The Best Part Of Waking Up

One week from today I will be on a plane to Washington DC! woot!

I'm so excited to go back there. I lived there for a short while in the early 90's, but that was a long time ago and I'm sure things have changed. Not that I'd really notice if they did though because I was just a kid and there's so much I don't remember. I'm hoping since I'm older I'll be able to better appreciate the city.

Mr. H and I are going with my in-laws. My MIL's cousin who volunteered for two tours in the Vietnam war passed away recently and he's going to be buried at Arlington Cemetery. So we will go to pay our respects to a man who served our country. It's such an honor, I just can't tell you. We'll be staying a few extra days and doing a little sightseeing of our national monuments and historic museums. I'll be sure to take lots of photos!

If you have any recommendations on where to eat, shop or visit in Washington DC please let me know! We're open to any and all suggestions.

On to these glorious muffins. They are loaded with fat- like three sticks of butter but they were not at all greasy! They pack a punch of caffeine that comes from the espresso powder and of course they're complimented by semi sweet chocolate morsels. What more could you ask for in a morning muffin? They were like a hot mocha latte in a paper liner. The batter was interesting- it was super thick almost like cookie dough and I thought I had done something wrong but they turned out perfectly.

Right after they came out of the oven the muffin tops had a slight crunchiness to them which was a nice contrast to the delicate interior. The next day, they were melt in your mouth tender and the coffee flavor had intensified adding an extra zing in my step. I froze them and reheated them for 30 seconds in the microwave and we had them for breakfast for the next few weeks. Completely delicious, but definitely for coffee lovers only!

I did not bake these in the cup. I baked them in paper liners and placed it in the cup for photo purposes.

Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins from Little Cakes via ReTorte

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Beat at high speed in a large bowl until fluffy:

• 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 5 tbsp instant espresso powder*

Sift in:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

At low speed add until just combined:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips**

Scoop the batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350F for 20 - 25 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes about 2 dozen muffins.

NOTE: The recipe says you should get 18 muffins, but I got 24 standard size muffins AND 12 mini muffins!

*I used a combination of Starbucks Via, Medaglia D'oro Instant Espresso and Folgers Instant Coffee.

**I used 1 cup of chocolate chips in the muffin batter then I used about half a cup of extra chips to place on top of the muffins before they went in the oven.