Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Let's talk about the snow for a minute. It started coming down Thursday and basically, the state of Oregon came to a halt. Or at least, that's what it felt like. Josh went to work as planned Thursday morning and went with some colleagues to a business meeting and by the time they got out of the meeting which was around 11:45am the snow was here and sticking and Portland drivers were freaking out. To make a long story short, it took Josh 5 ½ hours and the help of my parents for him to get home to me. Needless to say, Friday, he worked from home. And I spent the entire weekend baking since I don't own a shred of any kind of snow attire except for scarves, hats, and gloves. The only normal coat I own (that isn't a dressy/formal-ish coat), the zipper had magically stopped working and I only discovered this as the snow came in. Joy!

While my kids played outside for hours, Josh worked, and Christian napped, I baked. That was until Sunday morning came along and I wanted to bake yet another treat, I realized I had used my only stick of butter and I was out. I had long ago used up the butter reserve I kept in my freezer, my Smart Balance butter I used for every day food wasn't going to cut it, and I was snowed/iced in because we had freezing rain the night before. I begged Josh all morning to get me to the store so I could get my grocery shopping done or at least load up on more butter!

By 2pm, it had warmed up enough outside to get in the car and get my groceries! I loved being cooped up in the house all weekend. I loved baking in the kitchen while I watched the snow fall. I know the snow brought some inconvenience to our metro area, but it forced my little family to slow down and hang out and relax without the constant errand running we oftentimes do on the weekend. And I finally had the chance to make these muffins and they are fabulous. Completely soft and moist. With sweetness from the berries and bitter (in a good way) from the dark chocolate. They are heaven!