orange-oatmeal-raisin muffins

I think these are our very favourite muffins around here.  They’re moist and delicious, and this recipe has never failed me.

• 1 c. Quick Oats
• 1/2 cup orange juice (from the jug in your fridge – not fresh squeezed, although that might work too… I’m not sure)
• 1/2 cup boiling water

Mix these 3 ingredients above in a small bowl, and let sit 15 minutes

• 1/2  cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

In medium size bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  (I do it all with a wooden spoon).  Add raisins and dump in oatmeal mixture.  Stir together.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and gently stir into the butter/sugar/oatmeal batter. (do not over stir).

Pour into muffin tin (I use paper liners, but I guess if you don’t you’d want to grease your muffin tin).

Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Oven temps may vary, but they’re done when you stick a knife in, and the knife comes out clean.

Enjoy!   (makes 12 muffins)

cinnamon-sugar snowflakes

Ok, super simple snack today.  Scott from Brick by Brick shared a recipe for Cinnamon Snowflakes yesterday that he’d passed along from cometogetherkids.com.  We’re all about snowflakes here right now, even though we haven’t seen any real ones in a while.

We used small tortillas for ours snack, but you could use larger ones too.

Microwave your tortilla for about 10 seconds so it softens up and doesn’t rip.

Then fold it in half, and then in half again, and cut it as if you were making a paper snowflake.

Place your tortillas on a baking sheet (I used my baking stone), brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 350 for five to ten minutes until they start to turn golden brown.  I had mine in the oven for about 7 mins and I think they could have been in longer.  I let them sit on the stone for about 10 minutes after taking them out of the oven and they crisped up during that time.

That’s it!  Aren’t they pretty?  They’re tasty too!  We ate ours just as they were but ComeTogetherKids dipped theirs in pudding.  I’m thinking some real maple syrup would be awesome to dip into!  And if you’ve ever had a Canadian “Beaver Tail” (Oh My Heavenly Scrumptiousness), you might agree that a little squeeze of lemon juice would be a nice addition too! Mmmmm-Mmmm!

festive winter bark (a.k.a. coral reef)

Here’s an all time Holiday favourite of ours.  I couldn’t imagine not making this bark at Christmas-time; it’s just one of those things that signifies Christmas at our house.  My oldest son dubbed it ‘Coral Reef’ several years ago because of the way it looks.  It’s a little bit silly, but it stuck, and that’s what we all call it now.  I often make 2 batches; one for us, and one to package up for teachers, friends and neighbours.

Ok, here we go.  4 ingredients, folks.  It’s SO SIMPLE!

• 1 c. flaked coconut (toasted)
• 1 c. slivered almonds (toasted)
• 1 & 1/2 lbs (3 cups) white merkins disks
• 2 cups Rice Krispies

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper (let the paper hang over the ends of the baking sheet).
2. Toast nuts and coconut until light golden brown.
3. Melt white discs in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well after each 30 seconds until fully melted.
4. Combine nuts and coconut, and set half of the mixture aside.
5. Stir Rice Krispies and half of the nut/coconut mixture into the melted discs.
6. Pour and spread all of it over your baking sheet, and top with the reserved half of the mixture.
7. Sprinkle the reserved nuts/coconut over the bark, and gently press it in a bit with the back of a spoon or your fingers.  If you’re using your fingers, wet them with cold water first to prevent everything from sticking to them.
8. Refrigerate 20 minutes until set.  Break into pieces.

Mmmmmmmm.  Hope you love it as much as we do!

chocolate chip-cranberry cookies

These are one of my favourite cookies to make for the holidays.  When I make them at other times of the year, I leave out the cranberries.  At Christmas time, I like to use white chips with the cranberries.  They look and taste a little more decadent.  I completely forgot to pick up white chips for these though, so the teachers are getting the cranberry/milk chocolate chip version (which is still delicious).

Ok, here we go:

• 1.5 cups softened butter
• 1 cup each brown and white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp each baking soda, baking powder, salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick oats
• 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 2 cups dried cranberries

1. Cream butter and sugars in a very large bowl (I use my huge caesar salad bowl)
2. Add eggs and vanilla and stir well.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
   

   dough when completely mixed

5. Scoop a spoonful of dough and kind of press it into your hand to flatten it and place on a baking sheet (I use a baking stone which doesn’t require any spraying or greasing, but you’ll prepare your baking sheet the same way you do for other cookies).
   

   ready for the oven

6. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes.  Mine take about 11 mins on the stone.

they're done when the edges are just starting to brown

These cookies don’t really “brown”.  They’ll look pale with just a hint of brown on the edges.  Let them sit on the stone/baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them.  They need to flatten out and firm up before you transfer them to a cooling rack.  They’re a little delicate until they’ve completely cooled.

This makes a big batch (about 6 dozen med. sized cookies), so it’s great for the holidays, but you can easily halve the recipe  (although they’re always gone too soon when I do).

I’ve always wanted to experiment with add-ins like coconut, toasted pecans etc., but these are so dee-lish as-is, that I’ve never gotten around to actually doing it.  If you make them, and add some extras, drop me a line and let me know how they turned out!

