Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Perfectly fluffy and moist pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips! Eat them with a hot cup of apple cider for breakfast or have a plate full ready for the kids when they get home from school!

Ok, settle a debate! Would you say these muffins are a breakfast food, a snack, or a dessert? I can see arguments for all three, and I’m happy to eat them for all three, but what is your opinion? Or does it even matter?

These muffins have all the warm pumpkin spices you crave in the fall and will fill even the strongest of pumpkin spice cravings. I bet you won’t be able to stop at just one muffin!

I wonder who had the thought to take a squash and put it into a sweet baked good. Heaven bless that person because pumpkin treats are some of my favorites! Give me a piece pumpkin banana bread or a large piece of gingersnap pumpkin cheesecake bars. So dang good!

Ingredients Needed for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

No surprises here with these ingredients. Head down to the recipe card for all the measurements. This is what you need:

• Flour
• Baking Soda
• Cinnamon
• Pumpkin Pie Spice
• Salt
• Canola Oil
• Sour Cream
• Buttermilk
• Dark Brown Sugar
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Canned Pumpkin
• Mini Chocolate Chips

Read more

Churro Rice Krispie Treat Recipe

Just when we thought our Rice Krispie treat recipe couldn’t get any better, I decided to try a churro version with the new cinnamon sugar Rice Krispies and life as we know it has changed forever! 

Sometimes I wonder why I even try! Ha! It’s impossible to know what is going to make you all go crazy! I work so hard on developing recipes and taking great photos and then those recipes do nothing. On a whim, I post a video of Grayson’s new favorite Rice Krispie treat and it explodes on Instagram. You just never know!

So we’ve busted our buns to get this post written, photographed and out to everyone so you can enjoy it ASAP! For all our churro and cinnamon sugar lovers out there, this one is for you!

 

 

What is a Churro?

If you don’t know what a churro is, I have no words. A churro is a fried dough (similar to a donut) of Spanish and Portuguese origin that is typically coated in a layer of cinnamon sugar. Our family has been obsessed with everything churro for years and years. Let me prove it…

2013 – Churro Bites

2014 – Read more

Welcome to the weekend, friends! I spent the past few days in Rhode Island, exploring my friend Lynne‘s favorite part of the world. The foods we enjoyed this week were truly amazing; from lobster rolls to oysters, stuffies to clam chowder, scallop rolls to dough boys, chocolates, doughnuts, popcorn and Del’s frozen lemonades on repeat.

As much as I enjoy travel, it’s great to be home again. I’m looking forward to a fun weekend with all of my boys.

ON THE BLOG this week: Have you tried Hot Buttered Rum? A warm mug of hot buttered rum brings about a full body coziness that feels like you are being wrapped in a thick warm blanket. (You can make a non-alcoholic hot buttered “rum” as well!)

These chewy, richly spiced Hot Buttered Rum Cookies are the happy result of what can I do with the extra buttered rum batter I don’t want to freeze?

Chicken Enchilada Dip is a creamy, cheesy, spicy chicken-filled enchilada dip, a hit with everyone who tries it. Hearty enough for a main dish, this was an enormous success for our family movie night.

This skillet is a delightful combination of sweet potatoes, fresh corn, asparagus, and bacon with a drizzle of balsamic. It was something unexpected that I pulled together for a dinner side dish a few years ago, using odds and ends from the refrigerator. What resulted was a skillet full of magic. I know that sounds like I am exaggerating but I promise you I am not. This dish is so good it qualifies as a company coming over meal.

Espresso Ice Cream is quite easily one of my favorites. I love a simple, smooth yet rich and creamy authentically coffee-tasting ice cream. This is a simplified and egg-free version of my Cafe con Leche Ice Cream – and we LOVE it. 

What I’m CRAVING: Lobster Rolls! (Thanks a lot, Lynne.) I’m loving this version from my friend Heidi. She combines the buttery awesomeness of a hot lobster roll with the creamy dressing that I love on a cold roll. I need to try these lobster rolls soon!

My FAVORITE THINGS this week are these cheap little cork coasters. I have them all over the house. I originally bought them because my coffee was cooling way t

Espresso Ice Cream is quite easily one of my favorites. I love a simple, smooth yet rich and creamy authentically coffee-tasting ice cream.

Espresso Ice Cream

This is a simplified and egg-free version of my Cafe con Leche Ice Cream. I absolutely LOVE the flavor of espresso ice cream. I’ve made this recipe a couple of times and each time it tastes exactly like a frozen airy cup of Cafe con Leche.

I am a stickler for flavors and ensuring the items I make taste like the real thing. Fake or artificial tasting flavors just don’t cut it for me. I really enjoy coffee-flavored things but they often seem weak or watered down in the coffee flavor department.

In an attempt to create a simplified coffee ice cream, I tried numerous methods and variations. I have not been impressed with anything made with just the grounds or beans steeped in milk. I prefer the deeper flavor created by mixing brewed espresso with the cream.

The hot espresso dissolved the sugar perfectly. Then when combined with cream and a touch of extra espresso powder it came out deliciously rich and espresso flavored.

In getting the truest coffee flavor possible it did result in having a bit more water (thanks to the real espresso) in the ice cream mix. It is super creamy and delicious right after you make it.

However, the espresso does create a slightly icier almost crumbly-like texture if you try to serve it straight from storing it overnight in your freezer. What I recommend doing is letting it sit on the countertop for 10 minutes at room temperature before scooping. It should scooper smoothly at that point.

Ice cream making is a science of fat, liquid, and temperature, and depending on your ingredients things do freeze and thaw a bit differently which is what can result in an icy texture.

This Asparagus Skillet is a delightful combination of sweet potatoes, fresh corn, asparagus, and bacon with a drizzle of balsamic.

Asparagus Skillet

This was something unexpected that I pulled together for a dinner side dish a few years ago, using odds and ends from the refrigerator. It was one of those nights where I stood there staring just waiting for inspiration. As if I expected a meal to magically appear.

So I started pulling out things that just need to be used up, a random ear of corn, a few strips of bacon (what were those doing left alone, that NEVER happens) a bundle of asparagus that was looking just a tad sad along with some sweet potatoes on the verge of sprouting.

What resulted was a skillet full of magic. I know that sounds like I am exaggerating but I promise you I am not. This dish is so good it qualifies as a company coming over meal.

Slightly browned sweet potatoes, salty bacon pieces, fresh corn cooked just until warm, and asparagus that is tender and still just a little bit crisp are all tossed together with just a drizzle of balsamic to make this Asparagus, Bacon, Corn, and Sweet Potato Skillet.

I enjoyed the sweet and salty mix of the potatoes and the bacon combined with the crunch of the fresh vegetables. This is a great mix of textures and flavors. My kids liked this so much, that my oldest asked for seconds. Seconds of a vegetable side dish?

While I intended for this to be a side dish because I served it with some grilled chicken that night. This dish has a spot in our regular lineup. And I have been known to double and triple the recipe and call it the entire meal.

Kitchen Tip: I use this skillet, this bowl, and this spatula to make this recipe.

Read more