Tried It & Loved It: Gingerbread Muffins

Another fine muffin recipe to add to our muffin rotation.  These just scream "Christmas" to me.  They are very similar in taste to my family favorite ginger snap cookies, so what a treat to have these little lovelies first thing in the morning.  I apologize, as I didn't get a picture, but Sara has a great little picture of these on her blog, Finding Joy in My Kitchen.

These are a real treat....I hope you get to try them out!

Gingerbread Muffins ~ slightly adapted from Finding Joy in My Kitchen

2 C white whole wheat flour (I used my soft white wheat)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 C brown sugar, packed (I used regular sugar because sucanat doesn't have the molasses stripped from it and with additional molasses in the recipe, I didn't know how it would taste)
1/4 C coconut oil, melted
1/2 C molasses
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C buttermilk

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray muffin pan with non stick spray or line with paper liners and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  Set aside.

In a seperate bowl, mix together sugar, molasses, egg, vanilla and buttermilk.  Mix wet ingredients into dry and when almost completely mixed, pour in coconut oil and finish mixing to combine.

Fill muffin cups two thirds full and bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool about 10 minutes prior to removing from pan. 

Slather with lots of butter and enjoy! 


 

Tried It & Loved It: Pumpkin Doughnuts

I am all about the fall flavors.  I mean, this recipe had me at pumpkin, but then combine that with doughnuts?  Well, that's just about over the top for me.  We all know how I love myself a doughnut.

Although, I did make an exception to my previously stated reasons for not frying the doughnuts last time and I fried them this time. And ohmylanta, were they good. 

Amazing, actually.  Of course, as Peanut was inhaling hers (like her mama) I said to Hubs, "Really though, what isn't good when it's full of sugar and deep fried?" 

Ahem. 

Alas, I didn't get a picture.  But please don't let that deter you, because these are SO yum. 

Pumpkin Doughnuts ~ adapted from The Happy Housewife 

2 cups flour (I did half all purpose, half soft white wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup sucanat
2 Tablespoons butter (room temp)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup puree'd pumpkin
Oil for frying (I used coconut)

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar/sucanat.  Add in egg and mix well.   Add in buttermilk, vanilla, and pumpkin and mix to combine.  Mix wet and dry ingredients together until mixture forms a ball. 

Heat a large amount of oil in a skillet or fry pan to be three inches deep.  (The amount will vary depending on size of skillet.)   Heat oil to 350 degrees or until LOTS of small bubbles quickly roll off a wooden spoon stuck in the oil.  

On a well floured surface, roll dough out (dusting with flour as needed) to a quarter inch thick.  Using either a doughnut cutter or one large, one small circle shape(s), cut out doughnuts.  Separate  holes from rings.  Fry in oil about 1-2 minutes per side, flipping to fry opposite side.  Lay on paper towels to drain and cool slightly.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar just prior to serving.  

Tried It & Loved It: Pumpkin Scones

In my former life, I made many a visit to a little coffee shop with the big green logo.  
 
You know the one.   

Why, yes, that would be Starbucks.

While I don't indulge very often anymore, Hubs and I usually make a stop at one on every visit we make on our way back to HomeTown.  I get so excited for our visits home.  

And my Mom and Dad thought that giddyness was about seeing them. 

Oh, how I kid. 

While I indulge in the coffee (and I use that term very loosely...most would not consider a Venti Peppermint Mocha with Whip a true "cup of coffee" but whatev...it is to me) on the trips home, I don't indulge in the pastries anymore.  Although I would love to...but the new "sensible" me just can't spend $2+ on something made of flour and water.  Name that movie.  

And yes, I completely see the hypocrisy in that. 

Over $4 for a cup of coffee but not the extra $2 for a scone. 

It's all about choices here, people. 

In my quest to satisfy that little indulgence, I came across this recipe, and while it is not the exact same, they are still good.  Very, very, good.

 
Pumpkin Scones (a Starbucks copy cat) ~ adapted from Food.com

for the scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I did half all purpose, half soft white wheat)
7 Tbsp sugar (that would be a scant 1/2 cup, and yes, I used sucanat)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 Tbsp half-and-half  (I used whole milk)
1 large egg

for the powdered sugar glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp whole milk 

for the spice glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp whole milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

for the scones:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat mat. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl.  Using a pastry cutter, cut cold butter into flour mixture until mixture is coarse crumbs (the largest being no bigger than a pea).   In a seperate bowl, mix together pumpkin, half and half/milk, and egg.  Making a well with your dry ingredients, pour in wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. 

