My Katy Rose (Karo) loves Chocolate. She especially loves double chocolate anything. The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies earned me the title of the Best Mother In The Entire World and these muffins brought home a second honorary crown from the taste buds of my kids. Sometimes I like to get up early and bake favorite treats to surprise them with and this is high on that list. I dearly love being home with my kids so I can do things like this for them.
Until I was twenty seven, I had never even flown on an airplane. That first time involved a trip to Disney World with two year old Brady, who was our only child at the time. We got airfare super cheap back then, $100 round trip for each of us, so it ended up being cheaper than driving. Ricky was also going for a conference so his portion was paid for along with our hotel room. All that was between me and getting to take my son to Disney for the first time was a little bit of gravity defying courtesy of Huntsville International.
Man was that some flight. I’ve never hidden terror so well. I spent the entire time mentally going over every possible crash scenario and how I would get little Brady out of it alive (Ricky was a big boy, he was on his own). I never dreamed in a million years that flying would become normal to me. After the past ten years, I am now one of those people who get on the plane and settle in for a nap before it even takes off. I’ve only seen a small fraction of the country in my book tour travels but its far more than I ever dreamed of or expected to see in my entire lifetime. I’ve met some wonderful people, gotten and given more hugs than I can count, and found that my theory about the world is true : The world is, by and large, made up of really good people.
But you know the main thing I learned on my travels? I do not have the wanderer’s soul I once thought I did. Hand me a globe and tell me to point out any place in the world I’d like to go and I’ll stick that thumbtack right smack dab on North Alabama every time. I used to not be like this. I used to want to see things an go places, but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized that there isn’t a place my heart wants to go unless I can turn and look into the eyes of my family and share it with them.
Call it blessed, call it luck, call it enlightenment, but either way you look at it I fully realize how much fuller my life will be for me having been given a chance to learn this lesson. You may not be able to visit twenty states in a month like I did, but I bet if you take a moment to think about it, to imagine doing just that, you’ll find your arms aching to hold your family and your appreciation for them all the more greater.
Contentment. I think that is one of the greatest gifts and it is one that you have to give yourself, but it often comes for some people in wistful strains while looking through the rear view mirror. Today I want to urge you to turn around and check out what is right in front of you now. Because what is in your windshield now will surely pass you by, too. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, I know you’re tired. I know you work long days regardless of whether or not you get a paycheck, but these are the days. This is it. They’re eating and making messes and distracting you and dancing and talking nonstop, but before you know it that house will go silent and that refrigerator could be holding just enough food for one.
So take a breath, in and out. Close your eyes. Feel the love around you.
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~Frederick Keonig
Now go make ’em some double chocolate muffins.
You’ll need: Vanilla, Milk, Chocolate Chips, Butter, Cocoa Powder, Self Rising Flour, Egg, and Sugar.
I’m using semi sweet chips but you can use any kind you want, really.
Place your sugar, flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl.
Don’t worry if your cocoa powder is lumpy, mine was so its in good company 🙂
Stir all that together.
To the melted and cooled butter, add your milk, vanilla, and egg and stir that up.
Now pour that into your dry ingredients and give it a good stir until well mixed.
Stir in chocolate chips.
You can cook this either in a greased muffin tin or muffin papers. I’m using muffin papers right now.
Bake at 400 for twenty minutes. Serve them with love.
oh, how pretty!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Self Rising Flour *
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Milk
- 3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 Egg
- 1 stick butter, melted and cooled
- 1 -1/2 cups chocolate chips I use semi sweet, use whatever you got though
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In large bowl combine flour, sugar, and cocoa powder.
- In separate bowl mix together melted butter, egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to mix well.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Divide batter among greased muffin cups or a muffin tin lined with muffin papers.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes about 18 muffins.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2011. I’ve updated it in 2020.
This post is featured on Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck!
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