Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

September is a hard month for me.  I love-hate September.  There is the good: the kids start school, it's the start of the downhill side of the deathly heat of summer in Texas, there is the possibility it could rain, it's the first sign of fall coming... The bad? Well, pretty much the flip-side of all the good parts: the kids are going to school so that makes me kind of sad, summer is supposed to be over, yet its still 100 degrees outside, and its not actually fall yet!

Early September is definitely too early to start wearing sweaters, decorating with pretty leaves and pumpkins, and cooking up all the cozy, aromatic recipes of fall. Except that I really want to.  So badly.  Adding to the problem I have is that all those amazing autumnal vegetables I love and want to cook with aren't really in season yet.  So I have to find things to cook that will appease my need for cozy-fall feelings but also are more appropriate for the actual season.

Thankfully the internet is full of handy charts and info-graphics that can remind you what is in season with a quick google search.  So while I was sad that none of my favorite fall things are on the list yet, it provided some solid inspiration for things to make until October finally decides to come.

Design by Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

LOTS of these things are favorites in our house so my brain started cooking.  Eggplant is immediately off the list, Aaron is super allergic and we can't even have it in the house, so unfortunately for any of you who are eggplant lovers (like my mom) there will probably not going to be any recipes with eggplant on the blog.

However, my kids are huge fans of apples, pears, and melons.  Chanel loves mangoes, corn and plums.  I'm a huge fan of raspberries and peppers and okra... my goodness so many ideas for things to make this month! I think there are going to be some creative pizzas coming this way with beets and arugula or figs and prosciutto.  We could have a cozy night with some gumbo chock full of okra. I will probably make that sausage and pepper bake again, since it was such a hit!

Okay, but back to the issue at hand, what was I going to make today, right now, to feed the kids for the week?  Inspired by this Averie Cooks bread, I decided on making some Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins with a crumble topping borrowed from my banana bread.  These muffins did the trick.  Hondo has been gobbling them up. 

Before I get to the recipe, there are just a couple notes I want to share about muffin making.

1. For a popped-up muffin with a pretty top, make sure your cupcake tins are full.  That means batter all the way to the top of the liner.  So even if your recipe says it makes twelve, if the tins aren't full they won't pop up over the top and have that pretty muffin shape, they will look flatter like a cupcake.  So maybe you get nine muffins instead of twelve (this recipe should make 12).
2. I like to use two liners instead of one.  This is for a couple reasons - if you chose a pretty decorated liner or a color, it will be more clear and pop if there are too since they are pretty translucent.  Also, often some grease will seep into the liner and can leave them very shiny and soggy, they can rip more easily when getting pulled off.
3. Also, spray your liners with some cooking spray after putting them in the cupcake tins.  It might sound crazy (it did to me when Aaron suggested it), but it helps the liners peel off cleanly without taking half the cake or muffin with them and also prevents some of that seeping-grease problem.

Also for this recipe I recommend using fresh raspberries, not frozen.  First, I can't seem to ever find a bag of just frozen raspberries and not a berry mix.  Second, I find that frozen fruit can bleed and sink, so you end up with a soggy-bottomed muffins.  Lastly, because of the size of fresh raspberries, I think cutting them in half means you get bites with good, full berry flavor, but not so much that the bread around it is soggy.

Raspberry Chocolate-Chip muffins

Makes 12 standard muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 oz. fresh raspberries, washed, patted dried and halved
• 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 batch crumble topping (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a cupcake tin; line with cupcake liners and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugars, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine the cooled butter with the buttermilk, oil and vanilla.  Whisk together and then whisk in the egg.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.  Carefully fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips, the raspberries can smush easily.

Fill each cupcake tin to the top of the liner with batter.  Top each muffin with crumble topping.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops are golden browned and a tooth pick comes out clean.

crumble topping

Ingredients:

• 3 tbs. butter, melted
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/3 cup of flour

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  When the butter is cool enough to touch, use your fingers to crumble it into pea-sized pieces.  Top the muffins with equal amounts before baking.

Salted Nutella-Stuffed Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yeah, the name of these cookies alone is a mouthful.  A delicious, warm, chocolatey, nutty, sweet and salty mouthful.  If you like chocolate, Nutella, oatmeal cookies, or any combination, these are the cookies for you. 

They take a little longer to throw together than a standard chocolate chip or oatmeal cookie recipe, but the extra step or two required to stuff these with creamy Nutella is well worth it.  The earthy texture of the oatmeal is the perfect wrapper for a soft, sweet filling.  Trust me.  These will not disappoint.

Salted Nutella-Stuffed Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields about 18 Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Nutella
• Kosher salt or sea salt, for sprinkling

Using a large mixing bowl (you can make this whole recipe with one bowl) cream the butter and sugars with a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer).

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined and smooth.

Mix in the flour, baking soda, 1 tsp. of salt and the oats.  The dough may feel thick, but mix just until it is evenly combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Cover your bowl and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

While the dough chills, prepare a pastry bag (or gallon-sized Ziploc bag) with Nutella.  An icing tip isn't necessary in this case, just fill your bag with 1-2 cups of Nutella and set it into the fridge to cool for 15-20 minutes before your dough is ready.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare baking sheets with a silicon mat or lined with parchment paper.

Remove your dough and Nutella from the refrigerator.  Trim the corner off your pastry bag slightly.  Using a cookie scoop or a teaspoon, shape your dough into balls.  

