ESPRESS-O
YOURSELF
“Coffee is the best thing to
douse the sunrise with.” – Terri Guillemets
There is
one store I absolutely hate passing in the mall. Well, actually, two. One is
Free People, but that’s simply a monetary thing…and then there’s the other…I
swear if you didn’t have to cross it in order to get to the Barnes and Noble I
probably never would…that store, is Victoria’s Secret.
Now, yes,
maybe hate is too strong a word. I
still shop in there, what woman hasn’t? And I can’t pick out very many pairs of
my underwear that doesn’t sport their tag, but sometimes just walking in front
of that store absolutely exhausts me.
I mean,
the minute, the very second, I see those 10-foot-tall posters of the world’s
most beautiful women wearing next to
nothing blowing me a kiss, I get self-conscious. The second the pink sign comes
into view my hands go right to my waist. This move is what many people would
call “checking in.” It’s a moment to assess yourself in the cruelest way
possible. I once had a very specific measuring system to see if I passed said
assessment: my hands had to fit perfectly around my waist, with my thumbs
touching my ribcage in the back, and my middle, ring and pointer fingers
curving right into the indentations of my obliques in the front. Anything more
than this was unacceptable.
Nowadays
I try to remember words of my mother (an art director in advertising) when
speaking about the women in those photos. “Danielle,” (she says in her Queens,
New York accent) No women in the world looks like that. Not even them.” But
still, sometimes, even though I can hear my mother going on and on about
airbrushing and photoshop, I still feel a twinge of sadness when I know that I
probably won’t ever look like the girl in the picture. And then an even bigger
twinge of sadness because I weigh (no pun intended) so much of my worth on my
size, rather than on anything else.
So,
today, I decided that I was going to make a little breakfast treat. Because,
yes, desserts can be saved for the nighttime, but what about those mornings
when you want something besides egg whites and a side of self-berating? Adapted
from a recipe by Heidi Swanson, they’re made with whole wheat flour,
all-natural cane sugar and dark chocolate, so while they’re still a sugary
treat, they’ve got some healthy add ins like banana and toasted walnuts, that
let you have your mini-cake, and eat it, too.
ESPRESSO-CHOCOLATE
CHUNK MUFFINS
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups
whole-wheat flour
2
teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon
fine-grain sea salt
1 ¼ cups
chopped toasted walnuts (I toast walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat
until they become warm and fragrant)
1 Tbsp
espresso powder (I used Starbucks instant French Roast)
6 Tbsp
unsalted butter at room temperature
¾ cup
natural cane sugar
2 large
eggs
2
teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup
plain yogurt
1 ½ cups
mashed overripe bananas (I used 3 bananas)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat
the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Position racks in the bottom third of the
oven.
Prepare
a muffin pan with 12 liners (OR, if you do not have a large muffin pan, like
me, prepare 1 cupcake pan with 12 liners and a second with 4 liners)
In a
medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ¾ cup of the
toasted walnuts and the espresso powder.
 |
| doesn't it kinda look like crushed oreos?! |
In a
large bowl, cream the butter with a hand mixer until it becomes light and
fluffy. (It can take a few minutes, but then it starts to look sorta like
marshmallow fluff) Follow the butter with the sugar, and after beating in the
sugar, beat in each egg, one at a time.
Add the
vanilla, yogurt and mashed bananas, stirring them into the batter. Then (and I
used a spoon for this) mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Do not
over-mix this dough, wait until it is just incorporated all together and stop.
If you over mix the batter, you’ll wind up with muffins a little less moist and
bouncy than you want. Now gently fold in the chocolate chunks.
Spoon
the batter into the prepared muffin cups, I tend to use a large soup spoon,
because it makes it easy for me to pour the batter into the cups. From there top
each of the muffins with the walnuts you have left. (Or, if you’re like me and
forget, you can put the muffins into the oven for about thirty seconds,
remember and then take them quickly out and sprinkle the walnuts on then)
If you’re
using a large muffin tin, bake about 25 minutes. If you’re using a cupcake tin,
bake from around 15-18 minutes. I still use a cake tester to make sure it comes
out clean before I take the muffins out of the oven. A little bit of melted
chocolate on the tester is totally cool, but not batter. If you have muffin
tins on a bottom and top rack of the oven, make sure you switch the tins
halfway through so they bake evenly.
Enjoy
these muffins listening to some calm Sunday-morning music, while enjoying a
nice of cup of coffee or tea, and possibly petting any adorably furry animal.
Til next
time!
D
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