Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Happy New Year everyone! I know everyone is probably making their New Years' resolutions. I'm not sure how I feel about resolutions. Last year my resolutions were to blog more, work out more (oops), try yoga (I tried and liked it), and meditation (we went once). I successfully blogged more than I did in 2010 and I would really like to try to blog even more in 2012. I am going to try to do better and blog 3-4 times a week. As for working out... well I can say is oops. I do dance quite a bit but that's not all year. The whole running on a treadmill thing sounds awful, although I can say that I successfully worked out yesterday. I was on the treadmill, watching Lingo and yelling out words at the TV. My sister came in the room at one point and asked why I was screaming "otter" really loudly. It's probably a good thing I was doing that at home and not the gym. As for other forms of working out, I do really like yoga. Working on the mind and body at the same time is something that really works for me. In addition to those resolutions I also made some food resolutions. I wanted to try things that in the past I hated. I successfully tried and liked cream cheese (not sure why I did that because I now have an obsession), yogurt, and oatmeal. This year I think I'm going to try to eat better and become more active. Last year Nathan and I decided that we wanted to create a list of hobbies that we wanted to start doing more of before we became accountants and started working a lot. Meditation, french, cooking, and knitting were some of the ones on my list. While I may not have kept with all of those the entire year, I at least tried them all and enjoyed them. Hopefully when we start school again we'll start a new list and take on some new hobbies. Hope everyone has some stellar resolutions ready for this year! If you're trying to eat healthier this is probably not the best recipe to start off with for the new year. But everything in moderation right?

I made these muffins for our last Friday tax class a few weeks ago. A few days before that one of my friends from the the accounting program, Ben, gave me this book. He had gotten it from his grandma but didn't see himself making cupcakes too often so he gave it to me. I was so excited when I got the book and immediately picked out these muffins. I have a least a few dozen more dog-eared so I can't wait to give those a try soon. These muffins were delicious-- really chocolatey but you can still taste the peanut butter flavor. I'm not even sure you can call them muffins as they can definitely be eaten for dessert. I just sprinkled some powdered sugar on top as the recipe suggested but they would taste great without it or even with some frosting!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar, for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups or grease with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, peanut butter, sour cream, egg, and egg white. Mix until well combined. On low speed mix in the flour, cocoa, water, and baking soda until no more white streaks remain. With a spoon, stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon into the muffins cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. When the muffins are cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Recipe from Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes