CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN MUFFINS

 Did you check out the Scrumptious Pumpkin Cake I made for the volunteers at the thrift shop last Monday? The recipe called for 2 cups of pumpkin and of course a can of pumpkin is not quite 2 cups. Wanting to follow the recipe I opened another can for less than a fourth cup. That left me enough pumpkin for another recipe as long as it didn't call for a whole can.

So Wednesday night I went searching for muffins or quick bread that I could make. I found two or three from The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook, but decided on this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins from The Melville House in Newport, RI. I followed the recipe except I substituted chopped pecans for the unblanched almonds, sliced. The recipe was supposed to make 14 muffins, but I made 12 muffins and 1 mini Bundt cake. (I took the mini Bundt cake to Friend Fran to cheer her up. We have been trying to get her an appointment for the COVID virus. She finally got one 120 miles from us so we are driving her to get the vaccine on Saturday. It has been such an ordeal that she says she will be happy when she gets finally gets the first shot Saturday. I know what she means because I had similar feelings.)

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1-2/3     cups flour

3/4        cup sugar

1           tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1           teaspoon baking soda

1/4        teaspoon baking powder

1/4        teaspoon salt

     *     *     *

2           eggs

1           cup pumpkin

1/2        cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1           cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips.)

1/2        cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the flour, sugar, pie spice, soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the whisk.

Add the pumpkin and whisk the mixture til smooth.

Add the melted butter and whisk until blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts with a spatula

til evenly distributed. 

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and

fold in with a spatula until the dry ingredients are moistened. (This will take a bit of stirring to get every bit of flour mixture in the bottom of the bowl.)

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. You will probably have enough batter for 1 - 2 more muffins.

I made a mini Bundt cake with the batter. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and springy to the touch.

Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Wrap in a plastic bag or airtight container.

SCRUMPTIOUS PUMPKIN CAKE

 It is amazing how temperatures that would normally feel cold to you can just be cool after having our extremely low temperatures for the 2nd and 3rd weeks of February. But we are finally having normal temperatures this last week and we have been loving it. 

I had not been to Hillcrest Platte County Thrift Shop since the first Monday in February, but with temps promised in the low 40's, I was ready to get back. I was so surprised when I pulled up to the store and saw fewer cars than I usually do on Mondays. Not sure where everyone was, but the "guys" were waiting for me when I walked into the Community Room with this Scrumptious Pumpkin Cake. Of course they didn't know it contained pumpkin so they thought it was just a chocolate cake.

I was surprised to see that it contained a chocolate cake mix after reading the title. Volunteer Terry said he didn't taste the pumpkin at all. When I told them that I had used a sugar-free devil's food cake mix in it, Volunteer John said he might take a piece home to his wife Jan. After I admitted it did have 1/3 cup of sugar (not sure why they do that in recipes that use cake mixes), he said Jan was off sugar right now and if he took a piece home she would probably eat a bite and then tell him he could have the rest of it. 

Terry got up first to take a piece and noticed a bigger than normal section was gone. I explained to him I cut it out because as I was taking the cake out of the oven, my hand slipped wearing a big mitt and it ran across the top of the cake taking the top soft layer with it. See picture below.

The cake was super moist and the top layer was very soft even the next morning. The recipe called for 2 cups of canned pumpkin and since a can of pumpkin isn't quite that much, I opened a second can to take a couple of spoonfuls out to have a full 2 cups. I won't do that the next time. I think the recipe will not miss that little bit less of pumpkin. The recipe also said to frost it with chocolate frosting or just sprinkle it with powdered sugar. I chose to do the latter. The cake is so rich it does not need the additional richness of chocolate frosting. The guys agreed with me.

SCRUMPTIOUS PUMPKIN CAKE

1/3     cup oil

3        eggs

1        can pumpkin

1/3     cup sugar

1/2     cup milk

1        box chocolate cake mix (I used a sugar-free devil's food cake mix.)

1        cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips.)

1        cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a jellyroll pan. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, mix on high one minute: oil, eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and milk.

(Start on low until the ingredients are slightly blended.)

Add the cake mix and

blend in cake mix on low, (scrape the bowl) and

then beat on high 2 minutes. (Scrape the sides of the bowl.)

Stir in chips and nuts.

Pour mixture into pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (I press lightly in the center of the cake. If it sinks, the cake should spring back.)

