Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

 
I first made these muffins around Thanksgiving to bring for our family to enjoy before the wonderful feast ahead of us. They are very easy to put together, and we enjoyed them so much that I made batches around Christmas to give as gifts to coworkers and others. They have a ton of flavors, and thanks to the pumpkin, not much oil/butter is even required.

A big thank you to Jourdan for always posting such great recipes that I must immediately recreate! Hopefully you enjoy these as much as both of our families have. Cheers!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe via Jourdan Leigh in the Kitchen, adapted from Pumpkin Bread

Yields 12 muffins

White Chocolate Cake Batter Blondies

I saw an adapted version of these on Courtney's blog, and she raved about them so much I knew I had to try them. I love cake batter, so what could be better than cake batter blondies (aka white brownies)?

These were super tasty, but I wasn't crazy about the texture. I'm definitely a "texture" person. I love the flavors of kiwis, blueberries and raisins, but I can't eat them unless they're mixed into something. Something about the texture gives me the shivers. I don't get it. I'm completely weird. It makes no sense. I accept this.

These got good reviews from John's family - I brought them to a family dinner we had last week - and John ate the leftover pieces we brought home. So, bake away! These are a piece of cake - pun intended. ;)

White Chocolate Cake Batter Blondies
Recipe adapted from girl meets life
Yields 1 8x8 pan
 
Ingredients:
*1 box cake mix (I used butter golden)
*1/2 cup sugar free white chocolate pudding (takes 5 minutes to make, see box instructions) 
*1 egg, beaten
*1 tbsp vegetable oil
*1/3 cup skim milk

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pudding.

*In a small bowl whisk together egg substitute, oil, and pudding. Add cake mix to the wet mixture and combine (batter will be very thick). Slowly add the milk and stir until just combined. Optional: add some sprinkles to the mix!

*Place batter in an 8×8 pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 22-25 minutes or just until the edges turn golden.

*Allow to cool completely (at least 30 minutes) before cutting – the center will otherwise be pretty gooey!

Pudding + egg + oil...Showing you thick batter...batter ready for pouring!

wet...then out of the oven...showing you the edge

Finished blondies!

Chocolate Peanut-Butter No Bake Cookies

I'm going to be honest when I tell you I thought these would be horrible. And, again with the honesty, when I tried them before they were cooled I thought I was right. (Note: Do NOT try these before they are completely cooled!). 

In fact, these are amazing. So amazing that I ate half a batch in a matter of like 2 days. And I decided they were breakfast cookie worthy because oats were in them. No? Eh, either way, these are a fast and easy cookie! And they are super duper yummy. Just let them cool. I mean that.

Enjoy a quick, chewy, deilicous and flavorful cookie! And thank me for finding this recipe later. Happy Tuesday, friends!

Oh, and, umm...since I ate the cookies when they were still warm and wasn't fond of them...I, umm, didn't take any more pictures. Because I ate the remaining and delicious cookies without even thinking of photographing them. Yes, I have a cheese and sweets addiction. Why do you think I never bake?!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
Recipe by Helen Ostrosky
Yields about 25 to 30 small cookies
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Ingredients:
*1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 splenda)
*2 tablespoons cocoa
*1/2 stick butter
*1/4 cup milk (I used skim)
*1/2 cup peanut butter
*1/2 tablespoon vanilla
*1 1/2 cups oatmeal
*Waxed paper

Preparation:
*In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute.

*Add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. Mix well.

*On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls. Let sit until cooled and hardened.  

butte, sugar, splenda...makings of a great cookie

time to start scooping!

cool on wax paper

small cookies = I eat at least 3 in a sitting...whoops.

 

Carrot Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

I was going to post this a long time ago. Like weeks ago. But you know why I didn't? Because genius over here deleted all the pictures before uploading them to my post. I typed out the recipe and my intro, went to get the pictures, only to realize I had deleted them. Lovely. Anyway, it gave me an excuse to make them again (Thanksgiving!), so here you are. 

My friend Jourdan adapted this muffin recipe to make it healthier.  She's so good about doing that with her recipes, and I wanted to try this one for a faculty chip-in lunch we had a few weeks ago.

Even with less oil and sugar and whole wheat flour, these were delicious! I doubled the recipe and was only left with four at the end of the day, which I in turn gave away so I wouldn't be tempted to eat them all myself! (I doubled the recipe for Thanksgiving, too, and almost all were gone as well!)

These have the perfect blend of spices and flavors, and the cream cheese filling was by far the best part of the muffin! Yum!

Carrot Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
Recipe by Jourdan Leigh, adapted from The Delicious Life
Yields about 16 muffins
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Ingredients:
*3/4 cup all-purpose flour
*3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or could use all-purpose flour)
*1½ tsp. baking soda
*1 tsp.baking powder
*½ tsp. salt
*1 tsp. cinnamon
*½ tsp. nutmeg
*3/4 cup sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup; I used 1 part sugar 1 part splenda)
*3 eggs
*2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/3 c. butter, 1/3 c. olive oil)
*1 cup shredded carrots
*1/2 cup pumpkin puree

For filling:
4 oz. softened cream cheese (I used light cream cheese)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar (original had 1/2 cup; I did one part splenda one part sugar)
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 350.

*Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

*In a separate bowl, beat eggs, and oil (and butter if using) until lightened.

*Stir in shredded carrots and pumpkin.

*In another bowl, cream softened cream cheese with egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla.

*Fold the dry ingredients into the egg/oil mixture. Stir until just combined.

*Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Plop a generous teaspoon of the cream cheese filling on top of the batter in each muffin cup.  I sort of used my spoon to fill it down into the middle of the cupcakes...other wise it will spread out over the top while baking.

*Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean.

muffin mixture

cream cheese filling...clearly I've already been dipping...

filled

I used a toothpick to swirl the tops so they would look pretty like the nutella cupcakes

out of the oven!

Filling!

sooo fluffy!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Here comes a fun dessert! Yet another recipe from Barefoot Contessa At Home. John just loves peanut butter, so I thought if I could make a dessert that is based on that he would go crazy. Not to mention, who doesn't love a dessert based on your favorite lunch sandwich growing up? (Hopefully not you if you're reading this!)

Since this is a rich dessert, I decided to try and lighten it up a bit. I substituted part splenda for sugar and used white whole-wheat flour instead of white all-purpose flour.  Since I've never made them any other way, I thought they were great!

I wasn't the only one, either! I didn't want these sitting around my house calling my name all week, so I brought them to work. Everyone I talked to absolutely loved them! I was told they are the perfect balance of sweet and salty - just enough of each. I also gave them to my middle school helpers (they are such sweet kids and soooo helpful!) and they were so excited and ate them right up. I bet those of you with younger kiddos would go pretty crazy over these. :)

On a side note, the pictures of the actual bars aren't that great because I took them on my phone in the morning when it was dark outside. I was in my classroom before school when I realized I hadn't taken any pictures, and the lighting was not great. Oh well!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
Recipe by Barefoot Contessa At Home
Yields about 16 bars  
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Ingredients:
*2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
*1 1/2 cups sugar (I substituted half splenda)
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
*2 cups creamy peanut butter (18 oz - Mine was only 16 oz, whoops!)
*3 cups white whole-wheat flour (or white all-purpose flour)
*1 tsp baking powder
*1 1/2 tsp salt
*1 1/2 cups raspberry jam or other jam (18 oz)
*2/3 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preparation:
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13x2-inch baking pan.

*Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes.

*Add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until well combined, on low speed.

*In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the mixture slowly to the peanut butter mixture, on low speed. Mix until just combined.

*Spread two thirds of the dough in the prepared pan, using a knife to spread it evenly.

*Spread the jam evenly over the dough.

*Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered. The dough will spread when it bakes.

*Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into small squares.  

Note: You need to let the cool completely before you cut them or take them out of the pan. I became impatient and tried too early, and the result was a crumbly mess. I put a lid on my pan and left them over night. By morning they were perfect.

Sugar and butter

Plus peanut butter, vanilla, egg

Now with the flour mixture...note its a bit crumbly.

Layer 1

Now add the jam

Add top layer

The bars!

These are seriously so fun and delicious!

View of the pan missing a bar or two.

Texas Sheet Cake

This, my friends, is a family recipe. From the cookbook, Our Family Cookbook, which my mom made for me as an anniversary gift. (Talk about a great gift! It's filled with recipes from both my family and John's family, and is so meaningful and sentimental.) So, unless you happened to get an addition of this (umm, I doubt it), then here is where to get this recipe.

So after John took a bite he said, "I'm eating homemade chocolate, right?" And he was completely serious. I started telling him the ingredients in this recipe and he said, "so basically this is homemade chocolate." I asked if I should put it on the blog and he said, "You better!!"

This is such an easy dessert but great because it feeds so many (the "sheet" in Texas Sheet Cake is there for a reason!). It feeds a ton but it is quite easy, and, um, delicious. Should I go make another sheet right now? Hmmm...

Ingredients:

Cake:
*2 cups sugar
*1 cup white whole wheat flour
*1 cup white flour (or two cups if no white whole wheat flour)
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1 teaspoon cloves
*1 teaspoon ginger
*2 sticks unsalted butter
*4 tablespoons cocoa powder
*2 eggs
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*1/2 cup skim milk

Icing:
*1 stick unsalted butter
*4 tablespoons cocoa powder
*6 tablespoons skim milk
*1/2 (32 oz) bag powdered sugar (more or less depending on your sweet tooth)

Preparation:

Cake:
*Preheat to 400 degrees.

*In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

*Boil water, butter and cocoa powder.

*Pour boiling ingredients over dry ingredients, while hot.

*Beat well, with electric mixer, and add vanilla, eggs and milk. g

*Batter will be thing. Pour into greased and floured (or flour/baking "Pam" spray) cookie sheet (I used a 9x13 pan/sheet).

*Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Icing:
*Boil butter, cocoa and milk.

*Then, add powdered sugar and stir until smooth.

*Pour over cake while hot.

boiling cake ingredients

all mixed up!

batter poured into sheet

melting/boiling ingredients for icing

add powdered sugar (try not to make a mess like I did :) )

icing poured on top of sheet cake

look, twins!

I may or may not have had 5 pieces of this in one night...oh thank goodness for leggings.

Nutella Cupcakes

At the risk of being obscenely redundant, I found this recipe on Pinterest. I can't help it! Try it and then you won't judge me! I wasn't the original pinner of this. However it popped up from someone else and I thought, how delicious would those be? Not to mention pretty! I knew I had to make these Nutella cupcakes, Courtesy of The Family Kitchen.

I know some people are not crazy about Nutella (and to them I say, what's wrong with you?). However, in our house, Nutella is loved. Especially by the hubby. I'm not kidding. One time I was cleaning up and I found a jar of it next to his side of the bed. With a spoon in it. Needless to say we didn't get Nutella for awhile after that...I still love him though! (He does it with peanut butter too! Anyone else? Bueller?)

I knew John would go crazy over these because, well, did you read what I wrote above? Turns out, he did. And I did too. Not to mention that they're so pretty you don't have to ice them! Maybe I'll add some more nutella next time though...Just because. :)

Ingredients:
*1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
*1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
*3/4 cup sugar
*3 large eggs
*1 tsp. vanilla
*1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
*2 tsp. baking powder
*1/4 tsp. salt
*1/4-1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Preparation:
*Preheat the oven to 325F.

*In a medium bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

*In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. The batter will be thick. It needs to be in order to swirl in the Nutella!

*Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Drop a spoonful of Nutella on top of each, and swirl through the batter with the tip of a bamboo skewer, knife or other pointy object.

*Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Tilt them in the pan to help them cool.

Butter, sugar and oil

thick batter

I might use a little more nutella next time...

Swirling worked best with a toothpick

Look how pretty! And easy! And tasty!

Cheddar & Brown Sugar Cornbread Muffins

Oh. Oh wow. Oh, that's good. Something amazing is happening. It is the making of these muffins. These. Are. Good. I mean, real good.  

Whenever I find a recipe I want to try, but know it will be time-consuming, I save it for Sunday.
John has been great all weekend. Spending all day Saturday cleaning with me before heading out for our friend Corey's birthday. I figured I better send him off to the Colts game with love, since he may not get any at the game...(Hopefully my Bears fare better!)

Anyhoo, to accompany the amazing Super Hearty Chili recipe I spent my Sunday salivating over, How Sweet It Is came up with these muffins. Wow. They are perfect with the chili and great to have leftover for breakfast the next day. They're also great to dip into the chili. Or use in a casserole that you will also find on How Sweet It Is. Have I given you enough to do?

These would be great with or without chili, but somehow I feel it came together for a perfect meal. :)

I should note that my recipe differs because the hubby came home with Jiffy cornbread mix instead of cornmeal. I did my best to guess and alter to make these as yummy as they should be. Thus, below is my version of this recipe. :)

Ingredients: (14 muffins)
*2 8.5 oz boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix
*3 tablespoons brown sugar
*1/4 cup creamed corn
*1/2 cup butter, melted
*1/2 cup milk
*1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half
*2 eggs
*1/3 cup freshly & finely grated cheddar cheese

Preparation:
*Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

*Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder together and mix with a spoon.

*Add the egg, corn, heavy cream, melted butter and milk, stirring until smooth.

*Fold in cheddar cheese.

*Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray (or use liners) and using a 1/4 cup measure, spoon batter into each muffin tin.

*Bake for 15-18 muffins, or until tops are golden and muffins are cooked through. Serve hot with cinnamon or honey butter.