Mocha Muffins

Mocha Muffins

It is my birthday today...

There were a lot of thoughts going thru my mind re. what I should be doing today...first thought was to just relax & pamper myself......just chilling out....but somehow things did not pan out...am not surprised....I have found that life seldom happens the way I want....more proof that there is a higher power somewhere controlling the events...and maybe we should just go along with the flow....
nyways...enuff of the philosophy talk....to get back on track...my plans for the day...

It started out with what we should do to celebrate...decided to have a get together at my parents place...my brother and sister and their families....we were to order in from a nearby restaurant...and since I did not have to do any cooking / shooking decided that least I could do was bake a cake ....my Mom insisted that I should bake a chocolate cake that she loves ( had baked it many times earlier for her and others )....so that was the first item on the menu...

Then I thought that since we were so many should I bake another one...or try out something new on my bookmarked lists...( one of my favourite past times is going thru recipes and keeping them aside to try out some other time ?! ....that list is so long...am probably going to go before I get thru it...and this is just the stuff I want to do re. cooking....my bucket list contains many more things....and that is another long story...will save it for some other time )
So getting back to my bookmarked lists...decided to try out mocha muffins ....have been wanting to bake something with coffee & chocolate combination...had not done it before...though that made both  the items as chocolate dessert...I was ok with it...since most in family are chocoholics...
So that was the second addition to my menu...

All this was after we got up - had our cuppa & toast...and in between all the phone calls, sms, FB msgs....and all....
Then since the celebration was for the evening - had to think of brunch or lunch or whatever...did not want the regular fare...so decided to make rava idli, sambhar, and chutney.
That made the third addition to today's cooking....

So my day of chilling and relaxing changed into one of slogging and sweating...?!?.. is there some lesson to learn from this...I think so...will let you all know once I figure it out :-) .....






So in the following sequence made the rava idli & all first, gobbled it all up...then set about to make the muffins...and am keeping the cake for the last...and while taking a break after the muffins...and having tasted them...yummy...decide to share the recipe with you. This was taken from joy of baking ...love most of the recipes of this site and have found that they turn out pretty good.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1/2 cup  (120ml)  oil ( I used olive oil )
1/2 cup (120 ml)  buttermilk ( made a mix of curd and water & beat it up )
1/4 cup (60 ml)  black coffee or espresso ( I put 1/2 tsp of instant coffee powder in 1/4 cup of hot water - then allowed it to cool )
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (130 gms )  all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (95 gms ) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ( 25 gms )  regular unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup ( 205 gms ) light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup ( 120 ml ) chopped nuts ( pecans, almonds, walnuts )
1 cup ( 240 ml ) chocolate chips


Method:

1) Preheat oven to 375 F or 190 C.
2) Line a 12 muffin pan with cups or grease with butter.
3) In a large bowl whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil, coffee, & vanilla extract.
4 ) In another bowl whisk together the dry ingredients the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, sugar.
5) Add in the chopped nuts, chips.
6) With a spatula - fold in the flour mixture in the eggs mixture - taking care not to overmix.
7) Fill the muffin pan and bake 18 -23 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8) Transfer to wire rack and cool 5 - 10 minutes.

This makes 12 regular sized muffins.
Enjoy !!!

These muffins made my day...they were so sumptuous it was difficult to stop after the taste test ( which involved only one muffin as the others were to be saved for celebration later )...hope to last till then...
Have to get back to the grindstone ( kitchen ) to continue with the third item...the chocolate cake...hoping to post that some day...so till then hope you make and enjoy this mocha muffins...and you all have a great day...cause I certainly will.