Skinny Yogurt Muffins with Sunshine Glaze

Skinny Yogurt Muffins with Sunshine Glaze. Only takes one bowl!

Let me just start by saying BEST MUFFINS EVER. Glad I got that off my chest, whew. 

I’m a chocolate-girl down to my bones. Take me to a bakery and I’ll always pick a chocolate croissant or fudgy brownie over anything else. Fruity flavors have always been the side show. Kinda like the previews before the movie actually starts. You eat them and are like okay… this is tasty, but where’s the real stuff? Bring me the real stuff!

 That’s why I’m completely shocked myself that this recipe is perhaps one of my favorites ever. Bold claim, no? 

Oh, and funny story about this next picture. It turns out getting the perfect action shot of drizzle is a lot harder than it looks. Initially I had Kyle on spoon duty, but the boy just cannot drizzle for the life of him. The first round of pictures came out looking like a bird had decided to take a huge dump on my fluffy muffins… yeah, not too appetizing. After a few more unsuccessful poo- photos, I handed my DLSR camera to Kyle and took matters into my own hands. It turns out that he can handle a fancy camera on manual settings, but can’t put glaze on a muffin. But you know what? Everyone has flaws and I guess I can maybe still like him. Maybe. After all, isn’t that what love is? Accepting each other regardless of their baked-good topping prowess? 

Skinny Yogurt Muffins with Sunshine Glaze. Only takes one bowl!

I’m a cheater. A lot of people think that having a food blog translates to me being a food snob, but the exact opposite is true. Feed me all the packaged Kraft mac and cheese and you know what? Turkey and stuffing microwavable dinners might actually be one of my favorite things ever. When recipes tell me to sift in the flour (ain’t nobody got time for that) or let butter comes to room temp over night (nahh, it’s going in the microwave 3 seconds before I use it), I scoff.

While I love Ina Garten, the idea of having to make my own chicken broth by scratch to use for gravy is just a romanticized idea of cooking for me 😯 . That’s why, I’m a cheater. These muffins are the product of a cooking lie. They’re made with *gasp* the help of a baking mix. 

Skinny Yogurt Muffins with Sunshine Glaze. Only takes one bowl!

But YOU GUYS. They’re SO GOOD!!!! 

Big, fat berries in every bite and the most delicious glaze you’ve ever tasted. You can even throw in a handful of nuts for some extra goodness. The glaze tastes like sunshine and is bright and lemon-y and perfect. Along with being my shmookie pookie poo, Kyle is my guinea pig when it comes to my recipes. After these came out of the oven, I asked him if he wanted to try some sunshine. Luckily, the boy doesn’t question me anymore and just opens his mouth. In goes the sunshine and out comes the oohhs and ahhs. His response? “Sunshine is the perfect name for this!”

Also, let’s pretend I didn’t just refer to him as my schmookie pookie poo. Let’s also disregard that I googled “the most disgustingly cute names to call boyfriend” to find it. Go big or go home.

Also! No butter! No oil! Just greek yogurt and eggs to help bind everything together into one amazing batter that is mixed together in just one bowl. My apartment has the smallest kitchen the world has ever seen and dishes add up reeeaal fast in our sink. Things get out of hand and it seems like the minute I start cooking or baking my kitchen turns into a place of chaos and dish-anarchy. One bowl recipes are my saving grace. Especially when one bowl leads to this.

Be still, my heart.

Skinny Yogurt Muffins with Sunshine Glaze. Only takes one bowl!

 

 

Dark Chocolate Strawberry Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate covered strawberries in cookie form! So delicious and easy!

So THIS is my ideal Friday morning.

Wake up slow. Brew some coffee.  Get some cookie dough going (most of which will never see the oven). Enjoy some blog reading while my cookies are baking away. Alternate sips with bites because coffee+a little sweetness = my personal heaven.

Sometimes it’s worth skipping your 8 a.m lecture for a lazy morning.

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Can I marry my Tiffany Blue KitchenAid Mixer?

