quinn's place

a.k.a: super-dense-keep-you-full-for-hours-convenient-and-yummy-breakfast-muffins!

i actually made this exact batch of muffins way back in august! i'm not sure why i hid them away for so long, because they were really delicious, hearty, textural, and filling!

they're made with some healthier ingredients and turned out very moist, dense (in a good way), and tasty. i would eat one in the morning at work and be FULL until lunch. especially if you spread some almond butter or something on top! so perfectly tame and easy to stomach early in the morning.

i have a weird problem with not being able to eat non-breakfast foods right when i wake up. i need something subtle to ease my way in to life. some folks i know do not have this problem at all and could wake up crack o' dawn and chow down a spaghetti dinner or a bowl of meat stew or something. me, nuh uh.

i really loooove hazelnuts. if you don't like, you can leave them out or substitute another type of nut. i'm all about that crunch factor baybay.

these also contain wheat germ, which i happened to have in the pantry, but i wouldn't say its totally necessary since you're adding whole wheat flour + oats anyway.

my dad used to make some lady's "healthy" cookie recipe and they contained wheat germ, so i always mentally held wheat germ on a pedestal of supreeeme health. i think it just adds some extra protein & vitamins to the mix, ain't nothing wrong with that!

they are especially delicious when cut in half and warmed up with a pat of butter & honey. :)

now that i look at these again, i think they would be really good with diced caramelized apple chunks in there as well. mmm, cozy. ima try it, mmk!

Whole Wheat Banana Hazelnut Muffins

Makes 12 regular sized muffins

Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 TB honey
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oats
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
dash of nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the brown sugar and egg. Stir in the mashed bananas and honey.

Slowly add all dry ingredients, mixing in between additions until the flour is incorporated. Lastly, add the oats, chopped hazelnuts, and a dash of nutmeg if desired. Mix until just combined.

Spray, oil, or place paper cupcake liners in a regular sized 12-muffin tin. Using a spoon or measuring cup, fill each cup about 2/3 full of batter.

Place the muffin pan on top of a flat baking sheet and place in the oven, to prevent burned muffin bottoms (the worst!).

Bake for about 23 minutes. Around 20 minutes, pull out of the oven and check the center of a muffin with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done. If the toothpick is still slightly goopy, return to the oven for just a few minutes. Do not over-bake.

enjoy!

well beyoncé is in town tonight and i'm sitting here writing about scones. so that's where i'm at.

but these scones are sooo mighty fabulous. just like bey.

i wonder if beyoncé likes scones. i would bake her some and bring em down there right now.

there was this coffee stand i'd go to with my mom when i was a youngster, where she'd get a coffee and i'd get a small cup of chocolate milk with whipped cream on top. with a coffee straw. i looooved that little treat so much.

that coffee stand also had some amazing chocolate hazelnut scones. and i've never forgotten them. so this recipe was brought to life from my fond nostalgic memories of some tasty scones of my past.

i added oats, too. becauuuuuse TEXTURE is everything in this life. the scones are soft, buttery, moist, with a slight crunch and roasty warm bits of hazelnut and melted chocolate throughout. the texture is quite perfecto. if i do say so mahself.

these are one of those things that i want back in my hands sooo soooo badly as i write this and look at these photos again. much like the feeling i had when i posted these biscuits. i so strongly wanted to punch my arm through the screen and yoink out a savory biscuit to gobble up. gah, so good.

don't these just look soft & pleasantly plump and nutty good?! you should make them.

i would highly recommend these with coffee! mmmmmm. and a crossword puzzle or magazine on a quiet sunday morn. now doesn't that sound just lovely.

i find that hazelnuts get kind of stale and weird if you don't use them up semi quickly. but after they were baked into these scones, they were like revived from their stale status. warm, nutty, and perfectly crunchy yet soft.

the best hazelnuts i've purchased came from a new seasons market in portland, oregon. i have no idea why i felt the urge to buy hazelnuts during a trip to portland, but i did, and they were some goodass hazelnuts. you go, new seasons.

aaand to top it all off, i brought a scone for breakfast at work for like the next five days, and i a.) did not get tired of them and b.) they stayed moist through and through! i feel like scones usually become hard as rocks after 1 or 2 days and its like eating chalkdust, but not these babes, no no.

gotta have 'em!

Chocolate Hazelnut Oat Scones

Makes 8 big scones // 16 small scones

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) COLD unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 oz. high quality chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate - didn't want it too dark) + 2 TB flour to coat
1/2 cup whole hazelnuts, roughly chopped
dash of cinnamon

Instructions-

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. First, roughly chop the chocolate and coat it in about 2 TB of all purpose flour in a small bowl and place in the fridge to chill. Also roughly chop the hazelnuts.

In a large bowl, add the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder & soda, and dash of cinnamon. Stir to combine. Cut up the cold butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour with a fork until small pea-sized crumbs form. I usually use my * clean * hands for this part until the butter and flour have combined until crumbly.

Add the buttermilk and vanilla to the bowl, and mix with a spoon or spatula. Use your hands to bring all of the dough together. If its too wet, add 1 TB of flour at a time. If its a little too dry, add a TB of buttermilk at a time.

Toss in the chopped hazelnuts and incorporate into the mix with your hands. Add the chilled, flour-coated chopped chocolate last and mix until evenly combined and the dough has formed into a ball.

On a well floured surface, turn out the dough and flip a couple of times. You want the exterior to have a light covering of flour and not be sticky at all. Press the dough down to about a 1 inch thick round. Cup your hands around the edges to keep it round.

With a large knife, cut the dough (like a pizza) into 8 pieces. If you want smaller scones, you can make two smaller rounds of dough and cut each one into 8 pieces. These can also be square, I just made them triangular for scone-y sake. Transfer the uncooked scones onto a greased baking sheet and spread them out evenly.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean after inserting into the center of a scone.

Enjoy with coffee, milk, tea, what have you!