Caffeinated Bran Muffins

“Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength.”

— Corrie Ten Boom

A couple of weeks ago, my husband randomly said You know what I haven’t had in a while? A bran muffin. I then laughed and called him an old man for that, as I do every time he eats Cracklin’ Oat Bran (which I secretly love!). It then got me thinking that he is absolutely right! You just don’t see those as the top muffins at a bakery or coffee shop, or even Costco, so I decided, of course, to get myself some wheat bran and make some of the best bran muffins around!

I am also recently the owner of TWO XL muffin pans, which makes me oh so happy, especially for a muffin like this! I knew that I wanted these babies to be huge as well as moist. Wow, what a sentence. I also knew that they needed a crumb topping, no negotiations there. Slightly sweet, highly spiced, and, here’s the kicker, I threw in some coffee grounds, too! An afternoon pick me up anyone? A perfect addition to your morning coffee or tea? Hell yes.

Ever since coming up with my insane cornbread recipe a few years ago where I use olive oil as the fat, I knew these muffins needed it too, for some extra flavor, moistness, and a little savory aspect to them, and I LOVE it. These muffins are probably the best I’ve come up with yet! The bran isn’t going to clog up your throat, the flavor is anything but dull, and there are so many raisins in these that you can basically tick off a serving of fruit after eating one!

I’m here to help in wheat bran muffins’ comeback, so get yourself ready for this (hopefully) upcoming fall weather with a batch of these muffins, what can I say except you’re welcome?

crumble ingredients

Brown Sugar—4 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Sugar—1.5 oz, or ¼ C

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Salt—1 tsp

Coconut Oil, melted—4 oz, or ½ C + 1 TBL

Flour—7.5 oz, 1 ¼ C

process

In a large bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon and salt.

Pour in the melted coconut oil and mix to combine.

Add in the flour, mixing until just incorporated. I like to use my hands for this step, as it helps to get larger chunks!

Set aside until ready to use.

muffin ingredients

Brown Sugar—7 oz, or 1 C

Flour—7.5 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Wheat Bran—1.5 oz, or ¾ C

Salt—1 ½ tsp

Baking Powder—2 ½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Nutmeg—1 tsp

Coffee, ground—1 TBL

Eggs—2

Milk—8 oz, or 1 C

Olive Oil—4.5 oz, or ½ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Raisins—5 oz, or 1 C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚F.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, bran, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground coffee.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk, olive oil and vanilla.

Pour into your dry ingredients and mix until it is just combined. Do not overmix, as this will give larger holes in the crumb!

Fold in the raisins.

Either spray muffin pans with nonstick spray or use paper liners and fill each cup ¾ of the way up. I use LARGE muffin tins, so I only got 9 muffins out of this recipe, but if you use the most standard size, you can get about 18.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over each of the muffins.

Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the pans, and bake for another 20 minutes. Again, I used larger muffin pans, but with the standard size, start with 12-rotate-12 minutes!

After the allotted baking time, test with a toothpick to see if they are finished baking.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the pans.

Bon Appétit!

Granola Brownies

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

Did you know that brownies seem to be the most difficult thing for me to make? I have tried what seems like a million recipes and they’re either too dry, not enough flavor, too cakey, I can’t seem to get it right. Until now! I finally did it! Sure, it took me a couple of tries, but we now have the most perfect brownie. They’re moist and dense, which is, honestly, just what I wanted. I’m quite surprised that I continued to test out recipes for these babies, but as a brownie is basically a STAPLE baked good, how could I not?!

And so once I got these amazing single-nap brownies finished, I figured why not use up another of Oliver’s naps to take them to the next level?! Yep. I measure everything in naps. How many naps does it take for me to get in my workout? About half of one. How many to clean to house? A full nap. How many to make these granola stuffed brownies? Two whole naps! For a baby who naps 3-4 times per day, I’ve become a pro at using up every second of them - even if it means I’m napping during one of those, too!

