Nutty Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Summer is a time for lengthy afternoon swimming & lazy BBQ-ing & ice cold sun tea-ing & long after-dinner walking. It's a time for late nights out on the patio because it's still light outside. It's a time to play in your yard with your kid(s) & enjoy all of the mysteries of childhood ("mama! a bee!!!") Summer is hardly a time to be slaving away in the kitchen.

I'm not a big heat person. I know you're surprised since I grew up in northern Minnesota, but I'm more comfortable with cold. I know how to dress in layers & I guess I'm just used to packing with extra jackets "just in case." My mom always baked something (or at the very least, would turn on the oven to warm the house) on exceptionally chilly mornings, so I think I've just followed that routine. I know how to tolerate long, cold winters because it's in my blood.

What I don't know how to live through is the heat. In fact, since moving to La Crosse almost 4 years ago, this was the first house that I've lived in that has air conditioning & it's not even central air... it's one window unit in our bedroom. 

So in the summer, when things get incredibly hot/humid/moist (yep, I said it), I want to be anywhere but in the kitchen. I'm actually compiling a list of my favorite non-cooking dinners to rotate through in the summer so that this summer can be spent where we belong-- outside! 

(Please comment below with any of your favorite summer meals!)

Although these granola bars may not exactly be dinner worthy, they most definitely are snack worthy. We are big snackers & I'm fine with that as long as we are filling our tummies with healthy, wholesome foods. For some time I've been making our own granola bars because I am picky, cheap, & don't like the majority of ingredients in the majority of granola bars we can afford. Plus, I hate individually wrapped things (what a waste!)

All that said, this is the recipe that I've been using for the past couple of years. It's incredible, BUT it was still way too sweet. I mean it's delicious, don't get me wrong, but the line between snack & dessert was being breached a little too much for me. Plus, I still wasn't a fan of all the ingredients even after I swapped the brown sugar for demerara & the karo syrup for honey (rice krispies have high fructose corn syrup in them... whaaaat?!)

So when my friend Lindsay over at The Live-In Kitchen posted this recipe, I knew I had found a winner. I love that there are only 7 ingredients in the recipe, that it is so simple & quick to make & that it is entirely satisfying. All of the nuts make for some serious satisfaction & the small amount of chocolate chips helps me ride the wave of chocolate bliss without coming down crashing into a crabby mess. 

And am I the last person on earth to make things with dates & like them?! I feel like I've avoided all things with dates in them because I thought I hated them. I guess I may have to revisit some other recipes I've poo-pooed in the past, but don't think I'll be trying those nasty date-filled cookies anytime soon. That's just a little too fast too soon.

Nutty Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 cup packed dates, pitted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
1/4 cup  chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spread the oats evenly on a baking sheet & toast in the oven for about 15 minutes or until they are slightly golden brown. When they are golden, transfer them to a medium bowl.

Place the almonds & cashews in a food processor & pulse a few times until roughly chopped. Add nuts to the bowl with the oats.

Place the dates in the food processor & process until well-chopped & dough-like (about 1 minute). Add the dates to the bowl with the nuts & oats.

In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the maple syrup & peanut butter. Once it's well combined & warm, pour it over the oat mixture. Mix thoroughly, breaking up the dates until thoroughly combined. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes before you add the chocolate chips (unless you like them to be melty). Line an 8x8 baking dish (or 9x13 if you don't want them to be so massively thick) with parchment paper & transfer the mix to the dish. Sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on top & press down with another piece of parchment until flattened. Transfer to the freezer for 10 minute to harden. Use the parchment to lift the bars out of the pan, then cut into 10 (more like 16 if using a 9x13) even bars.

Recipe taken from The Live-In Kitchen

Sweet Potato Zucchini Muffins

My perfect day would always involve a hearty muffin. Nothing too sweet, nothing too dense. Just hearty & delicious. When done right, they really are the perfect snack/treat no matter what the situation.