Mmmm-Mmmmm!  These are going to school with Andrew tomorrow, for his teacher and our wonderful school secretary.

big soft ginger cookies

These are a favourite at our house.  If you like Gingerbread, but like your cookies soft, these are for you!

• 2 & 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/4 c molasses
• 2 tbsp white sugar (or more) for tossing dough balls in.

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Set aside
2. In a large bowl, cream margarine and 1 cup sugar.
3. Beat in egg, and stir in water and molasses.
4. Gradually stir in dry ingredients.
5. Set covered in fridge for at least 20 mins so it’s not too sticky to form balls.
6. Shape walnut sized balls and toss in a small bowl of white sugar until lightly coated.
7. Flatten cookies to about 1/4 inch with bottom of a drinking glass. (if your dough sticks to the glass, press the glass into a bit of white sugar first)
   

   I love using this glass because of the design on the bottom.

8. Bake 8 to 10 mins (I go for the full 10 in my oven on my baking stone).

Store in an air tight container.

Enjoy!!

homemade trail-mix

We’ve made this so many times over the years, for snacks in the daycare, to take camping, to take to baseball games etc.  It is always a hit with everyone, and it’s so crazy simple to throw together.

Rummage through your cupboards and see what kind of trail-mix-y stuff you have on hand.  I usually use cheerios, life cereal, raisins, cashews, and chocolate chips.  You can add whatever you like though: dried fruit, sunflower-seeds, mini marshmallows, pretzels, fish crackers (I think I’ve added all of those things at one time or another…anything goes.

Honest-to-goodness-delicious!

Best Ever Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Ohhhh, this one is to-die-for.  Don’t be thinking banana bread, or banana loaf; this is a full on banana cake.  I didn’t make up the name.  That’s what it’s known as.

I honestly forget where I first saw this cake, but it’s all over the web.   It’s a strange little recipe, so I’ll clarify a couple of things right off the top.  First of all:  the low oven temperature: 275 degrees.  That’s not a typo.  You read it right –  TWO HUNDRED and seventy-five degrees.  I don’t ask why.  I just know that it works.

The second thing is the freezer bit.  All the recipes I’ve seen instruct you to take the cake out of the oven, and place it directly into the freezer.  They claim that this is the secret to the cake’s moistness.   For all I know, it could turn out just as moist if you skipped this step, but what if it didn’t?  I don’t want to take that risk.  So for this reason, you’re going to want to bake it in something that can handle the change in temperature.  I use my 9 x 13 Pyrex baking dish.  I don’t cover the cake when I put it in the freezer;  I just fold a thick towel under the pan.

I bump up the nutrition a bit more when I’m making this with the Hooligans, by switching out half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.  It’s still very tasty, but not quite as naughty.

Ok….here are the details.

• 1.5 cups very ripe bananas (I use 4 thawed, previously frozen bananas)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 c all-purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
•  3/4 c soft butter
• 2 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 cups buttermilk (OR milk soured with one tbsp vinegar)

1. Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees.
2. Grease and flour (or spray with PAM), a 9×13 cake pan.
3. Mash banana and mix with lemon juice and set aside.
4. In a med bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in vanilla.
6. Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.
7. Stir in bananas.
8. Pour into cake pan and bake 1 hour and 10 mins (or until knife comes out clean).
9. Immediately place in freezer for 45 minutes. (if not completely cool upon removal from freezer, let cool further before icing).

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 1/2 c softened butter
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp.
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3.5 cups icing sugar

1. Cream butter and cream cheese.
2.  Beat in vanilla and icing sugar on low until combined, then high until smooth.

This makes a ton of icing.  I personally think you could use about 1/2 to ice the cake, but if you’re a lover of frosting, this recipe will make you very happy!

Enjoy!

pumpkin-chip cookies

I’ll admit, the first time I heard about these cookies, I thought they sounded odd. Apparently they’re very common in the Maritimes, but most people around here have never heard of them.  These soft, fluffy pillows of cinnamony-y goodness are a favourite among the Hooligans, and anyone else who tries them.  They’re really popular with kids, (my boys’ friends love them), and I get asked for the recipe a lot.  Bonus:  they’re super easy to make.  We probably make them a couple of times a month, and I always double the recipe because they go fast.

Here is the single recipe: (makes approx 2.5 dozen) ( the pictures show a double recipe).

• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1/2 c oil (I use canola)
• 1 egg
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 c chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin purée, sugar, oil and eggs. Stir until well mixed.
2. Add flour, baking powder & soda, cinnamon, salt, stirring until well mixed.
3. Stir in vanilla and milk.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto your cookie sheet or baking stone.  You can place them fairly close together because they don’t spread.  They just puff up.
   

   ready to go into the oven...

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  I use a pampered chef baking stone for all my cookie baking, and these are generally done after 10 minutes on the stone.

Now, pour yourself a coffee or a cold glass of milk!  Mmmmmm, Mmmmm…  Just try to stop at one!

