in need of a caffeine hit...

Last week I got a new cookbook - "Baking, From My Home To Yours" By Dorie Greenspan. It was a gift from my sister - Thanks Annie! I've made some of the recipes from this book before, usually after finding the recipe on other blogs. However I could never quite understand how so many bloggers have committed to cooking one recipe from this book every single week (see Tuesdays with Dorie). That is, until now.

It is a wonderful book, much better than I anticipated. It is filled with lots of yummy looking recipes, however the downside is that it uses the imperial system of measurement. Thankfully all the Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks have conversion tables in them, so as long as I have one handy all will be good.

The dilemma came when trying to decide which recipe to try first. I really wanted to make the Caramel Crunch Bars after seeing them here. However the recipe asked for "Heath Toffee Bits" - something I discovered is made by Hershey's and is not sold readily in Australia. Bummer! I am going to look for some plain toffee soon and simply pummel it with a rolling pin to use as a substitute!

Instead, I made "Coffee Break Muffins" at my husbands request. This recipe uses black coffee instead of milk to moisten the batter. I also swapped the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder the recipe called for for 125g dark chocolate chunks. It probably wasn't really a fair substitute (!) - but I am so glad I did it! The resulting muffins were beautiful!

Coffee Break Muffins

From "Baking, From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder AND/OR 125g dark chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon table salt

1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar

1 cup strong black coffee, cooled

113g (or 1 stick) of butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced). Line a 12 cup muffin tray with liners.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, whitew sugar, instant coffee powder (if using), baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the brown sugar and dark chocolate chunks (if using).

In another bowl, whisk together the black coffee, melted butter, egg and vanilla. Pour over the dry mixture and mix. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin pans and bake for 20mins or until cooked through (test with a skewer). Leave to stand for 5 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool.