Category: Recipes

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Lauren5 Comments

A few weekends ago, Joey was off seeing some scary movie and I was at home dreaming of something sweet and delicious that combined chocolate and pumpkin. Basically the opposite of anything involved in a scary movie.

I tested out the recipe. We ate 12 muffins between the two of us (not at once, I promise).  They were good but I knew they could be better, so I remade them and they came out perfect. And I received boyfriend confirmation that they were “awesome!!” and even better than the first batch.

And they better be because I decided to “take a quick walk” to Target to buy muffin tin liners for them and that short walk ended up taking an hour. Definitely worth it, though. I know they’re all chocolatey and cream cheesy, but they’re also all whole wheaty and oil free(y?) and therefore total breakfast material.  And the perfect “grab-and-go” breakfast for when you stayed up way to late watching election coverage and want to sleep as long as possible the next morning.

Just one thing. We’re still into pumpkin, right? Okay good.

Double Chocolate Muffins with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

For the muffins:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

For the frosting:

  • 1/2 stick butter, softened
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1.5 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar (in a mixer or with a hand mixer).  Add egg and beat until combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder.
  4. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, along with applesauce and beat until combined.
  5. Fold in mini chocolate chips.
  6. Fill greased muffin tin with batter, filling 3/4 full.  Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. For frosting, cream butter and cream cheese together until combined, then add sugar, pumpkin and cinnamon and beat for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy.
  8. Once muffins are cooled completely, generously frost with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

Remember when I baked muffins without liners and broke the tops off of every single muffin while trying to free them from the pan?  And then instead of topping them with frosting, I glued the two pieces back together with the frosting?  Turns out this makes for the perfect muffin.

Trust me, just try it.

Macadamia Pesto Gnocchi with Zucchini & Arugula

Lauren8 Comments

So much to say about this one.

Like how I was in a horrible mood on Monday night before we made this. Or how Joey’s mom gifted us with the bouquet of fresh homegrown basil we used for it. Or how paying over $4 for pine nuts when macadamia nuts are only $2 is plain stupid. But let’s start at the beginning.

When we were in Vail a few weekends ago, I had an amazing gnocchi dish at Bol. Crispy gnocchi, spicy arugula, toasty pine nuts and perfectly sautéed zucchini slices. Ohhhhh. I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. So even though I was in a bad mood and it was already kind of late and I didn’t really have a concrete plan for recreating my amazing dinner, I just kind of went with it. And here’s the thing. It turned out amazing.

Like, “this is better than the original” amazing.

Like instant mood lifter amazing.

Like write about it immediately after putting my fork down amazing.

Macadamia Pesto Gnocchi with Zucchini & Arugula

  • 2 cups fresh basil
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (I just used those little bags from the baking aisle)
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast)
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (+ more to sauté zucchini and brown gnocchi)
  • 1 package gnocchi
  • 2 zucchinis
  • 3-4 cups arugula
  1. To make pesto, combine basil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and macadamia nuts (reserve 1-2 tablespoons nuts) in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
  2. Add cheese and pulse to combine, then drizzle in olive oil and process until it all comes together.
  3. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add gnocchi and cook until gnocchi pieces float to the surface then drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the water.
  4. Slice zucchini, then heat a drizzle of olive oil and add zucchini slices to the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until soft and slightly browned.
  5. Remove zucchini, add another drizzle of olive oil and place gnocchi in the pan in a single layer. Add remaining macadamia nut pieces to toast with gnocchi. Once gnocchi are browned, flip and repeat on the other side.
  6. Add in arugula, cook for 1 minute or until just barely wilted.
  7. Add gnocchi mixture to zucchini in a large bowl. Thin pesto out by mixing 2-3 tablespoons pesto with 3-4 tablespoons reserved water.
  8. Mix pesto into gnocchi mixture, serve and be astounded by how good everything is.

Serves 3-4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Guaranteed to erase bad moods and give swanky upscale restaurants a run for their money.