Delicious Secret Ingredient Sourdough Chocolate Muffins Recipe

Welcome to another recipe here on Tasty Tuesday.  Because of the health benefits, we ferment our grains.  The main staple that is used to accomplish this is our sourdough starter.  You may find it strange to learn that I keep a few of these "pets" around for various uses.  I have an original wild yeast starter from 2007 that I keep around for mild flavoring and fermentation, I also own a purchased San Francisco sourdough starter that I keep for my baking that I desire to have that distinct "sourdough" flavor, and I have a third wild yeast or "natural yeast" starter that I captured for daily bread baking and recipes.
Today I want to share one of those recipes with you.  These delicious Sourdough Chocolate Muffins are an easy home-school breakfast staple and usually leave several available for snacking throughout the week as well. I am so glad to be able to include some of our summer squash in this recipe that was frozen from our summer garden harvest.  Sometimes you get one of those jumbo zucchinis that were hiding under a leaf that get HUGE.  This is the just the recipe for using them up.  We simply shred them into several 1 cup portions and place them in little snack-size baggies which are then stacked flat in the freezer.  They are perfect for thawing and using in these amazing muffins.

Catch the video on the Dixie Living YouTube Channel.  Here is the written recipe which I have adapted to suit our tastes from the original found in the Bread Beckers Cookbook:

Secret Ingredient Sourdough Chocolate Muffins

Overnight Ferment: In a bowl place 2c. of active starter.  This means make sure you fed it 8+ hours ago.  Add to this 1C. water and 3C. flours of your choosing.  Just make sure they are wheat flours.  You can use any combination of white or whole wheat, spelt, kammut, etc.  Mix this together, cover, allow to sit until the morning.

The Next Morning:
Step 1*Preheat oven to 400F and whisk together the following:
1t. Baking Soda
1t. Salt
1T. Baking Powder
1/3C. Cocoa Powder
Step 2*In a stand mixer or mixing bowl combine the following very well:
1/3C. Brown Sugar
1/3C. Honey
1/3C. Milk
1 Stick Melted Butter (or 1/2c. equivalent)
2 Eggs
1t. Vanilla Extract
Step 3*Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Step 4* Add overnight ferment mixture and combine well.
Step 5* Mix in the following as desired: 1C. chocolate chips, 2C. Shredded Zucchini, and 1C. Chopped Nuts.
Step 6* Fill prepared muffin tins.
Step 7* Bake until tops spring back when touched, approximately 20 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Just Peachy

True to my word this is the second installment of my Weekly Update format. It helps me to organize the few topics that I like to faithfully blog about rather than having to pull from the tons of random events of daily life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sew Cute: This week I spent some time working on some bib, sock, and bow sets that I plan to put in my shop. The bright pink and green are a perfect color combination for summertime little girls. I just cant get enough of these frilly socks for the days when you have to cover up those adorable little toesies!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taste Test: We are just starting to get some peaches in some of the local farmer's markets here in Georgia. Peaches are so versatile, fitting in seamlessly in any course of the meal whether in an appetizer salad, poached atop a main entree, grilled on the side, or featured in a tasty dessert. Here I served them in a tasty traditional Peach Muffin which I served at a brunch hosted in my home. I did substitute some of my home ground wheat for half of the white flour but just could not bring myself to trade it out entirely. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to use all wheat instead of half and half.
Georgia Girl Peach Muffins
Peel & Dice about 1-2 fresh peaches so that you have ½ cup
1 cup sugar, divided
1 egg
1 ½ cup all purpose flour (or substitute as I did)
1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp. Ground Nutmeg :)
1/2 cup milk
For Topping: 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon and ½ cup real butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line or spray muffin cups. Cream butter and ½ cup sugar. Add egg; mix. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; stir flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with the milk. Gently fold in peaches. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. While baking, melt butter. Mix ½ cup sugar with cinnamon. When muffins are done, immediately dip tops into melted butter, then into cinnamon-sugar mixture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Matters: We are participating this summer in our county Swim League. I cannot tell you what a great recreation this has been for all of us. I cannot fathom running from practice to practice and field to field as each of my children participate in a sport of some sort. Swimming, for us, has been the perfect solution.**Here's Tender Heart in the Backstroke**

Each week we not only compete against another swim team for points, but each child also competes against himself in an effort to improve his/her personal time. The top 50 times in each event will qualify to swim in the County Finals at the end of the season at Georgia Tech. As you know our family is a Tech family. Tech was also where the Olympic swimming events were helf when Atlanta hosted the Olympics here in 1996. For those to reasons, we would love to qualify. We were excited this week as Freckles earned his first "heat winner" ribbon so I am putting up a shot of my happy little fishy below. What makes my heart happiest though is seeing his sisters standing at the end of his lane cheering him on and being the first to give him a congratulatory hug when he comes out of the water.

**Yeah!!!! Heat Winner**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keeping Hearts and Home: It is summertime so we are in the garden. This week the kids and I had a lot of fun putting up some pickles for the first time. It was important to me that they be crunchy after processing, not just sour. I was pleased with the results. It is also quite rewarding to see my stash of home-canned items growing in the pantry.**We did some quick-process and some traditional**

As this was my first time canning with the girls it went a little slower than when I'm just buzzing right along on my own. As with all aspects of training the results will show up according to my patience and effort. This endeavor was no different. Lil' Liss ended up getting bored and leaving halfway through, Freckles scrubbed and chopped, disappeared, showed up periodically for tasting, and Tender Heart excitedly saw the entire process through to completion, helping and learning much along the way.
My Deal of the Week was found again at CVS. I am sorry but I do use disposable diapers for when we are out and about. It is just tidier for me not to have to tote around Jolly's soiled diapers until we get home. Consequently, we buy diapers in bulk. This week I bought a case of 96 diapers at CVS for $19.99, used a $3 off store coupon plus a $3 off Huggies coupon printed from here. That brought me down to $13.99 for the diapers. I paid that with Extra Care Bucks, scanned my Green Bag Card and left having paid $0 out of pocket, money added to my Green Tag fund, another $5 off store coupon, PLUS $10 more in Extra Care Bucks!!! Now if I can just find someone else to change Merry's diapers since she has started solid food...pyuuuwie!!!

Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Pancake Mix

Even with the meal planning I do, I am constantly plagued with the same question each morning, "What's for breakfast Mom?" It is nice to be able to refer them to the list and know that there is a healthy breakfast waiting to start their day. However, I also am VERY interested in convenience as well. So often the convenience foods available at the store are some of the worst things we can use to fuel our bodies. The following is a great recipe for a Pancake Mix that I keep in the refrigerator so that it is ready to use and simple enough for even my 9 year old to prepare.






Start by assembling your ingredients for the mix as pictured here. You will need the following:



4 Cups Quick Oats
1 Cup Nonfat Dry Milk
2 Cups All-purpose Flour
2 T Ground Cinnamon
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 T + 1 1/2 t. Salt
3 T Baking Powder
1/2 t. Cream of Tartar


Simply stir the dry ingredients together and store in your refrigerator. When you are ready to use the mix you will need to prepare the pancake batter.


1. Beat 2 Eggs 2. Add 1/3 C Vegetable Oil

3. Beat in 2 Cups Mix and 1 1/4 Cups of Water





Prepare on griddle or in skillet as usual, top with a little real butter and some honey. This is a tasty breakfast you and your kiddos will enjoy!



Many thanks to my demonstrator Tender Heart who was kind enough to prepare this and several other breakfasts. You are such a help to this busy Mama. These happy smiles and full tummies are a great way to start the day.
Enjoying Dixie Living,
Homespun HoneyBee