Almond Scones

I don't know how I ended up with so many almonds in my pantry before I left, but I had a giant bag of sliced ones lying around and these scones were very helpful in using them up.

I created these scones using the Bouchon Bakery Plain Scones recipe as a base and making some adjustments based on the ingredients I had on hand.  I love the Plain Scones recipe in this cookbook - they are much lighter than many scones (which I often think are too dense) because of the cake flour that is used.  You can ignore the all purpose flour in the photo above because I didn't use any of it.  I went all in on the cake flour for this recipe and was very pleased how they turned out.

Other than some simplifications, the only difference between these scones and the ones in the cookbook is the addition of sliced almonds in the dough and sprinkled on top.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it makes 16 scones.  That means there's enough for me and enough to share. 

I highly recommend this recipe and advise you to add it to your repertoire.  Feel free to experiment with this and include other types of nuts, dried fruit (not my cup of tea, but to each his own), citrus zest or even some chocolate chips.

Almond Scones
Adapted from Bouchon Bakery Cookbook
Yields 16 Scones

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups Cake Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into 1/4" cubes
1/2 cup + 5 T Heavy Cream (divided)
1/3 cup Sour Cream
1 3/4 cups Sliced Almonds (divided)
Coarse Sugar for Sprinkling

Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar on low speed until combined.  Add the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add 1/2 cup + 3 T of Heavy Cream and Sour Cream and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together.  Add 1 1/2 cups Sliced Almonds and mix on low speed until just incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a 10" x 10" square.  Cut into 16 squares.  Place the scones on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silpat.  Brush each square with remaining 2 T of Heavy Cream.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Sliced Almonds and Coarse Sugar.  Freeze the scones for 20 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Bake the scones for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!
Julie

Gluten Free Crepes

I talk a lot about my Gluten Free Friend (GFF) on this blog.  She's a pretty amazing person with a lot of qualities that have nothing to do with her Gluten Free Status, but she's really my only friend with this status so I have to talk about her a lot when it comes to food.  She's pretty useful that way and luckily she doesn't mind me using her as an example.

My GFF is part of my book club and since I made the Crepe Cake I told you about yesterday for my favorite book reading ladies I was adamant that she be able to partake so I found this recipe for crepes that contain none of those pesky glutens.  It is made with potato starch which I was highly skeptical of.  The other ingredients are the same as regular crepes - water, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt.

This experiment in crepes free of flour didn't start off all that well.  I mixed up the batter and proceeded to heat up my non-stick skillet.  Once hot, I poured in the batter and let it cook.  However, when I tried to flip it it completely fell apart (see photo above, right).  I was discouraged... sad face... but when I revisited my batter to try again I noticed that letting the batter sit for even a minute caused the potato starch to separate and settle to the bottom of the bowl.  Without the potato starch, I had essentially cooked milky eggs.  I re-whisked and immediately poured the batter in the pan.... so much better!  It stayed together and was significantly crepe-like.

I used these crepes along with the orange diplomat cream that I used in the Crepe Cake to make my GFF a Mini GF Crepe Cake.  She was pleased and I was pleased that she was pleased.

These are a great staple and I could see them filled with fruit and whipped cream or whatever your crepe pleasure may be.

Gluten Free Crepes
Adapted from Feel Good Eating
Makes 4 Crepes

Ingredients
3 T Potato Starch
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Milk
1 Egg
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions
Whisk all the ingredients together, making sure to incorporate all the potato starch.  Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into a hot non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray.  Cook on one side until set and lightly browned, about 1 minute.  Flip and cook until the other side is lightly browned.  Repeat with the remaining batter.

Make sure to re-whisk the batter before making the next crepe to reincorporate any potato starch that has settled to the bottom of the bowl.

Enjoy!
Julie

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

We just dodged a bullet here.  Until three minutes ago, I had no idea where I got the recipe for this pumpkin bread.  It is packed up with all my recipes and cookbooks on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.  I didn't think about setting it aside before we moved and didn't remember that I didn't have it until I sat down today to write.  I had a few other things on my mind.

I could have just skipped telling you about it, even if it is my go-to pumpkin bread recipe but I had already edited and uploaded all the photos, scheduled this post to show up on the blog today and set up a dozen other posts to show up in the coming weeks (that I still need to write).  Deleting this post would have meant that I would have had to go into all the future posts and edit the dates on them which seemed like a lot of work.

Luckily the Internet is freaking amazing and I was able to locate the recipe given what I know about the recipe websites I frequent and the photo I had of the ingredients.  Score!

