Quick and Easy Sticky Buns

Here is another Pinterest Proven recipe I have made several times now.  It is so simple to throw together in the morning for a special breakfast treat.  Give this a try!

Quick and Easy Sticky Buns

Ingredients:

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits 

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/2 cup pancake syrup

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

1/4 cup chopped almonds, optional

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease bundt pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired). Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring. Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

Cranberry-Orange Muffins w/ Orange Glaze

Yes, I do realize that my LAST post was about cranberries, but during the week of Thanksgiving, I managed to buy about 4 bags of fresh cranberries, and I think I only ended up using 1-2.  So I have fresh cranberries just sitting away in my fridge, and the guilt was getting to me.  When I came across this recipe for Cranberry-Orange Muffins, I knew those berries in my fridge had a destiny.

So, we were having Breakfast for Dinner tonight, and I thought that a delicious, tart muffin would be the perfect complement to our hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, and biscuits!  The kids and I whipped these up fairly quickly and without anyone getting hurt, and I thought they were delicious!  The orange glaze that you put on at the end brings these babies over the top.  Give them a try if you too happen to have some leftover cranberries, or if you just have a thing for deliciousness.

Cranberry-Orange Muffins w/ Orange Glaze
Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride


Ingredients:
For the muffins
1 cup milk
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (mine was Simply Orange, not fresh-squeezed)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 sticks butter, melted and cooled slightly
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 orange  (didn't have this)
1/2-1 bag of whole fresh cranberries (I used about 3/4 of a bag)

For the glaze
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp orange zest  (Again, I didn't use this and the glaze was still yummy.  May have been even better with the zest, but I guess I'll never know, will I!?)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two muffin tins with non-stick spray or muffin liners. Whisk together the milk, OJ, sour cream, eggs, and butter. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is incorporated. Gently fold the orange zest and the fresh cranberries into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the muffin pans, filling each cup ~3/4 full. Bake ~20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool the muffins in the pans for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.
Combine the orange juice, powdered sugar, and zest in a medium bowl. Spread over each muffin.
 

 ***Casey's Notes:  As I mentioned before, I don't have a zester, so I didn't use any fresh orange zest, and my muffins were still great.
***Instead of spreading the muffins with the glaze, like the original recipe suggests, I dipped my muffins top first into the glaze to coat them.  I found it easier and less messy, but be sure your muffins are cool enough to handle before you do that or you might get burned or they may fall apart on you.
***The original recipe says this yields about 15 regular-sized muffins.  My kids like the mini-muffins size, so I made a dozen regular-sized muffins, and I also got 2 dozen (24) mini muffins.  All from this recipe!!!! WOW!  We had muffins everywhere, so I gave several to our neighbors, plus we have tons for breakfast and snacking.

***Want to make these even better, I think I may add some nuts next time: walnuts, pecans, almond slivers.  YUM.

Cranberry Scones

Photo Credit: Annie's Eats

I came across this recipe on Annie's Eats several weeks back, and instantly knew I wanted to try them. I, by nature, shy away from baking because it seriously.intimidates.me.  However, I keep finding delicious recipes that whet my appetite to try my hand at it.  So, my sister-in-law decided to try to tackle these babies together today for some pre-Thanksgiving Day baking!  Now, they were not a traditional scone texture, but they were divine!

It was so simple to follow this recipe, and even though the dough didn't turn out like it should have, I have gained some confidence for baking another batch of scones!  I can't wait.  Until then, try these scrumptious cranberry scones.  They tasted wonderful!

Cranberry Scones

Yield: 8-10 scones


Ingredients:
1½ tbsp. freshly grated lemon zest
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar, divided
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
Additional sugar for sprinkling
Slivered almonds (optional)


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a food processor, combine the lemon zest, flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder and salt.  Pulse briefly to blend.  Add in the cold butter pieces and pulse again briefly until the mixture resembles coarse meal and the butter pieces are no larger than peas.  Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, toss together the chopped cranberries (I ran mine through the food processor for a brief few seconds) and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar.  Stir this into the flour-butter mixture.

In another small bowl or a liquid measuring cup, combine the egg, egg yolk and heavy cream; whisk to blend.  Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon just until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Knead gently to be sure the dough is evenly mixed, being careful not to overwork the dough.

Place a 2½- or 3-inch round biscuit cutter on the lined baking sheet.  Scoop some of the dough inside the cutter and pat down gently to form a 1-inch thick round.  Repeat with the remaining dough, placing the rounds 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.
Bake in preheated over until light golden brown for 15-20 minutes.

**To freeze before baking, flash freeze at this point.  Place the baking sheet with the shaped scones into the freezer and chill until frozen.  Transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag and store until ready to bake.
**If baking from the freezer, add approximately 5 minutes to the original baking time.


***At the last minute, I decided to add some slivered almonds to the tops of my scones!  It was a GREAT little addition if you happen to have some on hand!  I'll DEFINITELY do it the next time.

Pecan Pie Muffins

Hold on to your hats, people.  These are going to blow you away!

I came across these on the Tasty Kitchen blog (a Pioneer Woman creation), and I just knew I had to make these.  They are divine!  And they are very simple.  If you are fortunate enough to have lots of pecans on your hands (which I do thanks to my in-laws and the family pecan trees at the farm), then you most likely have everything in your pantry or refrigerator.  If not, pecans may be the only thing you have to purchase special.  They take 10 minutes to mix up, if that, and 20 minutes to bake.  That's it, folks.  So.seriously.simple.

These are my new favs, so give them a try!

Pecan Pie Muffins


1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cups butter, softened

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and chopped pecans.  In a separate bowl, mix butter and eggs.  Pour egg mixture into dry ingredients and gently stir until combined.  Spray muffin tins to prevent sticking, then distribute mixture into tins.  I got 9 muffins from this recipe.


Click here to see the original post on Tasty Kitchen, complete with pictures.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

Yes, I AM still alive and kicking over here.  I apologize for the lack of posts, but we've had some traveling, sick kids, potty-training, and plain ole life going on in the Bradshaw household.  For more on that, you can check out our family blog.  Anyway, I came across this recipe on my friend Amber's blog called This Mommy Cooks.  Amber posted this delicious recipe for Fresh Strawberry Muffins, and it immediately stood out to me because I had an entire pint of strawberries just about ready to rot that I wanted to use up.  Ta-da!

Nora and I spent some time together baking these delicious muffins, and they are just wonderful.  They do taste like muffins, but I also think you could call these Strawberry Short Cake Muffins because that is exactly what they taste like!  Whip up some cream and instant Strawberry Short Cakes!

Do yourself a favor and make these soon.  I had everything on hand and didn't have to make an extra trip to the grocery.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins
makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened (I used unsalted.)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries (or more....the more the better)
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.
In a separate, smaller bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture, ending with milk. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400º for 18-22 minutes.

***These are totally my new fav!  I want to try them with raspberries too, because if you haven't noticed, I am obsessed with raspberries.

Mexican Cornbread

In case you want to serve this with your big bowl of Peggy's Chili, here is a delicious cornbread recipe:

Mexican Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 can corn, drained
1 4 oz. can of diced green chiles
1/4 cup sour cream
3 large egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Grease an 8x8 or 8x9 pan, and pour mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until baked through and lightly golden on top. Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bliss

Every now and then, say every other month or so, I get the hankering for some banana nut bread. Baking makes me feel so Martha Stewart. So Betty Crocker. So domestic. I do it so rarely, and I truly don't do it very well at all. However, for whatever reason, banana nut bread calls my name occasionally, and I just HAVE to make some. My most recent hankering came upon me this afternoon. Maybe it is the hormones, maybe it's the lack of sleep lately. But, I'm pretty sure it was the stack of brown bananas on my fruit platter that just screamed BAKE ME!

A few hours later and my house smells like freshly baked goodness. I even broke out of my shell a little bit and made banana nut muffins instead of the typical banana nut bread. Can't wait till breakfast! Anyway, I thought I would post the recipe I use in case any of you out there love banana nut bread like I do. The best part about this recipe is that when this craving occurs so randomly, I almost always have all of the ingredients in my pantry/refrigerator.

Banana Nut Bread

1 stick of butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
3-4 bananas, preferably ripe
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda (sifted in flour)
1 cup nuts (optional) (I use chopped pecans)
1 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Then add the bananas, sifted flour and baking soda; mix well. Add nuts, raisins, and vanilla. Pour into a greased loaf pan (or greased/lined muffin pans) and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

***For the muffins, I took them out after 30 minutes. I usually bake the loaf for 40-50 minutes, or until the middle is done. Also, I ended up with approximately 20 muffins with just one batch. I know this recipe can be easily doubled to make multiple loaves or to freeze some.