Below is a combination story and recipe for Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins. This is effectively a format and style test for the cookbook I've been working on all year. The cookbook itself is still a long long way off from completion. Recipes are still getting tested, the story is only outlined and the formatting is still up in the air, but steady progress is good progress! For all intents and purposes, you might consider this an unofficial prologue as the characters introduced are intended to return in the full cookbook.

Without further ado,

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A Bear's Wake-Up Call

Written by: Ryker-Wolf

      BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

      “Ugh…” I groaned. The alarm on my phone blared in my ears, signaling another day of work. I rolled over in bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes with my heavy, white paws. What time even is it?

      I tapped at the screen, bringing it to life, only to swipe away at the alarm and gaze at the digital numbers emblazoned on the screen.

      8:45 AM

      “Shoot!” I was running late for work again. Even with several extra alarms throughout the morning, I still slept through most of them. 8:45 was the last one I had set before running the risk of being late to work...again.

      A small amount of adrenaline pumped into my veins, waking up my body just enough to get ready and out the door. I wrestled with my sheets as I scrambled to get out of bed and into the shower of the en suite bathroom. The shower water ran cold for a good two minutes before warming up, waking my body up even faster and washing away the sleepy weights in my limbs. At least my thick fur lessened the blow of the ice-cold water.

      I always had to scrub extra hard when showering. Fur built for swimming tended to make it hard for the soapy suds to get all the way down to the roots. After a solid fifteen minutes of showering and scrubbing, I bolted out of the shower and into the full-body fur dryer and cranked it up to max speed. C’mon! C’mon! Soon enough, the fans of the dryer whirred to life and began to blast me with warm air, quickly drying me in just a couple of minutes. It had been so worth it to invest in a full-body fur dryer. Handheld ones just didn’t get the job done fast enough.

      Returning to the bedroom, I dug through the drawers of my dresser for my clothes, quickly slipping them on over my fluffed-up fur. I sat back down on the bed to slip on my socks and shoes, taking a moment to check the time again: 9:08 AM. I was making good time!

      I heaved a sigh of relief and finished tying up the laces of my boots. I even took a moment to check myself in the full-body mirror that sat on my bedroom door.

      Deep, dark brown eyes stared back at me. My white fur still looked fluffy from the fur dryer. At least the dry air of the Colorado mountains would take care of that soon enough. My round ears stood proudly with my round ursine face. I ran a paw through the fluff on my head, trying to pat down the fur that stood out like cowlicks. More fluff was bunched around my neck like a mane, hiding my neck and sticking out of my shirts.

      My favorite red flannel was stretched tight over my large, powerful arms. The sleeves were rolled up past my elbows, showing off my even larger forearms. Like my fur, my arms were built for swimming. Instead of narrowing down toward the end, my arms kept the same circumference as my upper arms if not a little bit bigger than them. Paddles, each ending with catcher’s mitt-sized paw with slightly webbed digits. The webbing only went as far as the first knuckle, preserving my dexterity but making the catcher's mitt analogy all the more fitting.

      I liked to keep the flannel shirt unbuttoned, layering it with a more simple shirt like a henley, but today I decided to pair it with my favorite graphic tee, a black t-shirt with the logo of one of my favorite online video creators. They were known online for their baking show centered on making treats themed around pop culture and video games.

      However, the shirt always ran a bit short and threatened to ride up my belly, calling more attention to it than the stretched logo ever could. Despite being a polar bear, the tiny amount of grizzly bear DNA from my mom’s side of the family fought for a long hibernation and heavy eating leading up to the holidays. Even after the dead of winter, April's blizzards made keeping the insulating fat more important.

      Nothing a few trips to the gym couldn’t alleviate. A hot summer bod wasn't going to make itself! No matter how hard I tried to work off the belly though, I could never quite escape my pear-shaped frame.

      I sighed and tried to pull the t-shirt further down my belly, to little success. My dark wash jeans couldn’t help hide my belly any more than the shirt could. The blubbery fat threatened to roll over the waist of my jeans and push them down further. With another sigh, I turned on my heels and finished my morning routine before packing my bag for the day and heading out into the crisp March air.

      Luckily, work wasn’t too far from home. I rarely needed to drive there, save for the occasional cold snap or blizzard. I worked at the local library, the Lachen Library. The Lachen family owned nearly half of all the businesses in our quaint mountain town. No one really minded it though. The businesses they ran stayed local or acted as public spaces for the community, host to dozens of events. The cafés were among the most popular venues.

      The Lachen library was no different. The large size of the building, central location, and unique architecture compared to the rest of the town made it a popular place to visit as the defacto community center. We even had a full commercial kitchen! Complete with commercial-grade refrigerators, freezers, stand mixers, and dishwashers. It was really that big! I liked to spend what time that wasn’t spent reading the day away in the kitchen, baking and cooking all sorts of goodies for myself and my coworkers.

      This morning, I had a plan for something that might help me with my lack of energy in the mornings, espresso muffins with chocolate chips sprinkled in. The caffeine boost could help me get the energy I needed to get through the slow, quiet mornings at work.

      As I stepped into the library and punched in, my boss, Hendrix Lachen stepped up to greet me. Compared to my large body, he almost looked like a twig.

      “Good morning, David!” He cheered. Always the early bird. I yawned in reply.

      “Good...morning, Mr. Lachen.” I waved back.

      The hyena’s ever-present smile disappeared for a moment, “Come on, David. How many times have I asked you to just call me by my first name?”

      “At least twice?” I mumbled back. He smiled again.

      “Headed to the kitchen for coffee again?” I nodded. “Well, don’t forget to sort through the overnight returns and check them back in, alright? I want them back on the shelves before we open.” He winked at me and trotted off toward his office.

