Homemade Monkey Bread

I've mentioned before that I'm normally not a sweets person.. However, this kid I'm carrying apparently has quite a sweet tooth. I think I've eaten more cookies, cake, etc over the last 8.5 months than I have in the last 8.5 YEARS. And tacos.. But that's another monster. Anyways. This far along in pregnancy, I'm really trying to make things as easy as possible without sacrificing too much. This recipe seems to really take care of that! The dough is made in a bread machine, chopped up, dunked in melted butter and cinnamon/sugar, thrown into a pan, left to rise awhile longer, and then baked! And EATEN.  And enjoyed. Sorry about lack of pictures, there wasn't a chance to grab any before it was devoured! Super delicious, and tender, donut-like dough. Yumm! 

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp regular active yeast

2 tbsp canola oil (or melted butter)

1 tsp vanilla

3 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Cinnamon/sugar coating:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp cinnamon

6 tbsp melted butter

Directions:

Combine warm milk, water, sugar and yeast in a bread machine. Let sit for about 10 minutes (it will be all nice and bubbly at this point). Add remaining dough ingredients in order listed and set to dough cycle. Mix the cinnamon and brown sugar, set aside. Once the dough cycle is done (usually about an hour and a half), cut or tear the dough into small pieces and roll into balls. Dunk in melted butter, then into the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture and drop into a greased bundt pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise for about another 1-2 hours, until doubled in size. Remove plastic and bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes until the top is deep brown and you see caramel bubbling around the edges. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a plate to serve. 

BETTER Magic Cookie Bars

I think that at some point in our lives, we've all had the Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars. Graham cracker crust, magically gooey chocolate chips, and toasted coconut. DELICIOUS! I remember so many holiday seasons and potlucks that my mom and I would make a batch of these. Ours, however, was just a little different. Neither of us was a huge fan of nuts, so those were left out. We are also all big fans of butterscotch in my family.. Which means that instead of all chocolate chips, we used half chocolate and half butterscotch. We also re-arranged the order that the ingredients went in, which resulted in a smoother overall effect on the bars. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed finely

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Directions:

Place the stick of butter in a 13x9 pan and place in the oven while preheating to 350º. Remove the pan when butter is melted, pour crushed graham crackers over the butter, press into an even layer. Sprinkle the chips over the graham cracker layer, drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the chips evenly, then top with the coconut! Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until coconut is lightly browned. Let cool slightly, and cut into bars.

VOILA! Ooey gooey EVEN BETTER Magic Cookie Bars! 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

These have ALWAYS been my favorite type of cookie. Chewy, slightly nutty, just enough chocolate. YUM. I have been craving some milk chocolate chip cookies. And I have a REALLY hard time resisting the urge to put oatmeal in my cookies. So? Usually I don't bother resisting! At least not when it comes to the chocolate chip variety! I've also decided recently that lots of vanilla will never hurt anybody. Little fluffy/chewy rounds of deliciousness. Fetus approved! 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup brown sugar + 1 tbsp
1 tbsp vanilla (yes, a whole tablespoon!)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt 
1 - 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (depending on how many you want in yours!)
1/2 cup old fashioned oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375º.
Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add in flour, soda, baking powder and salt until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips and oatmeal. Drop by 1-2 tablespoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden brown on top. 

Wasn't that easy? Yes? Well, go make some! And enjoy! 

Here's a variation you can try too (which is almost MORE awesome than the original!):
Substitute sweetened coconut for the oatmeal and butterscotch chips for half of the chocolate chips.

S'mores Cookies

Latest pregnancy craving? Chocolate chip cookies. With milk chocolate chips. None of that semi-sweet crap for this kid! How do you make a chocolate chip cookie even better? Add marshmallows! And maybe make it taste like a s'more. Which is (surprisingly) exactly what the oatmeal does. And channel your inner Paula Deen and add a little extra butter flavor. What does this all make? Deliciousness. Pregnant. Deliciousness. 

Ingredients:
1c margarine or butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp butter flavoring
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup mallow bits (or miniature marshmallows cut in quarters)
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup old-fashioned oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º.
Combine butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add flavorings and eggs, mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until not quite combined. Fold in remaining ingredients until all is incorporated. Drop 1-2 tablespoons of dough onto a foil lined and greased baking sheet. YOU WILL THANK ME FOR THIS, DO NOT SKIP IT. If you do skip it, you will soon find the joys of trying to get baked marshmallow off of a baking sheet. It's not fun. Take it from someone who learned this the hard way. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, or until just golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Pour yourself a glass of milk, prop your poor pregnant feet up in front of a fire, and enjoy a few! Propping pregnant feet up is optional, of course. 

I don't know what it is, but the butter and oatmeal lends just enough of a nutty flavor and texture to make you believe you've got graham crackers to go with your milk chocolate and toasted marshmallows! Delightful!! 

