Delicious Spice Muffins

At my daughters  preschool they have a day at school where the dads get to come into the classroom and see what the kids do on a daily basis.  It is called "Doughnuts with Dad" and Abby was looking forward to it for two weeks. The sad thing is the day that Doughnuts with Dad came around we were all sick, and by sick I mean the stomach bug (I hate cleaning up barf).  Well Abby has been asking for doughnuts ever since, so we started looking at recipes to make some.  After some research I found this recipe here and it looked and sounded delicious. I loved that the doughnuts were baked, but I didn't have a doughnut pan to bake the doughnuts so I decided I would make mini muffins instead. I had to adapt the recipe a little bit because I have a little one who has some food allergies and can't handle pumpkin.  So I substituted applesauce for the pumpkin and choose to add a crumb topping instead of the cinnamon sugar topping.  It reminded me of a Costco muffin and my family thought it was delicious.

Delicious Spice Muffins


1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoons ground cloves

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup milk

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Oats
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven 350 F.  Butter a mini muffin tin and set aside.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together and set aside.
In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, applesauce and milk until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and stir until just combined.
 
Fill each muffin tin with the batter. I find it easiest if I place the batter in a zip-lock bag and cut the corner off to fill the tins.  I love that there isn't any mess.  

Make the Crumb topping by combining the brown sugar, oats, flour, and cinnamon.  Then using a fork stir in the softened butter until the topping is combined.  Place the crumb topping on top of the muffins and bake for 10-12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.  Place muffins onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Enjoy! 

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Baguette

I just tried this delicious bread recipe this morning and was so surprised at how easy and delicious it was.  The best part was the total time to make it was 1 hour, that includes a 30 minutes of rise time and a 15 minute bake time.  Here is the recipe that was originally found here. Enjoy!

Baguette

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 Tbs. (2 packages) dry yeast

2 tsp. honey

3 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. salt

In a small bowl mix the yeast and honey in the warm water. Let the mixture sit for about 5-10 minutes until frothy.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and salt. Gradually add the yeast mixture and mix until the dough becomes a smooth ball.  Then knead for about 5 minutes.  

Cut the dough in half and then shape into 2 baguettes. To make them smooth and pretty, roll each half dough into a rectangle and roll up lengthwise.  Pinch the edges to seal and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or parchment papers) with seam down Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  With a very sharp knife (I like to use a serrated blade) gently make a slash down the length of each baguette. This will give it that authentic look.  Pour water in a cookie sheet and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Half way through, brush the bread with melted butter. 

Snickerdoodles

On Sunday my family asked me to make some cookies.  The only thing is I didn't have the ingredients of the cookies that I normally make. I usually make plain chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cookies, or oatmeal raisin cookies; but I was out of chocolate chips, pumpkin, and oatmeal. So I went searching on the internet and found a snicker doodle recipe that would work.   This original recipe was found here from our best bites, but I had to change it a little because I didn't have all the ingredients. 

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter(not margarine) at room temp

8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) coconut oil

2 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Combine 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow dish and set aside.  Whisk flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together in medium bowl.   Beat butter, remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar, and coconut oil together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated, scraping down bowl if needed.

With the mixer on low slowly add flour until combined, about 30 seconds.  Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain.

Roll the dough I nto balls, then roll them around in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet spaced 2 inches apart.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until edges of cookies are set and just barely beginning to brown, but centers are still soft and puffy, about 10-12 minutes.  The cookies should look raw between the cracks and seem underdone.  Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.  Makes about 2 dozen 3-4 inch cookies.

Mushroom Bisque

After moving from one town in Utah to another then having a baby and moving across the country to Maryland I am back and ready to post some delicious recipes we have found and enjoyed.  This original recipe is delicious and can be found here. The best part is how easy this is, especially if you put it all in the crockpot.

Ingredients

1 quart chicken broth
1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
White pepper
Hot sauce (optional)

Directions

In a crockpot, add the chicken broth, mushrooms and onions and cover.  Cook on low for 3-6 hours.

Roux:

In a separate large pot, melt the butter, then add the flour. Whisk until evenly incorporated. Continue to whisk while slowly adding half-and-half to the roux.Stir constantly until the sauce is thickened and smooth.

Add the mushroom broth to the roux and stir until evenly incorporated. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce, to taste. Serve immediately.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I feel that Pumpkin and fall go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Delicious.  These cookies are so delicious and the best part about them is they are pretty healthy and I don't feel guilty eating them like I may feel with other cookies.  These cookies are from my childhood.  My mother used to make these when I was growing up, but she would usually put raisins or nuts in instead of the chocolate chips, which is the way I prefer. So here is this wonderful quick and easy recipe.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Pumpkin
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Chocolate Chips (I prefer Dark Chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 400 F.  Place the sugar, butter, pumpkin, egg and vanilla in a bowl and blend until smooth.  Then add all the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Then bake on a greased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack. Then enjoy the wonderful taste of these cookies and the cool weather and changing leaves.

Linking up to these parties here.

Quick 10 Minute Caramel Apples

When fall comes around there is nothing I love more than some delicious baked treats, but fall would not be the same without caramel apples.  I was craving caramel apples one day, but the thought of making caramel on the stove with a candy thermometer quickly turned me off to the idea.  I remembered reading somewhere that you can make microwave caramels in about 7 minutes or something.  So the search began and I found a pretty quick and easy recipe to share.

First you need to find some good apples.  Everyone's preference for the type of apple to use for caramel apples vary so use whatever apple you want.  I usually purchase my apples from the local orchard because they are delicious and there isn't any wax on the apples.

Start by washing your apples and make sure they are really dry.  If the apples are wet the caramel won't stick to your apples.  Make sure that you also put some wax paper down and just to be sure spray it with some non-stick cooking spray so the apples will be easy to get off.  Then put a stick in the middle of the apple and make the caramel.

Super Easy Microwave Caramels   

Originally found at Eat Cake For Dinner adapted by Rachel.  

Makes 4 Caramel Apples plus some extra caramel to eat.

5 Tablespoons Butter

1/2  Cup Honey

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk*

1 Teaspoon vanilla

Place Butter, honey, sugars (white and brown), and milk in a large microwave safe bowl (the bigger the bowl the better otherwise you will have a big mess to clean up in your microwave).

Microwave the caramel mixture for 6 minutes stirring every 2 minutes.  Depending on your microwave will make a big difference on how long you will need to cook the caramel for. The caramel looked pretty good after I did it for 4 minutes.  Once the caramel is cooked stir in the vanilla.  Then take your apples and start dipping them in the caramel.  Then enjoy these delicious fall snacks or treats.

*If sweetened Condensed Milk isn't something that you have on hand it is really easy to make.  I usually have powdered milk in my pantry so it is easy to make just the amount that I need.  To make just enough sweetened condensed milk for this recipe you place 1/4 Cup Hot water, 1/2 Cup Dry Powdered Milk, 1/2 Cup Sugar, and 1/2 Tablespoon Butter in a blender and blend very well.  This recipe should make you enough for 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk.

Linking Up to these parties here.

This weeks dinner menu

I like to choose about 5 meals a week to make so that one day we can have leftovers one night and we can go put to eat if we choose.  Here is the menu for this week.

Barbeque Salmon with roasted garluc caulifloer and asparagus.

Bean and Cheese Burritos with a garden salad

Veggie Pizza ( Whole wheat crust with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, olives) with a salad

Turkey chili with Cornbread

Puttanesca pasta with Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

I am so excited for dinner this week.  What is on your weekly menu?