A taste of Autumn

This past week I made some muffins for a brunch we had for some ladies at church.  Technically we were doing our Visiting Teaching, if you don't know what that is go look HERE.  I went with an old tried and true one and a new one. Now making a new one for an event is always a gamble. I found some pumpkin muffins with a streusel topping.  I was so happy when they were as yummy as they looked on pinterest.  I made these muffins and they turned out great!

These muffins really are so easy that you can easily make them on a school morning. Then when the kids leave for school you make a nice mug of hot cocoa with a small candy cane in it of course and butter up a muffin.  

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup pecans
2 tbl butter
1/4 cinnamon

Cut the ingredients together with a pastry blender, or a couple forks, or pulse in a blender or use your hands to smoosh it together (don't really do that you will melt the butter).  It should resemble course crumbs when done. 


Pumpkin Muffins 

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup pecan pieces, coarsley chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup oil


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line with paper and set aside. 

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients.  Add them together just until combined. Spoon into muffin pans and top with streusel.

To be completely honest the  directions above are great...but I never do that. I just add all the dry ingredients and give a quick stir. Make a whole in the middle and add the wet then I stir it to combine. I always make my muffins this way and they turn out great. So there is a time saver for ya! Once less bowl to wash is always a good thing!

 Then bake for 15-17 minutes.  

Back In the Saddle Again

Now that school is back in session it's time to re-start the weekly treat recipe! And let's start with the best cupcake EVER!!!

The Batter

The Cupcake

The Perfect Treat

These cupcakes are the most heavenly cupcakes ever!!!

1 box yellow or chocolate cake mix
1 4oz vanilla or chocolate pudding
4 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C water
1/2 C oil

Mix together with a wooden spoon. Batter is very thick. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes

I frosted them with homemade buttercream frosting. I googled the recipe and found this on cooks.com.

1 Cube butter, softened
1/4 C. + 2 tbls cocoa powder
1/4 mile
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz bag of powdered sugar

cream butter add cocoa. To that add milk and sugar, ending with vanilla.

YUM!!!

A Little Piece of Heaven (or Cinnamon Rolls)

The Roll!

5 Cups warm water

3 tbl. yeast

2 tbls sugar

Add the yeast and sugar to the water, do not stir!

Let proof in the bowl for about 5 minutes.

14-16 Cups flour (unbleached all purpose)

2 tbl. salt

2/3 canola oil

2/3 cup white sugar

Add yeast/water mixture to the 1/2 the four and all other ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix with a spoon adding 1 cup of flour at a time until it is too sticky.

Scrape out onto a floured counter and begin kneading.

Adding enough flour to properly knead the dough.

This dough is fairly stiff and should be kneaded for 10 minutes.

You can mix this dough in a "Bosch" if you have one. It is too large and

stiff to mix in my Kitchen Aid.

Let rise in the washed bowl, covered with a dish towel. The dough has

risen enough when it begins to mound on the top of the bowl.

At this point you may make 4 loaves of bread or 2 large batches of cinnamon rolls.

To make cinnamon rolls you will need:

2 cubes butter (at room temperature)

4 Cups dark brown sugar

cinnamon

nuts or raisins (optional)

Punch down and divide dough into 2 even sections. Roll out each section into a

large, loosely rectangular shape. Melt one cube of butter and spread

over the dough sprinkle with 2 Cups brown sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Add nut and or raisins if you and yours enjoy them.

I sprinkle cinnamon over the top so that there is an even sprinkle but not completely

covering the dough.

Roll firmly and cut in about 2 inch pieces. Each 1/2 of the dough will make

12 rolls, you may have a couple extra. Place cut rolls on greased 1/2 sheet

cookie sheet. Let rise covered for about 1/2 hour. Then bake in a preheated

350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Repeat with other half.

The Frosting!

1 block cream cheese

2 cubes butter

whipping cream

big bag powdered sugar

1 orange

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add the juice of one orange, salt and vanilla.

Slowly add powdered sugar and whipping cream a little at a time until

it is the consistency you like. Spread over pan or individual rolls. Be sure

to refrigerate leftover frosting.

ENJOY!! These rolls are really worth the work...they are so yummy!

Cookie of the Week

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

the before put into the oven picture

the after picture

1 81/2 oz package yellow cake mix

2 Cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked

3/4 Cup veggie oil

1 egg, beaten

mix together and spread half in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan

you will have to spread this with your hands

12 oz jar caramel ice cream topping

1 Cup chocolate chips

1/2 Cup chopped nuts

Drizzle the caramel over the mixture in pan

then add chocolate chips and nuts

crumble remaining cake mix of the top

bake at 350 degrees for 28 -30 minutes

These are really rich so cut them on the small side!

Cookie of the Week

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought that these cookies would make a good choice as today is the first day of fall!

1/2 Cup Butter 1 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 Cups Sugar 1/2 tsp salt

1 egg 1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 Cup canned pumpkin 1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract 6 oz chocolate chips

2-1/2 Cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together, add egg and pumpkin. To that add vanilla, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour. Fold in chocolate chips. Use a big scoop (1/2 Cup) to scoop onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-16 minutes.

I doubled this recipe with no trouble. Also you can add chopped nuts instead or in addition. Also you can make them smaller but be sure to decrease the time you bake them!

Cookie of the Week

Old fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is the same one that my mom made for me and my siblings. I remember that you could always count on a goody on rainy days. A really fun tradition! Since we grew up in Southern California it is actually amazing that we got chubby! It really did not rain much at all. Here in Utah we get a bit more "weather". I still try to keep the tradition alive. These are simple straight forward cookies. I often call them the man cookies because men like them much more then women, but I think most people will enjoy them.

1 Cup butter, softened

1 Cup shortening, Crisco (not buttered flavor)

1 Cup dark brown sugar

1 Cup white sugar

4 eggs, added one at a time

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla

5-6 Cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 bag milk chocolate chips (guittard is my favorite brand)

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine the ingredients in the order listed. Be sure to mix the butter and shortening for a couple minutes before adding the sugar. Also add at least 5 cups of flour, but then add just enough more to make it so that you can hand scoop the dough. It is sticky to the touch, but you can handle it with out a spoon. Does that make sense. I used to have a cookie scoop but it broke, I think I bake a bit more then the average person. So I just hand roll them now, and that works fine.

Bake at 350 degrees for between 11-14 minutes.

I live in a higher altitude now so I have to bake mine for 14 minutes, but when I lived in CA I only baked them for 11-12 minutes. Enjoy!