Raspberry Sour Cream Muffins

I'm on my last week of maternity leave. It's a bit of a bittersweet thing. On one hand, I'm a bit saddened to think about leaving my newest little bundle of joy and losing the ability to sleep past 4:30am on the weekdays. On the other hand, I'm losing my mind. I'm not the "stay at home" type. I admire people (like my husband) who have the patience/sanity/etc for it, but it's definitely not my thing. I need to be working. Thankfully I'll be headed back at the very beginning of the busy season, so there will definitely be no shortage of things to keep my mind off of the wee one without his Momma. 

For today though, it's all about relaxing still. The oldest is off to her fourth day of Kindergarten, so it's just the boys at home. Which means it's a lot more quiet than it would normally be with Princess Jabber home. What do you do with quiet? You make delicious muffins and sit down with them and a cup of coffee of course. These muffins are soft, fluffy, moist.. They've got that nice crust on top from the caramelized sugar and just a hint of spice and raspberry. They're the perfect almost-fall muffin! 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar (plus extra for sprinkling on top)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375º. Line a muffin pan with 10 liners, set aside. 

Mix together oil, sugars, egg, vanilla and sour cream. Add remaining ingredients (except raspberries) and stir until just combined. Fold in raspberries. My raspberries were frozen and pretty broken up, so there weren't really any big chunks in my muffins, but that turned out to be perfect. 

Divide batter evenly between the 10 liners and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Butterscotch cookies

Now that I'm back in the swing of baking things (and still have a bit of time on my hands before I go back to work), I've had a couple of requests for treats. The biggest one has been for my famous brownies. Those will come in a future post, don't worry! But today is all about BUTTERSCOTCH. Because really. Who doesn't love butterscotch? I know not a single person who has ever said they don't like it. And if you know someone who has said that, don't trust anything else they ever say because they're lying. Really. These cookies can make them finally admit it even! Browned butter, dark brown sugar.. it all lends to the delicious nutty, vanilla-y, caramel-y, butterscotch-y goodness! 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup browned butter, cooled (1 stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Add dry ingredients, mix until just combined. Fold in chips. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. 

Once dough has rested and chilled, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 8-11 minutes, or until light golden brown. 

Java Chip Shortbread

Coffee is my main food group, so whenever I see a recipe involving the use of said "liquid life" I am immediately drawn to it. This one I had on the back burner for awhile though, because generally, I'm not a big fan of shortbread. It's always dry, crumbly, and usually tasteless. But this had COFFEE in it. It couldn't be THAT bad, right? Right. So I tweaked it a bit, just to make sure. And now I can't stop eating them. Not the greatest thing for my post-baby body, I'm sure. Oh well. 

Adapted from Wilton

Ingredients:

1tbsp instant coffee
1tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips

Directions:

Dissolve instant coffee in hot water, set aside. Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Add coffee and flour, mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Between the heat of the melted butter and coffee mixture, your chips should start to "streak" a bit in the dough. This is good! Keep folding until the dough looks slightly marbled. Shape into a log (you can make it round or rectangular, I won't tell!), wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour. 

Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 300º. Slice dough into pieces about 1/4" thick and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can place them pretty close together since these will not spread. Bake for 8-11 minutes, until edges are just beginning to darken slightly. Let cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, and then slide the parchment paper (cookies and all!) to a cooling rack. Or if you're lazy like me and don't want to fish one out of the depths of your cupboard, just slide it off onto your counter. Really. The cookies will still be alright. Promise. Unless your 4 year old finds them.. Then you're in trouble, but that's another story. Let the cookies cool on the counter at least 15 minutes before getting into them. The longer you let them cool, the closer to shortbread consistency they'll be, though they won't get to be rock hard and dry like the traditional stuff. Once they've cooled completely, store in an airtight container. If they make it that far. You know. Because you've eaten them. 

Makes about 30 cookies. 

Banana Blackberry Muffins

What happens when you have too much fruit given to you that needs to be used up ASAP? Well, you throw it into a muffin, that's what! I mean, really, why not? Everyone loves muffins! These could definitely be made into a "healthier" version.. substitutions needed for that will follow the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed banana
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup french vanilla coffee creamer (can also just use heavy cream instead)
1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen will work, just be gentle with the fresh!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine banana, sugar, vanilla, egg, sour cream, creamer/cream and butter until well mixed. Add flour, baking soda, powder, salt and cinnamon, stir gently on top of the wet ingredients and then mix into the wet until just combined. Gently fold in the blackberries. Spoon into a lined muffin tin (this makes a little over 2 dozen muffins, so you'll need more than one tin or more than one go-round in the oven) until cups are about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

For healthier version substitute:
Sugar - whatever sugar substitute you generally use! Check the container for what the baking ratios are. Splenda, for instance, is 1 cup for 1 cup of sugar. Can also use 1/2 cup honey instead. 
Sour cream - 1 cup of yogurt! 
Creamer/cream - 1/4 cup evaporated milk
Melted butter - add an extra banana
Flour - you can use 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup whole wheat for a whole wheat version.. Or for you folks that need GF, you can use whatever flour you generally use. Just know that it will likely change the texture, rise, etc of the muffins. 

