After a long week, Brian and I like to be a bit lazy and lackadaisical on Saturday mornings. Typically, I will get up around 8 or 8:30 and just relax with a cup of coffee checking out the different movies available on Netflix while Brian sleeps in. After a movie or two, I normally get up and make something hot and fresh to get Brian out of bed. Several times I have made muffin mixes that literally take about 5 minutes to prepare. Other times, I make waffles, pancakes, or even beignets with a homemade blackberry sauce.  This Saturday was nothing out of the ordinary, so after watching The Proposal (good movie) I got up, looked in the pantry, but found no easy, ready in 5 minutes, muffin mix.

So I pulled out my new cookbook, Sarabeth’s Bakery, that cakebatterandbowl.com had recommended a few months back . After flipping through the Muffins and More chapter, I decided I would try her pumpkin muffin recipe, but instead of raisins and sunflower seeds, I would add more spice and use chocolate chips! They were the perfect little treat for this particular Saturday morning because it was cold and dreary and felt more like Fall, than Spring!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

adapted from Sarabeth’s Bakery

• softened unsalted butter for the pan
• 3 2/3 cups pastry flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 -inch cubes
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
• One 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the inside of 12 muffin cups with softened butter, then brush the top of the pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat the butter in another bowl until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in the sugar, continue beating scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula, until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs.  Reduce the mixer to low speed and beat in the pumpkin. In thirds, beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Bake for 10 minutes and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Continue to bake until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the muffin comes out clean, about 15 more minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

When I had bought plantains at the market a week ago or so, I had every intention of using them in a Rick Bayless recipe. I had just picked up his book, “Mexican Everyday” and I was excited to try Grilled Red Chile Steak with Sweet Plantains. Because of my husband’s allergy to onions, we typically don’t have a lot of options when it comes to Mexican cuisine, so I was looking forward to bringing Mexican into my kitchen, minus the onions.  However my week was consumed with work, 3 doctor’s appointments, Life Group training, Life Group, and a long to do list for school. Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to cook and we ate out a lot.  At the end of my very long and busy week, I ended up using my now very black plantains for an easy muffin recipe that made 12 large fluffy muffins. To top it all off, I spread Nutella on the warm plantain muffin and it was like a banana and chocolate treat! Add a cup of hot tea and you have heaven in a snack!

Enjoy!

Plantain Muffins with Nutella Spread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup whipping cream (milk can be substituted)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 very ripe plantains, smashed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make sure your plantains are soft and ripe. Peel and thoroughly smash plantains in a small bowl. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl beat the egg, milk and oil. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in smashed plantains. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4  full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes one dozen muffins.