On a well floured surface, pat dough (using additional flour as needed) into a round disk shape and cut (like a pie) into six even portion.  Place on baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely prior to icing.  (A good reason to bake the night before!)

for the powdered sugar glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and whole milk.  Mixture should be just a shade thicker than Elmer's glue.  (If necessary, add additional powdered sugar or milk to achieve desired consistency.)  Drizzle in a zig zag pattern over cooled scones. 

for the spice glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar, whole milk, and spices.  Again, the mixture should be just a shade thicker than Elmer's glue.  (As before, if necessary, add additional powdered sugar or milk to achieve desired consistency.)  Drizzle in a zig zag pattern (opposite to the powdered sugar glaze) over cooled scones. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

That movie would be Father of the Bride. 

And how can that be 20 years old?!??!!?

I mean, seriously?

Tried It & Loved It: Apple Pancakes

Any of you watched The Chew yet?  No?  Well it's a fun daytime show if you like cooking.  Lots of yummy sounding recipes from a bunch of different types of chefs.  Mario Batali is one of the co-hosts.  I just love him to pieces.  I've honestly never cooked any of his recipes, but they all sound so amazing.  The way he talks of the history and culture of Italy.....it makes me want to go there.  And that's saying a lot for this none-adventuresome homebody. 

I really don't know why I haven't ever tried any of his recipes...

But it's on my list of things to do.

Heh.  Have you seen that list? 

Anywho, this really isn't about Mario.  One of the other co-hosts on the show, Carla Hall, made this easy little recipe and I knew I wanted to try it.  Our landlord gave us a bunch of apples right after we got home from our trip, so I knew it would be a great way to use some of those up.

They were very yum and such a fun variation.  We loved them!  

Apple Pancakes ~ adapted from Carla Hall on The Chew

1 batch of pancake batter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

2-3 medium apples

The original recipe calls for Bisquik and we all know I don't do that.  I use the Betty Crocker recipe (listed below), substituting some of the ingredients for that more whole foods approach.

Core 2-3 medium apples and slice thinly.  The thinner, the better.  I don't have a mandoline, but I wish I did--the thicker slices that I made were still good, but the apples were still a little crunchy.  Had they been sliced SUPER thin, they would have been great.

Stir in cinnamon to pancake batter, mixing well to combine.  Dip apple slices in pancake batter, coating evenly on both sides.  Cook on a griddle over medium heat until lightly browned, flipping to cook opposite side--about 2 minutes per side.  Butter while pancakes are still hot, serving with warm maple syrup.  The real stuff.  Enjoy!

Pancake Batter

1 cup whole wheat flour (I use my fresh ground, soft white wheat)
1 Tbsp aluminum free baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 - 1 cup milk (start with 3/4 and go up from there....I can't stand thick pancakes, so I tend to like my batter pretty runny)
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
Butter, for topping

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large batter bowl.  Add in milk and egg and start to mix.  When about half way mixed, add in the melted coconut oil and mix completely.  I add the coconut oil in very last because once it hits the cold egg and milk, it will start to harden fairly quickly.  Adding it in very last will allow it to mix in the easiest and have the smoothest batter. 


This recipe is linked to Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Fresh Cherry Scones with a Sweet Almond Glaze

It had been no more than a week after we finished up the cherries that we Hubs picked 4th of July weekend, that our sweet landlord called and asked if we wanted some cherries from her brother's orchard.  Of course I would never turn down fresh picked cherries, so I jumped at the offer.  But then as I was filling up a big bowl of cherries to take, I remembered that we are going out of town, so I better cool it with taking so many because there is no way we are going to finish them up before we leave.

Enter getting creative with meals to eat some more cherries.  After Hubs ate his first scone, he asked if he could have another one.  I said of course, and as he was walking away, he says something about selling these.  What a nice Hubs, huh?  Oh and for the record, no, he doesn't normally ask permission for seconds, but he knew I hadn't taken pictures yet for the blog, so he wasn't sure what was "allowed."  Isn't he a good blogger husband? 

Fresh Cherry Scones

2 cups flour (I used fresh ground soft white wheat, but all purpose would work fine too)
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cup fresh cherries; stemmed, pitted, chopped (should be 1 1/4 cups after stemming, pitting, and chopping)
4 to 6 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients and cut butter into dry mixture using a pastry cutter or two knives.  Mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.  Add in egg, fresh cherries, and about 3 tablespoons of milk (to start) and fold together.  Fold until just moistened, adding more milk if necessary.

