To Die For Blueberry Muffins

I'm not a muffin girl.  I like them but wouldn't "choose" a muffin if there was something else to eat.  So, I've only made them here and there and I always use a different recipe.  Claire was asking for Blueberry Muffins so I went searching again and found these. I don't know if "to die for" works for me but they are really good.  The batter is thick enough to hold the blueberries so they don't sink.  They are sweet enough without being too sweet.  Sturdy enough to travel.  Good texture.  In other words, I'd make them again.

What you'll need:

Muffin
1 1/2 C All-purpose Flour
3/4 C Sugar

1/2 t Salt

2 t Baking Powder

1/3 C Vegetable Oil

1 Egg
1/3 C Milk
1 C frozen Blueberries

The wet ingredients aren't "exact" but close.  Put the 1/3 C oil in a 1 cup measurement.  Add egg.  Fill the cup with milk.  Add to the dry ingredients.  Fold in blueberries.  I used an ice cream scoop and almost filled the liners.

Topping
1/2 C Sugar
1/3 C Flour
1/4 C Butter, cubed
1 1/2 t Cinnamon

Top with topping.  Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes.  Toothpick inserted in center will tell you if they're done.  If you are using fresh blueberries you can up the temp to 350.

I doubled the muffin mix and did NOT double the topping and had plenty.  It made 18 muffins.

Ready for the oven.

Out of the oven looking yummy!

Bursting with blueberries!!  YUM!

Peanut Butter M&M

I almost always have 3 cookies in a snack bag in my freezer for grab and go lunch treats much to their irritation sometimes.  They'd prefer packaged Oreos or fudge stripes.  They come by it honestly, I felt the same way when I was a kid.  Why can't we just BUY cookies I would ask and my Mom would just say, "because these are better".  I figure if I had to suffer so should they;)

But they were getting sick of chocolate chip and snickerdoodles so I decided to make something different and maybe blow their minds a little bit.  No mind blowing happened but they were a hit and they freeze well.

1 C Butter softened
2 Egg
1 C Peanut Butter ~ I use Skippy for baking
1 C Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar

Cream together. And then add...

3 C Flour
1 1/2 t Baking Soda
1t Baking Powder
3/4 bag of M&Ms.

Spoon about the size of a large gumball on pan and bake at 375 for about 7 minutes until bottom is lightly browned.

Banana Cupcakes

Do you have some ripe bananas on your counter you don't know what to do with?  Here's what you're gonna do:)

Make a white cake mix according to directions EXCEPT instead of adding oil, add 3 mashed bananas AND use milk instead of water.  These cupcakes are a little more dense than your regular cupcake and they kind of deflate a little as they cool but don't worry, they're yummy.

Bake according to package directions.  Cool, frost with cream cheese frosting and pop a banana chip on top to make them pretty and to let your guests know what flavor to expect.

Easter Cupcakes

We had a few desserts for Easter.  Claire was in charge of cupcakes.  She did another awesome job:)

Brownie Bites

We're going UNtraditional for Easter and having a Mexican Buffet and I thought a bunch of little desserts would be fun so I'm making Brownie Bites as one of them.  The photos are a re-post and I love them this way.  BUT an easier option and one I'll be doing this weekend is to simply push a Rolo in the middle of each one OR drop a few mini M&Ms on top~sorry no photos.  The possibilities are endless actually.  Any of your favorite candy can be pushed in the center for a fun surprise.

Make a regular box of brownies but cook them in mini muffin tins. Top with cooked fudge frosting (probably the best fudge frosting I've ever tasted) and bag up in snack size ziplocs.

Fudge Frosting
1/4 C Butter (1/2 C)
4 T Milk (1/3 C)
2 T Cocoa (4 T)
Bring to a boil. Add
1 t Vanilla (2t)
1 3/4 C Powdered Sugar (3 1/2 C)
Whisk until smooth. Top your brownie bites.

NOTE...I double this recipe for a pan of brownies or cake and have some left over. The parenthesis have the double measurements.
I use this pan and another one that holds 12. Spray them well with cooking spray, you don't want them to stick. The regular box of brownie mix fills these 36 tins perfectly.  If you're pushing candy in the middle, only fill them about 1/2 way.
Fill your tins about 3/4 full of batter.
Here's a snack size bag of walnuts I had in the freezer. I broke them up with the base of my ice cream scoop and mixed it in with the left over batter. I used this batter to fill the other 12 cups because I know someone who likes brownies with nuts best:)
I used my cooling rack because these need to come out of the pan pretty quickly or they'll stick.
Time to make the frosting. Melt butter, milk and cocoa together until it boils.
This is what the frosting looks like when it starts to boil. Kind of oily and separating. Remove from heat. Add your vanilla.
Add your powdered sugar and give it a sturdy whisk quickly. Get those lumps out.
Your frosting is nice and shiny and not too thick. You can't let it sit, or it will harden.
A dollop of frosting on top of each brownie.
I sprinkled nuts on top of the nut ones so I could easily tell them apart but you want to do that quickly before the frosting starts to set up. Let the brownies set up for about 1/2 hour.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip

Do you have a cake that you make that everyone always likes?  This one is it for my kids and it's kinda healthy or at least that's what I tell myself when they eat it:)  This one, they got a piece and the rest when to work where everyone loved it.

