Snickerdoodle Muffins

Snickerdoodle cookies are a family favorite. This is the muffin version of those cookies.

I like to make my mini. A more suitable size for my kids, and more melt-in-your-mouth!

You will need:

• cooking spray for muffin tins
• 1/3 c butter, melted
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1.5 C all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 C milk

Topping:

• 1/4 C white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 C butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until well mixed. 

Scoop batter into a prepared muffin tins (fill each one 3/4 full). This makes ~24 mini muffins (or 10-12 regular sized ones). 

Bake for 18-22 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Place melted butter in a second small shallow dish. 

When the muffins are done, cool in tins until you are able to handle them. Then dip the top of each muffin in the butter and then in the sugar/cinnamon. Cool completely on a cookie rack. 

Enjoy! These are fantastic when they are still warm!

Here is a simple baby gift idea...

A couple in our small group just had a baby girl and I made this pretty package to give them.

I used a heart-shaped basket, lined it first with parchment paper, and then a layer of saran wrap. I filled it with the muffins, wrapped the muffins up in the saran and parchment paper. 

Then I wrapped the whole thing in tulle and closed it first with a pipe cleaner, and then pink ribbon. Simple and sweet!

Cinnamon Biscuits

This is a good one. Simple, yet tasty.

What you'll need:

• 2C sifted all-purpose flour
• 1Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 C vegetable oil
• 3/4 C buttermilk 
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3/4 C granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour, powder, salt and soda in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in vegetable oil. Add buttermilk and stir until just blended

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll dough into a 15x8 rectangle.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease a 9 inch round baking pan lightly

Spread butter over the dough. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle over butter. Roll up rectangle jelly-roll style, starting from one long side. Pinch seam to seal.

Cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in prepared baking pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve hot. 

These are a great little treat, and quick to make. Perfect for brunches. 

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

Ease: 4/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 5/5     Time: 4/5

Prep: 12 minutes
Cooking time: 17 minutes

Back in the summer, I had the luxury of having access to my in-laws raspberry bushes. I picked berries to my heart's delight. I happen to love raspberries, a love shared by my two kids. After two containers of raspberries were put into my freezer I went hunting for new raspberry recipes. This is one that everyone loved. The muffins were so moist and not overly sweet.

What you'll need:

• 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, eggs, and lemon extract. 

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended. Gently stir in the raspberries. 

Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick comes out clean, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Blueberry "Ice-cream"

Ease: 4/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 3.5/5     Time: 4/5

I came across this recipe on the Today's Parent magazine website. This "ice-cream" is super fast to make. I found it a bit sweet, and more frozen yogurty than ice-creamy, but still really tasty. Great to enjoy on hot summer evenings.

What you'll need:

• 2 1/2 C frozen blueberries (or fruit of your choice)
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2/3 C whipping cream (I used the 95% fat free kind)

In a food processor (or blender), combing the frozen fruit and the sugar. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped (I used a blender, and at first, the mixture was too dry to blend, so I let it sit and melt for a few minutes while I cleaned up from supper). The mixture will appear dry and crumbly. With the processor running, add the whipping cream though the chute in the lid until the mixture is thick, smooth and creamy (stop the machine once or twice to scrape down the sides). 

Serve immediately. It will be soft. You could also transfer the mixture to a container and place in the freezer to firm it up slightly. Leftovers could be kept in the freezer for a week.

Lastly, Hello fellow blog-hoppers! Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to swing 'round your place as soon as I can!

Sugar Cookies

Ease: 4/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 5/5     Time: 4/5

First, hello fellow Blog-hopp'in Friends! Thanks for stopping by...

I have been talking all week about the main event at my daughter's 3rd birthday part - cookie decorating. It worked out really well. The kid's loved it! (Warning: if you are concerned about getting your floors dirty, this idea is not for you).

I have tried a couple of different sugar cookie recipes, and they have always turned out...meh. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe years ago, and this was the first time I used it. I thought these sugar cookies turned out better than any previous ones I had made. They were fluffier (probably because of the cream of tartar!).

I was able to prepare the cookies ahead of time and I made the icing the morning of the party. Instead of goodie bags, I bought plain aprons from Michael's for the kids to take home and jazzed them up with soccer ball iron-ons for the boys (it is FIFA, after all), and cupcakes for the girls. I also had take-out boxes for the kids to take home uneaten creations. A bunch of decorating sprinkles, jube-jubes, and mini chocolates, and we were ready to go!

To help the mom's ensure our kids ran off the sugar, once the cookie decorating was complete, the kid's played outside. We had a soccer field set up, and a bubble blowing station. We were blessed with beautiful weather. All-in-all, I would absolutely do this kind of party again.

What you'll need:

• 2 eggs
• 2 C white sugar
• 1 C shortening (melted)
• 4 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 C of flour
• assorted cookie cutters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mix sugar, soda, cream of tartar, salt and nutmeg with 4 1/2 C flour. Stir in shortening, milk, and milk. Mix until thick and smooth (a nice dough-like consistency - you may need a little extra flour). 

Use the other 1/2 C flour to roll out the dough. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter and cut cookies out to desired shape. Place on cookie sheet and bake for ~ 10-12 minutes.