On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a disk, about 1 inch thick.  You will want to flour the top of the dough as well, as it will be sticky.  Cut the disk like a pie into even sized scones.  I was able to get six generous sized scones.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool completely prior to glazing.

Sweet Almond Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Mix together ingredients until smooth.  If consistency is too thick, add a shade more milk.  If consistency is too thin, add a dash more powdered sugar.  Wing it like I do! ;)  Drizzle over cooled scones. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen  (Friday Potluck will be hosted at girlichef for the month of July)
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap at A Moderate Life
La Bella Vita's Fresh Clean and Pure Friday 
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday

Tried It & Loved It: Peaches 'n Cream Muffins

I know, I know.  

Another muffin recipe.  But muffins are my go to breakfast in the morning and I love trying new recipes out!

And peaches 'n cream in a muffin?  Be still my heart.

I love these!  And I love that it calls for honey as a sweetener.  I don't use honey all too often--mostly because I don't know how to substitute honey for sugar because honey is a liquid and I never know how that will throw off the wet to dry ratio in most baking recipes.

I did change these just a little, because when making these the first time, I thought it had a lot of wet ingredients, so I omitted the 1/2 cup of half and half.  The batter was the perfect muffin consistency and they still turned out beautifully!

Peaches 'N Cream Muffins ~ slightly adapted from Amy at The Finer Things in Life

2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup cooking oil (I used coconut)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half n half (I omitted this entirely!)
2 ripe peaches, chopped (I used one 14.5 oz. can of peaches (not the heavy syrup kind), drained and chopped.....peaches are so not in season yet!)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups flour (I used fresh ground, soft white wheat)

Beat eggs and mix in honey, coconut oil, butter, and sour cream.  Fold in chopped peaches.   In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients and fold into wet ingredients until just moistened.

Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes.  Makes about one dozen muffins.

Fresh Cherry Compote

I really didn't reinvent the wheel with this one.  This is just like the other fruit compotes I made several weeks ago.  The recipe is very versatile, as you can see.  You can change out the fruit with almost any fruit that suits your fancy.  For us this last week, it was a great way to use up the last bit of cherries.  Not that we needed any help--but we had been snacking on them for a solid week and it was good to have a little bit of variation.

Fresh Cherry Compote

2 cups fresh cherries; stemmed, pitted and quartered  (mine were mostly Rainiers with a few Bings)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional)
1 tsp. arrowroot powder (you may use cornstarch too--use about 1 1/2 tsp.)

In a small pan over medium heat, slowly heat cherries and syrup.  In a small bowl, mix arrowroot powder/cornstarch with about a tablespoon cold water.  Stir thickener into cherry mixture.  Stir cherry mixture occasionally while allowing compote to thicken.  Compote is finished when sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 15-20 minutes.  Stir in almond extract after removing from heat. 

Cherry Almond Muffins

I mentioned that "we" went and picked cherries on Friday and by golly, have we been enjoying them!  We actually had to cut Peanut off (more than once) otherwise she would just keep eating more and more if we let her.  But I can't blame her--they are ever so tasty!

I have been trying to incorporate these little gems of goodness into our breakfasts because I don't want an ounce of these cherries to go to waste.   AND my shipment of soft white wheat came in (read: SUCH a happy girl) so I made some cherry muffins for breakfast.  Now I've made fresh cherry muffins before.  But I changed the recipe a little because how we eat now has changed from how we ate two years ago and well, because that's what I do--I wing it in the kitchen.  Regardless, they were SO tasty I decided to write a whole new post all about the changes I made!

Cherry Almond Muffins

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour (I used freshly ground soft white wheat although all purpose or whole wheat would work just fine)
1 cup cherries, pitted and quartered (mine were Rainier this time)
1/2 cup sugar (I used rapadura)
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sliced almonds, for topping

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of muffin cups or line with paper liners.