Frost with fudge frosting if you really want a rich, chocolaty cake when cake is cool, or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate leftovers. It tastes even better the next day! (which is when I served it) 

This is what the cake looked like after my hand slipped and the oven mitt I was wearing scraped across the top. It was a good thing it was so big (jelly roll pan), but it just made me sick when I did it. (Not literally.)

The very thin layer I was able to peel off and not mess up the cake. I ended up cutting out the messed up part and that is what Wayne and I ate. Then I decided to just cut off both sides and took them to Friend Fran. That is what is pictured in the picture with the powdered sugar on it. I didn't take a picture of what was left that I took to the volunteers at the thrift shop.

HEARTY BEEF STEW

 Full of veggies and stew meat to make a very satisfying meal. Wayne couldn't quit raving about how good it tasted. He did tell me it was only missing one thing..."onions"... we both said at the same time. I told him he could add some minced onions. He said he would the next time we ate it. (Onions and I do not get along at all so I almost always omit them in recipes. He's used to it.)

It did make a really big pot so that we have generous servings for two more meals. If you have a big family, it would be a good meal to make. Wayne suggested next time that I could I made it, I could use more carrots which I agreed with him. The recipe just said 3 carrots and my carrots weren't super big so I definitely could have used 4 carrots. So remember that when you make it. My potatoes were fairly large so we had plenty of them. I had cut my stew meat into smaller pieces when I prepared it to freeze to use when I was ready. I also browned it on the stove in a skillet a bit before adding it to the slow cooker. The recipe said to cook it 6 hours on LOW and it was ready after 5 hours. I preheated the slow cooker on HIGH while I was preparing the veggies.

HEARTY BEEF STEW

3       carrots, peeled and sliced

3       potatoes, peeled and diced

1       onion, chopped

2       stalks celery, sliced

2       lbs. stew beef, cubed

1/4    cup flour

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2    teaspoon pepper

1       clove garlic, minced (I substituted 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder.)

1       bay leaf

1       cup beef broth (I made my own using 1 cup hot water and 1 beef bouillon cube.)

1       teaspoon paprika

1       teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Spray a 5 - 6-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray (for easy cleanup). Preheat cooker on HIGH while you

prepare the veggies.

Arrange veggies in cooker and

top with beef that

you were also browning in a skillet while preparing the veggies.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a small bowl;

sprinkle over meat.

Add garlic and remaining ingredients.

I made the cup of beef broth using a beef bouillon and added the spices to it and

poured it evenly over ingredients in the cooker.

Cover and cook on HIGH for one hour.

Then reduce temperature to LOW and cook 5 - 6 hours more.

Remove bay leaf and gently stir the stew to distribute the ingredients.

Spoon into bowls to enjoy!

ENGLISH TOAD IN THE HOLE

I am always attracted to recipes with interesting names. I am used to that with Amish recipes, but this English Toad in the Hole recipe was a recipe from The Old Cape House in Bass River, MA in my The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook. The copyright for the book is 1987 which is quite a while ago. I couldn't find the inn when I did a search for it so it may not still be open which is a shame. It sounds like a really interesting place from the description of it in the cookbook.

Anyway, when I saw the name and then how easy it was to prepare, I knew I had to make it for our Special 2021 Saturdays' breakfast. It has to bake for 45 minutes plus I added 5 minutes to the cooking time so I reminded Wayne not to eat much while we were waiting for it to cook. He said he was fine and didn't eat anything.

He loves when I cook using my iron skillets and as we were enjoying our breakfast, he kept trying to figure out how I could bake it in an iron skillet. I just kept eating. We really did enjoy it. I am changing the directions and adding to spray the 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick cooking spray because the pancake wanted to stick to the sides of the pan and was a little hard getting out. The rest of the pancake didn't stick but next time I will try spraying the pan lightly first or I could just rub some shortening around the sides of the pan.

ENGLISH TOAD IN THE HOLE

1-1/2    cups flour

2          teaspoons baking powder

1/2       teaspoon salt

3          tablespoons oil

2          eggs

1 to 1-1/4 cups milk (I did use the full amount)

     *     *     *

12        small link sausages

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan or at least grease the sides of the pan.

Arrange the 12 links in the pan. Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl with a whisk.

Add oil, eggs, and milk and beat until well-blended.

Pour the batter over the links.

Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked mine 50 minutes.)

Serve hot with maple syrup and apple butter, if you like.