The other day I was getting ready to experiment with some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and then decided why not make oatmeal muffins instead? This recipe took me three tries to get right. The first batch was fine, but a little dry (and even a little is too much), and the second batch I way over-corrected and they were too buttery (yes it’s possible!). Finally, with every bowl, spatula and measuring cup dirty, I got it right!
The buttermilk in these muffins helps soften the oatmeal so that it’s incorporated into the muffins, and the espresso helps give them more depth of flavor, especially to balance the chocolate chips!
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted (one stick) plus 1 tablespoon
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats and buttermilk, making sure all the oats are covered by the milk. Let sit for one hour.
While the oats and buttermilk soak, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with wrappers. Alternatively you can butter the pan if you’d prefer.
Add the egg, 1/2 cup butter and brown sugar to the oats mixture and stir until just combined.
Stir the flour mixture into the oats mixture, and fold together until all ingredients are just combined. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tin cups. I used a cookie dough scoop to make it faster and easier.
Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, and brush over the muffins. Immediately after, sprinkle the granulated sugar over the muffins.
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.
Enjoy!
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This past week it snowed for the first time this winter. I have to admit that I wasn’t super stoked about it, because it makes driving so much more stressful. What totally made up for that though was the fact that it was Charlotte’s first time seeing snow!
Obviously this will be much more exciting in future years when she can actually play in it. I’m already taking notes of the best sledding hills in the area!
It’s so interesting to watch Charlotte observe the world around her. You can really see the wheels turning as she takes everything in, and that was definitely the case with snow! She especially seemed to enjoy the contrast of the white snow on the dark green trees.
Snowy and cold weather also calls for warming drinks! I’m partial to hot cocoa myself (especially with a dash of Baileys!), but my husband Jordan enjoys hot mulled wine.
Every year my parents host a fun party where they serve mulled wine, and I’ve shared the recipe below. We originally got the recipe after hearing about it on NPR, and NPR got their recipe via the Norwegian Embassy (which I think is hilarious). Beware that this is a pretty strong drink – it will warm you up in no time!
Ingredients:
Vodka
Burgundy or pinot noir wine (don’t use an expensive bottle!)
Port wine
Raisins
Cinnamon sticks
Cloves
Cardamom seeds
One orange
One piece of ginger
Directions:
Soak 1/2 cup of raisins in one cup of vodka. Soak for at least 30 minutes, but we usually soak overnight.
Put a large pot on the stove, over high heat. Add one cup of water and 1/2 cup sugar to the pot, and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Lower the heat to medium and add your spices – two sticks of cinnamon (each broken in half); four whole cloves; six whole cardamom seeds, crushed by hand; a thinly shaved orange peel; and one small piece of ginger, peeled and cut in half. Stir again with wooden spoon. Do not allow the mix to come to a boil from this point on (otherwise you’ll burn off the alcohol).
Add the vodka-raisin mixture, two cups of burgundy or pinot noir wine and two cups of port wine.
Sweeten and spice to taste.
Serve hot off the stove, or you can also keep warm in a crock pot on low heat!
One of our family traditions growing up was enjoying special treats that we only got once a year. We made all kinds of Norwegian cookies together and bought decadent truffles from our favorite local stores.
This year I thought I would try my hand at making truffles myself! I was a little intimidated, especially because recipes I looked up talked about fancy things like tempering chocolate. I don’t even know what that means!
I decided that I wanted to make merlot chocolate truffles, because let’s be honest – is there anything better than chocolate and wine? Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any recipes that looked decent for this, so I decided to make my own. My first few batches were fine, but I had a really hard time getting the wine flavor to actually come through. That’s when Jordan had the excellent idea to make a red wine reduction, and use that instead of straight wine. The result? Magic.
These are actually really easy to make. If I can do it with a baby on my hip, you got this too! (And no children were harmed in the production of this recipe).
Try it below, and start a new truffle tradition of your own!
Red Wine reduction:
2 cups Merlot (Or your preferred red wine. I used Merlot because I was looking for that deeper fruit flavor. Note that while you might not want to use an expensive wine, you definitely want to use one that you would enjoy drinking, because you will taste it in the truffle.)
1/4 cup sugar
Bring to a simmer, and cook until it thickens to a syrup – JUST thick enough to start coating the bottom of the pan. If it goes too long, it turns into a gloppy disaster (I tell you from experience). This usually takes me about an hour, but you do NOT need to stand and wait over it, so don’t let that discourage you.
The reduction can also be done ahead of time. I made mine in the morning and let it sit on the stove for about two hours until I came back to it, because #momlife.
Truffles:
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup red wine reduction (recipe above)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 Tbs butter
Add the semi-sweet chocolate chips to a large heat proof mixing bowl,and set aside. Bring the milk to a boil, whisking regularly so it doesn’t scald. Pour the hot milk immediately onto the chocolate chips. Wait about five minutes, and then stir until the chocolate chips are melted and smooth. If the chocolate doesn’t melt completely, microwave the mixture in 10 second increments, stirring each time.
Once chocolate is completely melted, stir in the salt, red wine reduction and vanilla extract.
Put the chocolate mixture in the fridge and let set for 1.5-2 hours. Spread a piece of wax or parchment paper on a baking sheet. I like to store my baking sheet in the fridge ahead of time, so it’s cold for the next step. Take the chocolate mixture out of the fridge, and roll balls (approximately 2 tsp per ball) with your hands.
Try to move quickly, as the chocolate melts. If you notice that your chocolate is melting especially quickly, you can always put the mixture back into the fridge and let it re-set.
Place each truffle ball on the lined backing sheet. When you’ve formed all of the truffles (I usually get around 25), place them back in the fridge on the baking sheet.
Melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter together, either on the stove or in the microwave (using increments again so the chocolate doesn’t burn). Stir until chocolate and butter mixture is blended and smooth.
Take the truffles out of the fridge, and dip each truffle ball into the bittersweet chocolate mixture. You can use a fork for this, and they also sell special chocolate dipping tools. The first time I made these I used a corn on the cob holder, because it had thin but sharp tines. Super random, but it’s what I had! This time I used these tools, which are designed for it, and it was way easier.
Put the truffles back in the fridge again until the chocolate sets – about 30 minutes. These can be served cold or room temperature, whatever your preference. Decorate however you like!
Since the truffles have no preservatives in them they should be stored in the fridge, and are good for two weeks.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
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We love our little dog Hector! We had actually not been planning to get a dog at the time, but Hector came into our lives in a truly serendipitous fashion.
One of our good friends was picking up a puppy from a local breeder, and upon arrival discovered that there was actually one puppy left! He had been returned, because the little boy he was meant for was incredibly allergic (Hector is hypoallergenic, but sometimes allergies are severe, and he’s still a dog!). She texted me a photo of Hector, and I fell instantly in love. And then for the moment of truth: I had to convince Jordan. Luckily Jordan took one look at Hector, heard he didn’t shed, and was sold! Almost two years later (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) we can’t even imagine life without Hector.
I really do believe that whatever powers may be were at play, and he was meant to be in our lives. He’s the most loving, patient and happy dog. We love him to pieces!
So when you’re like us, and your dog is part of the family, you want to give them the very best possible! From day one we’ve been buying Hector organic dog treats, because if pesticides are bad for humans, I can’t imagine what they do to our furry little friends’ systems. However, they get really expensive really fast! So I decided to try making Hector some homemade treats. They were actually way easier than I thought, and I love that I can control all of the ingredients! If you want to try these at home, see the recipe below! Your pup will love you (even more!) for it!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup oats
- 3 strips cooked bacon (totally optional, I just had them leftover from breakfast so I threw them in!)
- I also had leftover grated carrot from his homemade dog food (I’ll share that recipe in a future post), so I threw that in too. Why not!
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the peanut butter, egg and milk on the lowest speed. Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture in batches to the peanut butter mixture until just combined. Add in the oats and bacon if using. (You can also do this in a bowl, but the dough is really thick and heavy! I found using the stand mixer MUCH easier, but if you skipped your arm workout today feel free to use a large mixing bowl and spoon)
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board. Use your hands to knead the dough once or twice to make sure all the little pieces are integrated. Use a floured rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Take whatever cookie cutters you like, and cut out your desired shapes. I used these cute dog bone cookie cutters. I love that they come as a set with a large and a small size! Our dog is small, so I don’t want to give him big treats. He has lots of big friends though, and I love that I can make treats for them too!
4. Arrange the sheets on the parchment lined baking sheet. If you’re making different sizes, I recommend putting them on separate baking sheets, because the larger ones will need to bake a little bit longer. Bake for 18-20 minutes, and then turn them to bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
Obviously, remember to let the treats cool completely before giving them to your puppy. Once they were cooled I stored them in the fridge. Since mine had bacon in them, I went off the bacon expiration date which was about a week. This made quite a few small treats, so next time I will either omit the bacon and store them in the fridge for about two weeks, or store half in the freezer.
I hope your best friends love these as much as mine does!
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A few weeks ago, Jordan and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather, and pick some apples from our local orchard. The leaves were just starting to change, and we experienced the first real chilly weather of autumn.
While apple picking seems to be a trendy thing to do these days, it’s something I’ve done with my family for the past few years. It’s a great way to get out into the fresh air, and a really cost effective way to buy organic apples!
I thought that Charlotte would be more interested in the apples, since these days she seems to want to grab every object in sight, but she only cared when the apple was in her hands, not hanging from the tree branches. Maybe next year!
When we got home from our outing, I realized that I had a lot of apples that I needed to use. I love baking, but we try not to eat a lot of sweets, so I decided to make apple bran muffins. While I don’t know that any muffin is really a “health food”, these use very little sugar, instead relying on the apples to sweeten them.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick salted butter, melted
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature (room temp is preferable for mixing, but not necessary)
1 cup applesauce
1 cup peeled, cored and diced apple
If you try this recipe, let me know what you think in the comments below!
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