When I was younger, I used to go to the local ice skating rink with my mom and sister when the summer heat was in full blast. I remember always envying those cute little skating outfits that they had on sale and my 8 year old self seriously contemplated becoming a professional ice skater so I could twirl around in them. Unfortunately, my mom made a rule that my skating career had to last more than a year before I was allowed to get one, and that was just too big of a commitment. So anyways, we would skate for an hour or so before heading off of the ice to take a break and grab a snack. They had a couple of vending machines next to the wooden benches that were filled with your standard candy and chips, but my mind was always made up before I even put my coins in. I wanted cookies! And not just any cookies, those Knott’s Berry Farm Raspberry Shortbread Cookies. With a hot chocolate in hand, I would nibble my way around the outside edges till that last glorious bite remained. 

Chocolate covered strawberries in cookie form! So delicious and easy!

Now that the weather has been reaching the mid-90s lately, I’ve been craving those cookies! My mind just can’t seem to get them out of my head, but I’ve checked my local grocery store and womp womp womp, I couldn’t find one package. I cried for a few hours, then realized that I’m a food blogger and I could probably make them myself. Hooray! 

Chocolate covered strawberries in cookie form! So delicious and easy!

These are basically the grownup version of those tasty shortbread cookies. You get a buttery and perfectly sweet shortbread base that you then smother with strawberry jam and a dark chocolate drizzle. And guess what! You can cover the whole top with the good stuff, so no outside nibbling is required to get the perfect bite. I guess that’s what being a grownup means- no one can dictate how you eat your cookies! 

I baked these in the morning before leaving for another lecture, and midday I got this text from my housemate, Kelty. When I got back, there were only 10 left out of the 25+ that I had made. I’ll take that as a success! 

image-1DSC_2183To cut the cookies, I used the smallest biscuit cutter from the Norpro Scallop Biscuit/Cookie Cutter pack I ordered a few weeks back. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, just roll the dough into a small ball before flattening it to the right size with your hand.

The base shortbread layer comes from the lovely Ina Garten

 

WIAW #3

These last couple of days have been jam-packed with studying for my chemistry midterm today. I’ve been pretty consistent about getting in my workouts, but I always feel like my health suffers when it’s midterm season. There never seems to be enough time for exercise and I don’t get nearly enough sleep and drink way too much coffee. At least my eats have been pretty good! Which brings us to my third WIAW post! Time seems to be flying and I can’t believe I’ve been participating in them for 3 weeks already :).


Breakfast: An egg white omelet with ham, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, green onions, tomatoes, and nonfat plain greek yogurt on the side in place of sour cream. Along with that I had a banana that I dipped in peanut butter and jelly with plenty of coffee to keep me going.

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Kyle was so excited to show me how healthy of a breakfast he had gotten as well. What a cutie! Look at that charming banana smile.

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Lunch: I had a late lunch of a Subway sandwich around 2:30. Honey wheat oat bread, chicken breast, and all the veggies they could cram in! Baked chips for the crunch and grapes for a little sweetness. I’m not really too much of a chip person (I know, I’m weird), but I firmly believe that no sandwich is complete without them!

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Snack: I was feeling munchy so I sneakily picked out a good amount of M&Ms from Kyle’s trail mix. Yes, I’m that person. Where can I pick up my Best Girlfriend of the Year Award?

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Dinner: I wasn’t all too hungry for dinner, so I ended up only nibbling on my pasta. It was good though! Spaghetti noodles with marinara sauce and sautéed italian sausage and bell peppers. Along with that I had a salad with some Thousand Island dressing (I could honestly DRINK that stuff).

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Dessert was in the form of a delicious oozy-gooey pumpkin cake which I shared with Kyle. I asked if we should have ice cream or a latte with it, to which he replied with “Why or?”. That’s my boy.

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I’m hoping to get in a run today later in the evening after I take a long post-midterm nap.

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Hope you had some good eats as well :).

xoxo Christine