Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oreo Muffins for #MuffinMonday

Happy New Year, lovely people!  We have come to the end of 2012 and to the final muffin in the holiday series.  As she does once in a while, Anuradha, our intrepid Muffin Monday leader, gave us free reign on this one, no prescribed recipe but one stipulation:  The muffin must be rich with chocolate.

This muffin is for Nicholas, my friend Mary’s second son.  He was a sweet child and has grown into a delightful young man.  When I was staying with them in Paris a couple of months ago, I made the Twix muffins for Muffin Monday.  Nick really liked them but he asked if I could make an Oreo muffin because those are his favorite.  I said I didn’t see why not.  And here is my perfect chance!   They have Double Stuff Oreos in the batter, as well as sprinkled on top.  And melted semi-sweet chocolate in the batter, along with extra semi-sweet chocolate chips, so I think they fulfill the rich with chocolate requirement.

Happy New Year to all the Capons, but especially to Nick!  Thanks for the idea and I hope this is your best year yet!

Ingredients
6 oz or 170g good quality semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter 2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 cup or 115g granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed or 100g dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 Double Stuff Oreos

Method
Preheat your oven to  350°F or 180°C and grease your muffin pans (one 12-cup and one 6-cup for a total of 18 muffins) or line them with paper liners.

Gently melt your baking chocolate and butter in a microwaveable bowl (30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until just melted) or in the top pot of a double boiler.

Stir well and set aside to cool.

Chop the Oreos roughly with a large knife and separate them into two piles of about two-thirds and one-third.  Just eyeball it, no need to measure.  The bigger pile will go into the batter. The smaller one will be sprinkled for topping before baking.

In a large bowl, mix together your flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a smaller bowl, whisk your eggs and milk together.

Add in the melted chocolate/butter and whisk again.

Pour the liquids into the bowl of dry ingredients and fold them together until they are just mixed.

Fold in the bigger pile of Oreos bits and the chocolate chips.

Divide your batter between the prepared muffin pans.

Sprinkle the tops with the smaller pile of Oreos and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

I considered various glazes for this one but decided to just let those lovely white bits of Double Stuff shine forth.  And don’t they look pretty?

Enjoy!


Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street.   A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week.   Drop Anuradha a quick line to join her on this journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.  Make sure to go and check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with this week!   

Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins, right here at Muffin 101. 

Pecan Fudge

The holiday season is not over yet and many of you will need to be bringing hostess gifts to parties and open houses.  This fudge, on a pretty plate, is a great gift.  I have been searching for a fudge recipe that reminds me of the one my maternal grandmother used to make and this one, with pecans, seems pretty close.  Wish my mother were here to taste and confirm.  

Ingredients

2 scant cups or 440g sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons or 85g butter

1 cup or 237ml heavy whipping cream

3 1/2 cups or 205g of marshmallows

3 cups or 525g of semisweet chocolate in bars, chopped up, or chips

1 teaspoon or 5ml vanilla extract

1 cup or about 105g of pecans

Method

Chop half of your pecans rather coarse and the other half into finer pieces.

Line a 9in x 13in (approx. 23cm x 33cm) metal baking pan with parchment paper.

Add the sugar, salt, butter, cream, and marshmallows to a large saucepan.

Cook the mixture over medium heat until the marshmallows and butter begin to melt, about five minutes.

Once the marshmallows have melted, bring the mixture to a boil, and boil for five minutes. It will bubble all over the place and darken slightly. Take the pan off of the heat.

Add the chocolate and vanilla and mix it all together until the chocolate has melted and everything is nice and smooth.  The oil started to separate out a little so I just mixed quicker and it seemed to come together again.

My chocolate was a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and semi-sweet baking chocolate chopped up from squares.  The 16 oz bag of Nestle Tollhouse morsels is only 453g and you need 525g for 3.5 cups.
This is VERY chocolatey!

Working quickly, add in your coarsely chopped pecans and mix thoroughly.  Pour the mixture into your lined baking pan, spread out with a spatula or spoon and sprinkle quickly with the finely chopped pecans.

Let this sit at room temperature for at least three hours or chill it in the refrigerator atop a cooling rack so that air can circulate around the pan for about half an hour before you slice it. 

Cut into squares. This fudge will keep at room temperature for 10 days in an airtight container.  Or on a plate covered tightly in cling film.

Enjoy!

Adapted from this original recipe.


This post has been shared as part of a chocolate/cocoa round up. Please follow this link to see all of the wonderful recipes at Spice and Sugar Tales.

Toffee with Chocolate and Almond Slivers

So, my house-hunting trip to Cairo was indeed canceled.  We had been blessed by an invitation to share Thanksgiving with a family there on Friday and I was planning to make this to bring, to share, since I wouldn’t have a proper kitchen in the serviced apartment.  I decided to make it anyway, because, so rich are my blessings, I have been graced with another invitation to share Thanksgiving here in Kuala Lumpur.  Since I have an actual kitchen and oven, I will also make an apple pie.  And green beans, just like my grandmothers used to make, to bring as well.

May you all be blessed richly with friends and family who love you this Thanksgiving.  I am firmly convinced there is no greater blessing than friends and family who love you!  I am more grateful than I can express.  Surely, I do not have my family with me, but they are safe and I hope that they also know how much they are loved by me and how much I wish we could be together. 

Ingredients

2 rounded cups or 300g of slivered almonds

2 cups or 450g unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups or 450g sugar

1/8 cup or 30ml light corn syrup

1/3 cup or 80ml water

1 1/2 rounded cups or 290g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

Toast the almond slivers in a dry non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.  Stir or toss them frequently to make sure they brown evenly. 

It's hard to see how toasted these are but they were darker than the photo makes them appear. 

Line a baking pan with sides  (minimum 15 1/2in x10 1/2in or 40cm x 27cm) with foil.  Butter the foil liberally.

Sprinkle half of the toasted almonds on the foil.

Ah, see! They look more toasted in the natural light.

In a heavy saucepan, add butter, salt, sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook over medium-high heat.

Cook the mixture until it reaches 290-300 degrees using a candy thermometer, which is the soft crack stage. Be really careful at this step, at 280 it goes really fast, and can burn in mere seconds. 

Pour the mixture immediately over the almonds. Set a timer for five minutes and let it cool until it is firm but still hot.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee.  Set your timer for two minutes and, when it rings, spread the chocolate all over the toffee.

Sprinkle with remaining toasted almond slivers.  Chill in the refrigerator until it hardens completely.

Peel the toffee off of the foil and turn it over.  Gently break it into pieces with a small hammer. 

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container, with waxed or parchment paper between the layers.  Or serve immediately!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating this weekend!

Adapted from this recipe, but originally from Pinterest and The Idea Room.  I tried to find the original post on Pinterest but I don’t really understand how it works, I guess.