Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Peanut butter and chocolate. Need I say anymore? I think we all agree they go together beautifully. It's also the easiest option to turn to when PBJ's are the food of the month in your house and cupboards are full of peanut butter jars.

These come together quickly and easily. They make for a fun weekend breakfast addition or are rich enough to stand alone as a weeknight dessert. They store beautifully, making them ideal for lunch boxes or a midnight snack...whatever floats your boat.

But whatever you do or whenever you eat them, they are screaming for a glass of cold milk by their side. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk at room temperature (I use 2 %)
2/3 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola is my preference)
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (feel free to use milk chocolate)

 Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350º

2, Lightly grease a 24 count mini-muffin pan or 12 count regular size muffin pan. Alternatively, you can use muffin liners.

3. In a bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.

4. In another bowl, stir together milk, peanut butter, oil, egg and vanilla extract until blended. 

5.Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add liquid ingredients and stir just to combine. 
Add the chocolate chips.

6.Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into middle of muffin comes out clean. Place muffin tin on wire rack and cool for five minutes before removing muffins. Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Fudge Frosting

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

I hope by now you've all tried these chocolate cupcakes at least once (and if you haven't then, seriously, whats wrong with you?!). But did you know about these simple yet oh-so-sweet vanilla ones? I'll admit, I only made them that one time because we have a house full of chocolate lovers, but the other day I was in the mood for something a little different.

Don't get me wrong, I still had to have chocolate, but I wanted to sink my teeth into something fudgy and rich but not overly sweet. Chocolate frosting atop chocolate cupcakes would just be over-kill for me. But a soft, tender vanilla base was perfect! This frosting was everything I wanted and more: fudgy, creamy, and easy! Warning, it does set up harder and thicker than when you first mix it, so you may want to add more milk than you think you will need taking the thickening-factor into consideration.

Fudge Frosting 
(this comes right off a box of Bakers chocolate)  

Ingredients

• 4 unsweetened chocolate squares
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 dash salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat.
2. Combine sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla.
3. Add sugar mixture to chocolate mixture, blending well together.
4. Let stand, if necessary, until of spreading consistency, stirring occasionally.
5. Spread quickly, adding a small amt of milk if frosting thickens.

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Yes, you read it right: triple chocolate. Thats three types of chocolate, people! But don't worry, this isn't some super heavy, over the top treat. In fact, it's pretty light and not all that sweet. Really, its the perfect cross between a chocolate lover cupcake and a tea-drinkers dainty muffin.

And it doesn't hurt that these were ready in no time and tasted even better the next day! Just make sure not to over stir your batter to get these out of the oven as soon as they set up (or a moment before!) to ensure tender and delicate muffins. Enjoy!

 

Triple Chocolate Muffins

makes 12

- generous 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- generous 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- generous 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 1/4 cups sour cream
- generous 3/8 cup brown sugar
- 3 oz melted butter

1. Preheat the oven 400F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add the semisweet and white chocolate chops and stir.

2. Place the eggs, sour cream and sugar and melted butter in a separate bowl and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined,

3. Using two spoons, divide the batter into the muffin pan and put into a preheated oven. Let bake for 20 minutes or until risen and springs back to the touch.

"Hamburger" Cupcakes

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

It's no surprise that chocolate cupcakes are my go-to dessert for any occasion. But when I asked to bring some to a BBQ this past weekend, I wanted to make them a little bit more special than the usual. After a couple quick searches on the internet I came across an easy and ridiculously cute idea.

These look like they may have taken hours, what with all the little details, but you'll be surprised how quickly these come together. Weather you're grilling burgers outside or just enjoying these last weeks of summer, these "hamburgers" cupcakes will be a show stopper anywhere!

"Hamburger" Cupcakes
1 batch of chocolate cupcakes (recipe here, or  boxed version works)
1 box of 'Nilla Wafers (I preffered the size of the generic store brand)
1 pack of Keebler Grasshopper cookies (or any round chocolate cookie)
1/2 cup shredded coconut, tinted with green food dye
red frosting

Bake cupcakes per recipe.While cupcakes are cooling assemble your "hamburgers": vanilla wafers as buns, chocolate grasshoppers as burger patties, coconut as lettuce and red frosting as ketchup. Use a dab of frosting between cookies to hold it all together. After each "hamburger" is assembled, brush with the tops with juice and sprinkle with sesame seeds.After cupcakes have cooled and you've frosted as desired, top with "hamburgers".

Very Berry Muffins

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Have you gone pickin' yet? If you haven't, well then I feel very sorry for you. But in case you have, you know how a surplus of delicious berries overflowing in your fridge somewhere. They're almost perfect to eat by the handful, don't need any fancy recipes to enjoy the vibrant flavors, I'm sure. But in case you were in the mood to do something different with them, here's an idea: stuff as many as you can into a breakfast muffin, brew up some tea and call your girl friends over. Or do what I did and just munch on them as a midnight snack. Any time of the day, these are delicious and not too bad to look at it either!

