Peanut Butter Cadbury Egg Muffins

I know, I know. It’s not Sunday. In my defense, I had every intention of writing this post Sunday night. I baked on time, took all my photos on time, uploaded them to my personal laptop on time …. and then drove to Connecticut, forgetting both to upload them to the blog or bring my laptop with me. Well, I think this is just proof that memory loss comes with old age. Yesterday was my birthday … and by yesterday, I mean, the past four days was an epic extravaganza of birthday celebrations. Remember how at the beginning of the month we talked about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb? That’s how I am about my birthday. In the beginning of the month, I did not want to even acknowledge the big 2-9. But yesterday I had a random waitress at Chip’s Family Restaurant in Trumbull, Connecticut bring me a Funfetti birthday pancake and sing to me, and I liked it. For the record, March also did not go out like a lamb. It went out like a full on schizophrenic insane lioamb (combination of lion+lamb, duh). I was in Connecticut yesterday before going to NYC for the day with my sister, because the only person I wanted to have a birthday breakfast with, obviously was my Grandpa. Saturday it was 54 degrees. Yesterday, I wake up and my Grandpa calls me to tell me not to drive because it’s a blizzard outside. Well not quite a blizzard, but was snowing and sleeting like crazytown. ON THE LAST DAY OF MARCH. Come the FRIG on Mother Nature.

Anyways, not to worry. I still made it to pick up my Grandpa for breakfast and had a great time. More details on all of that later in the post. On to the baked goods of the week first. My coworkers had to suffer this week with no baked goods, but my best friend, sister, the dog sitter, and most importantly my Grandpa were psyched to be my taste testers this week. I know a few weeks back we covered how mini eggs are my krpytonite and that I can’t have them in the house. Well, one of my friends who knows me too well showed up at my birthday party at the bar Saturday night with a bag of glow sticks and a bag of mini eggs. So Sunday morning I knew that I needed to bake them into something. And because my Oreo muffins were such a hit next week, I thought Mini Egg Muffins. Duh. So I found this recipe on one of the food blogs I love from the Food Blogger Cookie Swap back in December Crazy for Crust. Definitely a must try while Mini Eggs are still in season.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup Cadbury Mini Eggs, coarsely chopped, plus more for topping

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper lines, and spray with nonstick spray. I made smaller muffins, so about 20.

Step 2: No mixer needed for this recipe, so get the elbow grease ready. In a large bowl, stir together the vegetable oil, yogurt, and peanut butter with a wooden spoon. Stir in both brown and granulated sugars.

Step 3: Add the eggs and vanilla, and keep mixing until incorporated.

Step 4: Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add about half of the dry mixture and the milk, and stir a few times, then add in the rest of the dry mixture and continue to mix until all mixed together.

Step 5: Coarsely chop the mini eggs. Keep about 1/4 cup separate for topping. Add the rest of the mini eggs and chocolate chips in and mix just until evenly distributed.

Step 6: Add about 1/2 cup of batter to each muffin tin. You don’t want to overfill the tins. You could also do this with mini muffin tins for bite-size muffins. Sprinkle the remaining mini eggs on top of each muffin. I tried putting some whole eggs on top, but they just sunk to the bottom.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 16-20 minutes, or until the top of just firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool, and then dig in!

These got rave reviews from my fans down in Connecticut. 

Okay, so I am going to do my best to provide some highlights of the birthday extravaganza long weekend of fun and try to explain just how awesome my friends and family are. I am sure I won’t do it all justice since I got up at 4:30 am to drive back to Boston and I’m old and sleepy right now.

First, I got this surprise package at work last week from Blurb, which is a place where you can make your own photo books online. And when I opened it, I was totally blown away. My mom took all of the blog posts from TheSaltedCookie.com from 2012 and 2013 and made custom books out of them for me. They are perfect and awesome, and everyone who has come over the past few days has enjoyed reading them. Super thoughtful gift from the world’s best mom.

Friday night I came home from work and Colleen had planned a little surprise Girl’s Night in with a few of my favorite friends for pizza, wine, and best of all – a Teen Mom 2 inspired cake. When Colleen first moved in last year and we didn’t know eachother at all, we bonded over a mutual love and appreciation for the epic TV show Teen Mom 2. Specifically, Juhnelle’s mom Barbara, who we affectionately call Babs, and quote her inspirational deep thoughts on a daily basis.

Saturday night a big group of us went to my favorite bar in Southie and had a just totally awesome time. I am not putting any of those pictures up because what happens at Stats stays at Stats. Unless your friends videotape your dance moves, of course. (and no, there is no real dance floor at Stats).

Sunday night I drove down to Connecticut and had a great dinner with my friends Katie and Caitlin in Fairfield. Caitlin and I are headed to Mexico this Saturday for some much needed fun in the sun!

I took Monday off of work, which I never used to understand why people took their birthdays off of work, but if you’re doing something fun and not just sitting at home, I am totally a fan of it now. My parents are on a cruise so I stayed at their place Sunday night, and got up early and braved the freak snowstorm to pick up my Grandpa for a perfect breakfast brunch at Chip’s. He told me to keep the 2-9 candles from my cake to save for my 92’nd birthday. Always thinking about the future.

And after a perfect breakfast, I picked my sister up and we headed into NYC for a nice little day where we went to see the taping of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. And at the end of the show, I got a high five from Jimmy Fallon. That is no April Fool’s.

So in conclusion, 29 is off to a really good start I think. And the big 3-0 has a full year to prepare to try to top this awesome birthday, because I’m not sure it gets much better than this.

So remember, no cookie post next week. I’ll be on a beach chair in Mexico with a frozen drink in hand, SPF 90, and my work laptop bazillion of miles away. And a big Happy Early Birthday to Skip, who is already celebrating somewhere in the Caribbean with a drink in hand and throwing YOLO hashtags in the air like he just don’t care.