Hold each ball in your hand and, using your thumb, press down into the ball, turning it into a bowl.  Pipe desired amount of Nutella from the pastry bag into the dough.  Pinch the edges of the dough back together around the Nutella, reforming a ball. 

Place the stuffed dough onto the cookie sheet, seam side down, and flatten it slightly.  Sprinkle the top with sea salt.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Place on cookie sheets about two-three inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Allow cookies to set on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Sweet Brunettes

The night we got home from two long weeks on the road, I needed some junk food to settle down on the couch with, put up my feet and binge on all the trashy TV I had missed.  So we ordered in, put the kids to sleep and I got ready to chill.  Then the sweet craving kicked in.

As all of our friends know, there is always some kind of baked deliciousness in the cake stand on the kitchen island.  Since my first pregnancy, I've been a sucker for my sweet tooth and need to have something around for a nibble when it kicks in.

In any case, because we had been gone for two weeks, my cake stand was woefully empty.  I didn't want to walk to the grocery store because it was legitimately 100 degrees outside and I was exhausted.  So I had to work with what I had around.  I had seen recipes for "Junk Drawer" cookies and brownies before, but never made them.  This was my interpretation of a similar recipe from Averie Cooks, but with substitutions based on what was around in the pantry. Anyone could easily do the same.  Work with what you've got - this recipe isn't really trailblazing, but definitely sweet.

I decided to call my creation Brunettes because I used dark brown sugar instead of light.  Light brown sugar is typically the base for blondies because it will produce a fluffier, lighter brownie because it has less syrup in the sugar (granulated sugar is the driest of the three, light brown is a nice medium and dark brown practically oozes).  Due to my lack of light brown sugar (since I didn't heed Chanel's warning that we were out before we left on the trip), I just used what I had and they came out, not surprisingly, much darker than blondies - hence, Brunettes.

Have fun mixing it up - This whole thing won't take you more then 30 minutes!

Sweet Brunettes

Makes about 16 squares

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (or light if you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 Oreos, chopped
• 10 Mini Twix, refrigerated and chopped
• M&Ms (about 1 cup)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter.  Set aside and allow to cool.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a square baking pan (8x8 for thicker bars, 9x9 for thinner) with parchment paper and set aside.

Add the egg to the melted butter, whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla.

Stir in the flour and salt until combined.

Add the Oreos and Twix (or whatever you decided to try, I bet Reese's cups or pretzels would taste fantastic) and stir together.

Spread the batter/dough into your pan.  Sprinkle your M&Ms (or topping of choice) on top and press them into the dough lightly.

Bake for 22-26 minutes, or until done.  They are done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan.  Cooling completely is IMPORTANT with these before cutting, be patient!  Once they are cool, lift the parchment paper from your pan and cut into squares.

The Perfect Ice Cream Sandwich

We are kicking off June with some summer favorites.  We both grew up on classic ice cream sandwiches after a hot day at camp and couldn't think of a better way to end the first day without rain in Austin in a long time.  It finally feels like summer is here and we are ready to jump right in.  I'm sure we will be eating our words in August when it is 102 degrees outside, but for now, the sun feels amazing.

After finishing a 5.5 mile walk in the sun and scarfing down salads for lunch, we were craving something sweet and it just struck me that the perfect snack for a day like this was straight from our childhood: ice cream sandwiches.

The key to those perfect ice cream sandwiches from camp was that the chocolate cookie was soft.  You could bite into it and it wasn't tough to break through the cookie, it just broke apart perfectly with the ice cream.  So for us to have the same experience, we needed a cookie recipe that was going to produce a soft, almost spongy cookie.

I found this recipe for Oreo jello cookies and modified it a bit.  We left out the Oreo's and white chocolate chips and replaced them with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. And for the ice cream we used good ol' Breyer's vanilla bean.

Once you have baked your cookies and allowed them to cool completely, putting them together is pretty simple.  One thing to remember though, is when working with ice cream, speed is critical so make sure to get everything you need ready and set out before you get the ice cream from the freezer and begin.

You will need:

• 1 batch of cookies of your choosing (but we recommend a variation of this recipe)
• 1 gallon of your ice cream of choice
• A serrated bread knife
• A cookie cutter (we used a round biscuit cutter)
• A tray or containers to store and re-freeze your assembled sandwiches in
• Sprinkles for decoration (optional)
• Plastic wrap

Once you have assembled all your supplies, make sure you have cleared out a space in your freezer that will fit your sandwiches once they are assembled.  You will need to put them directly back into the freezer to refreeze for at least an hour before wrapping them individually. Then you are ready to go!

1. Using your cookie cutter, cut an even number of cookies, discard the left over edges (we used a biscuit cutter because our cookies were round and it was the closest size so we wasted the least amount of cookie).
2. Take your gallon container of ice cream from the fridge and place it on your cutting board on its side (so the bottom of the container is perpendicular to the board).  Using your bread knife, slice off the bottom inch of ice cream evenly (yes, cut right through the container!).
3. You should now have an inch-thick slab of ice cream on your cutting board.  Remove the cardboard from the ice cream, moving quickly because the ice cream will begin to melt, and use your cookie cutter to cut pieces of ice cream to put between two cookies.
4. Once you have assembled one sandwich, place it on a tray and directly back into the freezer. If the ice cream starts to melt while between the cookies the pieces will slide around and they will not set evenly.
5. Repeat this process for each cookie sandwich.
6. After they have set in the freezer (about an hour minimum) you can remove them, wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and then stack back in the freezer.

For a touch of color we rolled them in sprinkles. Perfect to enjoy on a nice hot day. Hope you enjoy!