French Toast Muffins

I made these muffins a couple weeks ago, it was a plan B recipe, meaning one I made when I found out i did not have enough of an ingredient for what I had originally planned. I am really liking the Pintrest site, this is another recipe I found among the pins, this one led me to Velvet Lava Cafe another great blog.

French Toast Muffins.

1/3 cup butter, melted.
1/2 cup sugar.
1 egg.
1+1/2 cups flour.
1+1/2 tsp baking powder.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/4 tsp nutmeg.
1/2 cup milk.

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar.
1/2 cup butter, melted.
1 tsp cinnamon.

In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, powder, salt and nutmeg. Add milk, egg and butter. Stir until just moistened. Scoop into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes. When done, combine cinnamon and sugar. Dip muffin tops in melted butter then sugar mixture.

All I had left were Halloween muffin cups, so I used them. Instead of using melted butter, I sprinkled the cinnamon sugar onto the muffins before they went into the oven. Quite a bit fell off, but there was still enough to be delicious! These muffins were quick and easy and I loved the flavour, they are definitely going into the make again category!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American neighbours to the South! I have today off since I work for an American company. I spent today in the kitchen working on my Christmas list. I made a double batch of Cherry Winks, two cherry breads and some Peanut Butter Balls. Yup, there was a theme to today's baking, sherries. I had to make 6 dozen cherry winks for a cookie exchange next month, so i bought a HUGE jar at Costco...and i have barely dented them. I overestimated how many where in that jar!!

Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving!

Turkey Pops

I can't believe it has been over two weeks since i have posted anything! It has been a busy month! I have two more recipes to post that I will do tomorrow, since I have the day off for American Thanksgiving. This one is a treat I made for my co-workers for today. I found it on Pintrest and followed the pin to Kellogg's Rice Krispies site. 

Of course, nothing ever turns out like the picture (seen here) but here they are. Basically you make rice krispie squares, but instead of cutting them into squares you roll them into balls.

The recipe said to dip them then stick them, but i found it easier to dip with the sticks already on them. I used a bit of royal icing to make the eyes, beak and waddle.

I had a hard time making the balls, so I just panned it, cooled it and cut it, then squished each square into a ball. The recipe said it makes 24, but I got about 30. Plus a few leftover squares. I used melted chocolate chips with a bit of shortening to thin it out for the chocolate dip. And i also realized after completing them all, i put the candy corn on upside down. Oops.

We are currently getting our first big storm of the season. We are supposed to get about 6 inches of snow and then rain on top of that. I'm glad I got my winter studded tires on this past weekend, perfect timing! I do not have to leave for work for another 3 hours, so I am thinking of going for a walk, maybe I will take some pictures of the snow before the rain takes it away!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy Thanksgiving to my American Neighbours!

Apple Crumble Bars

Wow, what a couple of busy weeks it has been...and I didn't even realize it until I saw I still had pictures from Halloween still on my camera! I actually made this recipe last Saturday, while a batch of sugar cookies were cooling so I could decorate them. I found this recipe on Pintrest, and the pin led me to a blog called Annie's Eats. I love this blog and plan on delving further into its depths as soon as time allows.  This is a good Autumn recipe, i picked it because i had a half dozen apples that needed to be used up.

Apple Crumble Bars


Base:
1+1/3 cups flour.
2 Tbsp sugar.
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse oatmeal. Press into 9" pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 F.

Filling:


4 medium apples, peeled, cored, chopped.
5 Tbsp sugar.
1/4 tsp cinnamon.
2 tsp cornstarch.
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup fruit jam.

Combine apples, sugar and cinnamon in pan. Cook 5 to 7 minutes on medium heat until apples are tender. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice and cornstarch. Add to apples and stir over heat for about 3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat.
Spread jam over hot bottom layer. Pour apple mixture over top of jam.

Topping:


1/4 cup flour.
3 Tbsp sugar.
4 Tbsp butter, softened.

Combine all three ingredients. Sprinkle over top of filling. Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350 F. Cool before cutting.

I love how the layers came together so nicely. The recipe suggested using peach jam, but all i had was raspberry,  blackberry and this lovely bottle of red apple jelly, so this is what I used.

My Mom's red apple jelly, it is such a pretty colour when the sun hits it. Which is probably why it is one of her most popular flavours everywhere that it is sold.

I was extreme multi-tasking at this point, so it did come together a bit messily, but it was a very easy to make. This would be a great beginner recipe to show off with. The bottom is a simple shortbread and the filling took only a few minutes to come together.

I used 6 apples for the filling. I thought it was going to be too much, which is why i used such a big pot, but once the apples starting breaking down some the pot seemed much to large!

The only change i would make is a bit more sugar in the filling, but that is because i used an apple that was a bit sour. Otherwise, this is a great recipe that I plan on making again!

So another week is halfway gone, and it is only about 6 weeks until Christmas! I have my list of recipes that have to be made for the holiday posted on my black board in my kitchen...now just to get the time to make them!

Hope everyone is having a great week!