sugar donut muffins

I loved photographing these. So simple, so basic, the sunlight was finally out on Saturday and was just the perfect light. Plus the sugar was so pretty on the tops of the muffins. It felt good to have some sun today--we haven't had much of it lately. This Saturday night we are expecting yet another snowstorm. It's the second week of January and we've already had seven snowstorms so far this winter! We met our quota for snow, we're done, ok? No more. I hope winter doesn't keep this snow-storm pace, by March I'll be screaming for warm tropical weather. Summer: it felt like just yesterday I was sitting outside on the back deck at night listening to the resounding crickets and frogs croak away as if they were having their own who-can-croak-the-loudest contest. The warm air of summer nighttime surrounding me and my cold, sweaty glass of wine....

How were the muffins you ask? Well, you're asking the wrong person as I thought they were ok; a little plain tasting. Don't get me wrong, they came out just fine. You all know I like things kicked up a notch. So, if I were to make these again (and I will) I want to put a vanilla custard in the middle for a little extra something. Or even a jelly center would be perfect. The muffin has a wonderful mild, tasting vanilla base, but I just wanted to add something to it. My husband LOVED them, but see he loves plain old anything, so...if you're like him then you'll just love these. I have to admit these are the perfect base muffins for experimenting add on or add in's.

sugar donut muffins
print recipe

1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking power
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ cup plus 1 TB vegetable oil
¾ cup plus 2 TB buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For topping:
4 TB butter, melted
½ cup sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color. Add in all the vegetable oil, all the buttermilk, vanilla extract and mix well.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add this to the wet mixture.
Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
While muffins are baking, melt butter in one bowl and in another bowl pour in the ½ cup sugar. When muffins are done, take muffin one by one and dip top of muffin into melted butter then dip into sugar. If, you’re feeling even more creative you can dip all sides of the muffin. I also used cinnamon on half of the muffins. After I was done doing 6 muffins with the plain sugar I added some cinnamon to the remaining sugar and dipped accordingly. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

bad girl...

Do you have those times when you go to the grocery store starving...ravishing. And you get a lot of extra stuff because you are so hungry? Yep, ok. And then once you get home you are just so hungry and can't wait until dinner that you just break into a 'bag or box o' junk' just to have a small bite to tide you over till dinner? And one small bite leads to another small bite which leads to 10 small bites? Yeah, that's what happened to me. I didn't even make it to dinner, as I ate a good amount of this.



I didn't even cut a piece and plate it, I just grabbed a fork and dug right in. How bad is that?
Those grocery stores are smart by putting the Entenmann's baked goods right near the checkout aisles, so when we pass them by we are enticed to buy them, now.
My favorite, obviously, is the raspberry danish. Don't buy it!
What is your worst 'I'm starving while grocery shopping moment?'
Do share...

cheesy chicken & veggie soup

Do you have a bunch of leftover chicken or turkey or even veggies you need to use up? Want to get your kids or hubby to eat more veggies? Want something nice and hot to warm your bones? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then do I have the answer for you....
Ha ha, don't I sound like a TV commercial, selling the latest and greatest chopping gadget for only $9.99?
But seriously, this cheesy soup is super easy to make, very versatile when adding any type of leftovers, and I swear your kids might just love it. If my over-the-moon fussy hubby eats it--veggies and all, then so will your fussy kids. The best part I love is you can add whatever veggies you have from the ice age in your freezer and chopped leftover chicken or turkey (never tried roast beef, but hey, I bet it might work too).
I was just frozen today, pretty much all day. No amount of hot tea was going to warm my cold bones up. I wanted a hearty, warms you to your bones, soup. This is it for me. Yeah, plus I had a bunch of leftover roasted chicken that I needed to use up too. Leftover potatoes would be wonderful in this too. See, just about anything can go in this cheesy soup.
This time around I added in leftover broccoli, corn and leftover roasted chicken. Wouldn't it be great to add this soup to a hollowed out bread to use as a bread bowl?

