Doughnut Muffins

Doughnut Muffins

I was looking for something sweet and easy to make and came across this recipe for doughnut muffins and I must say - they are bang on for texture and flavour.

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk

For the coating:

• 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Combine oil, sugar, egg and milk in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. While muffins are baking, melt butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
5. Take muffins out of the muffin tin while the muffins are still hot.
6. Dip muffins in the melted butter and then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.

These are SOOOO Good! Everyone in my house LOVED them - A definite make again recipe.

No Bake Eclaires

You may have guessed from my previous posts that I love dessert. My love affair with sweets started young and has just blossomed into something of a love hate relationship. I love to eat it and hate when I run out of it.

I came across this recipe on my friends Pinterest and it had all the makings of a go to recipe : simple ingredients that I have on hand, simple directions and a spectacular result.

Enjoy!

please excuse the poor quality picture, IPhones can only do so much

Ingredients

 Filling:

2 (3.5 oz.) boxes vanilla instant pudding
3 cup milk
1 (12 oz.) container Cool Whip
Graham crackers (I used 45)

Topping:

1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp milk
1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

For the filling:

1. Mix pudding and milk; beat. Stir in Cool Whip.
2. Place a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9x13" dish.

3. Spread 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers. Repeat with another layer of graham crackers and pudding; then top with a final layer of graham crackers.

For the topping:

1. Bring cocoa, milk, and sugar to a boil; boil about 1 minute, stirring very frequently.
2. Remove from heat and cool one minute. Add butter and vanilla; stir until butter is melted.

3. Pour over the top layer of graham crackers. Refrigerate over night.

EASY Cookie Icing (No meringue powder or egg whites)

Here's a ridiculously easy cookie icing that I used to decorate these fun scary Halloween - No Fridge Needed Sugar Cookies.

It gives you that nice and shiny icing that hardens perfectly so that you can stack your cookies or for treat bags!  And unlike Royal Icing it doesn't have egg whites or egg white (meringue) powder (which saves you time and money) and it doesn't make your cookies rock hard.

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 tsp corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla or almond!)

Directions

1. Add your powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl and to that bowl add your milk and your corn syrup.  Mix well.  Then add your extract and slowly add more milk and corn syrup until you get the consistency you prefer.  More runny for flooding or more thick for well, a more thick icing! (I usually end up using 3 tsp of milk and 3 tsp of corn syrup.)

*NOTE: If you want really white icing you need to use clear vanilla extract.

2. Add the color's you want and mix.

No Fridge needed Sugar Cookies

This Halloween as I was putting together the treat bags for my boys schools when I realized I didn't have enough treats so I thought I would make some sugar cookies to bulk up the bags.

Now those that know me know that I  have a short attention span and not  alot of patience - so when I found all of the recipe's needed to be put in the fridge for and hour or two I was disappointed,  then I came across this one that didn't need the extra time. Done!!

They bake up great, just watch them like a hawk so they don't burn. They're fun, easy to roll out and decorate. You can find the recipe for the icing I used here.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large egg yolk
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups flour
3/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with tin foil.

2. In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Add sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolk until combined. Add vanilla. Beat until combined.

3. Add flour and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down side of bowl occasionally.

4. Between two sheets of plastic wrap. (TIP: tape the bottom to the counter)  with a rolling pin roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Cut out shapes. Reroll and use scraps until all dough is used.

5. Bake 10 to 15  minutes,depending on the size of the cookies, or until lightly browned.

6.Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Cinnamon Buns

Who doesn't love the smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns!? TASTY. Here is a great recipe I came across a while ago. It's really easy to make and tastes amazing. I usually make a double batch so I can make some with raisins and some without.

Ingredients

1 cup milk (heated approximately 1 minute in microwave)
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature and beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 cups bread flour
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast

Cinnamon Filling

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar packed
6 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl or in the bowl of a 5-quart stand mixer, combine all the ingredients in the order given except the Cinnamon Filling. Using a dough hook, mix everything together until a soft dough forms.

2. Check the dough. It should form a nice elastic ball. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry and gnarly. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time). If you can't judge your dough by looking, stick your finger in and feel the dough. It should be slightly tacky to the touch.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-oiled surface, and knead until elastic, approximately 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.

4. After dough has risen, roll and stretch the dough into approximately a 15 x 24-inch rectangle.

5. Prepare the Cinnamon filling. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together until well blended.

6. Brush the 1/2 cup softened butter (listed below in the Cinnamon Filling) over the top of the dough with a rubber spatula or a pastry brush. Sprinkle Cinnamon Filling over the butter on the prepared dough.

with raisins

without

7. Starting with long edge, roll up dough; pinch seams to seal. NOTE: Rolling the log too tightly will result in cinnamon rolls whose centers pop up above the rest of them as they bake. (I made this mistake)

8.  Slide a 12-inch piece of dental floss or heavy thread underneath. By bringing the ends of the floss up and criss-crossing them at the top of each mark, you can cut through the roll by pulling the strings in opposite directions.