Other party menu items included sandwich trays pre-ordered from Safeway, a veggie platter, pretzels and:

• mini cheesecakes
• cranberry almond punch
• icing

Happy Friday!

Sugar Cookie Icing

 Ease: 5/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 5/5     Time: 5/5

A cookie decorating party would not be complete without colored icing. I found this over at allrecipes.com. I altered it only slightly. It worked really well. It's quick and easy to make. I liked it because it's not overly sweet. I made it the morning of the party and covered it with press and seal, and it was still soft when it came time to decorate (please note, that it does melt in warm weather. I packed some decorated cookies up for the park the next day, and what a sticky fantastic multi-colored mess that was!).

What you'll need:

• 1 C confectioner's sugar
• 4 tsp milk
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• assorted food coloring

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the confectioner's sugar and milk until evenly mixed. 

Add the vanilla and almond extract and stir again until evenly  mixed.

Add the corn syrup and stir until evenly mixed. At this point it was a nice smooth consistency for spreading. I added a couple of drops of food coloring and mixed well. One bowl of this would have easily covered 20 cookies, but I wasn't sure so repeated the recipe 3 times with three different colors. This was way more icing than was needed! It dried to a tacky state within 20 minutes, and completely hard within an hour. I know I will be using this recipe again.

Cookies and Cheesecake, how could this be? My little girl just turned 3!

I did it. I made the mistake of blinking, and now I've got a three year old. And I've got a house full of balloons and sugar cookies to prove it. Not to mention, a little whip of a girl dishing out some serious sass.

I decided that this year, I would make my child's birthday cake instead of picking up the usual cupcake cake from Safeway. For me to make a cake for a bunch of people, you know it has got to be quick and simple. You may recognize these mini cheesecakes I posted about last week. I came across the recipe at Real Mom Kitchen and made the chocolate swirl variation. They turned out great!

I dressed them up with this cute idea from the Lovely Paper Blog. I scrapbook (or at least I did, before I took up parenting and blogging), so I have a ton of scrap paper lying around. This put all that scrap to perfect pretty use!

                                                                  

    

I just love simple prettifying ideas like these. You can reuse them too. 

Other menu items (which you'll soon be seeing) included sugar cookies, refried bean dip, and cranberry almond punch (the rest I picked up at my trusty local Safeway). 

Mini Cheesecakes

 Ease: 3.5/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 5/5     Time: 4/5

Look how precious THESE are:

I came across this fun twist on cheesecake at Real Mom Kitchen. They are just the right serving amount. They would be perfect for a kid's birthday party. I made them for my mother-in-law's birthday, and they were a hit.

What you'll need:

• 2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese (I used light)
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• vanilla wafers (I broke up graham crackers I had left over from making s'mores) and/or oreo cookies
• 18-20 cupcake liners
• pie filling, fresh fruit, or chocolate chips (I used whole blueberries,  whole raspberries, and chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the cheese and sugar together. Add eggs and lemon juice. Beat until smooth.

Line cupcake pan with liners. Scrape the filling off the oreos. Place oreos and/or wafers flat side down in each liner. 

Fill liners 3/4 full with cream cheese mixture. Bake for 6 minutes. At this point I added the fruit or chocolate to the cheesecakes (4-5 blueberries or 2-3 raspberries or 4-5 chocolate chips. If adding chocolate chips, swirl them around in the batter with a toothpick). Continue baking for 9-14 minutes or until golden brown. 

Allow cheese cakes to cool and store in the fridge. Before serving, I topped them with 3 blueberries, 1 raspberry or 4 chocolate chips, depending on what I had added to the batter (my daughter had fun topping them). You could also top these with pie filling before serving (can also be frozen prior to topping. To serve, thaw and top with fruit, chocolate chips or pie-filling).  Made 20. So good! Real Mom Kitchen also provides a Turtle Variation that sounds awesome.

Lastly, a special hello to fellow Friday Followers!

Tips and Tricks on Making S'mores

The S'more. A staple in camping culture. A s'more (as in "some more, please") is not difficult to make, and some might say there is no wrong way to make one. Which is nearly true, with one exception: I really do not think microwaved s'mores are the same.

Here are the basic steps to s'more success...

What you'll need:

• 1 box of graham crackers
• 1 bag of large marshmallows 
• 3-5 bars of hershey milk chocolate bars
• paper towel (baby wipes work better), for cleaning your hands afterward

Have a campfire going. The only true way to make a s'more is over a campfire.  (Waiting until the fire has burned down and there are lots of glowing embers is best).

Upon a graham cracker, lay enough chocolate (I use about 3 pieces) to cover cracker.

Toast the marshmallow until golden brown. I find it's easiest to go marshmallow by marshmallow instead of roasting multiple marshmallows at a time. This helps to ensure the marshmallow is hot enough to melt the chocolate.

Using another graham cracker, push the marshmallow off of the roasting stick onto the piece of chocolate. Top with the graham cracker and smoosh to ensure complete chocolate meltage.

Let cool (many a tongue have been burned!). Enjoy! Serves ~5.