Another Double Chocolate Muffin Recipe

I love chocolate muffins and honestly, who doesn't?  I was inspired to make some chocolate muffins after seeing that my son's snack time had them at school and so this recipe is dedicated to him!  These muffins are moist and flavorful, but not too sweet and are perfect with a cup of black coffee for the adults, or with cottage cheese if you're a toddler.  These come together quickly and are a perfect after-school snack. Let me know what you think!

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar (I used stevia)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 12 cup muffin pan

Mix together the wet ingredients

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients

Scoop into the muffin pan 

Bake for 18 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

Black Bean Protein Brownies

I ran out of my homemade protein chewy bars so I thought it would be time to make a new recipe and to experiment a little.  I decided that it might be time to be adventurous and try the infamous "black bean brownies". I needed to put my own spin on such an idea so I decided that I would have to add protein powder to the mix and so I did.  I happen to have gluten-free and vegan protein powder and so that is what I used in my brownies, but you could use whatever you have on hand.

Believe me, I was extremely skeptical in making this, but these do indeed taste like brownies and it's great to know you're getting lots of protein in these guys.  The protein powder gives them a distinct taste, but that's what protein powder does when baked.  If you don't like protein powder baked, then don't add it, but they are fudgy and rich, but without being heavy.  These are a great compromise for the buttery version!  They don't taste like coffee, but taste very chocolatey!

Black Bean-Protein Brownies
1 15oz can black beans
3 tbsp honey
6 dates
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
3 eggs
2 tbsp coffee
2 tsp espresso powder
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
3 tbsp flax seed
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 inch pan.

Combine black beans, coffee, honey, dates, coconut oil, eggs in a blender and blend until everything is thoroughly incorporated.

Meanwhile, place the espresso powder, protein powder, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl and pour the liquid over that.  Stir to combine and add the chocolate chips.  You can add some extra on top to make the brownies look more decadent

Bake for 23 minutes and dig in!

Bisquick Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are a great way to use up a box of bisquick that isn't going to make it to the end of the month.  These cookies are super tasty and actually remind me of my top secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  I found the recipe by way of pinterest, but I think it could stand to use a few changes, which I'm outlining in my blog post here.

If you're looking for a quick homemade cookie recipe, then these are your new go-to!

Bisquick Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Plain Chicken

1 stick of softened butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cup bisquick mix
1 tsp of instant espresso
1 cup of chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, mix butter, sugar, vanilla and egg. Stir in Bisquick mix, instant expresso and chocolate chips. 

Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. 

Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack and allow to cool for a few moments before diving in.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Flour Muffins

I had a few overripe bananas and I had bought coconut flour for some reason and I bought a muffin pan recently, so I decided that I needed to make all of those ingredients come together somehow.  I found a recipe for Chocolate Banana Coconut Flour Muffins on pinterest and it was just what I was looking for!

These muffins are delicious. They are sweet enough, but not too sweet, rich, chocolatey and even healthy! These are the perfect little snack and a perfect way to get a chocolate fix without going overboard.  Well played.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Flour Muffins

with no adaptations from Be Delicious

3 ripe bananas (mashed)
3 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
Approximately 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with liners. Combine all ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl. Mix until well combined. Fill liners with batter about 2/3 of the way full. Top with chocolate chips. Bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Cool.  Enjoy!

I made 12 muffins and did not use liners.  This picture shows only 4 because the others were already eaten by the time I remembered to take a picture.

Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies

I had a dream, a few weeks ago, that one day cheesecake and cookies could come together in the same recipe.  I tried one idea which was to make cheesecake filling and my chocolate chip recipe to make bars.  It was ok, but not good enough.

I had another go at it, this time creating sandwiches instead.  I used my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and created a filling of cream cheese and sugar.  It turned out fine, but still wasn't the cookie in my dreams. I did not use the right amount of flour and so this created a flatter cookie, which actually  made for a better sandwich.  Here it is!

Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick of butter softened
1 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 325F
Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the egg, maple syrup and vanilla and beat to incorporate.  Add the dry ingredients, mix well and stir in the chocolate chips.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet about 3 inches apart and bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack, or taste one after a few minutes to make sure it's still good.

Cream Cheese Filling
1/2 brick cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp corn starch

Mix all the ingredients together.

Assembly
Spread a layer of cream cheese filling in between two cookies and eat!

Mini Oreo Cheesecake

My "mini" oreo cheesecake came after a day of experimenting with cream cheese, cookies, and oreos.  This is really simple, because I made it up (of course). It was pretty good, but maybe too many oreos.  I'd make it again!

Oreo Cheesecake

Crust

Oreos

Butter

Crumble enough oreos to make a crust for whatever you bake the cheesecake in.  I used a baking dish that's probably 10x2 (maybe smaller).  Melt enough butter and pour to the crumbled oreos so that it comes together.  Dump that mixture into your greased dish and make sure the entire bottom is covered. Crust is done.

Cheesecake

1/2 brick softened cream cheese

1 egg

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix everything together in a bowl until combined.  Pour the mixture over the oreo crust.  Next stick whole oreos into the cream cheese mixture.  Place the cheesecake into the oven and bake until the cheesecake no longer jiggles. For my small cake this was about 40 minutes.  The top will get a little brown, but you want it to be cooked, so make sure it doesn't jiggle.  To make a bigger cheesecake, just increase the ingredients! Couldn't be easier.