Right after Ruby was born, one of my friends brought over a large ziplock bag full of mini zucchini muffins. She labeled them "midnight nursing treats" & they were the best! Nursing made me super hungry, & mini muffins are just so easy to pop in your mouth, so it was a complete score.

My kid is the world's slowest eater at breakfast (usually when we need to be somewhere). Muffins can be the perfect breakfast on the go, minus the crumb factor.

And then there's just general business. Muffins are great when you need a little pick-me-up & don't have time to make something really healthy. They freeze well, too, so like in my case, I usually make 2 or 3 batches of a particular muffin we like, freeze the majority of them & then take them out as needed.

Although my husband could eat Kwik Trip muffins for the rest of his life, I know we are just too good for that. Those are pure sugar bombs & although I will admit that their double chocolate muffins just might be one of the most rich & chocolaty treat I've had, I shudder to read the ingredients,

My friends, these muffins I share with you are really the best of both worlds. They are hearty, they are mildly sweet, & guess what? There are 2 different veggies packed in them (plus 1 fruit). The veggies aren't hidden in puree form, so they make a sort of confetti look (one that Ruby generally picks out & squeals, "spinach!" before shoving it in her mouth).

I might be one of the only people who would prefer a more savory muffin to the crumb topped sugary ones, but I think that even the traditional muffin enjoyers would be satisfied by this muffin. If you're looking for a few other simple muffin recipes, check these ones out too:

• Blueberry muffins
• Whole wheat pumpkin, walnut & chocolate chip muffins
• Whole wheat carrot walnut muffins

I have a whole board on pinterest dedicated to muffins. Looks like I need to try out a few more recipes in the near future. What are your favorite muffin recipes?

Sweet Potato Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup demerara sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup milk
1 overripe mashed banana
2 tbsp ground flax seed (+4 tbsp water)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup grated sweet potato

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using a box grater or food processor, grate 1 cup of fresh zucchini (it took about three small zucchinis). Peel 1 medium sweet potato & do the same.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl & stir to combine. In a separate bowl, combine 2 tbsp ground flax with 1/4 cup water & set aside to thicken into a “flax egg.” Once thickened, combine all wet ingredients & add to the dry mixing bowl.

Grease your muffin pan (unless you are using silicone cups, there there's no need!) & spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown & cooked through. If using silicone cups, pop them out of the cups immediately & allow them to cool on a cooling rack.

Recipe adapted from The Daily Garnish

Crockpot Yogurt

 Decadently thick homemade yogurt with fresh strawberries & basic almond granola

Last night I almost killed our yogurt. And our pipes. And maybe even us. It was about -20 F & I shut off our heat (accidentally). I was fooling around with our programmable thermostat earlier in the day & in order to update the settings, you first need to shut the heat off, so I did. And then I got busy messing with the thermostat, which reminded me that I needed to throw our diapers in the dryer, which reminded me that I had a mound of other laundry to fold, which reminded me that I needed to re-organize some of Ruby's clothes... & the list went on & on, which meant that I forgot to turn the heat back on.

And then we borrowed Mad Men from our library & I honestly don't remember the rest of the night because I was in total & utter bliss. It's one of our most favorite shows & we've been waiting so patiently for it to come out on DVD so we could binge on all the goodness (how on earth people watch just one episode per week completely baffles me). Our TV is in the basement, so it's always pretty chilly down there, so I didn't notice the heat not being on.

But when I woke up this morning, my nose was cold, which was strange because our room is usually unpleasantly warm in the mornings (thank you radiator heat). At that point, I started wondering if our boiler was dead, which reminded me that I shut off the heat, which reminded me that I had yogurt brewing & that it might actually be dead (again).