Lemon Pound Cake

Happy Easter!! This year, I decided I'd bring pound cake for shortcake rather than angel food cake. Mostly due to my absolutely irrational fear of egg whites. I didn't want to go through that again. So, pound cake it is! It holds up a bit better anyways to the mounds of strawberries I generally pile on (I like a little pound cake with my strawberries and whipped cream!). I also had some cute little mini-bundt pans that I wanted to try. Which kind of failed, since one fell apart while baking.. but still turned out pretty awesome!

Exhibit A: 

Finished product (my camera makes it look darker than it is, it really is only golden brown!):

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

1/2 cup shortening (room temp)

3 cups sugar

6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup milk
zest and juice of one large lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º. 

Cream butter, shortening and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, and extracts with last egg. Mix well after each addition. Add 1 cup flour and the baking powder (and salt, if using), mix. Add half and half, followed by another cup of flour, then milk, then remaining 1 cup flour. Add lemon zest and juice, mix until everything is well combined. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan or two loaf pans. (I used five of these, though there is only four in a package. If you're going to use these, I would recommend reinforcing the sides if you can, and definitely put them on a baking sheet while they're in the oven.) Bake for 40-45 minutes for mini bundt pans, or 50-55 for the larger pans, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and cakes are golden brown on top. Let cool for at least 15-20 minutes before slicing. You WILL wind up with a mess otherwise. 

Healthier Cranberry Orange Muffins

For co-workers and friends, I generally will make them something of their choice for their birthdays. A co-worker has been trying to eat better recently, and requested muffins. Preferably with citrus of some sort in them, and as healthy as I could get. While I didn't go the whole 9 yards on the health bit (could also probably have added some flax seed or oats or something, and used fresh orange juice instead of pre-made), they're still quite a bit healthier than the store-bought version that is loaded with sugar and useless carbs!  I would also imagine that you could use other better oils than vegetable, such as coconut oil, but I'm not sure how it would affect the texture or flavor. Also, I apologize that I don't have a picture for this one just yet. I will have to make another batch soon to get pictures. They turned out GORGEOUS though. Perfectly domed and fluffy, but still definitely a muffin. 

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1-2 tsp orange zest
1/3 cup Splenda
1 egg
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 - 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used low-sugar Craisins)

Preheat oven to 375º. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add in remaining ingredients except cranberries, mix until just combined. Fold in cranberries. Divide batter equally between 6 greased or lined muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Surprise! Cupcakes

Ok, I know I've been gone awhile, but really. This kid is sapping my energy like you wouldn't believe! I forgot how hard it was to grow one of these things. Anyways. We find out what we're having next month, and I wanted to have a cute little gender reveal party like I see on Pinterest all the time. The idea for the reveal came from a Polka Dot Cake recipe I saw. This is essentially the same thing, except cupcake sized! YIPPEE! This recipe is so easy, you don't even need a recipe! My secret to my test batch (for valentines day, of course!) used box mixes for both layers of cake, and store bought frosting. Super simple, and super easy! 

Step A: Make some cake balls! I have a nifty little cake ball maker that just does it on my stove top (it's like a waffle iron almost, except it makes little balls of goodness!). I just used that for the first layer. Do whatever color/flavor/WHATEVER you want! My test batch used a Funfetti cake mix that I used some pink gel food coloring to turn SUPER pink! SQUEE! Make the box. Or half a box. Or whatever. Just keep in mind that you'll be using about 2-3x the amount of the outer cake batter that you use for cake balls. If you want to go for old school cake balls, you know, the "I'd like a little cake with my frosting" cake balls, by all means, do it! Just keep in mind that it may lose it's shape a bit when baking because the frosting could melt. Also, be sure to not over bake them, they'll be baked again! It's perfectly acceptable in this case to have slightly under baked cake balls. 

Step B: Prepare your outer cake batter. For mine, I used red velvet. Line a cupcake pan with the liners you desire. Put a small amount of your second batter on the bottom. Don't go overboard! It'll bake up, and push your cake ball up through the top of the pan. You just want to hide the bottom of the cake ball is all. Press a cake ball into the batter. Cover the cake ball with batter! Don't fill the cups too full though, remember, the batter will rise up. Bake about 2/3 what the box or recipe says to, then check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick near the EDGE of the cupcake. Your cake balls in the center are already done, so you're just testing the batter around them. When the toothpick comes out clean, they're done! Take them out, let them cool, and then frost however you like. Mine, I put a pretty little swirl of cream cheese frosting on top. 

Want to see the insides? It's pretty cool! Also, I promise that the insides were far more pink than my camera shows. 

I figure that for the gender reveal party, I'll do my Lemon cupcake (yellow is nice and neutral, and who doesn't like lemon?!) with a blue or pink cake ball inside! Alright folks. Tell me how you plan to make this work for you! Chocolate cake ball in a butter cake? Neon green mint inside a chocolate cupcake?