Morning Glory Muffins

I'm on a muffin kick again...are you surprised?!   It was hard NOT to make these ones, found over at Ezra Pound Cake.  Hey, I'm heading back to work after my extended maternity leave and I already know that mornings are going to be a challenge.  I am NOT a morning person...yet I am surrounded by morning people!  My hubby leaves for work really stinking early, so I'm on my own with the kids to get ready for the day.  I need all the help that I can get...and be prepared to see some breakfast type recipes here over the next while :-)  Here is today's recipe:

Morning Glory Muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (shredded)
3/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or in my case, a mixture of the two
1 large apple, peeled and grated
1 cup pineapple, crushed and drained
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add in the coconut, raisins/cranberries and nuts.  Mix. 

Add in the apple, pinapple and carrots.  Mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla.  Whisk well.  Add to the dry ingrediants, stir to combine. 

Line muffin tins with cups, fill cups full with batter.
Bake for 28-30 minutes (original recipe said 35 minutes, but mine were done by 30 minutes).

Remove from oven, cool on cooling rack, and store in airtight container.

VERDICT:
These smelled amazing when they came out of the oven.  Our oldest son ate one as soon as it was cool enough to do so, and he LOVED it.  He's usually not a muffin kid, but these passed with flying colours!

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I have been craving cookies lately, I love cookies.  I'm a cookie monster of sorts.  Really, I am!  I come by in naturally, my Dad is a big cookie fan too :-)

I figured I would try to make some cookies that might please both my cookie palate as well as my husband's.  My favourite kind of cookie is my Mom's chocolate chip cookie, my husband prefers oatmeal raisin.  So this recipe combines my likes with my hubby's, along with a few extras.  These certainly are loaded cookies!  I found the recipe in a Taste of Home Cookies & Bars cookbook, and added raisins to the mix.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut, flaked
1/2 cup pecans, crushed
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and two sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Add in quick oats, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 11-12 minutes or until done.  Remove from oven and cool for about 2 minutes before moving to a wire to finish cooling.

VERDICT:
These were super tasty, and a hit with everyone, even though my husband did comment that the cookies could use a little less chocolate chips and a little more raisins.  Ha!  (Didn't slow him down eating them though!). These were super good, and next time I would probably try adding some sunflower seeds to the batter, just for fun!



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Easter Bunny Carrot Cake and a Feature!

Let's talk about DESSERT!

For the first time in a few years, we did not host our son's birthday party over the Easter long weekend.  So, I had a little extra time to make a different sort of cake (not the birthday sort...yet!), and with our son nearly 5, he is caught right up in all the Easter excitement.  I saw this picture at The Southern Lady Cooks, which inspired me to try my own Easter Bunny cake for dessert.  And I figured, since it is Easter, we need carrot cake!  I was going to try out my Mom's carrot cake recipe for the project, but then I found that the full baking instructions weren't written on the copy of the recipe that I have, and since she and my Dad are off rv'ing I can't just call her and ask her all the details. So I found a different carrot cake recipe to try.  I based my cake on one found in Company's Coming - Desserts and combined it with my Mom's recipe.  Here is how I made my carrot cake:

1 cup sugar

1 cup oil

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 1/2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and cooking oil.  Add in eggs, one at a time, beating.  Add in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add to the wet ingredients, stirring to mix.

Stir in the carrots and raisins.  Pour into greased cake pans (two 8x8s, two 9x9s or one 9x13 pan).

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and frost.

I baked the cake late at night, so I left the cakes to cool overnight and made my frosting in the morning.  I frosted the cake with the same Cream Cheese Icing recipe that I used earlier in the week to frost the yummy Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins that I made for my son's preschool, except that I doubled the recipe to ensure that I had enough icing :-)

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups icing sugar

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Beat well.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. 

Now, onto putting the cake together!

Assembling the Cake:

You'll see that I made the cake to look a little more "bunny" like.  I made the cakes using two 8" rounds, and cut both of the cakes in half.  I took three of the halves to make the back end of the bunny - I put some icing between each layer and stuck them together. The remaining half I cut in half again and made the bunny's head (again, icing between the layers and stuck them together.  I generously frosted the cake with the cream cheese icing, and used decorating gel for the eyes, whiskers, nose and mouth (in black and pink).  I sprinkled unsweetened coconut on top of the icing for a more fur-like effect (I used as much as I thought was necessary - probably 1/3-1/2 cup).  I used some of my crafting paper to make the ears (in pink and white).  It was a cute little bunny, not bad for someone who isn't very good at decorating cakes!!

VERDICT:

The cake was well-received by everyone!  Everyone thought it was pretty cute and said it was tasty.  My icing only eating 4 year old ate some of the cake, which rarely happens!  He even asked me to make him a bunny cake for his birthday party next weekend.  That's a good sign.  My husband, who "does not like cake" said that it was really good, which was also evident by how clean his cake plate was after dessert!  My maternal Grandparents, who joined us for dinner, both said "whoa, those are big pieces" when I was slicing the cake, but both of their plates were clean afterwards too!  I thought it was delicious, a nice, moist, heavy but not heavy cake (does that make sense?!), very tasty indeed.  The cream cheese icing was perfect - not overly sweet, and the unsweetened coconut on top was great too!  This one could become a new Easter tradition, you never know!

I am so excited to share with you that another of my recipes has been featured!  Thank you My Favorite Finds for featuring my Baked Not Fried Fries - these have been a popular post!  If you haven't checked out the recipe yet, you should.  They were so good!

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