      I trudged toward the kitchen and started a pot of fresh coffee. Soon the sweet smell of coffee was wafting from the kitchen and throughout the first floor of the library.

      While the coffee brewed, I logged onto the library computer and quickly checked in the returned books, setting them onto a cart for later. I grabbed my large coffee mug from the shelf of clean dishes and poured myself a cup, being sure to add a fair amount of cream and sugar before taking a hearty sip.

      “Mmm!” The first cup of the day always tasted the best. Immediately, I could feel the caffeine slowly seep into my bloodstream and spike my energy.

      Feeling a little recharched, I started working on the treat I had been waiting all morning to do. I pulled out a small slip of paper with the ingredients I needed.

      As a home cook and enthusiastic baker, full access to a commercial kitchen was a big draw for my application to the Lachen Library. My creations were often met with praise by my coworkers, eager to taste my latest dish.

      I was sure that this morning’s treat would be no different. I set the slip of paper on the counter and started grabbing my ingredients.

      1 1/2 CUPS Whole Milk

      2 TBLS Espresso Powder

      1/2 CUP Unsalted Butter

      2 TBLS Vegetable Oil

      3/4 CUP Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar

      1 TBLS Vanilla Extract

      3 Large Eggs

      2 2/3 CUPS A.P. Flour

      2 1/2 TSP Baking Powder

      1/2 TSP Salt

      12 OZ Semisweet Chocolate Chips

      Once everything was set out, I started preheating the oven to 425°F and got the MILK and ESPRESSO POWDER into a small pot on a medium heat. While those were working, I started to sort and place the overnight returns back on the shelves throughout the library.

      When I got back, the milk mixture was just below a scald. I whisked the mixture as it rose to a scald and cooked it for a minute or two until the milk had turned brown like chocolate milk, quickly removing it from the heat and placing it in the fridge to cool. I didn’t want to accidentally cook the eggs before getting my muffins in the oven after all.

      The oven chimed, letting me know that it was ready to bake when I was. I decided to pick up the pace and quickly creamed together the BUTTER, OIL, SUGAR, and VANILLA before beating in the EGGS one at a time. I made sure to mix the eggs into the batter just enough to incorporate them.

      After scraping down the sides, I added the BAKING POWDER, SALT, and a third of the FLOUR. Instead of beating that into the batter as well, I opted to fold in the flour with a spatula. A quick check of the milk in the fridge told me that my espresso-infused milk was cool enough to work with, and promptly poured half of it into the batter and folded it all again. Another third of the flour, followed by the last of the milk, and a final third of the flour completed my muffin batter.

      I smiled to myself, the familiar scent of coffee wafting up from the unbaked batter. I turned to the CHOCOLATE and quickly poured a little over half the bag in and mixed once more.

      With my batter ready and the oven hot, I quickly prepared a muffin tray, making sure to grease the space between the muffin cavities, since the muffin base tended to rise a lot in the oven and spread onto the tray, threatening to fuse into a larger muffin.

      I dug through the utensils and produced a large cookie scoop and filled the muffin cavities to the brim with batter. Once I was satisfied that all of the muffins had the same amount of batter, I topped each one with some of the remaining CHOCOLATE and tossed them onto the bottom rack of the oven. I quickly set a timer for 10 MINUTES and put away a few more books. Once the 10 minutes were up, I reduced the oven temperature to 375°F and continued baking them for another 12-15 MINUTES, enough time to put away the last of the overnight returns and finish my mug of coffee.

      The muffins had risen beautifully, almost picturesque. They were tall and round like the bakery-style muffins I often drooled over at the grocery store. I smiled to myself as I set the tray on the counter to cool.

      By then, Hendrix had finished his work in the office and followed the smell of the muffins to the kitchen, where he snuck a muffin and took a greedy bite.

      Instantly, he melted as the warm chocolate and light coffee flavor hit him like a warm mocha. “Mmm!” He took another bite. “David, get over here! These muffins are amazing!”

      I stepped back into the kitchen, to find Hendrix unwrapping a second muffin. “I’m glad you enjoy them!” I smiled and grabbed a muffin myself. I’d been working on the recipe for a while, tweaking the proportions, and trying to get the right balance of coffee and chocolate for a great muffin. I took a bite, swallowing nearly half the muffin in one go.

      “You make so many good things for us, David.” The hyena smiled wide as he swallowed another large bite of muffin. “Have you ever thought about writing a cookbook?”

      I was taken aback for a moment. “I-I” I stuttered, “I mean, I’ve always wanted to, but I never thought to really go for it.”

      “I bet a cookbook written by you would do great! Especially around here. Everyone knows about how awesome you’re cooking is!” His smile widened. “Besides, I’m sure I could help you find a publisher if you really wanted to get serious about that cookbook.”

      “Really?”

      “Really.”

      I smiled to myself. Maybe I could write a cookbook. Would it really sell that well? The only answer was to try! I swallowed the last of the muffin that sat in my paw.

      I looked at the tray of warm muffins sitting on the countertop and then at Hendrix, his wide, toothy grin encouraging me to try. Yeah, yeah! Let’s write a cookbook!

      “Thanks, Mr. Lachen-er-Hendrix,” he nodded at me, “I think I will write that cookbook!” My attention returned to the muffins as I picked another one up. “I don’t know how long it's going to take before I’m ready to share it with the world though.”

      “And that’s okay! Take all the time you need to make it the best it can be!” He shot me another toothy smile, “Then when you’re ready, you can talk to me. I’ll help you get the word out to publishers. Now, run along. There’s still plenty of work to do today.”

      I nodded and turned on my heel, walking toward the door. I took a bite of my muffin, savoring the warm, familiar flavors it bore. My mind swam through clouds, daydreaming of the cookbook that might one day be real.