I made this recipe to get rid of the final can of pumpkin puree I had in my pantry.  I got a little aggressive with the pumpkin purchasing in the lead up to pumpkin week last Fall and needed to use it up.  The recipe is pretty straight forward... oil and sugar are mixed together, add eggs and pumpkin, add flour, spices, salt  and baking powder, throw in some nuts or pumpkin seeds and bake it up.

This recipe makes two loaves which is pretty awesome.  You can eat one which will happen very quickly and give one away.  Or, if you're being selfish, stick the second one in the freezer and eat it too.

I think this pumpkin bread is pretty perfect.  It is super moist, has a great warm spice component and is full of pumpkin flavor.  Exactly what you want in pumpkin bread.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
from Epicurious

Ingredients
3 cups Sugar
1 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
3 Eggs
1 16oz. can Pumpkin Puree
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Ground Cloves (you can also replace the cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg with 3 tsp Apple Pie or Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Pumpkin Seeds, coarsely chopped Walnuts or Pecans (optional)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray with non-stick spray and flour two loan pans.

In a large bowl, beat the oil and sugar together.  Mix in eggs and pumpkin puree.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

Stir the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in seeds or nuts, if desired.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick  inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

Enjoy!
Julie

Strawberry Banana Bran Muffin

This recipe was a cupboard cleaning miracle.  Yahoo!

I got rid of a ton of wheat bran, most of the pumpkin seeds, all the sunflower seeds, all the frozen bananas and a bag of frozen strawberries.  Who cares that these aren't the most amazing muffins on the planet, they did a darn good job of helping me toward my pantry elimination goal.

I struggle with frozen strawberries in baked goods.  I feel like no matter what I do they make things soggy and soggy bread products activate my gag reflex.  Pre-made sandwiches are my nemesis. Because I was adapting a blueberry muffin recipe to include strawberries instead I knew I needed to get as much moisture out of these guys as possible.  I thawed the strawberries and drained them thoroughly, then chopped them and let them drain again. I also tossed them in flour to help absorb even more water.  I also substituted some whole wheat flour in here for the white flour which helped dry it out a bit more.  It worked OK.

I will say it was kind of nice making a recipe that didn't require me to use a mixer.  Sometimes it's nice to go old school and stir things up by hand.  However, I am getting really used to weighing my ingredients and I find myself annoyed when washing all the measuring cups and spoons it takes to make recipes that are volume based.  I tend to try to use the least number of measuring implements possible even if that means that I have to measure out a quarter teaspoon eight times to get a two teaspoons just to avoid washing another spoon.

I was surprised by how little the muffins rose but the original recipe warned me of that.  I was also surprised that the original recipe indicated this made 12 muffins but I ended up with 18.  I don't know how that happens.  Maybe it's like on TV cooking shows when they don't scrape the bowl.  Have you noticed this?  TV chefs make stuff in a bowl and then put into a pan or a serving tray and don't even put it all in there.  Are they just in a hurry because they have to fit in all into a 30 minute show or are they really so wasteful?  The only reason I can see for doing this is that they plan to eat the rest of the batter in the bowl when the camera's off.

These were not my favorite muffins in all the land.  Despite all the soggy insurance I took out, they still were a little soggy.    The bran flavor is good, if you like a bran muffin.  However, the lightness of my pantry and freezer makes up for any misgivings I have about these muffins.

Strawberry Banana Bran Muffin
Adapted from Real Simple
Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 3/4 cup Bran
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Apple Pie Spice
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
4 ripe bananas, mashed(1 1/2 cups)
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Milk
4 T Butter, melted
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 lb Frozen Strawberries, thawed, drained and chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 T All Purpose Flour

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 2 muffin tins with non-stick spray (you'll only need 1/2 of the 2nd tin).

In a large bowl combine both flours, bran, sugar, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, salt, spices, soda and powder.

In a separate bowl combine the bananas, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla.

In another bowl toss the strawberries with 2 T of flour.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Add the strawberries and stir gently to combine.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, the batter will come to the top of the cups.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Enjoy!
Julie

Candied Orange and Cocoa Nib Biscotti

I love making Biscotti.  This recipe never fails me.  I simply adore it and I never get bored with it because I can always change up the mix-ins and get something completely different.  Plus, I can eat it with coffee and that's just fantastic.

This time I substituted whole wheat flour for some of the regular flour.  This is something I do quite often.  I've found that swapping out any amount up to half of the amount of regular flour for whole wheat works out pretty well in most cookie or muffin recipes.  If you try to do more than half, the baked good ends up pretty dry.  I'm slowly trying to whittle down the whole wheat flour population in my house so a few substitutions here and there have been working out for me.  Plus, now I can call this health food.