9. Place cut side up in prepared baking pan, flattening them only slightly. The unbaked cinnamon rolls should not touch each other before rising and baking. Do not pack the unbaked cinnamon rolls together. Cut them Cover and let rise in a warm place for approximately 45 to 60 minutes or until doubled in size (after rising, rolls should be touching each other and the sides of the pan).

10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Baked in a regular oven approximately 20 to 25  minutes in a regular oven until they are a light golden brown.




Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
Best served warm, but room temperature is also great! 

Apple, Pear Crisp - New and Improved Recipe

I had a bunch of apples and Bosch pears that were starting to get a little beat up. The pears tasted a little woody so I thought I would use them up in a crisp. It was more than my original recipe so I decided to update my original recipe and I must say - it was even better than the original!

Ingredients

4 apples: peeled, seeded and sliced
3 Bosch Pears: Peeled and sliced
1/4 c brown sugar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c oatmeal, uncooked
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c butter, softened to room temp.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9x13" square pan or dish with cooking spray.
3. Arrange apples and pears in the pan. Sprinkle with first amount of brown sugar and cinnamon
4. Mix all other ingredients together until crumbly; top the fruit.
5. Bake around 40 minutes, until apples are tender; the topping is golden brown and feels crunchy.
6. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream

Classic Cheesecake

It was my husbands birthday yesterday and I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said all he wanted was cheesecake. (He's an easy man to please)

So I got out my spring form pan which I haven't used in YEARS, beaters and got to work.

Here is a easy recipe for Classic Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter (melted)

3 packages Cream Cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs


Cherry pie filling (or whatever topping you like)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to350F.
2. Mix graham crumbs and butter together and press into the bottom of the a greased spring form pan.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, then add eggs one at a time.
4. Pour cream cheese mix mixture into the pan and bake for 55 minutes until center is just set. Remove from oven and use a knife or metal spatula and run around edge of cake to loosen from pan.
5. Let cook down at room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 5 hours. (longer is better)
6. cut into slices and serve with cherry pie filling. (It's my favorite, but whatever you like go for it!!)

Apple Crisp

Hello, my name is Chelsea, and I can't make pie. I have tried and failed more times then I care to admit.

This is why I LOVE apple crisp. The sweetness of the apples, complemented with a hint of cinnamon and the crunchy goodness of the crumble topping.

Here's a no fail recipe to enjoy!! 

Ingredients

4 c peeled apple slices
2/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c oatmeal, uncooked
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c butter, softened to room temp.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 8 x 8" square pan or dish with cooking spray.
3. Arrange apples in the pan.
4. Mix all other ingredients together until crumbly; put over the fruit.
5. Bake around 30-35 minutes, until apples are tender; the topping is golden brown and feels crunchy.
6. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream

Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies

As many of you know I love Chocolate Chip Cookies, that's why I was so excited when I came across this recipe for cake mix cookies on Pinterest.

I made some slight variations from the original recipe and let me tell you - THEY ARE DELISH!!

Soft and chewy they are so exactly what I love about Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

Ingredients:

1 box of  White Cake Mix (you can use yellow too, but I had white on hand)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees

2. Mix the cake mix, eggs, and oil, then gradually add the chocolate chips

3. Spoon onto cookie tray and cook in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Cool on wire rack.  I keep mine in a ziploc bag and they're staying VERY fresh.

I am going to try this with other kinds of cake mixes in the future.

It's been too long

Wow, so I have seriously dropped the ball and I'm very sorry. It has been far too long since I wrote a post, but there was a very good reason for this.
We had our baby Alessio Baptized this past Sunday. It took me a few weeks to get everything made and ready for the big day. (I made a lot of the decorations, so while it added stress, it saved money.)

Here's a little post about the day.

The theme was a "Country meets Circus with a little Blue and Green sprinkled on top".

The Decor

Triangle banners
Pinwheel Center piece
The wish tree
Large outdoor event tent. (we rented it)

The Food

Hotdogs and burgers
Easy Peasy Baked Beans
Coleslaw
Fruit
Veggies
Spinach Dip
Raspberry Vanilla cupcakes with Fresh Lemon Butter cream
Chocolate Cupcakes with Turtle Caramel cream

Candy buffet

It was a perfect day, we had about 25 people over after a beautiful Baptism service.

Raspberry Vanilla cupcakes with Fresh Lemon Butter cream

Here's a yummy cupcake recipe I came up with that uses a white cake mix and fresh raspberries.
 I love the flavor of Lemons and Raspberries don't you!?

The Cake

yummy, do you see all that Raspberry?

 1 Box of white cake
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
1/3 cup melted butter (Replace the oil)
However much milk asked for on the box
1/2 cup of fresh Raspberries

Make cake according to package replacing one of the egg whites with a whole egg and oil with butter. After mixing fold in the raspberries. (I didn't puree them ahead of time because I wanted little chunks of raspberry)

Bake according to package.

 Lemon Butter Cream Icing

 

1 cup of salted butter

4 cups of icing sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons cream

1. Whip your butter with electric mixer.

2. Add in your icing sugar, one cup at a time, beating continuously.
3. Add 2 tablespoons lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
4. Add 2 teaspoons of cream to thin it out.
5. Let it whip until it's nice and airy and fluffy. I added food coloring too, but you can leave it out.

Once the cake is cooled ice with the Butter Cream. 

Fudgy Brownie

Today was a cloudy rainy day so what better way to enjoy the day then to bake a batch of yummy brownies.

Fudgy Brownie
adapted from Fine Cooking

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon prepared strong coffee
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F with rack in middle of oven. Spray an 8×8 or 9×9 inch metal baking pan with cooking spray, then line with criss-crossing sheets of parchment, spraying between the layers and on the top layer, leaving an overhang to make easy removal from pan.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar using a spatula. Add eggs, vanilla, and coffee, mix until blended.

Stir dry ingredients together.
slowly at first, then more quickly as the mixture blends, until batter is smooth.

Spread batter in pan and bake 32-40 minutes (lower end of time scale for an 8×8 pan, upper end for a 9×9 pan), or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs holding on. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Cut into 16 squares. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Who doesn't love Oreo Cookies?  I know I do. It had never occurred to me that I could make them!

I came across this simple recipe from Handle The Heat.

Makes 25-30 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookies

    1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 cup granulated sugar
    1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
    1 large egg

For the filling

    1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
    2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
    2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Directions:

For the Cookies
Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. While beating on low speed, add the butter, then add the egg. Continue processing, or mixing, until the dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on foil-lined baking sheets approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough (so they are round discs). Bake for 9 minutes, rotating after 5 minutes to ensure even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

For the Filling
Place butter and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed (I used Mexican Vanilla so my icing was a bit darker) . Gradually add the sugar. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To Assemble
Using a pastry bag (I used a Ziploc baggie with the corner cut off) or spatula, drop a teaspoon-size blob of filling into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press down to work the filling evenly towards the outside of the cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.

The Verdict
The cookies are tasty little morsels. They do take some time to assemble though. I found my icing quite thick (Definitely not a cake icing) but still really tasty.

How to make homemade confectioners sugar

So today I am going to make some Homemade Oreo Cookies, only to realize I don't have any Confectioners Sugar (AKA Icing Sugar)!

No worries my friends, I can make homemade icing sugar. SUPER EASY and much cheaper than the store bought sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup of regular white sugar for every 1 cup of icing sugar needed.
1 tbsp cornstarch for every cup of sugar (SEE NOTE)

Directions

Place a cup of granulated sugar in the blender for each cup of powdered sugar needed.
Blend at high speed until the sugar turns to powder.
Use right away, or store in an air-tight container.

Note:

To prevent caking and improve thickening ability (important when making icing), add 1-2 Tablespoons of corn starch for each cup of sugar made.

Sugar may etch your blender pitcher, particularly if it's made of plastic. If this is a concern, use a coffee grinder or spice grinder instead.

Strawberry Yogurt Cupcake

Today I had a craving for all things strawberry. Cakes, drinks, whatever!
While on Pinterest I came across a exquisite, luscious, strawberry shortcake, smothered with airy whip cream. (I know, yummy!)

With reckless abandon I opened my fridge in search of the key ingredient - Strawberries. Oh what a let down! Did I have strawberries? Yes! Were they shiny, and plump and bright lovely red? Well....no. They were not. They were perhaps 1 day too long in the fridge and had lost that - glow.

Fear not my friends! Thinking on my feet like a foodie ninja I decided that I would change it up a bit. Again, I hit Pinterest in search of another inspiration. With a few tweaks here and there I came up with an amazing inspired recipe. (honestly, it was tweaked because it's Thursday of week two and we are low on most grocery items as tomorrow is grocery day.)

Drum-roll please...
Tada! Its the one, the only...

Strawberry Yogurt Cupcake

Ingredients:
•  1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
•  2 cups sugar
•  3 eggs

•  2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
•  ½ tsp. baking soda
•  ½ tsp. salt
•  8 oz. plain Greek yogurt
•  12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Line your cupcake pan.

Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated (start and end with flour).

Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour.

Gently mix them into the batter.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liner.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center a cupcake comes out clean.

Yummy, do you see those chunks of Strawberry?

Allow to cool before topping. You can use icing, powdered sugar - or my favorite, whipped cream. (My husband likes it as is, with no topping.)

How to make a Chocolate Turtle Cake with a boxed cake mix

before it's baked.

So I have a serious sweet tooth, and I came across this recipe and have FALLEN IN LOVE! I have made it a few times and my family loves it.

It's a great way to up the yum factor of a regular chocolate cake mix from a box.
I am going to try it as a cup cake and will post here if it works.

Ingredients:
1 chocolate cake mix (I use Devils food cake)
1 cup butter
1 Cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Corn syrup
1 can sweet condensed milk

1 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

1 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Divide mixture in half. Pour 1/2 into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 15 mins.

Meanwhile put butter, sugar, syrup and milk into heavy saucepan. Heat and stir until it boils. Boil 5 mins stirring continually. (It can be burned easily.) Pour over baked cake.

Sprinkle with first amount of pecans and chips. Pour second 1/2 batter over top. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.

super close up!

Bake for about 25 - 30 mins.

It's ridiculously good and doesn't need any icing.