Sunday Morning Muffins

We had 3 bananas in the fruit bowl bespeckled with the tell-tale ripe spots. I was tired of banana bread so I pulled out the pancake mix, but then decided too, that I was tired of pancakes... what could I make?
I am not a baker by any stretch of the imagination so I decided to do a Google search for muffins I could make using bananas and pancake mix. The results were these AWESOME peanut butter banana muffins with streusel topping:


MUFFINS
• 2 cups complete pancake mix (the just add water sort)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup very ripe bananas (2 to 3), mashed
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
STREUSEL
• 1/2 cup complete pancake mix
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 tablespoon softened butter

1. HEAT oven to 400°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. COMBINE pancake mix, salt, bananas, sugar, eggs, oil and peanut butter in medium bowl. Stir just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Make streusel by mixing pancake mix, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and shortening. Divide mixture evenly over muffin batter.
3. BAKE 14 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.

This recipe supposedly yeilds 12 muffins but I got 20 muffins out of it- maybe they mean those gigantic oversized muffin tins... in any case they rocked, everyone in the family loved them! Great use for bananas that need to be eaten up quickly!

Come Hell or High Water, I'm Makin' Zucchini Bread!

... is the declaration I made to my husband last night. Seems everyone and their brother has been growing zucchini this summer and deciding that my family is a suitable recipient for it en masse. Now don't get me wrong, I will never look a gift zucchini in the mouth, I just run out of things to do with it! I've been throwing it in salad, pasta sauce, grilling it and plain old steaming it non stop for weeks!

This latest batch is from my mom- 6 giant pieces! It was showing signs of needing to be used up quick and for the past 3 nights I'd tried to bake but been intercepted by children, work and lack of flour so after I'd greased my pans and taken out the mixing bowl last night only to discover the flour issue, I declared that today would be zucchini bread day come hell or high water! So bright and early this morning I ran to the store, remedied the ingredients situation and zipped back home to make two delicious loaves of bread.



Here's the recipe- taken from the good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook with a couple of very minor alterations:

3 cups shredded zucchini (I shred onto a plate so the water will run out and seperate, this bread is plenty moist without all the additional liquid)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup liquid egg product (this is my sub. for 4 large eggs)
3 cups whole wheat flour (a sub. for all-purpose flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (my sub. for ground cloves)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (any nut will do, or omit if desired)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional but they add great moisture and flavor!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans (9x5x3). Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.*

*ha, one loaf barely makes it through the night at my house, my family are fiends for fresh baked bread of any kind, lol! I do slice up the second loaf though and put it into a zip top freezer bag and freeze it- this way you can pull out just a slice or two and warm it in the toaster or microwave in a couple of seconds. Perfect for when unexpected guests arrive!

Russian Tea Cakes!

These are my husband's favorites... so rich and buttery they melt in your mouth!

1 cup softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

In a large bowl combine ingredients on low speed of mixer about 1 minute. Blend well. Gradually add flour at low speed until just combined; stir in nuts.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls; place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes until firm to the touch; note from experience:

Do not overbake- they will crumble when you try to pick them up if they're cooked even a minute too long. These cookies don't brown when done!

While warm, roll in powdered sugar. Cool; re-roll in powdered sugar before serving.


***I tripled this recipe and made 10 dozen cookies***

Raspberry jam thumbprint cookies

Morning everyone! Here's my second recipe for some pretty easy but snazzy looking cookies:

1 (1 pound 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 cup white chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg and flour until soft dough forms.

Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls; place 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Take the backside of your 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, dip in sugar (before each impression) and make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon jam into each indentation.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Melt white chocolate chips over a double boiler until smooth then spoon melted chips into a small ziptop plastic bag; cut a tiny hole in corner of bag. Squeeze bag gently to drizzle melted chips over cookies.

***one batch yields approximately 5 dozen cookies***

Maggie's Cookie-o-rama

Tara and I were chatting yesterday about blogging, working on our gift lists (she's mostly making, I'm mostly buying) and baking. She encouraged me to post pictures and recipes for the cookies I was working on. She said it would be cool to feature bunch of cookies on our blog. I sort of agreed (typed "k", while thinking "no way"). But I knew she would not just let it go away- I would either have to do it or tell her I am a dork who couldn't do it!

I was whining to Tara -"My food photos stink!" but she was having none of that since she managed her fabulous pinwheel picture with no flash on her camera! So I decided to go ahead and blog about my cookie adventure of the day. If nothing else this will show how very different Tara and I are! Tara's cookies are works of art in every way, while mine are more utilitarian - meant only to feed my giant and perpetually starving teenagers.

Scroll down and you will see that Tara has taken a wonderful picture of her cookies on a lovely plate. Well, cookies at my house rarely touch a plate. I usually put them in ziplocks as they cool and then my family grabs them out of the bag. Only if I am taking some to a party or family event do they see a plate. I am pretty sure if I put them on a plate around here, no one would eat them because they would be afraid they were not meant for our family, but for some event! I took the portrait of my chocolate chip cookies on the wire cooling rack. Oh, and the recipe? You can find it on the Nestle chocolate chip bag just like I did! I actually have a recipe I usually use, but for some reason today just made the one on the bag.

A few weeks ago, I went looking for cookie recipes that would be good to mail, because I was making cookies to include in care packages that were to be mailed to the college students from our church. I found this nice site, Recipe4living, which had this great article about mailable foods. I made the Butter Pecan Bars , and they were super fast and really very good. My 13 year old was sad that all those cookies got baked and then immediately left the house, so I promised him I would remake some. I chose those Butter Pecan Bars and this batch was better than the first! (Oh and see, Tara, I told you my food photos stink!)

Cranberry pinwheel cookies

Cranberry pinwheel cookies
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

As promised, here is the first recipe of the four cookie types I am making this Christmas:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely ground cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons milk

In a large mixing bowl, combine first four ingredients; beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Combine the dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture; form into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

In a small bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts and orange peel; set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10-inch square; combine brown sugar and milk; spread over the dough then sprinkle with the cranberry mixture, leaving about a 1/2-inch edge at both ends of the dough; roll up tightly, jelly-roll style. Wrap with waxed paper; chill several hours or overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Cut roll into 1/4-inch slices and place on a well-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

** *I made a double batch (two jelly-roll logs) and it yielded 5 dozen cookies***

Happy baking!

Gifts on a budget

With the economy the way it is, it seems everyone is trying to find ways to cut back this holiday season. Going handmade is always a great way to save a little money while still telling the people around you that you think they're great!

My husband has 16 employees- add that to my childrens' teachers and all our distant family relatives and it adds up to several dozen more gifts to pass out at Christmas time.

My approach this year is to bake cookies. My financial investment was minimal (most of the ingredients are found readily in your pantry cupboards)- and I grabbed up the rest of the stuff I needed on sale at the grocery store. To package them, I found these terrific little tote bags from The Lakeside Collection for around $1.15 each.



Today is my cookie baking day- Cookie-o-rama to coin a term Maggie uses. I thought as I baked, I'd take some photos and share the recipes here in our blog for anyone who might be looking for some affordable gifts that people will appreciate. Who doesn't love a fresh baked cookie?! :)

Cheers!

Tara