This is a combination of mix-ins I've never used before with candied orange peel and cocoa nibs.  It's not such a strange combination if you think about it.  You find chocolate and orange together quite often and even if cocoa nibs are not quite chocolate in its sweet and silky form, it has the essence of bitter chocolate which goes well with the orange.  The candied orange peel is kind of bitter too but that paired with all the sugar in biscotti gives it just the right balance.

In fact, this is potentially one of my favorite biscotti flavor combinations.  I love that it's not too sweet so I don't feel at all guilty eating it with my coffee when I have already eaten or fully intend to also eat breakfast.


I also love that it's unusual and it makes me feel like I'm eating something exotic which is totally ridiculous because it's made with the part of the chocolate plant that people used to throw away until someone decided it was a super food and the part of the orange that people also throw away until someone figured out it wasn't totally disgusting if you boil it in sugar syrup.  Just like when only butchers would eat hangar steak and they used to call mahi mahi dolphin.  It's marketing.  I swear there's someone examining the trash and deciding what the next food trend will be.

Despite that fact that I put trash in the biscotti, they're super awesome and you should make them or find your own trash and make it with that. 
 

Candied Orange and Cocoa Nib Biscotti
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Orange Extract
1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Cocoa Nibs
3/4 cup Candied Orange Peel

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar together until it is fluffy and pale yellow.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated.  Add the vanilla and other extract and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined.  Add all the cocoa nibs and candied orange peel and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half (it will be quite soft and sticky so use flour on your hands as necessary) and form each half into a log on your cookie sheet.  Each log should be approximately 12 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Bake for 30 minutes or until firm and lightly golden.  Remove the pan from the oven and let the logs cool for 10 minutes.  Transfer each log to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut the logs on the diagonal into 3/4 inch slices.  Carefully transfer each slice back to the cookie sheet and lay them on their sides.  Return the cookie sheet to the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Enjoy!
Julie

Granola Clusters

The last time I made Granola it was good but it didn't stick together like I feel like Granola should.  I don't really use Granola in a way that is conducive to small bits.  I want clusters that I can pick up with my hand and stuff in my face.  So, when I stumbled upon this recipe from Cookies and Cups which claims to be "snacking granola clusters" I was excited to try it.

This time I did not make any modifications to the sugar levels in the granola.  I know that this is key to making it stick together so I put in the full amount of honey and brown sugar that the recipe called for.  The recipe also contains an egg white which I found interesting but the original poster said it contributed to stick-togetherness so I definitely kept that in there.

The one change I did make was to substitute Rice Chex for the Corn Flakes so that the recipe would be Gluten Free.  Also, I like Rice Chex and knew I'd eat the rest of them while half a box of corn flakes would simply create more stuff for me to get rid of.

Oh yeah, and I left out the chocolate chips because this isn't dessert.

And I left out the raisins because they are disgusting.

And I added almonds.

All the ingredients get mixed up together and baked.

The big difference in this granola is the baking process.  You do NOT stir the granola at any point once it starts baking - that's why it stays in clumps.

The original instructions called for baking the granola for 30 minutes and then turning the oven off and letting it cool in the oven.  I did that and I wasn't happy with the level of browning I got.  The bottom was fine but the top was still very blonde.   So, I turned the broiler on for a few minutes to get the heat on the top of the granola going and then turned it off and let it cool again.  It worked perfectly!
 

I absolutely love how this stuff came out.  My favorite part is that it's a little bit salty from the salted cashews.  I never thought to put cashews in granola before but I absolutely adore them!  The final product stayed in big chunks that I could hold in my hand and snack on.  Perfect.

I made this gluten free for my friend, but I would not change a single thing about this in the future even if I was serving a pack of gluten lovers (like myself).

Granola Clusters
Adapted from Cookies and Cups

Ingredients

5 cups Oatmeal
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup + 2 T Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
2 cups Coconut (flaked or dessicated)
4 cups Rice Chex, crushed
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Salted Cashews (peanuts would be great too - just make sure they're salted)
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
1 Egg White, lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with sides with a silpat or parchment paper.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until evenly coated with butter and honey. 

Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.   Bake for 30 minutes without stirring.  Turn the broiler on and broil until the top barely starts to turn golden brown (no more than 5 minutes).  Turn the oven off.  Peek at it after 5 minutes, if the top if getting more too brown, open the oven door for a  couple of minutes.  Then close the oven door and  allow the granola to stay in the oven until it is completely cooled.

Break into pieces.

Enjoy!

