best oatmeal spice muffins

I found my new favorite muffin recipe!

My friend Hannah started a blog when she inherited a cookbook from her father in law. The cookbook (of all muffin recipes) belonged to his Mom. She began baking a new recipe each week, and then blogging about her experience. It's a delightful blog, chronicling classic muffin recipes. You can read along too: 67 Days in the Past.


I first baked these muffins on Wednesday, and they were so good. By Wednesday night there were just two left. I baked another batch Thursday morning, adding in the cinnamon and nutmeg, which really give these muffins an extra kick. Check Hannah's original post to see what she added to her muffins for extra flavor.

Oatmeal Spice Muffins
adapted from Oatmeal Muffins


1 cup boiling water
1 cup oatmeal (not quick cooking oats)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
 cinnamon sugar

Mix together the water and oats, and set aside for 20 minutes or so.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the brown sugar and butter. Then stir in the eggs, and vanilla.  Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir just until combined. Gently stir in the oatmeal. Be careful not over mix. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, and fill the cups 3/4 of the way. Before baking, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes.

sprinkle pudding cups

 I love this idea of lining a milk cup with sprinkles. It has been beautifully photographed here. As one of the kids Advent activities, we had a little Christmas tea party yesterday. I had a lot of Christmas sprinkles kicking around, and these cups only took a few extra minutes to make. They were definitely worth making, the kids LOVED them.

To make the glasses, grab whatever chocolate you've on hand. I used chocolate chips the first time I made them, and bittersweet chocolate the second time. Melt it in a double boiler, or in the microwave on intervals. Dip the glass in the chocolate, and then in a bowl of sprinkles. They will set quickly.

My sister (is law) brought over some of the whipped shortbreads that we love so much here. I made Christmas Rice Krispie squares, and homemade chocolate pudding. I used this recipe, but I found it a bit too chocolatey. Never thought that I'd say that! It would be just as nice with
whatever store bought pudding you like. Whenever we have tea parties here, I fill the tea pot with chocolate milk, and the creamer with milk. The kids love stirring the two together.

For our advent activity today, we're going to write and post our letters to Santa. The anticipation is starting to build...

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op & Tatertots and Jello 

gingerbread waffles

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas here! The kids and I have been on a Christmas crafting storm around here lately. I have a week full of posts this week, and we're still going strong. 

I saw a recipe for these gingerbread waffles in a magazine for our local grocery store and knew right away that I wanted to make them for breakfast. The night before I was going to make them, I spent thirty minutes or so combing my Pinterest boards and browser history trying to find the recipe. That was before I remembered that I'd read it in a magazine, and not seen the recipe online. Not hard to tell that we're moving to a digital world!

These waffles will make your house smell so good all day long. Claire said the the batter smelled like donuts. How can you go wrong with that?

Gingerbread Waffles

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup butter, melted

In a bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add in buttermilk, eggs, molasses and butter. Stir everything together, until well combined.

Fill greased waffle iron with 1/2 of batter per waffle. Cook until golden brown. Serve right away with butter and maple syrup.

Note: Since I never actually have buttermilk on hand, I just add white vinegar to my milk and let it sit for 5 minutes before using it. For this recipe, add 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar to the 1 1/2 cups of milk.

I love waffles, but for some reason my kids prefer pancakes. I made pancakes for the kids using this recipe, and waffles for myself. If you're going to make these into pancakes, I would add another little splash of milk to make the batter a little runnier.

Recipe adapted from Sobeys' Inspired Magazine Holiday  2012

Enjoy!

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

whipped shortbread cookies

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. Ever. 

If you have been looking for the perfect, melt in your mouth, shortbread recipe, this is it! These are so quick to make. I dump everything in my Kitchenaid and then walk away for 10 minutes while it does all of the hard work. You can put this dough in a cookie press, but I find it easiest to put the dough in a piping bag and use one of my large icing tips to pipe the cookies onto the cookie sheets. These cookies are delicious on their own, but I think that everything tastes better with icing. I use my favorite buttercream recipe to add a dollop of icing on each cookie.

Whipped Shortbread

1 cup of butter, softened

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup icing sugar

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip for at least 10 minutes. Pipe onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 for about 10 minutes.

Who wants to go bake cookies now?

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

chocolate dipped chips

Don't know what to bring to the next barbecue you're attending? These chips are sure to get people talking. The best part is that they are so easy (& cheap) to make!

Buy a bag, or two, of your favorite ruffled potato chip. The kind that I bought were just $1.19 per bag. Then, I went to the Bulk Barn and bought a bag of milk chocolate wafers. Now, I bought WAY too many, because I always like to air to the side of caution. I'd rather have leftover chocolate, rather than not have enough. I probably used about $1.50 worth of chocolate. 

Have your ingredients? Now you're ready to get started. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler. You could also melt it in a microwave safe bowl. (Be sure to use short intervals if this is how you're doing it.) Line your counter with sheets of parchment paper. Once the chocolate has been completely melted, dip chips in chocolate to the half way point of the chip. Let dry on the parchment paper. This is the best way for the biggest chips. I didn't want to let all of those small chips to go to waste, but it was such a pain to dip those ones. I found it easier to lay out all of the small chips on the parchment paper, and then use a pastry brush to paint the chocolate on one side of the small chips. (I just painted one side of the small chips.) Once the chips are dry load them up into bowls to take to your get together- just don't expect them to last very long! (I recommend that you make these the same day that you'll be eating them. They're still good the next day, but they don't have the same crunch as they will the first day.)

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

perfect summer punch

I first had this punch at my bridal shower which was *ahem* 7 years ago now. My best friend hosted the shower, and her Mom made this punch. When I knew that I wanted to serve punch at Simon's party, I knew that this was the one that I wanted to serve. I emailed Dora, and she sent along the recipe to me. Because we were having such a small party, I halved the recipe, which was more than enough. This is the original recipe, so it would be perfect if you're having a large barbecue this summer.

2 cans frozen pink lemonade
2 cans water
2 cans frozen orange juice
2 cans water
1 can Dole unsweetened pineapple juice
2 L Sussex Golden ginger ale

Mix all together and serve. Garnish with orange slices.  

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

graham crackers- yum!

Remember these? These are the giraffe graham crackers that I made for Claire's birthday party. I mean, come on, when your daughter chooses a giraffe themed party you have to incorporate giraffes in any way that you can!

The kids love these crackers. I just made another batch for them. I'm going to double it the next time and try freezing a batch. These graham crackers are chewier than store bought ones, which are quite hard and crunchy, but the flavour is almost spot on.

Graham Crackers

(adapted from Haniela's Perfect Graham Cracker Recipe)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp brown sugar

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

6 tbsp butter, cubed

1/3 cup milk

2 tbsp orange juice

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together whole wheat and white flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
 
In separate bowl, stir together the milk, orange juice, honey, syrup, and vanilla.


Using a pastry blender (or two knives) add the cubed butter to the flour mixture. Once it has been cut in, pour in the milk mixture. Stir until combined. (I had to use my hands to finish mixing it all together.) If it seems really dry, just add a little more milk (or juice) until the dough comes together. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes. 


Roll the dough out and poke all over with a fork. (I floured my countertop and the top of the dough.) Use cookie cutters to cut dough and place on a parchment (or foil) lined baking sheet. I used small cookie cutters, and mine needed to bake for 5 minutes at 350. Using small cookie cutters I was able to make about 120 cookies (40 per sheet). The small ones are perfect for the kids to snack on.

I'm pretty sure that my kids each ate about 20 crackers the first day that I made them. I love knowing what goes into the crackers that the kids are eating. What kind of snacks do you make for your kids to eat? I'm always looking for new snack ideas for my kids.

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Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

Peanut Butter Valentine cookies

After seeing these cookies all over Pinterest, I decided to make some myself. They were so easy to make, and I didn't have any problem getting rid of leftover cookies either :)

Super Easy Peanut Butter Cookies 

from Kraft Canada

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg

That's it! Pre heat oven to 325°F. Mix all ingredients until blended. Form into balls and place on cookie sheet. I used a glass to flatten the cookies, so they'd be nice and smooth for the hearts. You could use a fork to flatten them too. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. (I'm pretty sure I baked mine for more like 15 mins.) 

While cookies are baking, unwrap chocolate hearts. I used Comet brand ones, because that's all I could find here. 

Transfer to cooling racks as soon as you take the cookies out. Then quickly and gently press a heart onto each cookie. After just a few minutes the chocolate heart will have melted enough that you can press it down a little further.

These cookies would be the perfect accompaniment with a sweet little Valentine.

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Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie &  Tatertots and Jello

Maple Cinnamon Sugar Baked Donuts

So for Christmas this year my sister (the best one in the whole world!!) gave me a donut pan. I've only had it for one week now and I've already tried out three different recipes. I really liked these donuts, but I found the bottom outer layer a but chewy. Next time that I make them (and there will be a next time) I'm not going to spray my pan and see if that makes a difference.

Maple Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
From Handle the Heat via Cooking with my Kid (altered ever so slightly)
Yield: 6 donuts ( although, I didn't quite fill my pans, so I got 9 donuts)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 6 oz container of non fat organic vanilla bean yogurt (I couldn't find vanilla bean, so I just used organic vanilla)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons real maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter (melted)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cinnamon and sugar together in a shallow dish and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. In another bowl stir together oil, maple syrup, egg and yogurt.
2. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the hole. Gently fold everything together until combined. The batter will be thick.
3. Scoop batter into a piping bag or ziploc bag, snip a bottom corner with scissors, and squeeze out the batter evenly into a donut pan. (Trust me when I say this is so much easier than trying to spoon the batter into the donut pan!)

4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack while still warm.
5. Use a pastry brush the melted butter over your donuts and then dip each donut in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Serve immediately after coating with cinnamon sugar mixture. 

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Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie &  Tatertots and Jello

chocolate mint deliciousness (aka brownies)

You know what's delicious? Chocolate. And mint. Together. So good. I would recommend though, if you're going to make these, that you wait until you have a lot of visitors. Because you will eat all of the leftovers. ALL of them. They are so good.

I used the recipe from here and the icing recipe from here.

Brownies:

3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder

5 ounces good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Filling:

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
 3 drops green food coloring

Chocolate top:

6 ounces of chocolate (In this recipe I preferred semi sweet to dark chocolate, and I usually love dark chocolate)

1/2 cup of butter, cubed

To make the brownies: 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Line with parchment, and then butter the parchment. (It's so easy to pull the brownies out of the pan to cut them this way.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder.

Place the chocolate and the butter in the bowl of a double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined. Remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be at room temperature.

Add three eggs to the chocolate and butter mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage.

Sprinkle the flour, cocoa, salt mix over the chocolate. Using a spatula  fold the dry ingredients into the wet until there is just a trace amount of the flour and cocoa mix visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with an offset spatula, and bake for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the brownies at an angle should contain a few loose crumbs. Let cool completely while you make the filling.

(It seems like a lot of steps to make the brownies, but I've made these twice now, and you won't be disappointed.) 

Filling:

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar. Add the milk, extract and food coloring until blended. Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until set.

Chocolate Top:

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and cubed butter, mixing with a spatula. Once the mixture has combined and melted together remove from the heat. I let the chocolate sit for a few minutes, to let it cool off, before pouring over the filling. Place the brownies back in the fridge until the chocolate hardens, approx 1 hour. Cut into squares (or giant rectangles!) and serve.

Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie &  Tatertots and Jello

fudge popsicles

As soon as I saw this pin on pinterest, I knew that I had to make these fudge popsicles. Smitten Kitchen adapted these from a recipe that she found in Matt Armendairz's cookbook, On A Stick.

These were so delicious. I loved them. Claire loved them. They make a wonderful summer treat.

Fudge Popsicles

Adapted, just a bit, from On A Stick!
Makes 4 standard-sized popsicles

2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups whole milk
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, milk and salt. Raise heat to medium. I used a whisk to mix all of this deliciousness together.Whisking frequently, cook until the mixture begins to thicken (you'll know when it happens!) It took 5 minutes for me, but the recipe in the book says that it could take up to 10 minutes. Once it has thickened, remove from the heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Let mixture cool for a bit before pouring into your molds. An hour or so after putting the molds in the freezer add in the popsicle sticks.

I used dark chocolate chips, and also a dark cocoa powder because that's what I had on had. I think that this made them extra delicious. Also, I used salted butter, because that's what we had.

Let me know if you try these out this summer. And if you have any other popsicle recipes leave me a note in the comments- we'd love to try to make some more new ones.

Linking up with: Tatertots and Jello &  Skip to my Lou

My Baby Turns 1!

A year old already?! I can't believe it. We hosted Simon's first birthday party at my Mom's house this past weekend. It was a small party, I just invited 3 of my friends, but with all of the kids we had 9 kids under the age of 5. That's a lot of kids :)

The theme for Simon's party was under the sea. Not everything turned out quite how I imagined- but Simon and his guests had a great time anyway! I used my cricut to cut out the banner and sea shapes. Luckily for me I have a friend who has every cricut cartridge that you could ever need, so I was able to borrow this sea themed one from her.

Inspired by the fish bowl gelatin that Martha made, I wanted to try to make it for Simon's party. However, I thought that it would be easier to just use blue jello. Um no- there's a reason Martha didn't suggest just using blue jello- you can hardly see the fish.

The cake wasn't quite what I had envisioned either. It was cute- but as it turns out I'm not so much a cake decorator, which lead to a few problems when I was trying to finish off the cake.

 I made each layer a different shade of blue/green for the under the sea theme.

I used this recipe to make my own goldfish starfish cheese crackers.

 We also made some fruit kabobs with some kiwi starfish. (As my sister was cutting out the stars from the kiwis she said "Uh Lila, you can add kiwi to the list of foods that cookie cutters aren't meant to cut.") But they looked great!

 I made apple carrot muffins which the kids loved- Simon especially.

When I saw these ruffled streamers on pinterest I knew that I wanted to make them for Simon's party. In fact, I'm already trying to think of more events that I can make ruffled streamers for.

 Claire loves twirling in her party skirt.

 Simon enjoying a piece of birthday cake- his first treat. (He did enjoy it, he was just a bit tired by the end of the party.)

 Linking up with:Tatertots and Jello  & Sun Scholars &&Skip to my Lou & Delicate Construction

rice krispie chicks

 Looking for a quick and simple Easter treat? Look no further. These festive treats are so simple to make.

Just make a batch of Rice Krispie squares. The recipe is on the inside of every box, or you can find it here. I used just 5 cups of cereal though, because I find that 6 cups make them too hard to cut and eat. (You can't get a cookie cutter through the kind that needs 6 cups of cereal- not that I know that from personal experience or anything!)

Once the squares are done use your circle cookie cutters cut out a bunch of circles. I just used red sprinkles for the comb-y part of the chicken. Two chocolate chips for the eyes. Two flower sprinkles for its wings, and lastly, two chocolate sprinkles for its legs.

There you have it, a quick and simple Easter treat! Enjoy.

Linking up with:  Delicate Construction & Lolly Jane Boutique & Skip to my Lou & Tatertots and Jello &  Sun Scholars & Momnivores Dilemma & Sew Much Ado & ABC and 123 Learning & Today's Creative Blog

The Best Banana Muffins EVER.

I love love love banana muffins. I have spent years looking for the perfect recipe for them. Every time I would pick up a magazine I would rip out the recipes for banana muffins, and time and time again I was disappointed with them. Then, one unsuspecting day, I was visiting my Dad and his wife Olga, and I had the most delicious banana muffin. Olga had the perfect recipe. I left that day with the recipe, and I haven't tried another recipe for banana muffins since then. It's so simple to make. Try it- you won't be disappointed.

Banana Muffins

 

1 cup sugar

1½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup butter, melted

2 eggs

3 bananas, mashed

 

Combine sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

Stir in butter, eggs and bananas. Mix until combined well.

Spoon into muffin cups and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.
Makes 16-18 muffins.

Also, on an unrelated note- have you all discovered the fabulousness of pinterest? It is SOOOO awesome. If you have- you can follow me here. You can request an invite to join the site- it took less than a week for my sister and I to receive ours. Can't wait to see what you start pinning!

Linking up with:Skip to my Lou &  Tatertots and Jello & It's a Hodgepodge Life

delicious Valentine's Day cupcakes

 I have finally found the most delicious chocolate cake recipe AND it's so easy to make. When I was visiting with my Mom last week Claire and I used this recipe and made some very delicious Valentine's Day cupcakes. (Sure we probably ate them all a full month before Valentine's Day, but now that we have such a great recipe we can make more for February 14!) We also made the icing that is supposed to go with this cake, but I found it way too chocolaty for my taste (and I love chocolate), so I made a similar one with much less cocoa powder.

Claire's birthday is just around the corner, and I really need to find a delicious recipe for a white/yellow cake. Does anyone have a favorite one that they'd like to share? I've tried so many, but haven't found a keeper yet.

Here's the recipe that we used, I've linked it to the Hershey's site in case you're interested in using the frosting that they suggest.

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE' Chocolate Cake

Bake Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (500 mL) granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups (425 mL) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (175 mL) HERSHEY'S® Cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) baking soda
• 1 tsp (5 mL) salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (250 mL) milk
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) vegetable oil
• 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
• 1 cup (250 mL) boiling water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and flour two, 9-inch (1.5 L) round baking pans.

2. Combine sugar with flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer, set to medium speed, for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans to a rack; cool completely. 

Mini Rustic Apple Tarts

When I first made this recipe, it was for one large tart. It also called for the apples to be sliced, but I found that there was too much juice in the apples which made the tart very soggy.Since I was making these for a playdate I decided to make mini apple tarts and they were a huge hit.

Rustic Apple Tarts

4 large tart green apples, peeled, shredded (squeeze most of the juice from the apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, softened
9" one crust pie pastry, unbaked (In the interest of time, I used a Pillsbury crust!)

Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in butter. Set aside.

Toss together apples, lemon, and granulated sugar.

Roll out pastry and cut into 2 1/2 inch circles.

Place pastry circles into a mini muffin pan. Drop a dollop of the apple mixture in each muffin cup. Top with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees F until pastry is golden brown and apples are tender, for about 25 minutes. Cool tarts on wire rack 10 minutes, serve warm. 

My sister and I came across this post on Bakerella's site, and we decided to make the apple tarts into apple pie pops. Now I want to try this with other kinds of pie too.