Mochi Muffins

I fell in love with mochi muffins last summer when we moved and discovered a wonderful little coffee shop in town that serves these amazing chewy treats.  We do our best to support this local shop, especially these days, but at some point in pre-Covid days, I went in search of a homemade recipe so we wouldn’t go broke on mochi muffins.  This recipe is spot on, and I’m excited to explore the creator’s site more (FINALLY, a recipe source without annoying pop-up ads every two seconds!)  She suggests sprinkling them with black and white sesame seeds, which is truly delicious.  But, sometimes, when I’m feeling especially decadent, I’ll make part of the batch with chocolate chips mixed in, and Oh, My!  Wow.  These freeze really well, and they’re perfect for a 3pm teatime treat on a whim.

The sweet rice flour is sometimes hard to come by, and I have finally researched and see that you should NOT try to replace the sweet rice flour with regular rice flour.  Good to know.  If I remember correctly, the black sesame seeds were a bit more than I expected, even in our bulk section, but the look and flavor are worth it.

If you haven’t tried mochi muffins, I highly recommend giving them a try.  Their chewy texture and sweet flavor is completely unique and absolutely delicious!

Pumpkin Lentil Curry with Spinach

Whenever I use canned pumpkin, I always seem to have some leftover that I’m not quite sure what to do with.  And that is how I stumbled across this beautiful recipe last night.  So comforting and tasty.  I kept hopping up– first for seconds, then thirds, then again…

A couple changes I made that seemed to work okay:

–I only had a red onion, not a sweet one.  Seemed to work fine

–I only had dry curry powder, so I changed the amount to 2 teaspoons

–I didn’t have tomato paste, so I omitted that altogether

–I didn’t try the optional cashew topping, but it sounds delicious

We just had it as a stew-y soup last night, but we had leftovers on rice today, which was great.  I also tried blending some of it with an immersion blender for a certain picky eater, and that seemed to be yummy as well!

Ruth Wakefield (of Tollhouse fame) brought the world the chocolate chip cookie in the 1930s.  And while there are many positively fancy, gourmet recipes out there for chocolate chip cookies these days, the Toll House recipe has always held a special place in my heart.  And I never fail to get compliments on this simplest of recipes.  Several years ago, I switched to the recipe on the back of the Trader Joe’s chocolate chip bag, but it is nearly identical to Toll House’s.  I have started lowering the butter and sugar called for in this, and all other recipes, lately with little to no difference in taste and consistency.

My two other favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes are the Quaker Oats oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (I use chocolate chips, instead of the raisins listed, although those sound good too!) and Jessica Seinfeld’s chickpea ones.

Chocolate chip cookies are great for any occasion.  Fun to send to a friend in the mail (I freeze them for a few days first) or drop off at someone’s house for a birthday or just because.  My sister-in-law once sent a whole batch in a container in the mail after my mother-in-law passed away, and they were definitely welcome then too.  I love baking new things and trying out new recipes, but the chocolate chip cookie always holds a touch of comfort and home.

 

Love the idea to make ‘spider’ choc chip cookies for Halloween (Mine don’t look quite like the idea one I saw online, because I lack the patience and skill, but still fun!)

chicken-InstantPot
chicken pot pie recipe
buttermilk biscuits

There is something so comforting and cozy about chicken pot pie.  It feels like a candlelit Sunday dinner after a blustery day spent outdoors.  This might look more complicated than it is with the three links above, but it is really very simple.

The Instant Pot makes cooking the chicken super easy, if you’re lucky enough to have one.  You can use the link above or others or your own method.  While this is cooking, I make the vegetables for the pot pie.  The first time I had this pot pie, a friend made it for me, according to the recipe above, and it was WONDERFUL!  I usually don’t have the patience to make the full pie crust, etc.  So, what I do is make the pot pie filling, then I add the buttermilk biscuits to the top.  Voila!

Instead of trying to explain all the shortcuts I take, I will type out the recipe as I make it.  (Please see the links above to support the creators.)

Cook the chicken

-Place fresh chicken breasts in Instant Pot with 1 cup of water.  Cook for 8 minutes.  5-minute natural release.

While the chicken is cooking…

-Heat 1/4 cup butter in large skillet.  Add 1/3 cup diced onions, 2 medium carrots (sliced-I use a mandoline), 1/2 cup sliced celery (if you have some), and 2 cloves minced garlic (or 1 tsp from minced garlic jar)

-Whisk in 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1 3/4 chicken broth (or 1 3/4 cup water with 1 3/4 tsp bouillon), and 1/2 cup heavy cream.

-Whisk until no lumps, then simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce thickens.

Meanwhile…

-Shred the cooked chicken with two forks.

-Add chicken and 1 cup frozen peas to thickened sauce.  Stir, and immediately remove from heat.

Make the biscuits.

2 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cubed
1 cup buttermilk (I use powdered buttermilk, made into liquid, according to bag instructions)
1 egg

-Whisk dry ingredients. Add cubed butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers.
-Combine buttermilk and egg. Stir into flour mixture with a few swift strokes.

The biscuits will be super sticky!

Pour the chicken pot pie “sauce” into an oven-safe pan.  I used to plop the biscuits on top at random, but recently, I’ve been spreading the biscuit batter evenly across the top of the whole thing.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

So delicious and hearty and comforting.  Love it!