What you'll need:

White Cake Mix

2 Eggs

1/2 C light Sour Cream

1 C unsweetened Almond Milk (you can use skim or whatever for same result) 

4 really ripe Bananas

Mix up with your hand mixer and add

1/2-3/4 C chopped Walnuts

1/2-3/4 C mini Chocolate Chips (I used dark chocolate but any flavor would work)

Pour into sprayed bundt pan and bake about 35-40 minutes at 350.

Invert onto plate, frost with a little bit of cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of walnuts and choc chips if you're feeling naughty and .  It's great without but if I'm bringing a dessert with nuts ANYwhere, I always put them on top so people can see them.  I don't want to make anyone with a nut allergy to get sick.

Tiger Cupcakes

I have to admit.  I think Claire is a chip of the ole block;)  BUT she's much more creative than I am.  She made these cute tiger cupcakes to kick off spirit week at her school.  She made the cake orange, white and black and used orange chocolate melts from Michael's cut in half for the ears.  FUN!

 

Hockey Cupcakes times two

Alanna's son plays association hockey so I made these tie-dye Orange, Purple and White cake topped with purple frosting and orange sticks.  To make tie dye, check it out here.  The boys LOVED them.  Much more fun to work with three colors AND bake them for boys who still thinks stuff like this is FUN.

To make the sticks, check it out here. 

Hockey Cupcakes

How can hockey be done?!  I seriously feel a tad cheated this year.  With cold/snow cancellations and it being a high school sanctioned sport, we only had 20 games!!  Twenty, as in TWO ZERO!  Stop the madness, last year we had 51!  I'm one of those weird hockey Mom's who actually like the game and watching the kids play. 

 

So this season left me feeling a little empty even though Max finished as the 3rd leading scorer on the team.  That was a pretty big thing because he is a defensive player. 

 

He played all his shifts as a Varsity player, another big thing because he's only a sophomore. 

 

He broke 3 sticks, big thing for his parents because the cost of those kind of suck:(  The day after he broke the first stick, a friend of his came up and said, "hey, I sat by your Mom last night at the game.  Max wrinkled his face and said, "okkkkk.  "Yeah, I knew it was her because when your stick broke she swore."  Probably not the nicest thing to be known for, but at least I keep it real and I didn't say the naughtiest of words;)

 

But today's post isn't really about hockey.  It's about the cupcakes that were served at one of the team dinners.  I got a little funky with it and colored half the batter green since their colors are green and white.

 

I bought some green melts from Michael's and made hockey sticks on waxed paper.  My little tutorial is found here on how to do that.

 

I piped the number of every player on the cupcakes and stood the sticks up in the middle.  My favorite #3 is Gluten-free so he got special brownies:)

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Claire had a party in one of her classes and wanted to give Cookie Monster Cupcakes a try.  She colored regular white cake mix blue.  Made some matching blue buttercream.  Used a star tip, white chocolate chips, bite size oreos and a little bit of canned chocolate frosting and TA DA!  I am SO proud of her!!

Cream filled Cupcakes

I'm making these tonight for something kinda special tomorrow.  Stop back to find out why.

So..you'll need
Devil's Food Cake Mix prepared according to directions
1 brick of Cream Cheese~softened
1 C Sugar
1 Beaten Egg
Pinch of salt
1/2 bag mini Chocolate Chips

Mix cake mix in bowl.

Mix beaten egg, cream cheese, sugar and salt in another bowl. When mixed, add chocolate chips. To make cupcakes, pour batter half full into cupcake liners. Drop a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into center and bake according to cupcake directions on box. Makes about 28 cupcakes. Frost with your favorite chocolate
canned frosting. YES, you know my secret..I use canned frosting on these babies;)

Ready for oven
Ready for frosting



Frost with favorite canned frosting or yummy chocolate buttercream and eat!!

Cupcakes

My niece's came over to hang out for the day.  We went to a movie, came home so they could play tag, do manicures, play hide and seek and make cupcakes.  It was a fun day having them in the house.

They got a little funky with the batter and did three colors and made the top look like a flower.  I've made these before, as has Claire but we don't typically do every single cupcake because it takes time.  They took the time and were quite happy with the result.  I think they did an awesome job!

Ginger Cookies

These are a little bigger than my cookies and they are missing the red hot but you get the idea. I will download step by step for next year but until then...you get my Aunt Judy's Yummy Ginger Cookie recipe which is easy enough to follow without the photos.

