I’m Back…With Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

by kneadspeed on August 27, 2011

in Baked Goods,Bread,Breakfast,muffins,muffins,quick bread

I’m baaaaaack!

In fact, I’m back in more ways than one.  Back to blogging, back to school, and back in the swing of things.  It’s good to be back.

But let me tell you, being back isn’t all fun and games, rainbows and unicorns, flowers and fairy dust.  In some ways it’s difficult to be back because, by being back, one tends to leave behind aspects of being away.

Back and away are metaphors of our divided lives.  Everyone’s life is a proverbial give-and-take between back and away; as back emerges from the recesses of time, away recedes into the background, as does it’s memory.  Baking and blogging are things I do while away from work and school, so being back makes it more difficult to cling to these pursuits I so love.

However, I’ve decided to resist this typical transition from away to back, and back to away.  Because things get lost in this transition.  Important counterbalances - guilty pleasures versus textbooks, relaxation versus work, long-distance relationships versus cohabitation - compete for attention and our lives become unbalanced.

But isn’t moderation and balance what we all seek?  Can I have my cake and eat it too?  I really hope so.  But in this case, I’ll have my muffins instead.  Chocolate peanut butter muffins with big, cracked muffin tops.

The batter is also utterly fantastic…or so I hear. *ahem*  Yeah, I’ve never, ever eaten batter by the spoonful.  I swear.  That would be so…unsanitary.  You believe me, right?

I want to be back and away.  I want academic success and chocolate peanut butter muffins.  I want to be back at school, back at work, back to the grind, and all the while be away in the kitchen, away blogging, away having fun.  Impossible?  Perhaps.  But I’ll never know unless I try.  In the meantime: stay tuned, because I’m not giving up this blog without a fight.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Yield: Approximately 9 regular muffins (with huge muffin tops!)

  • 1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup Splenda (or other sugar substitute, or sugar)
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cup (100 g) dark chocolate peanut butter (recommended: PB&Co brand)
  • 3/4 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 cup light chocolate soymilk
  • 3 Tablespoons (46 g) egg white
  • 1 Tablespoon (14 g) vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease or line 9 molds in muffin tin.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, sugar substitute, and baking powder.
  3. In a separate bowl, stir together peanut butter, milks, egg white, oil, and vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.
  4. Divide batter amongst 9 prepared muffin molds (which should be nearly full).  Bake for about 18 minutes, or until done.

{ 5 comments }

Returning With Vanilla Cornmeal Blondies

by kneadspeed on July 27, 2011

in Baked Goods,bars,brownies,Desserts

I’m alive!

You haven’t heard from me for a long time while so I owe you all an explanation.

It was the computer’s fault, I swear.  You believe me, right?

Now is the moment when you nod your heads in understanding because…well, there’s food ahead.  And you missed visiting my little nook in cyberspace.  At least, that’s what I tell myself.

The computer went caputs, the repair guy (or saint?) came to fix it, and everything is back to normal.  I was baking all along in spite of the technical issue, which means I have some lovely baked goods to share!  If only they could literally be shared; some days, it’s like invasion of the muffins up in my kitchen.

Or like today, invasion of the vanilla cornmeal blondies.

The blondie has long played second fiddle to the rich, gooey, chocolate-y brownie.  But no more.  To make it a fair fight, I had to whip out the vanilla.  Vanilla versus chocolate?  At this point it became an all-out ingredient cagematch.

Do you even need to ask who won?  Take one look at the crispy top, the gooey underlying layer.  Imagine the chewy texture of caramelized brown sugar, the sweet scent and full-bodied flavor of vanilla.   There’s your answer.

Vanilla Cornmeal Blondies

  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal (144 g)
  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (120 g)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed (138 g)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (125 g)
  • 6 Tablespoons butter, melted  
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons liquid non-dairy vanilla coffee creamer
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract  
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease an 8″ x 8″ square baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal and flour.  Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugars, melted butter, vanilla coffee creamer, egg, and vanilla extract.
  4. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.  Evenly smooth batter (it will be thick) into prepared baking pan.
  5. Bake 32-35 minutes, or to desired doneness.  Let cool completely before cutting into 9 – 16 bars. 

{ 15 comments }

Funfetti Cake Magic Shell for National Ice Cream Month

July 2, 2011
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I’ve been so caught up in life. Surely we all get that way sometimes, focused solely on the hectic stimulation that is our personal reality. We can recite our own day’s events, the price of gas at a local station (depressing, no?), the cause of our dog’s barking at 2 PM, and what’s for dinner.  But sometimes we [...]

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Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sandwiches on Maple Hamburger Buns

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Peanut Butter Brownies…With Beer

June 6, 2011
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Buttah. It’s name evokes imagery of smooth richness.  Buttah (AKA butter) is awesome.  It’s fantastic.  It’s a stick of lipid gold.  Put a peanut in front of it, and you get one of the best darn things on this planet.  Peanut buttah. Ah, yes.  Spreadable, slatherable, dippable, and lickable, peanut butter is an extremely versatile ingredient.  It [...]

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