Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (or Muffins)

This recipe is pretty much amazing. It is not my usual recipe for pumpkin muffins, but when I only had 2 eggs in the fridge I decided to try this one. Incredible!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I measured over the bowl and definitely missed the spoon, so ended up with more than a teaspoon and it added great flavor)
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (or if you're like me you don't have time to let it get to room temp on its own. So instead I put the stick out while I was mixing the dry ingredients. Then placed it in a bowl in the microwave for approximately 18 seconds. Worked like a charm)
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla extract, so much better than imitation!)
3/4 cup solid packed, pumpkin puree (Ok, cans come in 15oz. I didn't want to waste a whole lot, so I ended up using closer to a whole cup of pumpkin, again, nice addition)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Who doesn't like chocolate? I always say the more the merrier. So, again, I used more than a cup. I have no idea how much, really. I had about 1/2 bag left and dumped it in. The bag was 24 oz., so I guess I used about 12 oz. Amazing.)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place rack in middle of oven. If making loaf, grease 9-inch loaf pan. If making muffins, line or grease 12 muffin cups.
2. In large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, ground spices and salt.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. [I used a hand mixer and my arm got tired, so I just declared it done when that happened.] Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the vanilla. Then alternately add one-third of the flour mixture and one half of the pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Fold in the chips.
4. Fill the muffin cups evenly with batter. Using an ice cream scooper will ensure that they are all the same size. Or pour the batter into the loaf pan.

*For the loaf, bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I would recommend baking for about 55 minutes, then placing a piece of foil over the bread to prevent the crust from burning, then baking for an additional 5 minutes or until toothpick is clean.

* For muffins: bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Once done, place on a wire rack to cool. And wham! You have an amazing treat!

Nothing...

I've been trying to come up with a witty post but with no such luck. My day to day happenings aren't very lively right now, so instead of writing something that has no meaning and is boring, I think I'll stick to just writing a little something of nothing.

Well here's a little something. E grabbed her toes for the first time the other night. She was happily playing under her "dome of destruction" and threw her legs up in the air. For the first time in a while she was sock-less since it was rather warm in the house. Cue hand to foot. We call her "hands-y" because she really enjoys having her hands all up in everything. Especially near her mouth. (OF course, this is probably a description of every baby ever made, but you know she's pretty much amazing.) So back to the toe grab. She somehow managed to have her right foot and right hand meet each other. Using ring finger and pinky finger only she held onto her big toe. Every now and again she would lose her grip (because she would only use her last two fingers to grab). But the process of grabbing her toes with those two fingers proceeded for sometime. It was fairly cute...oh who am I kidding? My kid is amazing and very advanced. (If not for real, at least in my mind.)Looky there, I had more to write than I thought!