If you haven’t had them already, these toasted oat raw granola bars are the best things on the PLANET. Like, I try to have our freezer full of them whenever possible! So, I decided to use the same idea but make a granola layer on top of these brownies, then just throw on some more chocolate after that! I will say these are probably some of the best things I’ve made. They’re so thiccc and decadent. Oh my. The brownies have coffee and orange zest in them (you’re welcome for this combo), then a nice peanut butter granola, all covered in chocolate. These are a TREAT for sure! Wholesome ingredients, rich flavor, I’ve outdone myself with these 2-nap brownies!

brownie ingredients

Butter—4 oz, or 1 stick

Coconut Oil—3.5 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Sugar—2.5 oz, or ½ C

Coffee, ground—1 TBL

Orange Zest—from 1 orange

Eggs—2

Coconut Sugar—5 oz, or 1 C

Flour—7.5 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Salt—1 tsp

Baking Powder—½ tsp

Cocoa Powder—2 oz, or 2/3 C

Chocolate Chips—5.5 oz, or ¾ C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚F.

In a small saucepot, combine the butter, coconut oil, first amount of sugar (2.5 oz) and coffee. Melt on the stove until the oils are melted. Set aside

Whisk together the eggs, orange zest and second amount of sugar (5 oz) until just combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder.

Slow add the melted oil mixture and egg mixture into the dry. Fold together with a spatula until just combined—you do not want to over mix!

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour brownie batter into a 9”x9” baking pan.

Bake for 28-30 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before going to the next steps.

granola ingredients

Oats, toasted—5.25 oz, or 1 ½ C

Peanut Butter—6.5 oz, or ¾ C

Honey—3.5 oz, or 1/3 C

Salt—½ tsp

Vanilla Extract—½ tsp

process

In an oven preheated to 350˚F, toasted your oats for about 10 minutes.

Once out of the oven and cooled, mix your oats with the peanut butter, honey, salt and vanilla until all of the oats are covered and the mixture is homogenous.

Spread this over the top of your cooled brownies.

Put in the refrigerator to firm up while you do the next step.

chocolate topping ingredients

Chocolate Chips—6.25 oz, or 1 C

Coconut Oil—1 TBL

process

In a heat proof bowl, melt together the chocolate and oil in either the microwave or over a double boiler until smooth.

Pour over the top of the oat layer.

Chill in refrigerator until set, cut into squares.

Bon Appétit!

Tahini Apple Coffee Cake

Okay, so I have SO MANY NEWSES!

·      15 days until Thanksgiving

·      16 days until the Gilmore Girls reunion

·      6 ½ weeks until Christmas (woah…)

·      WE HAVE A NEW FAMILY MEMBER—Mr. Raleigh, the handsome little Chihuahua terrier, is the newest man in my life…and I’m obsessed beyond words with him! He loves walks, playing with his Cat In The Hat toy, peanut butter, puzzle pieces (learned that when I found one in his mouth…).

·      Oh, and hey, here’s a new recipe for you below!

It’s been quite a week if I must say. It all started with last Thursday when I went to the animal shelter to just look, and then I fell in love with Raleigh and adopted him right away! I may have just called Roberto and been like, hey dear...I got a dog...that okay? THANKS! I mean, little Raleigh was hugging my arm, yes hugging my arm. I didn’t know dogs could do that, but he did and I never want him to let go!

Yes. I am one of those dog obsessed people, and this is the first pup I’ve gotten outside of family dogs, so I’m even MORE excited! Prepare for Raleigh to be in every single post, all over Instagram, all over everything! I just can’t get enough of his little face and snuggles.

Okay, well, besides all of that excitement, I start a new job today—hello 4am baking shifts, woo! If ya’ll are ever in Atlanta, check out Little Tart Bakeshop, so jazzed to be a part of this incredible team! Hmm, I also am part of that annoying Puts Christmas Decorations Out on November 1st club. So yeah, what’s up Nutcrackers, Christmas lights, pine tree candles, Christmas Spotify…we’ve got it all here in this apartment! I totally appreciate Thanksgiving and all it has to offer, but I want to enjoy the entire holiday season for 2 months…so I basically throw up holiday music, decorations, food, you name it, until January 1st!

So, my friends, now let’s get to the slightly less exciting part of the post—this coffee cake! I only say less exciting because I want to continue to talk about Raleigh for another 500 pages, please.

This all started when I saw tahini at Trader Joe’s and decided to get over my fear and just buy it. My darling culinary school girlfriend, Alex, is obsessed with this. I mean, maybe it’s because she’s Armenian, or maybe it’s because it’s SO freaking good! I was a hater for years, and then after eating a spoonful of this, I yelled at myself for missing out on it for so long. Next I thought I would spice this up, literally. After receiving my copy of Molly On The Range—her blog, and cookbook, are must reads!—I was inspired beyond belief to make some hawaij and use it in something (the recipe for it below can be found in her cookbook!).

Note: hawaij is a beautiful combination of every good spice that you can imagine! Literally, think of holiday spices, and boom, you've got hawaij! The combination of nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger and cinnamon will make you believe in love.

So, that’s when tahini + hawaij = DING DING coffee cake!

There are also some apples throughout it to add another level of flavor and moistness. This cake is totally different from your typical coffee cake…but it pretty much is a perfect match with coffee (kinda like Raleigh and me!). But don’t worry, there is still that crazy buttery, sugary, yummy crumb that should be in and on every coffee cake ever—I could never leave that out!

Now, as we celebrate all of the exciting things to come in the next 7ish weeks, you have this new recipe to try out as well! It will pair amazingly with any Thanksgiving table, Gilmore Girls party, holiday gift shopping breakfast, brunch…oh I can go on and on! So stop being an idiot like I was so long, get a few jars of tahini, and get to baking!

crumb ingredients

Flour—2 oz, or 1/3 C

Brown Sugar—1.15 oz, or 2 TBL

Salt—1/8 tsp

Hawaij (see below)—1 tsp

Butter—3 oz, or 6 TBL

Oats—1.5 oz, or ½ C

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, hawaij, and oats.

A tablespoon at a time, add the butter.

Mix until the butter is about hazelnut size.

Set aside until ready to use for the cake.

hawaij ingredients

Nutmeg—½ tsp

Cardamom—2 TBL

Cloves—½ tsp

Ginger—2 TBL

Cinnamon—½ tsp

process

Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container until ready to use.

cake ingredients

Butter (room temperature)—4 oz, or ½ C

Tahini—3 oz, or 1/3 C

Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C

Eggs—2

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Yogurt—4 oz, or ½ C

Flour—8.25 oz, or 1 ½ C

Baking Soda—¼ tsp

Baking Powder—¾ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Hawaij—½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Apples (sliced)—2

process

Preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter, tahini and sugar.

Once light and fluffy (after about 5 minutes), add in the eggs and extract.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each egg addition.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, hawaij and cinnamon.

Alternating with the yogurt—I use full-fat—add in the flour.

Once all of the ingredients have been added, spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Put about half of the batter in the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle with some of the crumb that was made before—about ¼ of it.

Lay half of the sliced apples on top of the crumb.

Use whatever your favorites are! I used a Granny Smith and a Gala, a nice contrast of tart and sweet.

Sprinkle about another ¼ of the crumb on top of the apples, followed by the remainder of the batter.

Layer the rest of the apples on top and sprinkle with the rest of the crumb.

Place in your preheated oven for 35 minutes.

After the 35 minutes, cover the pan with aluminum foil so that the top will not brown any more, and just the cake will bake.

Bake for another 25 minutes—test with a toothpick to check doneness.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool completely on a cooling rack, and enjoy with a lovely morning or afternoon cup of coffee!

Bon Appétit!

Nutella Swirled Coffee Cake

Happy Weekend! Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy let’s-celebrate-with-a-coffee-cake-day!

Did I make that last one up? Maybe, but I am just beyond excited about this recipe down below.

You know those weekends when it’s so cold, all you want to do is snuggle up in your big bed that’s full of everything cozy—fleece sheets, down comforter, warmth? The high of 18˚ has you contemplating breaking your rule of no eating in bed? Yeah. It’s one of those weekends!

Luckily, it’s supposed to get back up in the 50’s by the end of next week, so I can daydream about that for the two days when I decide to run all of my errands in the freezing cold. But let’s forget for a moment about this snowless, cold winter we are having, and think about cake. For breakfast. In bed.

Aka Coffee Cake.

For some reason, every woman in my family is great at making coffee cakes—possibly because it’s acceptable to have cake early in the morning, so we take full advantage of that. Anytime we ever visit my aunt in Chicago, it’s lots and lots of coffee, lots and lots of coffee cake (that Roberto is obsessed with) and lots and lots of talking, just how I like it! My mom makes an out-of-this-world Honey Bun cake, where she takes away the crumb and adds a ridiculously sweet, yummy glaze. Now it’s my turn to join these fabulous ladies in a family tradition!

What’s my little secret to this ever so moist, ever so cinnamonny, and ever so crumby cake? The Nutella layer that is swirled in the middle of the cake.

Ohhhhh yes, Nutella, something you can never go wrong with!

So, this cake is basically like oh hey, I’m a dense, wonderful coffee cake, I’m full of yogurt and moistness, and surprise! I’m filled with a chocolatey, hazelnutty center.

You are welcome.

While I sit here on this beautiful and quiet morning, cozy in my apartment and 14˚F outside, I’ll try my best not to get any more crumbs in the bed or Nutella traces on my face…but you’ll understand the struggle in an hour once your cake is baked!

crumb ingredients

Flour—3.75 oz, or ¾ C

Brown Sugar—0.75 oz, or 1 ½ TBL

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Butter, melted—2 oz, or 4 TBL

Milk—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Mix.

With the mixer on low, slowly stream in the melted butter and then the milk.

Mix just until small pebble sized pieces have formed.

Reserve in a separate bowl until ready to use in your cake!

cake ingredients

Butter, room temperature—3 oz, or 6 TBL

Brown Sugar—4 oz, or ½ C

Eggs—1

Vanilla Extract—1 ½ tsp

Yogurt—5 oz, or ½ C

Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

Flour—7.5 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Baking Soda—¼ tsp

Baking Powder—½ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 ½ tsp

Nutmeg—½ tsp

Nutella, optional—¼ C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Once smooth, add in your egg and vanilla until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

Sift together all of your dry ingredients—the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Alternate adding some of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, on low speed, with the yogurt and milk.

Once all of your dry ingredients, the yogurt and milk have been added, and the batter has just formed, turn off your mixer.

Prepare a small 6” cake pan by spraying with nonstick spray and then either lining the bottom with parchment paper or sprinkling a small amount of flour just to lightly coat the pan.

Put in half of your cake batter.

Now the optional part—adding a nice, thick coating of Nutella on top of the crumb makes for an incredible surprise! While this is optional, or using another nut butter can be just as tasty, the sweetness from the chocolate and nuttiness of the hazelnuts does wonders for this coffee cake!

Cover completely with half of the crumbs you made earlier.

Top with the rest of the cake batter and sprinkle with the remaining crumb.

Place in your over and bake for 45-50 minutes, the cake should be slightly golden brown.

Allow to cool just a little before taking out of the pan and eating!

Bon Appétit!

Chocolate Anniversary Cake

Ready for a crazy fact on this Monday morning? Roberto and I have been dating for 6 years. Something even more wild? In almost 7 months, it will be wedding time! As our last little dating anniversary, I wanted to make it just as special as our first one oh so many years ago! But first—we reflect!

Back to what seems like so long ago, but really just 2010, on our first date. Roberto planned a super fabulous dinner at an Italian place near school, I nervously sweat through maybe 3 shirts, and just ended up wearing something super plain and jeans with a lot of zippers on them…

So, with Italian food being in my top 5, you’d think I would have been so excited, but I barely touched my food, ate too much bread and didn’t even get dessert. Yeah, horrible representation of myself that night!

Luckily, Roberto knew me before that, and had seen me eat a ginormous pizza to myself..

After the fail at a romantic Italian dinner, we then decided to watch football, which is not something to be nervous about, right? Wrong. I got so nervous about the date that I straight up fell asleep. With Roberto there. Embarrassing, no?

I believe that in that first date I did almost everything I could to ruin any potential we had—poor outfit choice, barely ate anything, fell asleep mid game, probably drooled and snored a lot.

But alas! Look at us now, I can’t stop eating and, while I may still fall asleep early rather often, at least I know he’s seen the worst of me.

So, for our last little celebration before the wedding (!!!) in September, this rich chocolate cake was a must to make the day truly special! I wanted to make it as decadent, as fun, and as simple as the two of us—which means enhancing the flavors ever so slightly to really make them pop.

