Blueberry Muffins

This Friday I was off of work because my best friend was in town and staying with us for the weekend. Since I was the first to wake up I thought I would surprise everyone (everyone being my husband Jason and Ryan my best friend!) with some homemade muffins and a pot of coffee so we could start the day off with the most important meal of the day! I just happened to have all the ingredients in the house, which I love because when I get a wild hair or a crazy plan for something I just love being able to walk into the pantry and see that I am actually going to be able to make it happen without having to go to 3 different stores to get everything. The only thing I would have preferred would be to have used fresh blueberries instead of canned blueberries, however, my last few trips to the supermarket have lead me to believe that they are not quite in season because there have not been any available. Other then that I think this recipe is great. It is not too rich or over powering and the crumbly topping is the perfect sweet touch.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup of milk

1 cup of fresh blueberries (I used canned and they turned out great!)

Crumb Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup of butter cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon



Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and then enough milk to fill the cup. Pour this mixture from the measuring up in with the flour mixture.

3. Fold in the blueberries





4. Fill the muffin cups right to the top.



I only had a cupcake pan and not a muffin pan so I decided to fill some to the top to get huge muffins and some smaller so that there would be a variety of sizes.



5. Sprinkle on crumb topping mixture. To make crumb topping: mix together ingredients and sprinkle over the muffins before baking.





Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Mine were done at 20 minutes but I also used a cupcake pan versus a muffin pan.






Look at that crumb topping.... Ryan came in the kitchen just moments before the muffins came out of the oven and we ate them warm. It was great!

UPDATE: I was cruising around on Piece of Cake and saw that she too has made these muffins!! She agreed they are wonderful! And really... lets face it she is like a goddess when it comes to writing or baking! So if she says something then consider it BIBLE! Live it, learn it... LOVE IT!

UPDATE: These are photos of them made with fresh blue berries... They were fantastic!

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New Recipe

Hello Hello....

Well this Saturday morning I went ahead and tried a new recipe I had gotten from Jannett at BakeSpace.com. The recipe is called "Buttermilk Drop Doughnuts" So I woke up early and got the kitchen ready and decided to tackle these little guys for breakfast...

Buttermilk Doughnuts

Ingredients:

-Vegetable oil
- 2 cups unbleached flour ( I only had bleached all purpose so that is what i used)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg ( I did not add this in)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla paste ( I used vanilla extract as Jannett said that could be subbed in)
Sugar and cinnamon for coating or an icing of your choice

Heat oil ( 2 to 3 inches) in a dutch oven to 375 degrees F. ( I just used a pan on the stove at medium heat)

In a bowl combine all dry ingredients.


Then add in the wet ingredients.


Beat with a mixer until smooth.


Drop the dough by teaspoons into the hot oil. Do not make them too large or they will not cook all the way through. You will think you are not dropping in very much but they expand a lot larger once they start to cook!


Fry for about 3 minuted or until they are golden brown. Do not cook too long so that outside gets burned looking and if they are browning too fast just turn down the oil.
Once you have cooked them drain on paper towel and then immediately roll in coating of your choice. I rolled half in just sugar and the other half in cinnamon and sugar. Coat using a spoon to coat the entire doughnut and then place on a finished plate.


Once you are done... Sit back with some coffee and ENJOY!



I liked these. I do not think I will make them again but they were different which is just what I was wanting to try! I like to try new things and I am always up for a challenge so these sounded like fun. PLUS who doesn't like doughnuts??? And I have never had one that was homemade. I know there are several varieties of homemade doughnuts and this is only one so I will be open to trying them again! Jason said on a scale of 1 to 5 he gave them a 3.5... however he kept eating them and eating them even when I wanted to put them up! ha ha so they must have been alright.

As I was walking to the kitchen to put them in a plastic container to see if they would be good the next day or to see how they would last I tripped ( in classic heather style) imagine in slow motion if you will.... a plate full of these little babies... covered in sugar and cinnamon flying in the air as I am yelling " NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo" and then they were everywhere... the floor, the dinning room table and even the dog now had a sugary cinnamon coating... ha ha too bad for you I could not get to my camera and Jason had helped me finish cleaning up by the time I thought that would make for a funny ending picture for the blog!! ha ha so I do not know if they are any good the next day....

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I am hoping to get some ideas from you guys on what I should make this week... everyone at work is begging me for more cinnamon rolls, however, I think we can come up with something new to try!!! So let me know what you think

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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OoOey GoOoey Cinnamon Rolls

Hello everyone...

