Eggnog Muffins

I love eggnog. I won't drink it any time of the year except Christmas. Somehow, it seems wrong to drink eggnog in July, but once Thanksgiving dinner is cleaned up, I break it out! I use it to make a lot of stuff too: fudge, cookies, muffins...

Eggnog Muffins
2 1/4 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. eggnog
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted (and cooled) butter, eggnog, eggs, and vanilla. Stir just to combine - the batter should still be a little lumpy. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners. Divide batter into the muffin tin and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

You can make a glaze for the muffins with 1 c. powdered sugar and enough eggnog to make a thin glaze. Pour it over the muffins. I don't do this, really ever, because I make my muffins ahead of time and freeze them. Plus, we eat these for Saturday morning breakfast and without the glaze I can pretend they are nutritious. :-)

Eggnog Fudge

I love fudge. Love it. Chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, now eggnog fudge. It is an integral part of Christmas for me. Yum!

Eggnog Fudge
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. eggnog
2 c. sugar
2 c. white chocolate
1 small jar marshmallow cream
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Line a 9x9 inch pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. 
In a medium pan, combine the butter, eggnog, and sugar. Bring it to a boil. Add a candy thermometer and cook until the mixture reaches 234 degrees. Remove from the heat. Carefully add the white chocolate - if it gets clumpy, keep stirring. Stir until melted, then add the marshmallow cream, vanilla, and nutmeg. Pour into pan and allow to set.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

And yet another muffin recipe for Saturday mornings...

 

Orange Cranberry Muffins

2 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 c. orange juice***

2 eggs

1/3 c. oil

1 c. chopped cranberries

Combine the flour, brown sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the orange juice, eggs, and oil. Mix just until blended, then fold in the cranberries. Either grease a muffin tin or use paper liners. Fill 2/3 full with batter and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

*** For the orange juice I used frozen orange concentrate, then mixed it with only ONE can of water. It makes the orange a little more pronounced without overpowering the muffin.

Apple Strudel

I love things with apples in them, but they can be such a pain to peel, slice, etc to get them ready to cook with. So I give my boys the opportunity to help me - they are all capable ot peeling apples and using the slicer. A little less tedium encourages me to bake more yummy things so they don't complain too much! And who doesn't like delicious apple strudel? Especially when it's warm, right out of the oven?

 

 Apple Strudel

1 sheet of puff pastry

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tart apples (like Granny Smith)

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the puff pastry in the center of the cookie sheet and roll it thin - about 16x12 inches. I rolled mine until it almost touched the sides of the cookie sheet. Peel and slice the apple thin. I had my son use our apple slicer (cuts into 8 slices) then I cut each slice into thirds. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add the apples. Use your hands to toss to coat. Place the apples down the center of the puff pastry lengthwise. Cut slits in the puff pastry about 1 inch apart on each side of the apples, starting about 1/2 inch away from the apples and going through the edge. Use these to fold over the apples at an angle, alternating sides so it appears to be braided. Tuck the ends under and bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes or unti golden brown.

I used  glaze of 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 3/4 Tbsp. milk once the strudel had cooled a little.

Corn Cakes

Pancakes are a popular dinner at our house but sometimes you want something with a Mexican twist. Enter, corn cakes! It is a corn batter that you cook like pancakes and top with cheese, salsa, guacamole, whatever you like. Yum!

 

Corn Cakes

2 cans cream corn

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. milk

2 eggs

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Heat a frying pan or skillet to medium. Pour 1/4-1/3 cup batter for each cake. Allow to cook until the bottom is firm and the bubbles pop or the batter goes everywhere when you turn it to cook the other side. Cook both sides. Top with your toppings: salsa, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, beans, etc.

Jam Bars

These jam bars are amazing! Wow! My kids kept cutting off little pieces and eating them when they thought I wasn't looking... which I was but, for the first time, I ignored because I was doing the same thing! We used homemade peach jam and it was delicious! Make two pans of it because one goes too quickly!

 

Jam Bars

crust

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. oats

1/2 c. sugar

3/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Combine all the above ingredients, beating with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is crumbly. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides as needed. Press the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and bake 20 minutes or until it is golden brown.

filling

1 1/2 c. jam

Use strawberry, apricot, peach, or raspberry jam. When you take the crust out of the oven spread the jam over it immediately going almost all the way to the edges.

topping

3/4 c. flaked coconut

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine topping ingredients while the crust is baking. Sprinkle over the jam and return the bars to the oven, baking an additional 20 minutes or until the topping os golden brown. Allow to cool completely before cutting - but good luck waiting that long!

Apple Fritter Bread

It's officially fall so let the fall baking begin! We were sitting in church when the need to bake overcame me. Does that ever happen to you? Baking is my coping skill and I needed to bake. But I hadn't planned on a baking spree and I didn't have the marshmallow creme I needed to make the peanut butter fudge I desperately needed to make and the bag of marshmallows was needed to make rice krispy treats for the boys lunches. My husband came to the rescue! He wanted apple fritters. With glaze. Everything is better with glaze! I didn't want to fry anything so I made apple fritter bread instead. So good! Eat it! It's fall!

 

 

Apple Fritter Bread

1/2 c. butter, softened

2/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

2 apples

1/3 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Add the flour and baking powder, stirring to combine. Gently mix in the milk, stirring until it is smooth. Peel the apples and chop into small chunks. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. In a greased loaf pan, put half the batter in the bottom. Add half the apples. Cover the apples with half the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until the bread is baked through. 

Make a glaze with 1/2 c. powdered sugar and 1-2 Tbsp. milk. Pour over bread while still warm. Slice and enjoy!

*** I used homemade apple pie filling for my apples. I used about half the apples, chopping them into chunks before adding them to the bread. For the glaze I used some of the liquid from the pie filling instead of milk. So good!