The last few batches of yogurt-making haven't been so smooth. Well they've been smooth, just not thick. And I blame it mostly on the frozen tundra-like conditions both inside & outside of my house (we keep it pretty chilly at night, even when the heat is on). So when I ran downstairs & saw that our thermostat read 48 degrees, I worried about our little yogurt baby. Thankfully, my good ol' trusted yogurt-making friend had just suggested that I put the yogurt in the oven, wrapped in blankets & turn the oven light on, so that's what we did last night. And we got a little more into taking the temperature of the brewing yogurt, so now we've got it down.

I make this yogurt just about once a week & it makes a little more than a quart. We're saving all kinds of cash because the yogurt we really like is about $6 (Fage) & this calls for only 1/2 a gallon of milk. I even strain it so it's super thick & creamier than you could even imagine (if you don't strain it you will yield twice as much yogurt). I sub it for sour cream all the time & it's sensational.

Don't let making your own yogurt scare you. I had to get past that fear/weirdness of making yogurt, but once I did, now it's really a struggle for me to buy it. There's lots of different ways to make it, but I enjoy this method the most because it's super simple & for the most part, hands off. Because let's face it, we've all got a lot on our minds, so we don't need another thing to have to think about. Just leave the heat on in your house & it will turn out famously.

Crockpot Yogurt
Ingredients

8 cups of whole milk

1/2 cup of plain yogurt with live active cultures (we like whole milk or 2% Fage)

Directions (for summer)
In a 4 quart crockpot, pour in 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of milk. Turn crockpot on low & heat for 2 hours & 45 minutes. After time has elapsed, turn off the crockpot & let the milk cool in the crock with the lid on for 3 hours. After the additional time has elapsed, remove lid & stir in 1/2 cup of yogurt with live active cultures & mix very well. Place the cover back on the crock & wrap the entire crockpot in a thick bath towel or two & let it sit overnight (8-12 hours). 

In the morning stir yogurt & transfer it to glass quart jars if you like it thinner (you'll also get more this way). If you're like us & are kind of snotty about yogurt & like it thick, strain it. 

I have found the easiest way to do this is to take 4 coffee filters & place them in a strainer so the entire strainer is covered & then put the strainer over a large bowl. Scoop about 2 cups of the yogurt (for an average size strainer) into the strainer & let strain for 20 minutes or so & then place the remaining yogurt from the strainer in a jar & continue straining until you've thickened the heck out of the yogurt. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using.

Directions (for winter)

It's pretty similar, you just need to keep an eye on the yogurt more. Instead of letting it cool for 3 hours (after the initial cook time of 2 hours 45 minutes), take the yogurt's temp every so often. When it has cooled to 110 degrees (about 2 hours for us last night), then add your 1/2 cup of yogurt. Also, after you wrap your crockpot in blankets, place the it in the oven with the light on. This will help it to stay at the right temp overnight.

Recipe adapted from milkandhoneyliving.com

Whole Wheat Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was going to write about some recent successful dresser updates I've done lately, but then I realized that I haven't taken any pictures of them & I'm way too lazy to get up out of bed to take them (still feeling a bit drizzly), so you'll have to read about cookies instead. Although, just thinking about these precious little jewels, might lure me to the kitchen to bake some more.

I am borderline obsessed with coconut oil, especially in baking & I think that's what really makes these cookies. It's a running joke (truth) in my home that I am not the preferred cookie maker. For whatever reason (perhaps keeping my eyes on a curious toddler, doing laundry, cooking, baking, cleaning, & not burning the house down at the same time) I hardly ever make cookies well. Plus, I have been known to throw in a few healthier substitutes, whereas John instead piles on the butter, chocolate chips, etc. But I think I may have found a game-changer with these cookies. Behold, my new favorites... so soft, so fluffy, so perfectly sweet & faintly coconutty.

Whole Wheat Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup demerara (or any kind of sugar)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Beat the coconut oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla, & salt together for about 1 minute. Add in the baking powder, baking soda, & flour & blend until just mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop out 1 tablespoon-sized cookies onto a baking sheet that has been covered in a silpat mat (I used parchment paper & also rolled them out so they would be more round). Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes (good luck).

