Lots of Yummy Muffins for New Parents!

This Tuesday my great friends Rachel and Joe welcomed their first child into the world, an adorable baby boy named Ethan!  I am so happy for them as they begin their journey through parenthood.  It is going to be wonderful!  I mean, how cute is that kid?  I’m now more anxious than ever for my little guy to make his appearance!

We went to visit the family at the hospital yesterday morning, and I couldn’t resist bringing some goodies.  Joe in particular is a big fan of my cooking and baking habit, so I figured it would be appreciated.  I brought a basket with three types of muffins: chocolate-chocolate chunk, pumpkin raisin, and lemon poppy seed.  The first two are both recipes from my new Dorie cookbook which I had been dying to try.  Anything with “chocolate-chocolate”, “double chocolate”, etc. in the title is sure to be a winner in my book.  Dorie describes these as “slightly sweet”, which is true – but they are so, so, so good!  I doubled the amount of chocolate chunks in mine because, well, twice as much chocolate is definitely better!  The pumpkin muffins originally call for chopped walnuts or pecans but since I am a nut-hater, I left them out and doubled the amount of raisins.  They were good but I think they could be even better with a glaze or a streusel topping.  I’ll have to try that next time!  The lemon poppy seed muffins have appeared on the blog before, but they are a wonderful standby for me that I make often.  They turn out delicious and perfect every time, you can’t beat that!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Ingredients:

¾ stick (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter

4-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°.  Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.  Set aside.

 

Melt the butter and 2 oz. of the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; or do this in a microwave.  Remove from the heat.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined.  Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend.  Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter.  Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

 

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

¾ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

pinch of allspice

1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup sugar

¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp. vanilla extract

¾ cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree

¼ cup buttermilk

½-1 cup raisins

½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

about 1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds, for topping (optional)

 

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°.  Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.  Set aside.

 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

 

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until soft.  Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth.  One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after the eggs are incorporated, then beat in the vanilla.  Lower the mixer speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk.  With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients in a steady stream, mixing only until they disappear.  To avoid overmixing, you can stop the machine early and stir any remaining dry ingredients into the batter using a rubber spatula.  Stir in the raisins and nuts (if using).  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle a few sunflower seeds over the top of each muffin, if desired.

 

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove each one from its mold and finish cooling on the rack.

 

 

Source: adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan