Always hungry.
As you might have noticed, I love baking bread. Since I started baking it in January of 2012, I don’t think we’ve bought any bread – I won’t allow it! Homemade bread is just so much better! And we usually have a lot leftover from the loaves I bake, so I just slice it up and pop it in the freezer. You can put a frozen slice in your toaster and you have delicious toast ready in a few minutes! …
This is not the first chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have posted on ChezCateyLou, and it certainly won’t be the last. There are just so many recipes out there for this classic cookie, and I love trying different versions! It also helps that TheBetterHalf loves chocolate chip cookies – have to keep him happy! I have made the Jacques Torres recipe and a recipe using browned butter, and I really love them both. But when I saw this recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction, I wanted to try them because one of the ingredients intrigued me – cornstarch! I have never used cornstarch in my baking. The cornstarch makes the cookies light and fluffy, always a good thing in my book! And wow, these cookies were so soft and fluffy! The recipe uses dark brown sugar, which I love for chocolate chip cookies because it gives the cookie a caramel-y flavor that works so well with the chocolate chips. I can’t wait to try cornstarch in other cookies recipes! …
I blame the heat. Why else would I make a recipe like this – one that I KNOW TheBetterHalf and I will have absolutely no self control around?? This past week, we had a heatwave in NYC, and it made all of us a little crazy. Most Saturdays I will bake a loaf of bread or some muffins or a coffee cake, things that are delicious, but that I can usually stop eating after one or two pieces. Not this past Saturday…it was WAY too hot to turn on the oven. So I had the brilliant idea of making this no-bake recipe. This recipe is essentially a homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, and it makes a whole tray of them! I’m not sure if you have noticed yet, but chocolate peanut butter is our absolute favorite dessert combination. And these bars are amazing!! I knew before I made them that I would not be able to stop eating them. But I decided to make them anyway. And I’m very glad that I did. A sweet and salty peanut butter bar topped with chocolate – what’s not to love?! They are so good, but so dangerous! That darn heat totally ruined any kind of healthy eating plan I had in mind for the weekend. Oh well, I guess that’s why they invented treadmills! …
I am so excited to post this recipe today. Why you ask? Because this delicious, decadent chocolate muffin is made with no fat! No oil, no butter – nothing! And they taste delicious. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of fat in baked goods…butter makes everything better! But when I saw this recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction , I knew that I had to give it a shot. I love baking with yogurt, like my chocolate zucchini bread or lemon blueberry yogurt loaf, but I usually add in a little oil or butter to keep things rich and moist. This recipe, on the other hand, uses only nonfat yogurt and applesauce (there is a bit of fat from the 1 egg and the chocolate chips), and the results are amazing! The muffins are so moist. They are light and fluffy, and so chocolatey tasting. Even TheBetterHalf liked them, which means they really must be good. I will eat anything that has chocolate in it, but he is a bit more discerning. The only problem with these is that they aren’t so skinny when you eat three… …
Raspberry preserves are swirled into a cream cheese muffin batter. These Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins are so tender and have an amazing flavor!
Sorry for the lack of posts this past week. TheBetterHalf and I were on vacation in Italy! If you follow me on Instagram, you can see some pictures from the trip. I can’t wait to share more details from the trip with you, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I have a delicious breakfast recipe for you – Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins. I had a block of cream cheese to use up before we left , so I decided to make this recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook
