Choco Muffins and Herb Loaf

Spent the weekend cooped up at home, recuperating from the flu. I decided to bake twice because they were essentially the same thing, slight difference in the components. Both recipes came from the Alton book (I'm Just Here...), both used the muffin method.

Chocolate Muffins

I wanted to make these as a breakfast muffin to serve with maybe some yogurt on the side. I think that chocolate muffins are a good one that can be served year round because there are no seasonal fruits to be used. Plus it was pretty darn straightforward.

I actually like chocolate muffins and these came out very good. Moist inside, not too dense like a brownie, not light and airy like a cupcake. The tops weren't too hard and crusty, but they broke on top as they should have. They taste like chocolate too, as the recipe calls for cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli). They also didn't come out too sweet, which I think is important for a breakfast muffin.

I did make a boo boo and didn't mix well enough. There were some random sugar crystals in the mix that I didn't thoroughly mix into the wet batter. Next time, must mix that more. I wouldn't call that a mistake. I call it...a surprise for whoever is eating it. A gift from me to you. All in all, these were a success.

Herb Loaf

*NOTE to self: buy a loaf pan.

Since I don't have a loaf pan, the recipe said you could use a muffin tin, so I did. Depending on what you want, you can use different herbs. It was either chives and dill or rosemary and thyme. I opted for rosemary and thyme. These muffins would do well as a dinner roll, something to serve warm in a basket for people to start with. Again, they're not dense, but not fluffy...but something was off.

It smelled reeeeally good, but I wasn't a big fan. It pretty much tasted like olive oil, which I'm not down with, couldn't really taste any of the tasty herbs. Also, I'm an idiot and forgot to add salt. Hello hi, salt girl forgot salt. I think it would have helped a lot, but the overwhelming taste of olive oil weirded me out. It called for a cup, which I think needs to be taken down a little, if not a lot. It also might have been that I didn't make this into a loaf. I think I might have overmixed, but these were not a hit with me. I might try them again with some slight changes in the future...these changes being: no overmixing, SALT, and less olive oil. Or I might scrap this recipe entirely and find something else. Sorry AB, you let me down! :(


Sooo here's the rundown...
Choco Muffins: thumbs up.
Herb Loaf: thumbs down. Needs more tweaking.

Pardon the poor quality of the pictures, I used my Bberry camera :)