Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I'm a day late but...it still feels like Thanksgiving and the festive season is definitely in the air. Everyone walking around shopping for X'mas gifts either for their loved ones or for themselves (I know this because I have been buying things saying they are my X'mas gifts to myself, yikes!), people traveling home to meet with their loved ones and all sorts of recipe magazines displaying holiday dishes and desserts!

Pumpkin is something I see popping up everywhere since October. It wasn't just for Halloween, it was in frozen yogurt, ice cream, desserts in restaurants, muffins, breads, everything...everywhere.

It was my first ever taste of pumpkin. REALLY.

While baking these muffins, I opened the can of pumpkin puree and stuck a spoon of puree into my mouth. And Viola! My first taste of pumpkin. I must say it was weird...it was like extremely veggie-taste. I wouldn't say I like it and would eat it on its own but when baked into muffins with dark chocolate chips and ground spices, I wouldn't say no!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(bakes 12 muffins)

- 1 1/2 cups flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

- 1 cup white sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

- 1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips (I used dark)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tray with paper liners.

2. Sift together flour, baking soda, ground spices and salt.

3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well with each addition. Add in vanilla extract after. Then add in the flour mixture, alternating with the pumpkin puree (flour - pumpkin - flour - pumpkin - flour).

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffins cups evenly with the batter.

7. Bake for about 25 - 27 mins, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Apple Pie Cake

This week's baking experiment was definitely different. My apple pie cake is close to my heart because it marks the first time ever that I saw apples on trees and my first time picking apples. And of course, picking your own ingredients that you use to bake is just not something you do everyday!

Erm...and this is me...obviously, I had to eat whatever I picked. I picked 17 and ate 3 while doing so. I did mention I am quite greedy and cannot be without food for longer than 2 hours right?

With 17 apples I had to bake something that required these lovely tart Cortland babies. I turned to Martha Stewart for guidance...

This is kinda like an apple crumble of sorts...and kinda like a cake just that it doesn't have that spongey cake layer and kinda like a pie...I don't know. Whatever you call it, one thing is for sure, it's super yummy!

I love the crumble, I love biting into a crunchy, buttery layer and then sinking into the tartness of the baked apples laced with cinnamon. Vanilla ice cream was not on hand and definitely regretted not keeping a tub around in case of emergencies like these.

Apple Pie Cake

(bakes a 9-inch cake, serves 8)

- 2 cups flour

- 1 cup light brown sugar

- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

- 8 tart apples (I used Cortland, but Granny Smith is recommended too)

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, light brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

2. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold pieces of unsalted butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and press in 2/3 of the crumble mixture to the bottom. (You can choose to press the crumble mixture 1 inch up the sides of the pan, I forgot to do so but it still turned out good.)

4. Peel and core the apples, cut them into thin slices and drain away any excess water, then sprinkle over with the other 1 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly.

5. Arrange the apples on top of the crumble mixture in the pan.

6. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of the crumble mixture over the apples.

7. Place the pan on a baking sheet with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour 15 mins, until the top is golden brown.

8. Let it cool for 20 mins before you remove the sides of the springform pan.

9. You can choose to let it sit in the fridge or serve immediately. (It's best served warm!)

Quick! Go get apples and get baking!

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall's not here...winter is. Is it freezing or is it just me being a pansy ass? It's cold! I am counting down the days I'll be leaving on a 30 hour flight home to a tropic country, yipppeeee!

And to cheer up the mid-week, here's a super chocolatey recipe from a batch of cookies I baked 2 months ago. I'm catching up I swear...

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

- 2 2/3 cups dark chocolate chips

- 1 cup flour

- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


- 1 teaspoon baking soda


- 1/2 teaspoon salt


- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened


- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar


- 1/4 cup granulated sugar


- 1 large cold egg


- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.



2. Melt 2/3 cup of the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl over a double boiler. Stir the chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.



3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute.


5. Mix in the melted chocolate chips until blended.

6. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing until blended, about 1 minute.

7. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated.

8. Mix in the remaining 2 cups chocolate chips.



9. Using a tablespoon, scoop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart.



10. Bake the cookies until they crack slightly on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cookie comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter, about 18 minutes.

Where have I been???

It's been donkey years since I've blogged. I am soooooo sorry for neglecting my blog. I don't know what happened. I remember my younger sis coming over to visit for 3 weeks (one failed attempt at chocolate chip cookies and 3 successful batches of cookes during her stay), me starting work at a full-time job, adjusting to the new job, coping with extreme summer heat, planning a San Fran vacation and canceling it due to a chicken pox scare (got me under house arrest for a week but thankfully, the vaccine worked), coping with crazy fall weather that feels like winter....right. So, I've basically been busy doing other stuff rather than baking and blogging. TSK.

But, I have been baking, I've just been forgetting to blog. Anyway, here's what's been baking in my oven...

Lovely sweet and savory golden Apple Nut Muffins that are my favorite kinda breakfast sweets.

Who can forget Blueberry Muffins...Oh and totally organic!

Some cookies along the way...Peanut Butter Criss-cross Cookies that didn't look so nice but tasted soooo good!

And I went crazy over these Totally Chocolate Cookies. Too much!!!! Die!!!

And if there was one thing I wished I had more of was definitely this Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with a rich Chocolate Glaze....

And my boy bought a brand new super duper camera that takes amazing photos...no more iphone crappy photos!

Lastly, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting that made a 3 year old girl running around the house after she licked one. Super hilarious!

My baked goods in the last 4 months...more to come!