Julie

Cornmeal Biscotti

Biscotti is the exception to my dried fruit rule and in case you're new to my blog my dried fruit rule is that I hate it. I actually don't mind dried fruit in biscotti because the whole freakin' thing is dry and crunchy so the chewy texture of the dried fruit doesn't get in the way of my experiencing something soft and fluffy.

These biscotti were made for my trip to NYC and are Gluten Free for my GFF and for the added benefit of ridding my cupboard of half a bag of corn meal and half a bag of almond flour.  Almond flour is apparently something I was afraid of running out of and bought way too much of.  This recipe also got rid of all the raisins in my pantry which are only there because Thomas Keller made me buy them.  Good riddens.  Every time I get to throw away an entire box or wash one and store of my plastic storage containers I'm practically giddy.

These biscotti are made in a way very similar to my favorite biscotti recipe.  Butter and sugar are creamed together (in this case brown sugar which gives them a more complex flavor), to that you add eggs and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients and finally the mix ins.  For this application I chose to add raisins and walnuts because they were there. 

The finished dough gets smooshed into logs and baked, then sliced and baked again.

These taste really great - the raisins and walnuts work really well together and the variety of dry ingredients (cornmeal and almond flour) lend a much more unique flavor to this biscotti than comes from the traditional variety.

I only have one issue with this biscotti and it's my own fault and it, shockingly, has nothing to do with the raisins.  In fact it's only my issue because no one else complained about it and actually said they liked this particular attribute to the biscotti... they were too crunchy...

I know that sounds weird because biscotti are supposed to be crunchy.  Overall, the biscotti had the perfect level of crunchiness.  However, there were individual, crunchy grains of what I can only assume are cornmeal in here.  I know exactly what happened - the recipe says "fine" cornmeal and I had "coarse" cornmeal and I even paused for 1/2 a second and considered grinding my coarse cornmeal to be finer but then I decided that was too much work.  The first few bites I took, I was worried I'd lose a tooth but somehow I didn't and no one else did either.  Everyone dodged that bullet but I do recommend using "fine" cornmeal in this recipe to avoid tempting the dental Gods.

Cornmeal Biscotti
Adapted from The New York Times

Ingredients
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1 cup Fine Cornmeal
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1 1/4 cup Almond Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 oz (1/4 cup) Butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup chopped Walnuts

Instructions

Place the raisins in a bowl and cover with warm water.  Let sit for 10 minutes, then drain and set the raisins on paper towels. 

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cornmeal, cornstarch, almond flour, baking powder and salt. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beater with a rubber spatula and add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat together on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beater. Add the flour mixture and beat at low speed until well blended. Add the walnuts and raisins and beat at low speed until mixed evenly through the dough. 

Divide the dough and shape into 2 wide, flat logs, about 10 inches long by 3 inches wide by 3/4 inch high. Make sure they are at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake 50 minutes, until dry and firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes or longer. 

Place the logs on a cutting board and carefully cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the slices, with one of the cut sides down, on the baking sheet and bake for another 10 minutes. Flip them over and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the slices are dry and lightly browned. 

Enjoy!

Julie

Hash Brown Muffins

If you're not a sweets for breakfast person, don't let the name of these little guys fool you.  There is nothing sweet about these - they are savory and salty and cheesy and bacony.  Plus if you cheat like I did and use pre-shredded potatoes they're so freakin' easy to make.  Not to mention they're portable, can be made the night before and reheated (or if you're CA, reheated days later) and for all you gluten haters (or lovers who just can't) they're gluten free.

If you're being ambitious and shredding your own potatoes, good for you.  Do that.  After you're done, cook up a few strips of bacon. 

 Mix in some eggs, cheese, green onions, salt and pepper..

Put all that into a muffin tin.  I love my square muffin tin - it's my favorite to use for individual brownies, but it's perfect for these too.

My only concern with this type of thing is that it won't stay together.  I've had way too many experiences trying to get something out of a muffin tin and having it fall apart on me.  However, all the cheese and eggs in here guarantee hash brown stick-togetherness.

I made these to eat on a train ride to NYC for my GFF's birthday (and another special reason we'll talk about in a few days).  I wanted a savory breakfast option that was portable to fuel us through our big day of continuous eating (I'm pretty sure I didn't go two hours without eating the entire time I was there) - which makes no sense but somehow seemed necessary at the time. I baked them the night before and stuck them back in the oven to reheat in the morning while I was getting ready.  They were perfectly portable and absolutely delicious.  These are definitely going in the normal rotation for all breakfasts on the go. 

Hash Brown Muffins
Adapted from In Erika's Kitchen

Ingredients
3 cups shredded Potatoes (use pre-shredded or approx. 2 large Russett potatoes)
4 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar Cheese
6 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 12 cup muffin tin (square or round) with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, 1 cup of cheese, bacon, green onions salt and pepper.  Divide the mixture evenly among the cups in the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes.  remove the pan from the oven and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  Return the pan to the oven and bake another 10 minutes.  Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes and then carefully remove from the pan.

Serve warm or hot.  I made mine the night before and reheated them, wrapped in aluminum foil in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 81: English Muffins

Now this is a bread I can get excited about!  You should be excited too because you don't have to hear me whine and moan about the latest bread recipe in this cookbook.  Maybe because it's a bread that is firmly engrained in the breakfast category and I love breakfast.  We buy English Muffins on a regular basis so making this is actually quite useful.

I've made English Muffins a few times before but the recipes were significantly different than this one.  The dough was always much thicker than this one and was formed into little patties, grilled on a griddle and then finished in the oven.  These were totally different.  Good thing because I have always been disappointed in my English Muffin attempts.  They never had enough nooks and crannies in them which is the crux of a good English Muffin.

The difference between this dough and the ones used for the other breads in this cookbook is the amount of levain in it.  There is more than double the amount in this bread that is in the others.  It also has more milk in it.  Both of these make the dough significantly thinner, more like batter than dough.  Because the dough is so thin, you can't form it into little bread loaves like the regular dough so it has to be baked in molds.  This meant another equipment purchase which I don't mind too much because I think I'll make these fairly often.

The dough rises and gets scooped into the molds and rises again.  I could tell even before I put them in the oven that there were a ton of little air bubbles in them which was very promising in the nooks and crannies department.

I was a little nervous when I cut open the English Muffins but inside I found a plethora of nooks and crannies.  Hooray!

I've been eating these things like mad.  I've eaten them with butter and jam, with just butter, with peanut butter, as a breakfast sandwich.  I refuse to give any of them away.  CA is lucky I gave him any because this is one bread I want to eat.

There are a few more breads left to make but so far these are my absolute favorite from the bread chapter.  I'm so glad that I got to make these because I think it's just the lift I needed to get through the rest of the breads.

Enjoy!
Julie

Cocoa Nib Streusel Muffins

Remember when I made Carrot Muffins?  Remember how I totally screwed up the streusel topping and made way too much of it?  Here's my attempt to use it up along with some other stuff lying around.

Honestly, the last thing I needed was to make more stuff that I need to get rid of it.  I'm really starting to feel the pressure of finishing this cookbook and getting rid of all this food before we move.  I keep opening and closing the cupboards and flipping through my cookbook fretting.  And please don't get me started about the stress I feel when I see all the bread in my freezer.

Enough about the development of my first ulcer.

The base of them is a buttermilk muffin recipe from Williams Sonoma that is flavored with Apple Pie Spice.  The original recipe calls for cinnamon which would be totally fine here too, I just happen to have received a free sample jar of Penzey's Apple Pie Spice so I decided to use it.  You could sub Pumpkin Pie Spice too.

I just consulted the Internet as to what the difference is between Apple Pie Spice and Pumpkin Pie Spice is and the results are inconclusive.

The muffin batter in these is layered with a mixture of the streusel and cocoa nibs.  Cocoa nibs are the raw inside of the cocoa bean - if you ground them you'd get cocoa paste and if you mixed that with cocoa butter and sugar you'd have chocolate.  If you taste a cocoa nib you'd definitely know it was related to chocolate but it is a little bit bitter and almost a little nutty.  They're crunchy too which adds some great texture to the muffin.

These little guys were pretty interesting.  They're not super sweet but have the warm flavors of the apple pie spice and a hint of cocoa from the nibs.  The muffin itself is tender with a little bit of tang from the buttermilk.

Cooca Nib Struesel Muffins
Ingredients
7 T Butter, softened
2/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice (or Pumpkin Pie Spice)
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Streusel (see below)
1/2 cup Cocoa Nibs

Instructions
Preheat an oven to 350°F.  Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.. Add the egg and mix on low speed until just combined.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Mix on low speed just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

In a small bowl, combine the streusel and cocoa nibs.

Spoon the half of the batter into the prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle 1 T of the streusel/cocoa nib mixture into each cup.  Spoon the remaining batter into the muffin cups and top with the remaining streusel.

Bake until the muffins are golden, a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan..

For the Streusel
1/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup Oatmeal
4 T cold Butter, cut into small pieces
2 T Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl with a pastry blender or a fork until uniform and crumbly.

Enjoy!
Julie