Olive Oil Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips & Almonds and A RECIPE CONTEST!!

Ciao a tutti! I have some really exciting news… I'm a finalist in the Eggland’s Best Your Best Recipe Contest, AGAIN!!! The last time I won my category, can you help me win again? Here’s what you have to do…

Please go to this link- http://www.egglandsbest.com/yourbestrecipe.aspx and take a look at the top of the page at the Breakfast Category. You will see my Olive Oil Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips and Almonds, click on it, enter your e-mail and click vote! You will have to confirm your vote via e-mail and you can vote once a day until Oct. 31st. I have some really big plans in the near future and this money could really help me out. It would greatly appreciated, as always. Grazie mille a tutti!! Thank you so so much, here is the link again just to be safe: http://www.egglandsbest.com/yourbestrecipe.aspx

In the meantime, I’m sharing the recipe for my yummy muffins again, so if you want to make them and see what you think of them for yourself, please let me know! These are great for breakfast, an afterschool school, dessert…pretty much any time of day that you feel like having one! Buon Appetito!!

 Olive Oil Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips and Almonds

 

 

 

3 cups of flour 4 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs, at room temperature 1 cup of sugar 1 cup of almond milk (you can use regular milk, the almond milk just adds a slightly sweet almond flavor that I like) ½ cup of olive oil ½ tsp. vanilla extract ½ tsp. almond extract 1 cup of Dark Chocolate Chips (you can use regular chips) 1 cup of chopped almonds

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 6 muffin tin pan with non stick spray or you can use muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until combined. Add the milk, olive oil, vanilla and almond extracts. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and gently fold. You do not want to over mix, that will result in a heavier muffin. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds. Pour the batter into your muffin tins, be sure not to go all the way to the top, just a little bit below. Bake for 30 minutes or longer if needed. You can stick a tooth pick in to make sure they are set. Everyone’s oven is different so baking time may vary. When they are done, let them cool for around 15 minutes in the pan. Then after 15 minute, EAT!!

Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cookies- Recipe Contest Semi Finalist

Ciao everyone!! Today I am so excited to officially announce that I am a semi-finalist in Eggland’s Best “Your Best Recipe” Contest!! My recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cookies was selected. Voting takes place between Sept. 20^th at 12PM until Sept. 30^th 12PM. You can take a look at http://www.egglandsbest.com/yourbestrecipe and on the Eggland's Best "Your Best Recipe" Contest tab on the Eggland's Best Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/egglandsbesteggs/app_251842034899170 - you have to “like” Egglands Best. You will see my recipe under the Dessert Category under Caroline B.

In honor of the contest, I would like to share the original post with you. Thank you again for reading and supporting my site, it really means so much to me.

Il Dolce (Dessert)

I absolutely adore chocolate, nuts and espresso. All together or separately, it makes no difference. So when I was in Rome this past summer and stumbled upon a gelato cafe right around Piazza Navona and saw “Baci Espresso” as a flavor, I knew I was in the right place.  Baci translates to kiss in Italian, but I bet if you think of Baci, you think of those amazing chocolates with the hazelnut center. The gelato had a deep chocolate espresso base with chunks of chocolate and hazelnuts. It was absolutely amazing. Come summer I plan to take out my ice cream maker and try to recreate some of the gelato I had in Italy (including the most intense chocolate gelato I have ever had, called nero fondente.) But, I’m not quite ready for gelato. So until then, I have recreated the taste and made these equally delicious Baci Espresso cookies. While they are not the prettiest cookies, they are certainly pleasing to the palette. They are fudgy, chocolaty and the hazelnuts add a lovely crunchy to an otherwise smooth cookie.

Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cookies

10 ounce of dark chocolate

2 Eggland’s Best eggs

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons espresso powder

1/8^th teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter.

1 ½ cups of hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, espresso powder and salt together. Stirring frequently, melt butter with chocolate. Whisk in the egg mixture. Stir in the flour and nuts. Scoop rounded tablespoons of batter on baking sheet.

Bake until the surface of the cookie looks dry and the centers are still gooey, around 11-13 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool. If you don’t eat them all in one sitting, store the leftover cookies in a tightly sealed container.

Buon Appetito!