Well this weekend Jason worked 11am to 11pm Saturday and Sunday! So I decided to bake.

I had been wanting to try making homemade cinnamon rolls... I mean who does not love a cinnamon roll... they smell amazing, they are OoOey GoOoey and sweet... and they just make people smile and laugh... So I did it. I searched some recipes at AllRecipes.com and found what i thought sounded like the perfect one. There was just one problem... I DO NOT HAVE A BREAD MAKER and that is what the recipe called for! I really like the idea of making bread the old fashion way and I have never had the extra money to get one so there for I do not own one.

I decided to see if I could make it work without one and I did!! They are amazing and perfect and definitely going to be made at our house again. I split them up and took half with me to work and half with Jason to his work.... I tried one last night... I could only get through a third of it as it was 9pm and I was full from dinner anyway... but I had to try one ;o) I have been at work for almost 2 hours and we are down to one!!! Everyone has said they are wonderful so here is the recipe and how I did it minus the bread machine...
Ingredients:
-1 cup of warm milk (will need to be 110 degrees F)
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup melted or softened butter ( all recipes said you can you margarine if you want but I used butter)
-4 1/2 cups All purpose flour( the recipe called for bread flour but I was out so I improvised)
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup white sugar
-7g pack of yeast ( I used Red Star)
For the filling:-1 Cup brown sugar
-2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
-1/3 cup softened butter
For the Icing:-1 3oz package of cream cheese softened
-1/4 cup butter softened
-1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/8 teaspoon salt

OK so first things first you need to take the milk and heat it up. I placed mine in the microwave for 30 seconds, then I stirred it up and heated it for another 30 seconds. I pulled it out and checked the temperature and then I added the yeast packet in. I then stirred until the yeast had dissolved. Then pour the milk yeast mixture into your kitchen aid mixer ( which I could not live without!!). I then added the eggs one at a time. Then the butter, salt, sugar and flour. I kept mixing until a dough form appeared. I then heavily floured my surface and pulled the dough out of the mixer. I kneaded the dough with my hands for approx 5 to 10 minutes.


Once this was done I preheated the oven to 200 degrees F and turned it off. I placed the dough in a bowl with a damp paper towel over the top and placed it in the oven to rise.


After one hour I removed the dough.

Again on a floured surface I rolled the dough out.
In a separate bowl I mixed the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling. I then dropped in the butter and started mixing... I thought to myself how in the world am I going to spread this on. I then realized like a retard that I was supposed to put the butter on the dough then coat not drop it into the sugar cinnamon mixture...I then took a little extra butter and coated the dough and then placed the cinnamon and sugar mixture all over the dough. It was a little clumpy but it in no way affected the outcome.

Then you roll the dough up and get a piece of dental floss ( this is the best trick that I learned from AllRecipes.com) you place the floss under the cinnamon roll log and raise both sides up. You then cross them and pull down. This will cut the roll in a perfect cut without smashing it as you try to cut it.





place wax paper in the pan and spray it down with Pam or the cooking spray of your choice. Place the rolls in the pan.

Then leave them to rise some more while you preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Once the oven is preheated place the rolls in the oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown on the
top.

While the rolls are in the oven go ahead and make the icing.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and turn your mixer on... at first it will seem to dry and all balled up... just keep mixing and it will turn into luscious creamy frosting in no time flat!


Once the rolls come out of the oven put them onto a place and frost right away so the frosting can melt all into the rolls...

I doubled the recipe for the icing but it was too much... I think 1 and half the amount of frosting would be perfect but it depends how you like to eat them!





I do recommend you guys try this recipe out... it took no time at all and from the research I did you can make the dough the night before then take it out of the fridge in the morning and let it rise and start from there... I even think after I cut the rolls and placed them in the pan that they would have been fine in the fridge over night. I would have taken them out for a half hour or so to rise and reach room temp then attempt to cook them and frost them... I think they would have been ok but for the first try I didn't want to play around....

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We are supposed to get about 6 inches of snow tonight and if that happens and I get a snow day from work I will be baking at least 1 if not 2 new recipes I have to try... Since it will be like a free day! I am really hoping for that haha but we will see...

Sinfully Yours,

Heather
EDIT: This picture is when I made them Mini for an Easter party... I think they are adorable in this size... they look like a fairy sprinkled magic dust on them and they shrunk!!

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