Tag Archives: Muffins & Quick Breads

Sep17

Blueberry Muffins for Breakfast

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Blueberry Muffins for Breakfast

I have a few recipes for Blueberry Muffins, one of my favorites made with oatmeal and orange juice in the ingredient list, this one though makes nice moist puffy muffins that hold up well. Not a lot of introduction needed for this recipe, other than try it, soon.
Blueberry Muffins

Recipe Originating at Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Ingredients:  

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups blueberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Prepare the muffin pans with cup cake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and mix on low to medium speed until blended. Fold in the blueberries carefully. Fill 15 muffin cups evenly.

Bake for 18 – 21 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out dry.

Makes 15 muffins.

 

Jun20

Cinnamon Brunch Cake

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Cinnamon Brunch Cake

Cinnamon Brunch cake

 

This cake originates from a cake mix that is doctored to produce a wonderful breakfast dessert. The recipe comes from Duncan Hines Cake Mix Magic Cookbook that a friend loaned me. I prepared the cake this morning because I was bored… actually I woke early and decided to bake. Plus I thought it would be a nice Father’s day treat. The cake is dense, yet moist. I didn’t have almonds so I used recently picked Georgia Pecans.

Incidentally, I am excited to use my new cupcake plate. I actually painted it myself during a recent visit to a local pottery store with my youngest. I love the way it turned out!

Cinnamon Brunch Cake

Duncan Hines Cake Mix Magic, page 82

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup fine chopped almonds (pecans)
  • 1 box white cake mix
  • 1 box instant vanilla pudding (4 serving size)
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil (see note)
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 350. Spray a 10 inch Bundt pan with baking spray.

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, set aside. Sprinkle nuts evenly in the bottom of the Bundt pan. Combine the remaining ingredients and beat for two minutes.

Spread half of the batter in the pan and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over batter. Pour remaining batter into pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool about 15 minutes and remove from pan.

Glaze cake if desired. To prepare glaze, combine 1 cup of confectioner sugar with 1 – 2 tablespoons of milk. Stir until desired pouring consistency.

Note: To reduce some of the oil, I suggest using 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup of oil, and 1/2 cup of water. Or any combination of this reaching 1 1/2 cups of liquid. The applesauce renders a moister crumb.

May22

Brunch Sweets

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Brunch Sweets

Quite a while back I made a breakfast roll with just a few ingredients. I wanted to post it again since it is such an easy sweet addition to breakfast or brunch, especially for a small group. The first time I made it, the recipe originated from a great food blog ~ My Kitchen Snippets ~ a blog worthy of bookmarking… check it out.

I prepared the roll with apples and cream cheese. I suppose any fruit that goes with cream cheese would be a great substitute. For the original recipe and great illustrations, click here.

Fruit & Cream Cheese Loaf

Ingredients :

  • 6 oz cream cheese
  • 1 egg, separated
  • 3 tbsp of powder sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple pie filling with cinnamon
  • 1 (11 oz) tube of bread stick dough

Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup of powder sugar
  • 2 – 3 tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

In a bowl combined soft cream cheese, powder sugar and egg yolk. Mix until well combined.

Unroll and separate the dough into two rectangles. On a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet, place the rectangles horizontally and press the steam together. Spread cream cheese mixture onto the center of the dough then dollop the fruit filling evenly over the cream cheese. Separate the dough perforations up to the cheese mixture (You might need a scissors for this) Slightly pull and stretch the dough strips. Start from one end of the loaf and alternate pulling the dough strips over the filling to form a “braid”. Make sure to tuck and seal both ends of the loaf.

Beat the egg white and brush it all over the loaf, sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, remove and allow to cool.

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk, adding more for desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle all over the cool loaf before serving.

(Original recipe was posted on January 25, 2009)

Feb15

Grands Pull Apart Rolls

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Grands Pull Apart Rolls

Grands Pull Apart Rolls

Ok, so I have been monkey bread crazy lately, but hey, it’s an easy way to impress people with a rich and decadent dessert. This one is basically the same recipe as the Monkey Bread I just posted recently, except it uses Pillsbury’s Grands Cinnamon Rolls versus regular biscuits. It also is coated with the icing that comes with the rolls. Using cinnamon rolls to make monkey bread is kind of like using ganache on cupcakes verses frosting. Oh, and let me tell you the aroma of this baking is to die for. Two words here, “Eat Me”.

Grands Pull Apart Rolls (aka Monkey Bread)

Recipe adapted about a thousand times from Pillsbury

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1  teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cans Grands Cinnamon Rolls

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter and brown sugar and stir until smooth. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Slice cinnamon rolls in quarters and roll each in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place in greased bundt pan. Pour butter mixture over sliced rolls.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. The rolls are done when it is firm or “springy” when pressed. *Watch for over-browning of top rolls. You can place a sheet of foil loosely on the top if needed.