Quick and Easy Coffee Cake

This recipe is SO simple, you won’t even have to look at the recipe after you’ve made it a couple of times.  This cake is so good that people call me up for the recipe all the time. We make it a lot here, because we always have the ingredients on hand and it whips up in such a short amount of time.  It isn’t the most stunning cake you’ll ever see, but wait until you taste it!

• 1 pkg cake mix (I like to use yellow or “golden”)
• 1 instant vanilla pudding mix (the powdered kind – my box reads “4 servings”, 102 g)
• 1 cup oil (I use veg. or canola)
• 1 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon

In large bowl, mix (electric beaters) cake mix, pudding mix, oil and water until combined.  Add eggs one at a time, beating at med-hi speed, for one minute after each addition (whatever…I’m all for keeping it simple, so I crack all the eggs in at once and beat it for 4 mins on med-hi).

Pour half of batter into greased/floured bundt pan (I just spray with PAM…again, all about keeping it simple).  Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle half the mixture over the batter.  Pour remaining batter into pan, and top with remaining cinn/sugar.  Swirl through with a knife.  

Bake 350 for 55-60 minutes (or until knife comes out clean)

Seriously!  How easy was that?

Now, the beautiful thing is: you can use any flavour of cake/pudding mix you like.  I’ve used lemon cake with lemon pudding, and poured and dusted it with icing sugar.  I’ve also used chocolate cake/pudding and poured an icing sugar glaze over.  Anything goes really.  Have fun with it!

Cinnamon Rolls

These babies require a bit of work, and a couple of hours, because of the rising and resting times, but once you bite into one of these ooey-gooey, heavenly treats….  Oh my goodness!!  They are SO worth the effort!!

I found the original recipe and tutorial here, which also includes methods for making the dough by hand, or with a stand-mixer.  I use my bread machine for the dough, so if that’s the route you want to take, you’ll find that method below.

What you’re going to need:

For the dough:

• 1 c milk, heated 1 min in microwave
• 1/4 c water (110 degrees)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c butter (room temp)
• 2 eggs (room temp, beaten)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c sugar
• 5 c flour (pref bread flour, but I use all purpose)
• 3 tsp instant, active yeast (also known as Quick Rise)

For the Filling:

• 1/2 c soft butter (you want it to be totally spreadable)
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 5 tbsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cups chopped nuts (optional)

*Mix cinn/sugar/nuts together, but keep softened butter in a separate bowl.  Set all of it aside until you’re ready for the filling step. (step 7, below)

For the Frosting:

• 2 oz cream cheese at room temp (that’s a 1/4 of a brick)
• 1/4 c butter
• 1 c icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp lemon extract or oil (optional)

* in med bowl, combine butter, cream cheese and beat until creamy.  Add sugar, lemon, vanilla, and mix until creamy.  You can refrigerate if you make this far enough in advance, but you want it at room temp when it’s time to use it.

Now… let’s get down to making these babies!  What you’re going to do:

1. Add all dough ingredients to your bread machine (look in your bread machine manual to see what order they recommend adding basic dough ingredients).
2. Select “DOUGH” setting.
3. When done, turn out onto a PAM-sprayed counter and form an oval.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 10 mins.
5. Meanwhile, butter a 9x13x2 glass pan & set aside.
6. After it’s rested, working on your sprayed counter, stretch and roll dough into a rectangle that’s roughly 15×24 inches. (I put some tiny marks on my counter with a pencil so I know when I’ve got it right.  A tape measure also comes in handy here).
7. Time to use the filling ingredients.  Using a spatula/spreader, smear the entire rectangle, almost to the edges, with your butter. 
8. Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar/nut mixture. 
9. Starting with long edge, closest to you, roll up dough (not too tight or centers will pop up when baking).  Once you have it rolled up, pinch the seam closed with your fingers.
10. Mark 1.5 inch sections along roll with a knife.  
11. Now the fun begins: grab a foot-long strand of unflavoured dental floss and slide it under the roll until it’s even with one of your knife marks.  Bring the ends of the floss up and cross them past each other above the roll.  This will slice off a neat chunk. This makes your cuts neat and clean and doesn’t squish the roll, like cutting it with a knife would. Make your way down the roll until it’s all sliced up.
12. Put the rolls into your buttered pan. (there should be some room between the rolls – they’ll expand and fill the pan as they bake).   The pic below shows how mine look in the pan before baking.

At this point, you have a few options:  You can refrigerate overnight and bake your rolls tomorrow. You can freeze your rolls for a later date, or you can bake them today.

To refrigerate overnight:  Cover pan with plastic wrap and place in fridge.  When you’re ready to bake, you can either pop them straight into the oven, or bring to room temperature first. (They do a slow rise overnight, so it’s not necessary to bring them to room temp first). Proceed to Baking Instructions.

To freeze: Cover with plastic wrap and place pan in freezer.  Before baking, allow to thaw on counter for 10-12 hours to ensure adequate rising. Proceed to Baking Instructions.

To bake them today: Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 45-60 mins.  Proceed to Baking Instructions.

BAKING INSTRUCTIONS: Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-25 mins.  Cool slightly and spread with frosting.

I know….that’s a lot of steps, but if you’re up to it, TRY IT!  You’ll be glad you did! (and trust me, your family will be too!)