Guess what’s back!!  You guessed it.  Another round of chocolate cream cheese cupcakes.  You cannot go too many months without baking these again if you can even survive that long.  It is a sun-filled day today so I thought I would share with you a baking recap from a few nights ago.  I made these last year at the zesty in laws in the summer and they are always a huge hit.

Can you really beat chocolate, cream cheese and to top it all off in bite size cupcake form?

So before we begin with the amazing recipe and picture overload

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Topping

• 8 Oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Dry Batter

• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt

Liquid Items

• 1 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Canola Oil
• 1 Tsp. White Vinegar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Stir the cream  cheese to a creamy, smooth consistency.  Add egg, sugar and salt and stir  (blend) (cream) to uniform smooth consistency.













3. Stir in the chocolate chips.



4. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl,  form a “well ” and set aside.









5. Combine liquid ingredients  in another  bowl.





6. Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.  Be sure not to over mix.





7. Spoon chocolate mixture into muffin tins until about 2/3 full.



8. Top each muffin with a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture (Do note the spoon technique).





9. Bake small muffin tins for  9 -11 minutes and regular muffin tins for 20-25 minutes.





10. Remove from oven and let cool.



11. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you need to take these special treats with you to a party, you can make 1.5 times the batter portion. You will have lots of cream cheese topping.  Also note that these cupcakes freeze well and are good warm or cold.

So now after all this, I have to hear what you think about these cupcakes.  When you pop one in your mouth you automatically step away from reality and fall in love with the texture and flavor.  Lately I have been hooked on home juice with chocolate treats.  I know it sounds crazy – but I have been trying out different juicer recipes for the last couple of weeks and I think I am addicted.  Usually I am a milk and chocolate guy all the way.

Have a great Friday and be on the lookout for another great treat from our baking excursion the other night.

Take care

zesty

Happy Monday and good day to you!  As I mentioned on my last post – I would talk today about some of my favorite juices that I like to make with my juicer.  I am sure you all remember about my juicer from the past posts but I wanted to talk specific about juicer recipes and the benefits of juice.  Now with juicer recipes, of course the one tool you will need is a juicer.

The nutritional benefits of drinking a glass of fresh juice far outweigh that which you get by drinking packaged juice, so make the effort to go for fresh juice.  When should you drink juice? Ideally, the best time to drink a glass of juice would be a minimum of 20 minutes before a meal. Don’t gulp it down. Juices should be sipped slowly as the enzymes in our saliva digest the carbohydrates present in our juices.

So let’s get right to it and talk about some juicer recipes.

Juicer Recipes

Orange Carrot

• 8 Large Fresh Cleaned Carrots
• 2 Large Fresh Peeled Oranges

Using electric juice extractor, press carrots and oranges. Whisk to combine.

A Beet Beauty – The color of this one alone will make your smile even larger.  This is packed with flavor and will keep you coming back for more.

• 2 beets, (including greens optional)
• 2 carrots
• 1 apple, quartered and cored
• 1″ ginger

Using electric juice extractor, press beets, beet greens (if using), carrots, apple and ginger. Whisk to combine.

Apple Green Grape – Simply delicious!  These flavors were made to be together.  The combination of grapes and apples is one of my favorites.  When you were a kid, what was your favorite color Kool-Aid?

• 3 Granny Smith apples, quartered and cored
• 1 Cup seedless green grapes
• 1 Thin wedge lemon, peeled

Using electric juice extractor, press apples, grapes and lemon. Whisk to combine.

Pure Orange

• 4 Large Fresh Peeled Oranges

Using electric juice extractor, press oranges. Add a shot of sugar if you feel it needs some sweetness.  Top with a slice of orange.

The Red Racer – This one will be a great treat for those sweet tooth’s out there like me.  Consumption of these berries will reduce your cravings for the unhealthy sweets.  Or so that is what I find with me.

• 1 Cup raspberries
• 1 Cup Strawberries
• 2 Oranges
• 2 Apples

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

The Green Carrot – Juice cucumbers with their skins on. The dark green skin is a great source of chlorophyll that can help build red blood cells

• 1 Cup of spinach
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 2 Stalks of celery including leaves
• 3 Carrots
• 1/2 Apple

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine. 

Cuc-Apple Zinger – One of my favorites for a quick wake me up and great flavor.

• 2 1/2 Apples
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1″ of Ginger

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Green Energizer Bunny – This one will keep you on your toes for hours!

• 2 Apples
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1/2 Lemon (peeled)
• 1/2 Cup of kale
• 1/2 Cup of spinach
• 1/4 Bunch of celery
• 1/4 Bulb of fennel
• 1″ of Ginger
• 1/4 Head of romaine lettuce

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

The Hangover Juice – Calcium and magnesium (from both cauliflower and broccoli) are an essential combination that can help prevent and relieve headaches.  If you encounter a hangover headache the next day, juice and drink the above combination two or three times or until the headache subsides.  Vitamin C is needed to continually detoxify your system.

• 1 Cup cauliflower
• 1 Cup broccoli
• 1 Apple

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Heartburn Reliever – This combination is very efficient in soothing the pain of heartburn. These highly alkaline produce neutralize the acidic environment, are very cleansing and building.

• 1 Cup Spinach
• 6 Carrots

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Juicer Recipe Recap

Now for me – juicer recipes are simply fun and a total experiment.  I mostly just make the recipes by trying whatever I have around in the fridge and seeing what they taste like.  One thing I am not a huge fan of when it comes to fresh juice ( it can be warm!)   For this issue, I usually serve ir over ice because I do not like having it sit in the fridge for any length of time.

Let me know your thoughts on these juicer recipes but more importantly – tell me your favorite juicer recipe.  Have a great Monday and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty