Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

What makes a muffin a muffin, and not a cupcake?    It's usually the texture- a little denser and dryer. And we feel more virtuous for not eating 'cupcakes' for breakfast.   This muffin  recipe may actually be a cupcake trying to pass as  'morning' food,  but whatever.   I've made  various similar  recipes  and  purchased  others from bakeries, but this  is the   keeper....so moist they almost don't qualify for muffin status.   I sometimes drizzle the top with melted chocolate - not that they need it, but extra chocolate never hurts.  I'm a dark or semi-sweet chocolate person ordinarily, but in this instance, milk-chocolate  chips inside the muffins works best.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a muffin tin or  use  papers in a muffin tin.

In a large bowl mix  1 2/3 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 TB pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt.  Add 1 c. semi sweet or milk chocolate chips, &  toss to coat the chips so they don't  sink to the bottom. 

In a small  bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs, 1 c. canned pumpkin ( not p. pie mix) and 1 stick butter, plus 3 TB,  melted and cooled.  Combine contents of both bowls, don't overmix.

Fill  muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-25 min, til springy when touched.  Cool on a rack.

Apple- Cider Apple Crisp with Cider Sauce

If there's a bad apple crisp recipe, I've never come across it.. There are great ones and less great, but  a bad apple crisp is  hard to find.  This  one forgoes  oatmeal  and flour  and  uses cinnamon-graham cracker crumbs, adds a few raisins, and includes cider in both the base and  a delicious   sauce.   I like to delude myself into thinking I've done something healthy by avoiding white flour, and using brown Splenda.


Preheat oven to 350 . Peel  and slice about 8 c.  all purpose apples, and place in an ungreased 11 x 7 baking dish with 1/2 c raisins.  Pour 1/4 c. apple cider over the fruit.

Make the crumble topping: Mix together 1 c. of cinnamon graham cracker crumbs, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg,  6 TB butter, melted, and 1/2 c. packed brown sugar.   Sprinkle evenly over fruit.  Bake about 50-55 minutes  til apples are  tender.

Apple Cider Sauce:   Place all ingredients in a small saucepan: 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 4 TB butter, 1/4 c. cider, 2 TB heavy cream....... and probably a tsp. of cornstarch a little later on.
 Bring the first 4 to a rolling boil, reduce  heat slightly, cook about 3 more minutes, watching  carefully and stirring to avoid burning.  Take off heat and cool  in the pan.    I've made this  numerous  times and have yet to have the sauce thicken at all, as I assume it should - ( it starts to separate and shouldn't)  so after its cooled and  hasn't  thickened,  I mix about 1/3 of it with a tsp or so of cornstarch, reheat the rest, and stir  the cornstarch mixture back into the hot  sauce til it's thick.   Then let it cool til serving.  If there's sauce left after serving, refrigerate it and let warm to room temp before  topping the crisp.    Serve with a bit of ice cream or whipped cream, if you like.

Hedgehog Cookies

Our book club   discussion choice  not long ago was a quirky little book - The Elegance of The Hedgehog ---  which deserved a quirky little after-dinner treat.     These  hedgehogs were quite a hit  both for their uniqueness and  because they're  really  tasty little critters.

  The dough makes, essentially, pecan sandies, which are shaped appropriately, dipped in chocolate, and then in quills....er...sprinkles.   The recipe says to use a toothpick to make the eyes and snout,  but mine came out with tiny peaks, looking a little  more like chocolate chips than eyeballs.  Next time I'll try  an itty bitty pastry tip. And don't  make the snouts too pointy;  they're fragile and will break  easily.  There's nothing quite as sad as a disfigured hedgehog.

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup ground pecans

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate  chips

1/4 cup chocolate sprinkles

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, pecans and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball; pinch the dough to form a face. Repeat. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. They don't spread.

Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a microwave, melt chocolate; stir until smooth. Holding a hedgehog cookie by the nose, ( or wherever; I already explained the dangers in nose-holding)  spoon chocolate over the back (leave the face uncovered). Allow excess to drip off.  immediately roll the top in  chocolate  sprinkles. Place on waxed paper, parchment, or foil.

With a toothpick dipped in chocolate, make two eyes and a dot on the nose. Let stand until set. I like to put the tray in the fridge or freezer to get the chocolate set, for abut 10 min.     Store in an airtight container. Yield: 16 cookies.     I  love this and often  triple the ingredients  to make 'regular'  shaped pecan sandie cookies with  it, and half-dip them in chocolate.

One final note:  if you should  find  'The Elegance of The Hedgehog'  a little slow getting going, stick with it....we found it delightful.

Sugar-Crusted Puff Pinwheels

Make wonderul cinnamon puff- pastry  pinwheels in a flash.....every inch  is crusted with sugar crystals. Using a box of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry  sheets , these  gems are super-easy.  After thawing the pastry, by the time you preheat the oven your pinwheels are ready to bake. Be sure to use parchment paper or you'll be  spending quality time with your favorite chisel and the baking sheet.  The cinnamon -sugar  can't help but ooze out a bit as it bakes, and you've got better things to do than chip away at a cookie sheet.  Thaw the box of pastry on the countertop for  about 20- 40 minutes,  or overnight in the fridge,   but it should still be COLD...and DO NOT  UNROLL it! 

 There are two packs of rectangular-folded pastry in each box. Generally you'd unfold  the pastry sheets to use it, but not today. Mix 1 cup sugar ( preferably large-crystals) * and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  Find a  clean worksurface or cutting board, and spread about half the sugar on it.  Lay the  folded sheet of  dough on it...top with some more cinnamon sugar, and roll it out to an 11x15 sheet...Keep adding more sugar to keep it from sticking as you roll ... you'll be rolling it right  into the dough.  Use lots!  Lightly brush off the excess, and starting from a short side, roll up jellyroll fashion. Slice in 1/2" slices and place 2" apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake in a preheated 350 oven 20-25 minutes until the centers are baked through.  Immediately lift off the parchment and flip over onto a clean surface or  parchment.  Cool completely before serving. 

 What's great is that they get even crustier after a day or so.  Don't seal them in a closed container, let air get to them. I've made them with bigger-sugar crystals such as those made by Wilton, sometimes with colored sugar;  I've rolled  extra-tiny mini chocolate chips on them; I've mixed  a heaping  TB of dark cocoa  powder with the cinnamon sugar;  all  versions are  delicious. One sheet (package) makes about 15 'fancy cookies'.