Before icing - look at the gooey brown sugar!

Jan23

Monkey Bread

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Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread

It’s been a while since I posted on Monkey Bread (March of 09 to be exact), but I make it several times a month. With only 5 ingredients, even the simplest of bakers can create it. There are quite a few variations on how to prepare the bread, but I think the end result is almost always the same.

If you are looking for a melt in your mouth/sink to your buns recipe, try this OMG Cinnamon Roll Cake too.

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

  • 2 rolls (8 count each) refrigerated biscuits
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the inside of a 12″ fluted or tube pan with cooking spray.

Remove biscuits and separate. Slice each into quarters. Combine sugar and cinnamon in bowl or large Ziploc bag. Roll biscuits in cinnamon sugar and arrange in baking pan. (If using a bag, drop several biscuits at a time in the bag and shake to cover.)

Combine melted butter and brown sugar, stir until smooth. Pour evenly over biscuits.

Bake for 28 – 32 minutes, or until the center is no longer doughy. I often lightly cover the pan with foil during the last 10 or 15 minutes to prevent the top from over browning. Another way I check for “doneness” is to tap on the top of the bread with my finger. If it is soft and does not spring back, it needs a few more minutes.

Nov25

Pumpkin Bread (finally in the kitchen!)

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Pumpkin Bread (finally in the kitchen!)

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day 2009. I am actually prepared (mentally) this year to entertain! It helped that I had the whole day off today. A couple of store runs, a 60 minute workout, and a little lunch later, I made it to the kitchen. I have been quite busy and/or not feeling well lately, so my oven was actually building up dust.

So I broke the no baking bug. Enter: Pumpkin Bread and Snickerdoodles (next post). Kenzie, my youngest, assisted in today’s efforts. I can usually deal with one kid helping (not three) so we had a good afternoon.

To keep with Thanksgiving traditions we prepared a family favorite, pumpkin bread. I doubled the recipe and came out with three 8 x 5 ” loaves. I posted the recipe last year, but happily repost below.

Pumpkin Bread (doubled for three 8″ pans)

  • 3 cups plus 4 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
  • 3 cups sugar 
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 cup oil
  • 4 eggs slightly beaten
  • 2 Cup Canned Pumpkin
  • 2/3 Cup Water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8 x 5″ loaf pans with baking spray.

Sift together dry ingredients, set aside.

Beat together eggs, oil, water and pumpkin. Make a well in dry ingredients and add wet mixture. Stir with spoon just until all ingredients are wet. Pour into greased pan(s), fill pan 2/3 full.

Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. (mine took exactly one hour)

Makes three 8″ loafs.

P.S. I used the leftover cinnamon sugar mixture from the snickerdoodles and sprinkled it over the top.

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving if full of wonderful memories.

 

Aug11

What’s a Bogel?

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What’s a Bogel?

Bogels

Well, time hasn’t been on my side when it comes to kitchen time. Though I did prepare a nice steak salad for dinner, family hunger took precedence over photographs. So anyway… back to this post… What’s a Bogel you ask? Well, it’s not a misfit from the latest Harry Potter movie…

Yesterday I stopped into Panera to pick up some soup. Yes, I do live in Florida, and it was in the 90′s, but that is one of the few things I will eat out. Then I noticed these cool “new-fangled” items… I guess they would be like the “munchkins” of bagels. These were just too cool and I had to buy a sampler. This Bogel, is a mini version of the famous Panera Cinnamon Crunch Bagel, and perfect for those of us that like enjoy their bagels, but just a bite will do. Well, maybe that’s not what most people do with their bagels, but it sounded good.

So this post is in dedication to the new cute little Bogels available for $1.99 at your local Panera. Enjoy!

 Bogels2

bogels3

Apr15

5 Ingredient Banana Bread

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5 Ingredient Banana Bread

img_0277-copy1 

Judge me not! This recipe uses a cake mix. I know, I knowl….but, I needed a fast and easy fix and this recipe fit the bill. It doesn’t get much easier.

Banana Bread Fast!

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
  • 1 (18.25 oz) cake mix (*I used a pineapple mix)
  • 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup nut or chocolate chips (I used white chocolate)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Pour into greased 9 x 13 bread pan. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, of until toothpick comes out clean.

Note: I had enough batter to also make 6 muffins AND, I used a pineapple cake mix, white chocolate chunks and a little coconut. I guess you could call it a tropical version of banana bread. Yum!

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