Chocolate Peanut Butter Mocha Muffins

I made these little ones last week—sort of as a last hurrah for my role as housesitter and also because I was mad-craving peanut butter. I think I’d been dreaming about peanut butter for an entire week, but never found a recipe that sounded right. But then I found a good one for Peanut Butter Mocha Muffins on Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body (ha ha, cute). She made my little peanut butter dream come true 🙂

They’re fun to make and easy; crumbly and moist; adorable, chocolaty and whoa-so-peanut-buttery. I don’t taste any coffee flavor in there, but don’t actually miss it. (I also think it’s meant more to deepen the flavor of the chocolate anyhow.) They turned out perfect! I only wish the peanut butter blob on top didn’t look the way it does: it’s the BEST part, but kind of looks like baked brain 😛

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Mocha Muffins (recipe thanks to Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body)

Makes 12. (My muffin molds are smaller, so I ended up with 14.)

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour

1 stick (4 oz) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter, divided

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder (I was a little more generous on the amount)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup brewed coffee, room temp

1/2 tsp salt

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl mix the butter, 1/4 cup peanut butter and sugar with a hand or stand mixer. Add the eggs, vanilla and room temperature coffee. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the dry mix to the wet mix. Stir only until incorporated. Add about 1/3 cup mix to each muffin tin, filling almost all the way to the top. Top with about 1 tsp of peanut butter.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean.
4. Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan then finish cool on a wire wrack.

Lemony Blueberry Banana Muffins

I am moving to San Francisco! Left Singapore this last Tuesday and am visiting with the parents for a week before driving down to the foodie mecca that is SF!

It’s only been 4 days, but I find myself gritting my teeth and wanting to pull my hair out sometimes what with all the constant ‘catch up’ chatting I’ve been doing. Don’t get me wrong–I missed them terribly while I was a world away in Asia. (Singapore is just too far away.)–I am just so ready to start my new life in SF and couldn’t be more excited about all the adventures that are coming my way!

Anyhow, to fill my time, I decided to do a little baking. Mind you, I have none of my supplies, no scale,  don’t have the kind of ingredients I’m used to having…and it’s not my kitchen! After a quick inventory and raid of my mom’s pantry, freezer and fridge, I came up with the idea of making  citrusy blueberry banana muffins of sorts. Not surprisingly, there are tons of recipes for just such a craving.

The recipe I chose to test out this time is from Dragon’s Kitchen. I followed the recipe (to the best of my ability anyway), though left out the sugar-lemon zest topping, and produced these:

Upon first glance, they look more cake-y/quickbread than muffin. And upon first taste, that is what they turned out to be! Alas, this is what happens when I bake without my almighty scale!

Here are the issues I encountered:

1. My mom only had jumbo eggs. Though I know that a large egg weighs roughly 60+g, without my scale, I had to guess (gasp!!)
2. I had to use a measuring cup to measure out the flour, which I think led to my adding too much flour. And to think–I used to SCORN metric-based recipes. It was not until I really started getting into baking that I realized how scientific baking really is and how helpful a scale is in maintaining exactness.
3. I only had 1 banana.

In any case, the resulting batter was a bit thick. Though I tried to remedy this by adding a little banana yogurt, I’m not sure it did any good in the end.

All in all, I’d say it’s unfair of me to judge this recipe based on my results. The muffins themselves are tasty—mildly sweet and moist—however, they’re a bit too dense for me and texture-wise feel more like a quickbread than muffins.

Oh, well. Once I settle in my new home and get my kitchen back in order, I definitely plan on trying the recipe again. If you decide to try it, do let me know how it goes for you!

Lemony Blueberry Banana Muffins (adapted from Dragon’s Kitchen)

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
3 tablespoons sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease muffin tin.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the lemon rind.
3. Beat together bananas, eggs, brown sugar, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until blended.
4. Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Stir in blueberries just until combined. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, dividing batter equally.
5. For the topping, combine sugar and remaining lemon rind in small dish. Sprinkle evenly over the muffins.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.