Happy Baking!!

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Chocolate Chip Muffins
Author: 
Recipe type: muffins
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12 muffins
 
Deliciously light and fluffy chocolate chip muffins - perfect for the lunch box!
Ingredients
  • 5 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • ½ c non fat greek yogurt
  • ½ c low fat buttermilk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1½ cups flour
  • ¾ tsp. baking powder
  • ¾ tsp.baking soda
  • scant ⅔ c sugar
  • dash of salt
  • ½ - ¾ c chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
  3. Combine melted butter, yogurt, buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a medium sized bowl.
  4. In another bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  5. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently blend until just combined. Batter should be stiff.
  6. Gently mix in the chocolate chips.
  7. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tin.
  8. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and tester comes out clean.

Pumpkin Scones – it’s officially Fall!

It’s officially fall and that means the aroma of pumpkin spiced baking in the house! Last Saturday I had the chance to wake up early and sneak downstairs to make these scrumptious pumpkin scones – which completely filled my need for that fall baking aroma in the house!

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These Pumpkin Scones are very easy to make – with very little butter and whole wheat flour, so you don’t even  have to feel guilty when you eat one, or two or three…..

I have to admit I’m a summer lover, so it takes me awhile to embrace fall, but once I do I fully commit to it. I have started decorating the house with mini pumpkins, wreaths, and getting my front door ready for the season. It’s the cool morning air that finally makes me realize  it’s almost time to put away the flip flops and grab a cozy sweater.

Because I LOVE pumpkin, I start baking with it as soon as fall hits, probably to make me feel a wee bit better about saying goodbye to summer. Let’s face it – pumpkin bread, muffins, scones or cake definitely make fall a whole lot more appealing. These pumpkin scones are a delicious morning snack with coffee and will help you ease into the season, I promise! Here’s to pumpkin season – let the baking begin!

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Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp.vanilla

6 TBSP. pure pumpkin

1/4 c brown sugar

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1 c all purpose flour

1 TBSP. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. each of nutmeg and ginger

1/4 c of chilled butter cutter into small pieces

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

  1. In a medium sized bowl combine the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and brown sugar. Whisk until well combined.
  2.  In a large bowl mix together flours. baking powder, and spices. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or two knives.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients with the flours to make the dough.
  4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it a few times – shape or roll into a circle. Cut into 9 or 12 triangles.
  5. Place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes.
  6. Let cool for about 10 minutes for glazing.

To make glaze simply mix about 1/2 cup of icing sugar with a tablespoon of milk and a bit of vanilla until you get the glaze texture you want. A little thicker is better so it sits nicely on the scone and doesn’t just run off. The glaze is optional but totally worth it. It takes these scones to the next level in taste and makes them look so much prettier! ENJOY!

Italian Prune Plum Crisp

In the Okaangan, it’s harvest time and the abundance of fresh fruit has me busy baking (and posting) again!  This Italian Prune Plum Crisp is hard to beat if you are looking for a quick, fresh, and super tasty dessert. I first came across these lovely plums quite a few years ago when a friend gifted me with literally a laundry basket full of them. She had a tree in her back yard and the harvest was beyond plentiful! Although the name prune plum doesn’t sound terribly appetizing these plums are one of my favourite stone fruits to bake with. They are also totally delicious to eat fresh, and my kids love them.

Prune Plums

If you can get your hands on a basket of these you should definitely try baking with them though, and here’s why – they completely change when baked. Their yellow flesh turns the most wonderful shade of deep purple and they have a delicious tartness to them that is divine.  One of the things I love most about them is how they stay relatively firm when baked into a cake or a crisp and produce such a deep purple/red colour!  If you’ve never tried baking with prune plums here’s your chance! – super easy and quick but soooo delicious! These small purple plums are a wonderful fruit to bake with – no peeling required!

Simply cut the plums into quarters or halves if you wish – the stone comes apart from the flesh very easily once you cut into the fruit. I cut my plums right into my un-greased baking dish (easy peasy) right?!  Sprinkle a bit of sugar on top and stir. At this point your crisp will look this:

unbaked crisp

Now you are ready to make the simple crumble topping – this is a very delicious crisp topping and I recommend using it for lots of your fruit crisp recipes, not just this Italian Prune Plum crisp. Just melted butter, flour, a bit of sugar, spices and nuts if you’d like some crunch and you’re good to go! This has been a summer dessert go to when we have company very, very simple but a real crowd pleaser! Pretty much a near end of summer must! Trust me – make this and savour the flavours of summer – it’s almost September – but for now, pretty purple plums!

prune plum cris

 

Italian Prune Plum Crisp

For the Fruit: 

I large basket of prune plums about 2 lbs.

1/4 cup of sugar
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For the crisp topping: 

1 1/4 cups of flour

coarsely chopped almonds or walnuts if desired

1/4 brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar (I used half of this)

1/4 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 cup of unsalted butter melted

Method: 
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pit and quarter the plums into your baking dish sprinkle with sugar and stir to combine.
  2. In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, white sugar, and spices. Slowly drizzle in melted and butter and crumble mixture with spoon or fingers into small  pieces no bigger than an inch.
  3. Evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture on top of the fruit.
  4. Bake crisp until fruit is bubbling and the topping is browned, about 50 minutes.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ok…. so it’s a new year and I am impressed by all the posts I’ve seen on social media about getting in shape, eating clean, exercising, simplifying, detoxing and starting anew – but I gotta say I love some things about last year.  I especially love that I made these to die for salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, and I am excited about making them again and sharing the recipe with you!

Not that I don’t want to get in shape, exercise and deep clean my home – I do (really!) but sometimes a little cookie break is in order and I always say if you’re going to eat cookies you might as well make the calories worthwhile, and these, my friends are WORTHWHILE!! These salted caramel chocolate oatmeal cookies are delicious, dangerously addictive actually!

So yummy, soft and chewy with a little caramel surprise inside and not just any caramel. I made these with  Trader Joe’s salted caramels left over from my last trip across the border and they are my absolute favourite! If you have these on hand use them. Of course I can’t get these caramels on a regular basis, so some other caramels will have to do next time I make these.  If you like chocolate chip cookies and are a caramel fan then these are for you – make them today or as soon as possible. I’ll be heading into the kitchen to make another batch as soon as I finish passing the recipe on to you – happy baking!   IMG_9719

Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup oatmeal
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1 scant tsp.cornstarch (this helps to make the cookies chewy in the centre)

1 tsp of baking soda

pinch of salt

8 oz. good quality chocolate chunks

caramels cut into small pieces – enough pieces for each cookie

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F
  2. Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
  3. Stri in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks. Batter should be fairly sticky.
  4. Drop by tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Insert a small peace of caramel into the centre of each cookie being careful to cover over the camel with cookie dough as best you can. ( This is an important step! If the caramel is sitting on top of the of cookie and not inserted and covered by dough it will melt and ooze out all over the baking sheet while cooking!)
  5. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and crisping up on the edges.