Recipe taken from chocolateandcarrots.com 

Graham Crackers

Today, both Ruby & I are a bit under the weather. As much as we try to prevent sickness in our family, it's bound to happen, so when it does, we're usually pretty good about hunkering down & resting like it's an Olympic sport. Neither one of us really like sitting in one place for hours on end, though, so we found a few (low energy) activities to occupy our day. One of those was making graham crackers.

I have this weird love & appreciation for softer-than-usual graham crackers. I may have been known to leave a package (or two) open so that they actually become soft (gasp, I know!) And most people swear by them for their kids-- such an easy, delightful snack, right? We usually try to stay away from the majority of snacky processed foods, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.

This recipe was super easy & I had everything on hand, which is a bonus. If you are really crafty, you could cut these babies into fun little shapes (like the animals or alphabet cutters that are in my "favorite things" on the right hand side) instead of going the boring rectangular route. You can even make pretty little designs on them if your toddler isn't screaming at you to eat them. I gave up after three, so you can see in my picture.

Graham Crackers
Ingredients
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup  demera
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, chilled & cubed
1/4 cup honey (get local if you can)
1/4 cup water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor combine the first 5 ingredients. Add butter to the mix & pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Add honey & water & continue to mix until it all combines.

Remove & shape the dough into a flat disk & place between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter or knife. Place cookies on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet & bake for 15 minutes. Cool & serve (preferably with some whole milk... mmm).

Recipe adpated from Weelicious

Here are some updated pics after getting some amazing alphabet cutters (see the link to them in my "favorite things" on the right hand side).

(This post contains an affiliate link, which means that if you purchase something from amazon, I will get a small compensation).

Thinking about cutting back on sugar?

We've been on a fun. healthy journey of trying to cut out as much refined white sugar as possible & it's shocking to me to find that sugar is lurking EVERYWHERE now that we're reading more labels. It's been hard to cut processed white sugar because so many of the convenient foods contain so much of it, but I'm trying to simplify the things we eat, eat more "whole" foods, & stop purchasing the things that contain white sugar.

The USDA recommends that a person who consumes a 2,000 calorie diet should not consume more than about 40 grams of refined sugars per day. I challenge you to keep track of how much refined sugar you eat in a day... it adds up very quickly (just as a side note, I really like two programs to help track food: Spark People & Lose It. I've used Spark People for some time now, but just recently stumbled upon Lose It & really find it helpful it so far).

It's been tricky to discover just how much sugar is OK to eat. There's no established RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for sugar, because as far as it's known, we don't need sugar for nutrition. All foods have some natural sugars, but sugar itself—the white or brown stuff we put in our cookies, is a purely optional taste sensation. The USDA recommends that sugar make up no more than 8% of the daily intake of calories, but most American adults take in twice that much. It's an easy thing to do when a single can of pop contains more than 10 teaspoons of sugar!

I've been reading this book called, "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan & found this staggering:

"An American born in 2000 has a 1 in 3 chance of developing diabetes in his lifetime; the risk is even greater for a Hispanic American or African American. A diagnosis of diabetes subtracts roughly twelve years from one's life & living with the condition incurs medical costs of $13,000 a year (compared with $2,500 for someone without diabetes). This is global pandemic in the making, but a most unusual one, because it involves no virus or bacteria, no microbe of any kind-- just a way of eating. It remains to be seen whether we'll respond by changing our diet or our culture & economy. Although an estimated 80% of cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented by a change of diet & exercise, it looks like the smart money is instead on the creation of a vast new diabetes industry" (page 136).

