breakfast

Holiday Muffins At the Top of the Baking List

November 30, 2015December 27, 2015 RefreshHer9 Comments

Baking is like many things – you have to stick to it and keep trying after you have a fail. Giving up because you’ve had a flop will keep you from making progress, and even learning lessons along the way. You’re seeing this recipe today after three previous attempts to post! It’s been frustrating, but hopefully someone will be really glad to have this recipe, or will be refreshed by the encouragement not to give up!

Since tomorrow is December the first (what?!), I thought I would share a holiday muffin recipe as my first recipe of the season. I made some Cranberry Streusel Muffins for Thanksgiving breakfast last week. It was a new recipe to me and I couldn’t wait to try them! These were the perfect blend of tart and sweet. The crumbly topping on the top is oh, so good! We had a muffin with a bowl of hot oatmeal and cups of coffee, and it was a fantastic breakfast! Here’s the recipe:

Cranberry Streusel Muffins

1/4 Cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

3 Tbl. butter, softened

1/3 cup chopped pecans

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup flour in small bowl; add softened butter, rubbing with fingers until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Cover and chill.
Combine granulated sugar, next 3 ingredients, and remaining 2 cups flour in large bowl. Stir in cranberries,. Make a well in center of mixture. Whisk together buttermilk and next 3 ingredients; add to dry mixture, stirring until just moistened.
Lightly grease with cooking spray (or line with paper liners) a 12-cup muffin tin, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle with streusel mixture, pressing gently to adhere.
Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer muffins to wire rack. Serve warm.

If you are having a December brunch, are hosting Christmas breakfast, or even just have extra cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, you need to put this recipe on your menu. It will deliver smiles and happy sighs to your breakfast table!

Has anyone else had a situation recently that demanded patience and a re-do?

Anyone else baking for the holidays yet? I’d love to hear what you’re making!

With love from my country kitchen,

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breakfast

Make Ahead Individual Omelets

October 19, 2015November 3, 2015 RefreshHer3 Comments

What’s cuter than an individual omelet? One that you can make and freeze ahead of time! These little omelets take a little work on one day to give you the ease of having a homemade omelet ready to thaw and heat in the microwave in minutes! Mine actually never made it to the freezer, so just so you know, you could just make them and put them in the fridge for tomorrow and the next day’s breakfast. Here’s how you make them:

Ingredients:

Frozen hash browns, thawed
9 Eggs
3/4 Milk
Salt
Cooked Bacon
Ham
Onions, chopped
Green and red peppers, chopped
Tomatoes, diced
Shredded Cheese

Yield: One dozen

I added hash browns to mine, which you could totally skip, if you’d rather just have the egg.
Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and put thawed hash browns in the bottom. Spray a little more cooking spray over the potatoes. Bake at 400 until they’re getting brown and crispy.

Chop bacon. Dice ham, and any other add-ins like green and red peppers, onions, tomatoes and cheese. Mix whatever ingredients you want in a bowl. Sprinkle over top of cooked potatoes.

Scramble the eggs; add milk. Add salt. Pour egg mixture over eggs. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Let set just a bit. They are ready to serve, or after cooling, refrigerate or freeze for later consumption!

It’s great to have a fast, healthy choice for breakfast! You need to make up some of these so you can enjoy the morning due to a delicious start!

With love from my country kitchen,

Freshen Up Friday

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 RefreshHer1 Comment

Easter weekend is here! This is my FAVORITE holiday. Because Christ lives, I have purpose for today and hope (assurance) for tomorrow! I trust you have that same confidence in Him!

Yesterday in my Bible Club, we made Resurrection rolls. These help tell the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. If you have children, this would be a fun activity to do with them as you tell the account of what happened after Jesus was placed in the tomb. At the end of the lesson, you have a delicious treat to share together.

As we made the rolls I retold the story. Rather than making the marshmallow represent Jesus, I chose to just say, “This can help us remember…”

Pictures 1, 2 – We used a toothpick to ease rolling the marshmallow in the butter then sugar and cinnamon. As we put the toothpick inside, my youngest student said, “This reminds me of the thorns they put on Jesus’ head!” Good point! It could also remind us of the nails that pierced his hands and feet.

As we rolled the marshmallow in the spices we talked about how the women came to the tomb to place spices on Jesus’ body.

Picture 3 – When we put the marshmallow in the crescent roll dough we remembered that Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross and wrapped it in cloth and placed His body in his own tomb.

Picture 4 – It helps to put foil on the cookie sheet because the marshmallow will seep out and create quite a sticky mess.

Picture 5 – The roll is empty inside! When the ladies came to the tomb on Sunday morning, it was empty! Jesus wasn’t there! The angel reminded them that He had risen, as he said!

It would be a great tradition to serve these on Easter Saturday or Sunday morning before church! Not only do they make a great teaching tool, they are super good!

Christ lives! Stay refreshed,

Bread · breakfast

What’s Cookin’ in the Country?

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015 RefreshHer5 Comments

Remember Dr. Seuss? Here’s my likeness to his stories…

I love bread.
Sweet bread, crunchy bread, corn bread or French bread.
I love bread.
Homemade or Bakery bought,
High and low I have sought because
I love bread.

This was the reason I named my baking business I had for several years, Breads on Boone. I love baking, eating, learning about, and trying to make new breads! This weekend I even purchased a huge bowl because the recent bread recipes I’ve made are too much dough for my mixing bowl and it’s spilling out! Do you remember the I Love Lucy episode where her dough is rising all over her kitchen? Yeah, that’s kind of how I’ve felt recently! I can’t wait to test another recipe in the new big guy (bowl)!

I’m thankful for cookbooks like Cooking Light that allow me to indulge without as much guilt! I recently tried a new Banana Nut Muffin recipe from Cooking Light that was so moist and full of that wonderful Banana flavor! The Streusel topping adds a nice little sweetness and crunch. These are a great beginning to my bread-loving days! When I made them I knew I couldn’t keep this recipe to myself, that I needed to share it with you!

Banana Nut Muffins:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)

3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

STREUSEL:

6 tablespoons regular oats

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare the muffins, lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine banana and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a bowl; stir well. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened; fold in walnuts. Place 12 muffin cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups.

To prepare streusel, combine oats and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Blend with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle streusel over batter. Bake at 375° for 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

I paired my muffin with a bowl of oatmeal and it was a great breakfast!

I love to make up a batch of muffins and either share half with someone, or put half in the freezer for an easy breakfast in the days ahead. These freeze great, by the way!

Do you enjoy making breads? I hope you’ll try these! You could celebrate this new month of March by baking up a batch! I know I say to bake something for every holiday, event or day of the year, but why not? These are “light” and God gives us richly all things to enjoy! Sooo, Enjoy!

With love from my country kitchen,

Bread · breakfast

What’s Cookin’ in the Country?

February 16, 2015April 2, 2015 RefreshHer4 Comments

A heavy sprinkling of flour, measuring cups and baking ingredients were spread out on the counter. The mixer was whirring and the oven was hot. That pretty much describes my Saturday. And I loved it. It was a Baking Day; one of my favorite kind of days at home! A holiday, a church banquet and company invited for Sunday dinner were all the reasons that I got to attend to this hobby I love!

On my list of “To-Do’s” were Make-Ahead Butterhorns, Sugar cookies, Blueberry Pecan Scones and Salted Caramel Cheesecakes. The Butterhorns are a fantastic roll to make and have on hand. The recipe makes 32 rolls. You make up the dough, roll them into their shapes, then freeze them until you need them. They just need several hours to thaw/rise. These are easy and so yummy!

IMG_20150213_184221_resized — Frozen Rolls, ready to rise and bake.

I made the sugar cookies for Valentine’s day gifts. I make these all year long in different shapes and decorations.

The Blueberry Scones were part of my Valentine’s Day Brunch. I found this recipe in my Cooking Light Cookbook. They were a perfect addition to the menu!

Blueberry-Pecan Scones

1/2 Cup 2% milk
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbl chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup finely chopped pecan
Cooking spray
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbl. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stirring with whisk. Combine dry ingredients. cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in blueberries and pecans. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut dough into 10 wedges, cutting into, but not through dough. Brush egg white over dough wedges, sprinkle with 2 tbl. sugar. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Add a cup of coffee, a scrambled egg and a piece of turkey sausage, and you have the perfect brunch for Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, or an ordinary do-nothing day!

Are you having a snowy day today? Days like that are great days to get in the kitchen and bake up something special. If you have the ingredients on hand, I hope you’ll try one of these recipes!

Be sure to check here on Wednesday for a peek at the Salted Caramel Cheescakes I made. They’re pretty and scrumptious!

With love from my country kitchen,