Ginger Cookies

3/4 C Soft Butter
1 C Sugar
4 T Molasses
1 egg
2 1/2 C Flour
2 t Baking Soda
1 t each cinnamon, ginger and cloves

Cream Butter and sugar. Mix in Molasses and Egg. Mix in Flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

Refrigerate couple hours or over night. Roll into small balls (about 1/2 T of dough). Roll in sugar. Put on greased cookie sheet, bake 7-8 minutes at 375. Take out of oven and immediately press red hot into middle.. Cool and store in air tight container, these are fine in container for a week. And, they freeze well.

Sugar Cookies

Yep, it's the month of COOKIES!! 

The tried and true. The cookie that Christmas wouldn't be the same without. The photo is from when I made them from Valentine's day but you get the idea:)

I will try to show you how to avoid the mistakes that make sugar cookies tough or dry. The two big tricks are to handle the dough as little as possible and watch the flour.

I always double the recipe because if you are going to take the time to make cut out cookies, you might as well make a bunch. These freeze very well. This is the "single" batch recipe.

2 1/2 C Flour
1 C Sugar
1 t Baking Powder
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
1/2 t Salt
12 T Butter ~ soft

Combine butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar at medium speed. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined and dough forms. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or up to 4 days. Roll dough and bake at 375 for about 8 minutes.
I did use my trusty KitchenAid Mixer but up until a year ago when I got it, a regular hand mixer and bowl did the trick. Here's your butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar ready to mix.
Make sure your wet ingredients are well mixed. Now it's time to add the dry.
The dough will form and look like this. Put in the fridge to chill. Make sure you chill at LEAST 4 hours, if you don't...the dough absorbs more flour when you are rolling it out and your cookies will NOT be good.
Sprinkle your counter with flour and divide the dough in half.
Push your dough down so you don't have to do so much work with the rolling pin.
Sprinkle the top with flour. You don't want your rolling pin to stick.
Start rolling out your dough, applying even and steady pressure with the rolling pin. Try to keep the dough a consistent thickness as you roll.
Cut your cookies as close together as you can. The less you have to re-roll the dough, the better the cookies.
This is a good thickness for your cookies. If they are thinner, watch them closely when baking because they will cook fast and be more crispy. If they are thicker, they are going to have a more doughy consistency even when fully cooked.
They don't spread much so this is how close you can put them. Bake for about 8 minutes at 375
In my opinion, a good sugar cookie should NOT be browned on the top at all. If you've rolled the dough so the thickness is consistent, they shouldn't be brown even on the edges. The bottom should look like this...lightly browned.
After you've rolled out the first batch, these are your leftovers, set aside. Roll the fresh batch same as the first.
This is your second time around. Mold dough ever so slightly into new ball. Use less flour on your counter because the dough is less sticky the second time around and re-roll the dough.
Save the sprinkle cookies until the end because your pan is going to have some sprinkles left over on the pan. Don't OVER sprinkle because the cookies don't cook evenly. This amount is perfect.
Here's the frosted ones drying and ready to bag.

To make butter cream frosting
1 stick soft Butter
4-5 C Powdered Sugar
2 t Vanilla
4-7 T Milk

Start out with 1 stick butter, 4 C powdered sugar, vanilla and 3 T milk. Mix it with your mixer. Keep adding milk by the T until it's the consistency you want. IF you add too much milk, add more powdered sugar. I've never used a true recipe for frosting, it was an add and adjust philosophy. When it's done, separate into different bowls and add food coloring. If you are using liquid food coloring remember it will thin the frosting a bit more

Over The Rainbow Cupcakes

Claire's dance group had a bake sale to raise money for her trip to the Outback Bowl.  She was so excited when she saw something similar to these on the internet.

We went to the store and found Airhead Extremes.  2 packages was plenty with a few extra pieces to eat:)

Next up, a white cake mix made with milk instead of water, a couple teaspoons of vanilla and blue food coloring for the "cloud" cake.

Frost with blue buttercream.  Put white buttercream in a piping bag.  We used a large circle writing tip to make the clouds on either side of the cupcake.  Shape airhead into rainbow and TA DA!  Instant sell out!!  Claire's cupcakes were the first to sell out and people were asking for more! 

NICE JOB GIRLIE!!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Ok, so I know I've said that I don't think Claire takes after me but maybe she does just a little bit.  She volunteered to make cupcakes for her Spanish class but she wanted them to be "fun".  She made a regular white cake mix according to the directions except using milk instead of water.  Split the batter between two bowls, one having slightly more.  She colored the "more" batch orange and the other one yellow.

Spoon about a tablespoon of yellow into bottom of cupcake liner, put 2 more tablespoons of orange.  Bake, cool and frost with white icing.  Top with a candy corn.

  It's hard to see in this photo but the bottom of the cake really is yellow and the top orange.

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