Memorable Muffins

Yum to the tum!
These are so easy and such an impressive
throw together snack/dessert.
With basic pantry ingredients
(except for the mini chocolate chips)

you could make them anytime.
The best part?!? No icing required!
They are so very moist and do not need
one single thing more!
The recipe makes about 30 cupcakes
and would be fantabulous amongst
your Memorial Day Weekend spread.

Now back to the mini chocolate chip thing.
I've noticed they are kind of hard to find...
what's up with that?!?!
How will this world continue to revolve
if they take away mini chocolate chips!????

WHAT YOU NEED:
For the muffin/cupcakes:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

2/3 cups vegetable oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp vanilla extract

 

For the filling: 

 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 350.
Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Set aside.

For the filling:
In a medium size bowl, combine
softened cream cheese, sugar, egg and salt.
Mix until smooth creamy.
Stir in chocolate chips (mini work best).
Set aside.

For the muffin/cupcakes:

In a separate bowl,

stir together the dry ingredients and
add in water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.
Mix together using a whisk or hand mixer
for about 3 minutes.
Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full with batter.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling
in the center of each.
Bake 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let rest
about 5 minutes before removing
from muffin pan.
If needed, refill pan with more liners
and repeat process for another batch.
Let muffins cool until room temperature
and place in an air-tight container
or place in ziploc bags.
Refrigerate any leftovers.

Yield: about 30 cupcakes

These are so chocolatey and yummy
and they aren't covered in all of that
ooey gooey icing either, making them
twice as healthy....right?!?

ENJOY!

...Now, let's give a BIG Memorial Day salute
to all of those that have served and continue
to serve to protect our freedom!

Our deepest thanks!

Is it Summer Yet?

After a nice little pre-Spring Break, break...
I am back at it.  Rested? No. Relaxed? No.
But we are getting hongrrryy around here, so let's go!

Oh, did I mention our fridge went out this week. Yep.
Did I mention the new one won't be delivered until
next week?  Yep.  Do you know how hard it is to cook
so that you have little or no leftovers?  Yep.

Thaaaankfully, we have an old nasty one in the garage
that is helping us get through these pioneer like days.
Ice though?  No ice.  Uggh, it feels like we are camping.

But we DID take a pic so we can drool while we wait.

Ahhhhhh. I. Can. Not. Wait.

For this week's Free Recipe Friday
we can make muffins - those require no refrigeration, right?!
These are so easy and yummy and the recipe
comes from an old church cookbook,
how much better could it be!?!

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 egg
1 cup fresh blueberries
(might even be worth a try with frozen)
3/4 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 400.
In a medium size bowl beat egg.
Stir in milk, blueberries, vanilla and oil.
Pour in dry ingredients all at once
and stir until flour is just moistened.
Batter will be lumpy and that is A. Okay.
Fill greased muffin cups about 3/4 full. 

*Side note, a few times, I've even sprinkled a bit of
brown sugar on top of each muffin
before baking - mmm, good.

Makes about 1 dozen.
Bake about 20 minutes. 
Remove from pan immediately.
If not eaten right off the bat,
place them in a large ziploc baggie
to retain moisture.
Everyone will gobble these UP I tell you!

Thank you Mrs. Nita Henson for this great recipe!



ENJOY!!!

Wake Up. . .It's Time to Eat Again!!!

For all you late nighters that were
out there doin' your Black Friday thing
until the wee hours - this is for you.
An easy go-to breakfast that'll
get you goin' whenever you decide to get up.

This week's Free Recipe Friday
is something we played around with
to try and dodge a carb overload
first thing in the morning.
It's an all-in-one breakfast in a muffin cup.
You can tweak it absolutely any way you like -
there's about a million variations.
Give it a try sometime - it sure beats
standing over a hot stove with bacon grease
splattering all over you!

I've come to love a more 'adult' style
breakfast these days...maybe because
a good part of my life
I was all about anything sweet for breakfast.
Cinnamon toast, a pop tart, cereal,
cinnamon roll, cake, pie - anything sweet.
As the years have flown by

I prefer saving the sweets
for another time of day and
having something savory for breakfast
with my coffee drinking self.

Breakfast items all revolve around
pretty much the same ingredients, don't they?!
A bread/grain, a meat, an egg, maybe cheese and fruit.
Every breakfast is just a variation of these things
and how you want to put them together.
Since I've grown to love more
bacon and eggy type breakfasts,
it doesn't mean I want to spend my whole
morning cooking it.  The quicker and easier
I can cook bacon or make a meal
including it, the better.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 dozen large whole eggs
(because we used a 12 cup muffin tin -
you can certainly adjust and make less)

1  12 oz. pkg bacon (thin, cheap stuff)

Shredded Cheddar

Salt/Pepper

Green Onions (optional)

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 350
and coat your muffin cups
with non-stick cooking spray.

 Line muffin cups with bacon and pre-bake
(because we like our bacon
a bit more crispy - you could easily jump ahead
and skip this step).
Bake approximately 20-30 minutes.

 

 After the bacon has some time to

cook, remove from oven

and crack an egg into each cup.

If you like more of a scrambled egg,

by all means, you can whisk the eggs

before pouring in each cup.

 

 Don't worry, the bacon will lose it's shape a bit

but just pour your egg right over it and all will be well.

There will be a bit of bacon grease in each cup,

but you'll be able to pour that out

once the muffins are done.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

and return to the oven.

Bake for 5-10 minutes more

depending on what kind of egg you like.

When you remove the breakfast muffins
from the oven, carefully tilt pan
over a large bowl and pour off
excess bacon grease and then
top with a little shredded cheddar
and some chopped green onions.
Mmmmmmmmm.
If your muffin pan is as pathetic
as mine is, you'll need to use a knife
to loosen each muffin before removing
from the pan.

These are great 'as is' or would be great
between some toast or an english muffin
for an on-the-go breakfast.

Hope everyone had a great
Thanksgiving and all you crazies
recover quickly from your overnight shopping!

ENJOY!!!