Beat milk, egg, and almond extract in large bowl.  Fold in cherries.  Add in remaining dry ingredients and melted coconut oil (last) and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  (I add the coconut oil in last otherwise when you stir your coconut oil in with the cold milk/egg, the coconut oil starts to harden up and it doesn't mix as evenly. So I mix all my other "wet" ingredients, then add in my "dry" and then pour the coconut oil on top and mix it all together until just moistened.  This process works really well for me.)  Divide batter into muffin cups and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Bake for about 18-22 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen  (Friday Potluck will be hosted at girlichef for the month of July)
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap at A Moderate Life
La Bella Vita's Fresh Clean and Pure Friday 
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 
This Chick Cooks Recipe Swap

Tried It & Loved It: Lemon Poppy Seed Bread (or in my case, muffins)

This is another good one!    I would have totally made it with my soft white wheat, but I ran out (because I love it that much!) and I won't be able to get any more until the beginning of next month.  So, this time I opted for all purpose flour....you know, for the lighter texture.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Muffins ~ slightly adapted from The Happy Housewife

1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (I used melted, coconut)
1/4 cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds together and set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients and combine both wet and dry ingredients until just moistened.  Pour in a sprayed loaf pan or sprayed muffin cups.  Bake at 350--the loaf for 45-55 minutes or the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in either comes out clean. 

Fresh Fruit Compote

This one I am particularly proud of.  The inspiration come from a container of blueberries in the fridge that the Peanut wasn't eating fast enough.  The child can't get enough fruit, but when her mommy has blueberries and cantaloupe and oranges to offer her at any given time, somethings gotta' give.  Such was the case for the blueberries this time.  They gave.

I started imagining those thick, goopy berry toppings that come with pancakes and waffles from those breakfast chains that Hubs and I used to meet at before class during our dating days.  And I knew I could make it better.  Because fresher is always better, isn't it?

I made blueberry the first morning and apple the next morning.  Blueberry is my fave, but my husband digs the apple.  The Peanut is lover to all fruit, so she was no help for a tie breaker.  Both of these would also be an excellent topping with vanilla ice cream.  YUM!

Blueberry Compote

2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. arrowroot powder (you may use cornstarch too--use about 1 1/2 tsp.)

In a small pan over medium heat, slowly heat berries and syrup.  In a small bowl, mix arrowroot powder/cornstarch with about a tablespoon cold water.  Stir thickener into berry mixture.  Once berries are heated through (sauce may not be thickened at this point) crush berries with a potato masher.  I did this with about half the berries.  Stir occasionally while allowing compote to thicken.  Compote is finished when sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 15-20 minutes.

Apple Cinnamon Compote

2 large apples
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. arrowroot powder (you may use cornstarch too--use about 1 1/2 tsp.)

Peel, core, and chop apples into a small dice.  In a small pan over medium heat, slowly heat apples, cinnamon, and syrup.  In a small bowl, mix arrowroot powder/cornstarch with about a tablespoon cold water.  Stir thickener into apple mixture.  Stir occasionally while allowing compote to thicken.  Compote is finished when sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 15-20 minutes.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap  
Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday
La Bella Vita's Fresh Clean and Pure Friday 
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 
This Chick Cooks Recipe Swap 

Tried It & Loved It: Baked Doughnuts

***I apologize this post is a little late, but I had some surprise guests show up on Thursday night--my Mom and Dad!***

Have I ever mentioned my love affair with doughnuts?  I big-fluffy-pink-hearts LOVE doughnuts.  When I was in college (living at home--don't judge--it was FREE), my mom used to bribe me by asking me to drive into town to run to the post office and bank for her--in exchange for my favorite chocolate bar doughnut.  I did it without fail nearly everyday.  And I was a size 4-6.  Isn't that just plain wrong?

While my metabolism is NOT the same as it used to be, my love for doughnuts is.  But then there is that whole-foods-thing-again-and-knowing-what's-in-the-food-you're-eating, blah, blah, blah.  So I rarely eat doughnuts any more.

Such a sad story, isn't it?

But then one day it occurred to me, I can make my own doughnuts.  I did choose to do a baked version, not because they are "healthier" (who are we kidding--they are doughnuts) but for the following two reasons a) Frying them up takes time and patience and while I do have time, I am NOT that patient and b) if I did fry them, I would use coconut oil and coconut oil is expensive and I really didn't want to use it  for something as frivolous as doughnuts.  So baked doughnuts it was. 

Can you say yum?  I would so make them more often, but because you have to plan ahead (although I do menu plan our dinners, I am more of a wing it girl when it comes to breakfasts) and because of all the added sugar, I don't make them as much as my taste buds would like. 

All that aside, if you do ever get the chance-try them.  You'll LOVE them!

Baked Doughnuts ~ slightly adapted from Finding Joy in My Kitchen 

1 1/3 C warm milk (~100 degrees F)
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
2 T butter, softened
2/3 C sugar (I used rapadura)
2 eggs
5 C flour (I used half white whole wheat, half all purpose)
1 tsp. sea salt (ground finely)

1 T cinnamon
1/2 C sugar
Melted butter 

Stir yeast in warm milk and set aside to proof.  In a stand mixer, using paddle attachment, beat softened butter and sugar together until well combined.  Add in eggs and mix thoroughly.  Add in yeast/milk mixture.  Sift flour and salt together in a separate bowl and add in one cup portions to the wet mixture until all flour is added.  Dough should start pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball--additional flour may be necessarily, depending on humidity that day (I probably added about an extra half cup).  Once mixture is well combined, switch out paddle attachment for dough hook and knead dough on medium speed for about five minutes.    When finished kneading, dough should no longer be overly sticky and should be somewhat elastic in texture.  Grease bowl with oil or butter and do the same to your dough ball.  Cover bowl and let rise until doubled in shape.  (I place my dough in a warm-not hot-oven to rise.) 

Punch dough down and roll out on a well floured surface to a half inch thickness.  Using a doughnut cutter or a large and small circular shape (I used a drinking glass and a tiny plastic container), cut doughnuts and doughnut holes out and place on lightly greased (I used my Silpats instead) baking sheets.  Let rise for an additional hour.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake until doughnuts are just starting to brown on top~about eight minutes.  Be careful not to over bake!

Melt butter in a bowl and mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.  When doughnuts are cool enough to handle, dip doughnuts in butter and then dredge in cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Best served while still warm. 

Tried It & Loved It: Biscuits

Many moons ago if I ever got a hankering for biscuits, I would on occasion (gasp!), purchase the kind in the tube.  However, two and a half years ago, when a very frugal grocery budget was of utter importance, to save money, I started making my own biscuits at home after finding a recipe online*.  Then, during the last year, as whole foods have become more of a concern, I have altered this recipe just a tad in order to incorporate more whole foods.  These are wonderful--a complete indulgence when using all purpose flour and still wonderful even when incorporating a little more nutrient-rich whole wheat flour.  Either way, definitely worth the extra effort to make these at home.

I also love this recipe because it doesn't call for buttermilk--which I don't always have on hand.  I know you can make your own using milk and vinegar.  While I never hesitate to do this when making my homemade ranch dressing, for some reason I can't bring myself to use "fake" buttermilk when making "buttermilk" biscuits.

I know.

*I wish I could give credit where credit is do, but I wrote this recipe down on a slip of paper and I couldn't tell you the original source.  So if this is yours or you know who's it is, please tell me!

Buttermilk Biscuits ~ adapted from somewhere on the World Wide Web

2 cups flour (all purpose or a mix of both white whole wheat and all purpose, as pictured above)
3 tsp. aluminum free baking powder (if you use standard baking powder, use 4 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup butter, cubed in small pieces
3/4 ~ 1 cup milk (I start with a three quarters cup, but I usually add a bit more to get the dough to all come together)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together flour(s), baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add in milk and mix until dough just holds together.  On a floured surface, turn dough and kneed several times.  Flatten dough to a half of an inch thick and use biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass to cut biscuits.  (I get eight biscuits.  Every. time.)  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes, or until biscuits are just starting to brown on top.  Serve with lots of butter and jam, if desired. 

This recipe is linked to:

French Breakfast Puffs

My friend gave me a Christmas gift this weekend as we hadn't seen each other since long before the holidays.  She gave me The Pioneer Woman's cookbook.  Yum!  I am loving it....I have a whole bunch of recipes to try...and I always love that!  I made her French Breakfast Puffs this morning:

I didn't have any shortening, so I used butter and I think they turned out fine.  In the words of PW, please try these!  :)

Fresh Cherry Muffins

My parents generously offered to let us come pick cherries from their small orchard on their property. As cherries are so expensive at the store and they really aren't in the budget, I quickly jumped at the opportunity to volunteer my husband. (Not really the outdoorsy type...) I am not sure of the exact variety, but I do know they are not Bing cherries. I love to eat the Bings and these just aren't as good for eating. But they are good for baking! I came home and made a cherry pie, which was scrumptious! I still had plenty left over so this morning I made cherry muffins. They were quite tasty as well. Definitely a recipe to try.






















Fresh Cherry Muffins

1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cherries, pitted and quartered
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of muffin cups or line with paper liners.
Beat butter, milk and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Divide batter into muffin cups and sprinkle with topping listed below. Bake for about 18-22 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen.

Topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon and top muffins prior to baking. Enjoy!


Trying to use up some fresh cherries?  I also created a recipe for Fresh Cherry Scones with a Sweet Almond Glaze you might be interested in as well. 


For other great recipes, go to the Grocery Cart Challenge!