You can easily substitute blueberries for any berry and while fresh is best, frozen is almost as good too. Also, I couldn't help but do something to showcase those tiny little strawberries so I had to use them as crown for these already bejeweled treats. The combination paired great!

Blueberry Muffins
(adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 dozen, stemmed mini strawberries
• 1  cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and the blueberries.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a hand held mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in vanilla. 
3. With the mixer on low speed, add reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not over mix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Gently press a strawberry into the center of each muffin.
4. Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins on their sides in their cups, and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Vanilla (Actually Almond) Cupcakes

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem




In honor of the sweetest, tiniest bundle of love and joy that I've ever seen (nope, no babies here...a dear friend delivered a *tad* bit early, she was 2lbs at birth!) I wanted to make something sweet. Something tender, delicate and very girl was in order. Our usual cupcakes just wouldn't do and so I went about searching for a simple yet sweet vanilla cupcake. After reading many reviews I finally decided Billy's Vanilla cupcakes (from the acclaimed bakery) would do and only after pre-heating the oven and getting all my ingredients together did I realize I had no vanilla! A quick swap for almond extract and the day was saved, alhamdulillah.

Even after the substitution these cupcakes maintained a subtly sweet crumb, nothing that makes you want to run to the nearest toothbrush, yet still sweet enough to hit the spot. I agree with other reviews that you need to keep a careful eye on these and take them out as soon as your tester comes out clean to avoid over baked and dry cupcakes. Can't wait to try these with vanilla next time!





Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients (~30 cupcakes)

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour
2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Sunday Night Football

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem



We had some last minute company for dinner and I took a laid-back approach with pizza, a fajita bar and some home fries (fries baked in the oven). No pics of the food as it was all sent over to the guys side before I could take any. But don't worry, I did snap a few of the most important part of the meal:

Viking's Purple Frosted Cupcakes with Chocolate Footballs (yes, I'm aware it's not quite as purple as it should be, but it did the job! And yes, we're also equally aware the Vikings lost, but at least the cupcakes were good!)

Chocolate Muffins

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem



So you know I have a thing for chocolate cupcakes and a little something with muffins, so it'd only make sense to combine the two: chocolate muffins. How are they different from a cupcake, you ask? All the sturdiness and subtle-sweetness of a muffin with the specks of rich chocolate and deep flavors of cocoa from a cupcake. A perfect balance to me!



Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

• 3/4 of a stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used chips and it worked fine)
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (regular 2% did the job for me!)
  
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; or do this in a microwave. Remove from the heat.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough—a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Chocolate Cupcakes (aka, Just For You, Umm Dawood)

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem




A belated EID MUBARAK to all my readers!! May Allah accept from us our deeds, ameen!

I love celebrating Eid with a batch of homemade chocolate cupcakes. I also enjoy celebrating the new arrival of a baby with a batch cupcakes as well. Or whipping up a batch as a hostess gift, or making some on any random night of the week. Or afternoon. Mornings also. Really, I make these for no good reason at all, and can you blame me? They're light and moist and getting better with each passing day (no more than 4 days, though!). In fact, I intentionally make them the night before for any occasion just to eat them when they taste the best. Below are some pics of the cupcakes in their many different appearances in our home. Hope they'll become as frequent in yours!

Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes about 30 cupcakes)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/ 2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup softened butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup milk

1. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in large bowl. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixers, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).

3. Add eggs and vanilla and continue mixing.

4. Using a spoon, alternately add flour mixture and milk until just blended.

5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

6. Allow to cool completely before frosting.


White Cream Frosting
I never measure this, but just use as much as I think I need. Start out with 1/2 cup vegetable shortening and 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat together, use a couple drops of milk to make it smooth. Add more of each ingredient until you have enough to frost all your cupcakes. Keep tasting along the way to make sure it doesn't get too sweet. Refrigerate left over frosting for up to 5 days.

Cinnamon Muffins

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

These are a Suhoor Staple at our house. I make a double batch about once a week so that there are always some in the morning (ok, so some mornings we just settle for cereal but I try!). They are super easy and taste great at room temperature. Add more cinnamon if you like a stronger cinnamon flavor and experiment with different extracts if you like. PLEASE let me know if you

tried them and how you liked it..!

Cinnamon Muffins
Yields: about 12

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (either light or dark works fine)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I use imitation and its great!)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use canola and it turns out fine)

1. Pre-heat oven at 400 F

2. Stir together dry ingredients with a wisk

3. Add wet ingredients and stir together with spatula until just combined. Its a thick batter and will get stuck in a wisk, so make sure to use a spatula or wooden spoon.

4. Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin tin lined with paper 2/3 full.

5. Bake 10 - 12 minutes. Keep an eye on them. Bake until just lightly golden and puffed up.

6. Let cool completely before frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Blend ingredients together until smooth, spreadable consistency.

2. Add more powedered sugar as needed.