So we've been cutting back & like I said, it hasn't been easy, but the more research I do, the more convinced I am that we do not need white sugar in our diet. And I'm actually discovering that I don't miss it at all. In fact, I've been enjoying some of the new products that I am purchasing to replace some of our other sugary ones:

We really like this peanut butter. It's a great natural peanut butter that doesn't get too hard to spread on bread if you don't stir it very well. It has 1 gram of sugar (no added sugar) & the ingredients include: peanuts. Yep, that's it! The way peanut butter should be. Even though other peanut butters contain only about 2-5 grams of sugar per serving, there are other ingredients in the peanut butter that don't need to be! Check out the ingredients below the Smuckers (even the "natural" Skippy has ingredients like: roasted peanuts, sugar, palm oil, & salt).

This is our new #1 choice for yogurt. You really need to check out the sugar content of your favorite yogurt because I'm guessing it's higher than you think (check out the Yoplait below the Fage). We've recently discovered that Greek yogurt is actually more healthy for you than "regular" yogurt. Our Mediterranean friend—which is strained extensively to remove much of the liquid whey, lactose, & sugar, giving it its thick consistency—has about the same amount of calories, but double the protein, & half the sugar. We buy the plain variety & then add a tiny bit of honey for us or a bit of pureed blueberries or strawberries for Ruby. It's a bit more expensive than other yogurts, but so worth the splurge. We are going to be using Greek yogurt for a substitute for other dairy products that don't have much nutritional value (like sour cream).

Mmm, almond milk (unsweetened, of course!) I have been using this in my smoothies, but look forward to using it in more baking adventures that call for milk. Did you know that a cup of skim milk has 12.3 grams of sugar in it? It's no wonder that baby cows (& other baby mammals) can grow so quickly by consuming it... just food for thought.

Make sure that all your frozen/canned fruits have no added sugars in them. I have been buying some frozen fruits since they aren't really in season for my smoothies. I can't believe how much sugar is in these canned peaches.

I love Diet Coke. It's actually one of my favorite drinks, but I'm trying my best to give it up. The aspartame in it just freaks me out & I know it's not good for me. But I still like a fizzy drink every now & again, so we now try to stay stocked up on mineral water. There is no added sugar, caffeine, calories, etc. & it tastes wonderful when I need something other than water to drink.

Honey is delicious & we have been using it as a substitute for most of the white sugar that we're purging. It's still sugar (because at the end of the day, sugar is sugar), so you have to just use it in moderation. I have used it in my muffins, cakes, brownies, granola, granola bars, bread, & on yogurt or in my tea. Scrumptious.

Coconut is another fun substitute for sugar in baking (if you don't mind the taste/texture of coconut). I buy this unsweetened variety that contains just 1 gram of sugar naturally. I have also ordered some coconut oil that I am going to use as a sub in some baking & I'll let you know how that goes.

Other things we've used that I forgot to take pictures of: bananas (used to sweeten up smoothies, muffins, cakes, etc.), demerara sugar (click here for more info on what that is), sucanant (click here for more info on what that is), & maple syrup.

Here is an article from WebMD that also talks about foods that are surprisingly high in sugar
Lastly, here is another article from CBS News on children eating too much sugar.

Some highlights: “‘Whoever is the gatekeeper for the family food supply needs to take a good, hard look at their choices. Obviously, junk foods, cookies, desserts and sodas are high in sugar and non-nutritive calories,’ Heller said.

But added sugars lurk in unexpected places such as dried fruit snacks, instant iced teas, banana chips, fruit punch, boxed dessert mixes, fat-free caramel popcorn, chicken nuggets, ketchup, BBQ sauce, tartar sauce and fat-free salad dressings, she noted.

Ways to reduce sugar intake include buying fewer prepared, frozen and boxed processed foods; making baked goods from scratch and using less sugar; having water, fat-free milk and flavored seltzers on hand; making your own salad dressing; and having cut-up fresh fruit available for desserts and snacks, Heller advised.

She also recommended reading the ingredient list on foods and checking for hidden sugars such as: brown rice syrup, dextrose, fructose, molasses, sucrose, corn sweetener, barley malt syrup, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, cane juice syrup and sorghum.”

