Crazy Ice Cream and Chocolate Muffins
I've eaten plenty of crazy things in my life. And in this context, when I say crazy, I really mean ridiculously over the top or sweet or something like that rather than something adventurous. It seems like ice cream lends itself well to crazy things. Like the giant servings at the ice cream place near home. Or the ice cream cupcakes from last year.
But tonight's dinner went beyond those as far as ridiculousness.
I'm done for the semester, and since April, NES and I have been looking for an excuse to try the frappe sundaes at our favorite ice cream place. We decided tonight was the night.
So, basically, a frappe sundae is a frappe (a rather large, thick frappe at that) with a couple scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top. My goodness. It was good. The fact that they make their own whipped cream makes it even better.
I got a peanut better and Reese's pieces frappe with Milky Way ice cream on top. Mmmmm.
NES got a vanilla frappe with Oreo ice cream. He was excited.
And then there are the chunks at the bottom. Mmmmm.
So good. And so filling.
It was nice to spend the day (after I finished entering grades and dealing with students who watch their grades like hawks) doing what I wanted. I spent yesterday afternoon giving and grading exams. We were thinking we'd be grading till about midnight and finished around 10 pm, so that was a definite plus!
But yesterday morning, I had time before the exam, since it was later in the day, and I knew I wanted to bake. It was one of those "I want to bake but I don't want to go grocery shopping" mornings. Originally, I was thinking cookies (from a mix, but still), but then realized we had less than a tablespoon of butter. You just can't make cookies without butter. Unless you find vegan cookies like KEB did. But then again, I didn't even have applesauce.
So, instead, I ended up looking for muffin recipes. I had Greek yogurt (since I pretty much always have it on hand), and I knew I had seen many muffin recipes calling for yogurt. The recipe that it seemed I had the ingredients for happened to be double chocolate muffins. You won't find me complaining about that. I didn't have quite enough yogurt, so I added a little water to bring it up to a cup. It worked out fine.
It was so nice to just be able to bake.
And the muffins actually came out pretty tasty. They tasted kind of like brownies, but they were lighter like muffins.
I made half big muffins, half small muffins. I wondered, since they still had oil in them, if they really were any healthier than the average muffin. I looked up the nutrition facts and they seemed to be at least as good as the average muffin, and definitely not crazy bad. So, I guess it's up in the air.
They went over well for a long night of grading, though! One of my professors even suggested that they'd be good frosted. Maybe they'd make a good cupcake substitute.
Double Chocolate Muffins
adapted slightly from Knead to Cook
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 oz. plain Greek yogurt
2 oz. water
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and mix well.
Mix the yogurt, water, eggs, vanilla and oil in a large bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix, but do not overmix.
Add the chocolate chips. Mix.
Pour into muffin pans lined with paper liners. Bake large muffins 16-18 minutes and small muffins for 12-14, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
But tonight's dinner went beyond those as far as ridiculousness.
So, basically, a frappe sundae is a frappe (a rather large, thick frappe at that) with a couple scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top. My goodness. It was good. The fact that they make their own whipped cream makes it even better.
I got a peanut better and Reese's pieces frappe with Milky Way ice cream on top. Mmmmm.
NES got a vanilla frappe with Oreo ice cream. He was excited.
So good. And so filling.
It was nice to spend the day (after I finished entering grades and dealing with students who watch their grades like hawks) doing what I wanted. I spent yesterday afternoon giving and grading exams. We were thinking we'd be grading till about midnight and finished around 10 pm, so that was a definite plus!
But yesterday morning, I had time before the exam, since it was later in the day, and I knew I wanted to bake. It was one of those "I want to bake but I don't want to go grocery shopping" mornings. Originally, I was thinking cookies (from a mix, but still), but then realized we had less than a tablespoon of butter. You just can't make cookies without butter. Unless you find vegan cookies like KEB did. But then again, I didn't even have applesauce.
So, instead, I ended up looking for muffin recipes. I had Greek yogurt (since I pretty much always have it on hand), and I knew I had seen many muffin recipes calling for yogurt. The recipe that it seemed I had the ingredients for happened to be double chocolate muffins. You won't find me complaining about that. I didn't have quite enough yogurt, so I added a little water to bring it up to a cup. It worked out fine.
It was so nice to just be able to bake.
And the muffins actually came out pretty tasty. They tasted kind of like brownies, but they were lighter like muffins.
I made half big muffins, half small muffins. I wondered, since they still had oil in them, if they really were any healthier than the average muffin. I looked up the nutrition facts and they seemed to be at least as good as the average muffin, and definitely not crazy bad. So, I guess it's up in the air.
They went over well for a long night of grading, though! One of my professors even suggested that they'd be good frosted. Maybe they'd make a good cupcake substitute.
Double Chocolate Muffins
adapted slightly from Knead to Cook
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 oz. plain Greek yogurt
2 oz. water
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and mix well.
Mix the yogurt, water, eggs, vanilla and oil in a large bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix, but do not overmix.
Add the chocolate chips. Mix.
Pour into muffin pans lined with paper liners. Bake large muffins 16-18 minutes and small muffins for 12-14, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
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