Copycat Costco Chocolate Chip Muffins (mini sized)

Am I the only one who adores(ed) Costco chocolate chip muffins?  I could never buy a 12 pack of them because I'd end up eating all most of them.  Well, here is a mini version that will take all of the guilt out of having them in the house (unless you start popping them like grapes and I am totally not responsible for that!)

They may call them muffins, but they are cake.  Who's kidding who(m)?  And that's what this recipe uses~ one chocolate cake mix. It is SO nice to have that deliciousness at home without having to go through the $300 trip to the warehouse store!

Copycat Costco Chocolate Chip Muffins:
1 devil's food cake mix (or dark chocolate)
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips with a mixer until smooth.  Stir in the chips.  Spoon the muffin batter into 48 well greased  mini muffin cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until the muffins spring back when touched.  Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then move to a wire rack.

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Eggplant Green Curry with Millet

 Let me preface this by saying that eggplant doesn't photograph well in my world.  Period.  My apologies.

A while ago, I was asked if I'd like to try one World Foods sauces.   A few weeks later, a bottle of Thai Green Curry sauce arrived.  I looked on their website to see what kind of recipes were suggested.  All of them included meat of some sort.  I thought I'd go another route.  I had an eggplant in my vegetable bin just begging to be used.

I also have a bunch of millet in my pantry.  Have you tried it?  I don't use it often, but it is a nice gluten free alternative to rice. It is shaped like tiny little white balls.  It doesn't puff up too much when cooked and has a nice little crunch to it.  This meal made a nice, quick throw together meal. (I just used the word "nice" 3 times...like it's nice to be nice to the nice..)

 World Foods Thai Green Curry sauce is very mild.  I mean at a restaurant with a 4 pepper scale of hotness, this would be 1/4 pepper mild.  There are peppers listed in the ingredients, but there was no kick.  It had a subtle lime aroma, but tasted mostly of cumin.  I am now wondering what some of the other ready to use Thai Green Curry sauces on the market taste like and how they compare.  I have only ever made homemade curry or had it in restaurants.

Eggplant Green Curry with Millet:
1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed
4 cloves garlic
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 12 ounce jar Thai Green Curry sauce
1 1/2 cups dry millet
3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
In a skillet, saute the eggplant and garlic in the olive oil until the eggplant is cooked.  Add the curry sauce and simmer.  In a saucepan, heat the broth and millet to boiling.  Cover and cook 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed and millet is softened.  Serve the curry sauce on top of the millet.  Salt and pepper to taste.


Note: I received a free bottle of curry sauce from World Foods.  All opinions are my own. Tweet

GlutenFree Biscuits: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

 I lasted all of two weeks before I had to make a bread of some sort.  In those two weeks, I checked out 5 Gluten Free cookbooks from the library and found site after site of gluten free recipes online.  I started a little notebook of GF recipes, all breads. Then I started buying weird flours - things like Garfava...a unique blend of garbanzo and fava beans ground into flour.  Finally, I got out my new Blendtec grain grinder and ground up some brown rice and some white rice.  Then, I made biscuits. 

I have told you how much I love biscuits.   I could pass up fried chicken as long as I could have my butter drenched, calorie laden biscuit.  It only stands to reason that my first experiment with gluten free baking would be these.  The recipe came from Food.com.  I read through all of the comments and altered the flours  the way most of the comment writers did.  I am too scared to venture out on my own yet.

They were pretty good in a "these are not wheat...what exactly are these?" kind of way..  Considering it's them or nothing, though,  they were great.  I ate the first one warm out of the oven with butter.  My daughter saw them and had one too.  She declared them yummy and ate 2 more.  The next one I had turned into shortcake...just added a couple of strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.  It was nice to know that the recipe works savory or sweet.  I think I will try some peanut butter and jelly on the last one, if Princess Pat hasn't found it already.

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits (from Food.com)
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
Mix the first 8 ingredients in a bowl.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or do it in a food processor).  Add the buttermilk.  Stir until moistened, but don't play with it.  Form into 6-8 biscuits and bake on a greased baking sheet (or silpat) 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. 

Your Turn!  Link up whatever has been cooking in your kitchen this week!




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