Fruit & Vegetable Smoothie

Let's just get something out there right now--I'm not a big smoothie fan. That probably stems from the fact that I'm not a big fruit fan (shame, I know). I think I can count the fruits I enjoy on one hand. That being said, smoothies aren't my bff. They're usually too fruity & far too sweet for my taste (now if they are made with chocolate, that's another story, but I think they call those malts). So, I kind of feel like a poser sharing this smoothie recipe, but I have to!

Recently, we had a friend stay with us from Duluth & she shared this smoothie recipe with me. She's been on this amazing health journey (my words, not hers) & she's lost some weight & has been making all kinds of healthy life choices, so when she shared this recipe, I listened. I adapted it a little bit to fit our "no sugar" thing, but it's still incredible. It's not too sweet & it's a bit earthy. And best of all, I get 4 servings of fruits, 1 serving of leafy greens, & 2 servings of protein (1 pro-biotic). I wish I would have had this recipe when I was pregnant & trying to cram all that food in (I had a serious log that included daily: 2 eggs, 4 servings of dairy/calcium, 6 servings of protein, 2 servings of leafy greens, 5 servings of grains, veggies or fruits, 2 servings of vitamin c foods, 3 servings of fats or oils, 1 serving of a vitamin a food & they couldn't overlap i.e. milk couldn't count for a protein & dairy!)

If you can't buy the fruits in season, you can play it safe & purchase them frozen. They are picked & frozen in their peak, so they aren't as much of a gamble (one reason why fruits frustrate me!)

What you need (you can obviously swap any fruit/veg, but I like this combo)

1/2 banana

1/4 avocado

5-6 strawberries

1/2 cup peaches

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (we like Fage, but you could also make your own to save $$$)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

2 tablespoons ground flax seed (ground flax has higher nutritional value)

2 cups spinach or other leafy green (I've tried kale & swiss chard, too)

Oat Drops

I made these last week & was pleasantly surprised. They tasted a bit like banana bread, as they have mashed bananas in them in lieu of sugar. I also put chocolate chips in them, which isn't sugar free, but as you remember, I said chocolate is not off limits :) Plus, neither one of us like dried fruit.

Oat Drops
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats

1 cup coconut flakes (I used unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup of almond meal (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped (I used walnuts)
1 cup dried fruit (I used chocolate chips...)
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup canola oil (I used apple sauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, almond meal, mixed nuts & coconut flakes. Stir in allspice & cinnamon. Add dried fruit & stir until well & evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit do not stick together in big batches. In another bowl, combine canola oil, mashed banana & vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients & stir until well combined. Roll into balls. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Recipe taken from blueberrygirlinoz.blogspot.com

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these for a community lunch that we have from time to time at our church & man, oh man... they turned out fabulously! Of course, I had to try one last night to make sure they were "good" & it took me a lot of strength to actually bring them to church today because DANG! I ended up putting them in the fridge over night because of the frosting & I think they were even better today... more moist & delicious & perfect for this time of year. Enjoy!

Double chocolate pumpkin cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 C. cake flour

2/3 C. cocoa powder

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 C. plain lowfat yogurt

1 3/4 C. canned pumpkin (15 oz. can)

1 t. white vinegar

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 C. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 C. lightly-packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup mini chocolate chips (I used regular-sized ones)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda & salt together; set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the yogurt, pumpkin, vinegar, & vanilla extract, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter & brown sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Alternately beat in the flour & pumpkin mixtures in thirds. Fold in the mini chocolate chips. Spoon batter into cupcake cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Place cupcake pans in the center of the preheated 350 degree oven & bake approximately 25 minutes. 

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare cream cheese frosting (recipe follows). When cupcakes are completely cool, spread with frosting.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 C. unsalted butter, softened

2 C. powdered sugar

1/4. t. vanilla extract

1/8 t. ground cinnamon

1/8 t. fresh ground nutmeg

Directions
In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, & nutmeg.

If frosting is too soft, chill in fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Recipe taken from pinchmysalt.com