Apple Muffins (or Apple Breakfast Cake)

So, I have become mildly obsessed with Pinterest. I had previously signed up and cancelled the account (at least twice) because I couldn't figure out how to make the website work for me. Then one afternoon it hit me, or more accurately the random piles of magazine clippings got to be a little insane in my "Mama Bag" (do you have one of these? A bag filled with Mama's Stuff... magazines, iPod, books, Bible, journal, Sudoku puzzles....okay, maybe just me...) I'm not really one to troll the Internet in search of ideas. I have GoogleReader that I use to save blog posts I want to keep around, I use my email drafts to keep track of recipes I wanted to try...then it dawned on me, "I could use Pinterest as a replacement for my magazine clippings!" One thing has led to another and I'm a Pinterest sell-out. I'm still not huge on trolling the incestual pool (there's a chance I made that word up...Megan will tell me if that is so I'm sure) of Pinterest pins, but I have loved having a place to store ideas from all over the place virtual and otherwise.

Anyway, back to my point...Apple Muffins. I searched for apple muffins recently and a picture on Pinterest (yes, during the trolling I just said that I don't really do...) caught my eye. These muffins had to be made, NOW! The recipe ended up being perfect for 12 muffins and one 8 1/2" loaf pan...and the results were delicious.

(And this is my photo which is not near as good as the one that sparked my interest =P)

Apple Muffins (or Apple Breakfast Cake)

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything -->Consequently could also be my name =P

Makes 12 muffins and one loaf-pan

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups peeled, diced apples

Light brown sugar, for topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare muffin and loaf pans (I used parchment paper on the long sides of the loaf pan so I could remove the baked cake easily).
2. Cream together sugars, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.
3. Add in the dry ingredients slowly until combined.
4. Gently fold in the apples.
5. Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full and pour the remaining batter into the loaf pan (I have come to do this with muffins, or make mini-muffins as well, since I only have one muffin pan and I'm impatient so I like to have everything in the oven as soon as possible...probably also comes from the fact that baking while the toddler is napping is baking on borrowed time =P)
6. Sprinkle the tops of both the muffins and the loaf with brown sugar (don't be stingy!)
7. Bake the muffins for 20-24 minutes and the loaf pan for 45-50 minutes.

I'd imagine these would be good with a caramel drizzle...but I haven't tried it...yet ;-) The bread was a hit at my women's Bible study this morning and Hubby took the muffins into work so I'd say we had a good success on our hands!

Strawberry Mini Muffins

A girls weekend away requires mini muffins. No arguments about that from this peanut gallery. I believe these will do the trick ;-)

Happy Birthday Tessa =)

Strawberry Mini Muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest and juice from one lemon
1 1/4 cup chopped strawberries

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons chilled butter, diced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin tin (or line with paper liners)
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar.
4. Add in milk, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and zest until combined.
5. Stir in the flour mixture until combined, then fold in the strawberries.
6. In a small food processor combine all the crumb topping ingredients and pulse until the mixture has a coarse crumb texture.
7. Fill the muffin tins a little more than 1/2 full of batter then sprinkle on crumb topping (in total should not be more than 3/4 full) and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

These turned out a bit more moist than I had intended, and the "crumb" topping was more like a cobbler or crisp topping rather than super "crumbly"...there were no complaints from the girls though, so I'm going to say this was a win ;-)

Bacon Breadstick Focaccia

So this weekend I co-hosted a baby shower where the menu followed a theme.

BACON

The menu was comprised of:

Bacon and Cheese Dip

Bacon Breadstick Focaccia

Spinach Salad with Crumbled Backon

Cauliflower Soup with Bacon Garnish

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Does that not sound AMAZING?!

It was, just take my word for it.

Bacon Breadstick Focaccia

Adapted from Pillsbury.com

Makes 2 Small Focaccia*

1 can of refrigerated breadstick dough

2.1 oz package of precooked bacon slices

2 pieces of string cheese (4 if you want both focaccia to have cheese)

1 egg

Garlic Salt, to taste

Italian Seasoning, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and prepare a baking sheet (your choice: parchment, baking mat, cooking spray, etc.)
2. Slice the cheese into quarters long ways to make 8 longs strips.
3. Unroll the breadsticks and layer each with a piece of cheese (for half of the breadsticks) and a piece of bacon.
4. Roll the breadstick/bacon combo into two pinwheels, one with cheese and one without.
5. Beat one egg and brush over the top of the bread.
6. Dice the extra slices of bacon (if you haven't eaten them already) and sprinkle over the top along with the garlic salt and Italian seasoning.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

*I have done one big pinwheel and two small ones and the two small ones seems to turn out better.