Cheesy Chicken & Veggie Soup

2 TB butter
2 TB of extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cups cooked chicken breasts, grilled is even better
1 cup frozen peas, corn & carrots veggie mix, or whatever you crave
8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can (14.75oz) creamed corn
1 cup milk
2+ tsp. of chicken bouillon cube, chopped fine (add as much or as little)
Couple dashes of black pepper
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
Chopped fresh parsley as garnish, optional

Melt butter and olive oil in a saucepan and add onions. Slightly brown the onions.
Remove onions to plate. Then stir fry the chicken breast slices till fully cooked. (or you can grill the chicken, cut it up into cubes).
Add veggie mix, then add the cooked onions back in. Stir together, then add in the cream cheese, stir until the cheese is melted. Add in the creamed corn and milk; sprinkle in the chopped chicken bouillon. Stir well to mix and bring to just boiling, turn off heat, and stir in the mozzarella and some black pepper. Taste test to see if you need more chicken bouillon or salt. Serve with crusty, warm bread.

Serves 4 (depending on portion size)

Note: I like my soup very thick. If you don’t want it thick then add a couple dashes of water or more milk to thin it out. The next time I make this I will be adding chunks of cooked, cubed potato.

aged cheddar, cranberry & pecan crackers

Savory. Very savory. I loved these little cheesy critters immensely. I almost want to call it a cheese shortbread; so thick and rich. The tartness of the cranberries melded so well with the aged cheddar. Plus I added in some roasted nuts. You simply must try these if you are a lover of cheese crackers. I did make these once using craisins and I was so very sorry I did; I just don't like the taste of craisins, they don't taste like cranberries to me. But feel free to use whatever you like, even raisins might go well in here. These go great with a nice cold glass of white wine.
Are these a cracker or a cookie? Maybe even a savory shortbread nib. Who knows, they are delish. Perfect for upcoming summer parties.

cheddar & cranberry cookies/crackers
print recipe

1 & 1/2 sticks butter, room temp.
1 1/2 cups extra old (at least 3 years old) cheddar, finely grated
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
1/2 cup rough chopped dried cranberries
(I also used a dash of half & half as the dough was really dry)

Cream the butter and cheese together at high speed in your stand mixer. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Combine flour mixture, nuts and cranberries with the butter mixture on high. (there is where I added in the dash of h&h)
Turn dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a log shape, roll the paper around it and twist the ends shut. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can freeze the dough at this stage as well.
When ready to bake; preheat oven to 375F.
Unwrap the dough log and, using a very sharp knife, slice the log into rounds 1/2 cm thick. Place rounds on cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Should make about 30.

root beer bundt cake

The root beer flavor in this cake is intense. I wasn't sure about making this because most times you hear about a soda flavored-cake and, for me, it tends not to be that flavored; you can't even taste what the original flavor was supposed to be. I hate that. And I hate wasting all those ingredients for nothing.
But this cake is very tasty--lots of root beer flavor in there, Recipe comes from a cookbook I'm dying to get which hails from a famous bakery in Brooklyn called Baked. I know a lot of you foodies have heard of this bakery and the more popular cookbook. I cannot wait to get my hands on this cookbook. This root beer bundt cake recipe uses root beer snapps. Bingo! That brings out flavor indeed. So, if you are a root beer lover as I am then try this, it's not a boring bundt cake at all. Everyone in our house loved this, it did not last long at all. That frosting, oh that frosting! Update! I have gotten the book and it's worth it! Very worth it. Modern baking at it's best.

root beer bundt cake
From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
print recipe

Cake:
1 1/2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1/2 cup root beer schnapps (if you cannot find schnapps then use 2 cups of root beer, not the 1 and 1/2 cups as stated above)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ cups granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Frosting:
2 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao), melted and cooled slightly
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup root beer OR 1/8 cup of root schnapps
2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2½ cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray; alternatively, butter it, dust with flour, and knock out excess flour.
In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, root beer schnapps (if using), cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into a cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy - do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a small sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

For the root beer fudge frosting:
Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving.