Nigella's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't find my digital scale. Eeck.

Due to some home improvements, things were moved around and crammed in other areas of the house and the garage. And I don't know where the digital scale went! Eeck. I use it all the time and feel like my arm is cut off when baking without it. Oh, and I can't find my camera too. It's kinda a disaster in the making. I'm lucky to have gotten these muffins out the door. I'll keep you posted on the lost and found that is the house.

These are Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. They have some cocoa powder and chocolate chips. I switched regular chocolate chips for mini chips because mini chips are cuter.

I really liked this recipe. Super easy to make and the texture was very good. I made them two days in a row and will definitely make them again in the future!

Let's hope my scale and camera show up soon!
(These photos were taken on my Samsung 4S phone with the VSCOcam app)

I slightly adapted Nigella's recipe from the Food Network

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder (I used Callebaut dutch chocolate)
3/4 cup superfine sugar (one time, I used granulated sugar and it turned out fine)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top (1 cup total chips - I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line a muffin tin with liners.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
4. In a measuring cup, mix together the oil, milk, egg and vanilla together.
5. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and mix together. Don't overmix - it's fine if it's lumpy.
6. Scoop into muffin tin.
7. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top.
8. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12 muffins.

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

This is total comfort food. 

Bisquick. 

Sour Cream.

Old school recipe. 

After all that happened this month so far, I needed comfort food and these are the ticket.

My mom used to make these biscuits when I was little. My cousin makes them small and I think they are better that way (and you can eat more).

My cousin has an index card written by her mom. I'm sure you can make this all from scratch, but Bisquick has a special place in my memory and it's foolproof.

On Sunday, I went to my parent's house and made some little ham and egg biscuits.

This is super easy to make. Just some Bisquick, sour cream, a bit of sugar, baking soda and an egg.

I made mini biscuits with a one-inch (or so) circle because they are cute and you can eat a bunch. Sure, if you count the calories, it's all the same, but I'm always more satisfied if I can eat four small ones instead of only one big one.:)

By the way, I only had my cell phone camera to take these photos. Sorry about the quality. But the quality of the biscuits? Yummmmmmy.

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

Mix together in one bowl:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together in a small bowl:

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Pour the wet mixture onto the Bisquick bowl. 

3. Stir until just combined. Don't overmix.

4. Knead dough 5-7 times on a flour or Bisquick covered surface.

5. Pat or roll out and cut into desired shape.

6. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown on top and bottom (depends on how big you make them - around 12-20 minutes)

My March Madness: Hospitals, Family and Comfort Food

Hello Spring! My last post was about winter...and now we are in spring. Where have I been? (Thanks to the readers who checked in with me during my absence!)

Here's a short rundown of my March so far:

81-year old father falls.
Fractures ribs.
Trip to the ER.
Passes out at home.
911.
Ambulance to the hospital.
"Well, there is fluid by the lungs...Let's figure that out."
Blood cell count very low.
Blood transfusion.
"Turns out that fluid is blood. Let's stick a massive needle in and drain it." (For future reference: You should never watch this like I did. Just saying.)
Three nights in Kaiser with my mom and dad. Great doctors and nurses, not so great cafeteria.
So many more trips to doctors (internist, lung specialist, neurologist, physical medicine).
Dad gets a Parkinson's diagnosis and new medications.
Stay in my old room at my parent's house helping out.
Hire a home health aide to help my mom.
Fill out FMLA paperwork at the office.
My friends, family, parent's neighbors were awesome! We've received food, care packages, cards, visits and my friend brought be best give ever to the hospital: Tall Decaf Soy No Foam Latte.
And... I've talked, texted and saw my brother more than I've ever seen him in my life!

Whew. That's the basic family stuff.

The other reason I've been off the blog? My cousin is doing some home improvements and we had to empty areas of the house for painting and wood floor refinishing. No kitchen = No baking.

But I'm starting to move some items back into the kitchen (when I'm here and not at my parent's house) so I have a little something to post. Coming up next - total comfort food. Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits.

To those who follow me on Instagram and Twitter and followed my dad's tale, thank you for the support! My parent's don't get that strangers were sending them prayers and love when I read them the messages. But it worked! :)

Hope to come back to the blog soon! Thanks, Mary the Food Librarian

   
Left: My parents after they got home from the hospital.
Right: My dad's appetite isn't great, but he can sure eat cake! :)

P.S. Go UCLA Bruins! Sweet Sixteen! That's the much better March Madness.