Doughnut Muffins

In my last post I mentioned having a doughnut week on The Good Life. I thought that if I declared a theme, I'd get all creative and be forced to blog. The thing is, I came across some great ideas out in the blogisphere but then I couldn't find the necessary doughnut pan to make the recipe or some other hiccup would occur. So I did what I do best, I made due with what I have. I have muffin tins. :)

I was pretty pleased with the idea of a doughnut muffin. Muffins are a cinch to make and doughnuts are delicious. Combining them seemed like a good idea. I found that if a doughnut and a muffin had a baby, this is what you'd get. This doughnut muffin is a sugary, vanilla, cinnamon delight. If you can, serve these guys warm, so much better. This recipe was adapted from Baking Bites.

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

For rolling the donuts:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with 12 baking papers or use a silicon muffin tin with no paper.
Whisk together egg and sugar.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Add those dry ingredients into the egg and sugar.
Add oil, milk, and vanilla.
Lightly mix until its combined. Muffin batters should not be over worked or they won't rise.
Divide batter evenly and fill about 3/4 of the way.
Bake for 15 minutes. Make sure to test one of the muffins to see if it's done.
Dust or roll the muffins in the sugar and cinnamon. The muffins should be moist enough from the oil to keep that sugar mixture on. If they aren't, you can brush with a little melted butter.
Enjoy!

Bourbon Chocolate Cupcakes

This was supposed to be doughnut week for The Good Life. I've been pinning recipes the last couple of days in order to get my creative juices flowing. I even went shopping today for fun and interesting doughnut ingredients.

What happened? While I was putting away my groceries, I saw leftover chocolate cake batter and chocolate bourbon balls staring at me. I knew what I had to do, bourbon chocolate cupcakes. And boy am I glad I did. The cupcakes baked up very moist and the candy disappeared into the cake leaving only the delicious bourbon flavor and added chocolate. 
Yield Makes 24  

Ingredients 

• Your favorite chocolate boxed cake mix (or you can make yours from scratch, whatever makes you happiest.)
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup cold coffee
• 1/2 cup veggie oil
• 2/3 cup of sour cream
• 12 bourbon ball chocolate candies cut into halves and pecan removed. Buy them or make them.
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup of warm milk (put in the microwave for 20 seconds.)
• 1//4 cup chopped peanuts

 

My sweet mother in law brought these back from the Kentucky Derby.

Remove the pecan and cut in half.

Directions

• Mix together eggs, coffee, oil, and sour cream. 
• Add in the chocolate cake mix and stir until thoroughly blended. Or if you're using an electric mixer, mix on medium for two minutes. That should be fine. 
• Line cupcake pans with those little papers. 
• Divide batter evenly into cupcake pans.
• Push one half of a bourbon ball into each cupcake. It'll stick out but that's ok. It's going to bake down.
• Bake at 325 for 24 minutes but check them at 20. They will look a little wet. They should be firm though.
• Let cakes cool for 20 minutes.
• Add the warm milk to the chocolate chips and stir. If the ganache needs warming, put it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time till it's smooth.
• Frost the cooled cupcakes with the ganache.
• Sprinkle with peanuts.

I brought my cupcake outside for its portrait because the natural light in my house is awful.

Breakfast, Boozy Movie Goin', and Beer

I've been meaning to share with you about the great day I had last weekend. Last Saturday started with breakfast with my BF Jill. We went to the Naked Cafe in Carlsbad. Thank you Yelp for the suggestion. Our food was fantastic and the al fresco dining was lovely. I ordered the pesto scramble, four egg whites, pesto, green onion, and tomato served with a side of baby organic greens. It was very fresh tasting. 

my yummy breakfast.

Next we drove south a bit to La Costa to check out the new Cinepolis. From start to finish, the experience here was luxurious. The lobby was beautifully designed. You'll have to check it out if you haven't already. What makes this theater so unique is the food and drinks that you can enjoy before and DURING your movie. For you 21 and uppers, that means booze! Certain movies and showtimes allow alcohol during the movie. 

That's me reclining all the way back while my order is being taken. Hess Chardonnay please!

 

I know I know. It seems like a full day already. However, I had it in me to go out on the town later that evening. The Mr. and I along with two other couples went to this place called Dragon's Den. It's located in East Village across from Petco Park. The selling point of Dragon's Den are the pour your own draft beer tables. Our table had Shock Top and Bud Light. Pretty cool!