With the addition of coffee to the chocolate cake, your mind will be blown with how rich it becomes. While the coffee flavor is quite faint, it helps the chocolate cake truly shine, and I promise you will never taste anything so delicious and moist! The filling is my personal favorite match made in heaven: chocolate and peanut butter. I don’t even think that I need to explain why this is the perfect buttercream of all time! All of that super yummy, ooey gooey fabulousness of peanut butter basically wrapped in chocolate? Sign me up for a spoonful or two!

Lastly, the quick little meringues as a tasty garnish on top give these cakes just the pop of color and crunch that you need! Making them is a cinch, and they are so versatile—a perfect vehicle for all flavors and colors, and they allow you to dress up this full of love, anniversary cake!

While these crazy 6 years with Roberto may have started on an awkward, strange note, they have only become more weird and wild. To me, there is no better way to celebrate than with a glass of champagne and lots and lots of this chocolate anniversary cake!

cake ingredients

Sugar—9 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Flour—6 oz, or 1C + 1 TBL

Cocoa Powder—2 oz, or ¾ C

Baking Powder—1 ¼ tsp

Baking Soda—½ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Corn Syrup—1.25 oz, or 2 TBL

Milk—3.75 oz, or ½ C

Eggs—3

Vanilla Extract—1 ¼ tsp

Brewed Coffee—3.5 oz, or ½ C

Butter—6 oz, or 1 ½ sticks

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

In a bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the corn syrup, milk, eggs, vanilla and brewed coffee.

Using your paddle attachment and mixer, cream the butter until smooth and fluffy.

Once you have creamed your butter, add in half of the dry sifted ingredients and half of the wet ingredients.

Mix.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the remaining sifted ingredients and wet ingredients.

Once all combined, pour cake batter into your prepared 10” cake pan.

To prepare your pan, spray with nonstick spray and then sprinkle a very light dusting of flour on it, making sure to fully (but thinly) coat the bottom and sides of your pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the center of the cake springs back when touched

Allow to cool completely before cutting and decorating.

buttercream ingredients

Butter, softened—4 oz, or 1 stick

Peanut Butter—4 oz, or ½ C

Confectioner’s Sugar—15 oz, or 3 C

Cocoa Powder—2.5 oz, or 1 C

Vanilla Extract—2 tsp

Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

process

In the bowl of your mixer, use the paddle attachment to cream together the softened butter and peanut butter.

Sift together the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder.

Once your butter/peanut butter is smooth, slowly add in the sifted ingredients.

When combined, stream in your extract and milk.

When everything is added to the bowl, whip on high for about 30 seconds, to really make your buttercream nice and fluffy!

Now you can spread on the cooled cake.

meringue ingredients

Confectioner’s Sugar—9.5 oz, or 2 ¼ C

Egg Whites—4.75 oz, or 4 large

Vanilla Extract—2 tsp

Food Coloring—optional

process

Preheat your oven to 200˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together the sugar and egg whites.

Using a medium sized pot, create a double boiler with the bowl from your mixer.

Turn a burner on, to medium, and continue to whisk so that the sugar can dissolve.

Using a candy thermometer, cook this egg white/sugar mixture (constantly whisking) until it reaches 115˚-120˚ F.

When you have reached the correct temperature, transfer to your stand mixer, attach the whisk, and turn to high.

Whip for about 5-8 minutes, until stiff, shiny peaks form.

Add in your vanilla/flavor—which is optional.

Add in your food coloring—also optional!

When you have reached a medium-stiff peak with the meringues, transfer to a piping bag that has been fitted with a star tip.

Also—you may use a heavy duty Ziplock bag for this, and piping tips are not required, just make for a fun design!

On parchment paper or a Silpat, pipe out whatever meringues you like—I like rosettes, kisses and hearts, very simple to do!

When you are finished piping, place in your preheated oven for about an hour, rotating every 20 minutes, until they are completely dried out.

Decorate your cake with your fun and festive meringues!

to decorate

I made these into little anniversary cakes—super simple and basically individualized.

First, trim off the top of your cake.

Using a round cutter, cut out as many circles as you can, a 10” should make from 6-8, depending on the cutter size.

Cut each cake in half.

Spread a dollop of buttercream on the bottom layer of your cake (no simple syrup required!).

Place the second layer on, and spread more buttercream on top, decorate with meringues, sprinkles, or just eat like that!

Bon Appétit!