Cinnamon Scones

Well, I'm finally starting to get back into the swing of things now that baby boy is getting settled into the world. I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since he's made his entrance! He's a million times quieter than my other two monsters, but he still has his needs and that doesn't leave me with a lot of time to do other stuff besides a handful of chores here and there. My poor kids have eaten a lot of cold cereal recently for breakfast.. I have been trying to do what I can once in awhile to have a nicer breakfast, and today was one of those days. I LOVE scones, and I am a cinnamon addict. Plus, there isn't a lot easier than scones! These ones are a little less dense than scones generally are, but they're packed with cinnamon-y, buttery scone-y flavor. They were PERFECT with a cup of coffee, and easy to eat with a baby on my chest. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, grated (1 stick)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp butter flavoring (optional)

2 tbsp softened butter
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400º.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar. Add grated cold butter and stir to combine. In a medium measuring cup or small bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, vanilla and butter flavor. I like nice buttery scones, so I added the butter flavor, but if you don't like things to taste like they're swimming in butter, feel free to leave it out. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix until just combined. Form into a circle about 1" thick on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread softened butter on top of the circle, then top with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut the circle into triangles, but leave it put together. You just want to make it easier to get apart later. Bake for 10-15 min, until golden brown and the center springs back a bit when touched. Break apart on the score lines you made and enjoy! Preferably with a cup of delicious coffee!

Onion Basil Hot Dog or Hamburger Buns

My last attempt at hot dog buns wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, the Pretzel Hot Dog Buns were pretty awesome according to everyone else in my house. I'm just still not a pretzel person. This time, I decided that I was going to make some for myself. Pregnant women are allowed to do that once in awhile, right? Right. Everyone else thought they were awesome anyways, so it was definitely a win-win situation. I made 12 with this recipe, and they were great for the smaller (cheaper) hot dogs, but for anything larger like a brat, I would cut it down to 10 for the recipe to make them a bit sturdier.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1-2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp yeast

Directions:

Put ingredients into your bread machine according to directions for your particular machine. (They're currently in the order that mine and most other machines call for.) Set machine to dough setting, and let it do it's thing! 

Once the dough cycle has run, remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and separate into 10-12 equal sized pieces and shape into the appropriate shapes. Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let rise covered by a towel for 1 more hour in a dry place (I preheat my oven to 200º, then shut it off immediately and stick the dough in it to rise). Once risen, brush the tops with melted butter and bake at 375º for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Let the buns cool to room temperature, and then dig in! 

Pretzel Hot Dog Buns

I'm really not much of a pretzel person. I never have been. Occasionally, yes, I enjoy a nice big soft pretzel dipped in a nice spicy cheese sauce, but that's about it. Hubby however, is a HUGE pretzel fan, and the kids seem to have inherited his love of all things pretzel. When I recently decided to try to save some money on hot dog buns, pretzel buns were the obvious choice. I made my dough in my bread machine, just because I'm a little too huge at the moment to try and get in and knead dough properly. Plus it's just easier. I'm all about making things easier. Also, we went swimming while we waited for the dough to rise in the bread machine. Why not? It's the fourth of July, y'all! 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp honey

2 1/4 tsp active yeast (equivalent to one packet)

2 tbsp melted butter

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

8 cups water

1/4 cup baking soda

1 egg

Directions:

Combine warm water, sugar, honey and yeast in the bread machine, let sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast becomes foamy. Add in remaining ingredients and turn machine on "dough" setting. Keep an eye on the dough as it's mixing to make sure that it doesn't look too wet or dry. If it looks too wet and sticky, add flour, 1 tbsp at a time. If it looks too dry, add milk or water 1 tbsp at a time. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, let your machine do it's thing! 

When it's done, put the dough on a floured surface and divide into 8 -10 pieces, depending on how big you want your buns to be. Keep in mind that they've still got a little big of growing to do, so shape them slightly smaller than you want the end product. Let them sit in a warm place with a towel covering them for another 10-15 minutes while you preheat the oven and prepare the water solution. 

Preheat your oven now to 425º. In a large pot, you'll want to boil 8 cups water, and add 1/4 cup baking soda once boiling. Depending on the size/depth of your pot, you may want to double the water/soda mixture. Once the buns have finished their last rise, drop them into the water mixture, 2 at a time, and boil for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cut 3 diagonal slits in the top of each bun and brush with an egg wash (just beat a single egg and brush on!). Sprinkle coarse salt on top, if desired, and bake for about 12 minutes, until nice and brown on top. Remove to a cooling rack once they've cooled slightly so that the buns don't get soggy.