I started making hot pads and oven mitts to give as gifts. They are so fun to make and I thought a fun Make a Mix in a bag and recipe would fit in side with a wooden spoon just fine. You can see the gift basket I did at my other blog

http://www.busyascanbe.com/

Make A Mix Muffin Mix Recipe

8 cups all purpose flour

3 cups sugar

3 tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. MIX WELL! Put in an airtight container.

Label with date and contents. Store in a cool dry place. Use within 6-8 months.

Makes about 11 cups of muffin mix, enough for 4 batches s of muffins.

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH MUFFINS

(To make with muffin mix above)

2 3/4 cups Muffin Mix

1 egg beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine melted (or 1/2 cup vegetable oil)

Pre-heat oven to 400°F.

Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Put Muffin Mix in a medium bowl. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine egg, milk, butter. Add all at once to Muffin Mix. Stir until mix is just moistened: batter should be lumpy . Fill muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake 15 min. or until golden brown.

Place pan on wire rack for 5 min. Remove muffins from pan and serve warm or place on a wire rack to cool. These muffins FREEZE WELL! Makes 12 muffins.

VARIATIONS: Cappuccino chip muffins= add 1 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1 tbsp. espresso powder to dry ingredients. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to wet ingredients. Add 3/4 cup semisweet morsels to batter.

I got this recipe from http://www.cookingcache.com/ they have a lot of recipes I have tried and LOVED! Your will have to stop by there and my other blog! You can always wrap in cellophane and tie with left over fabric and tie the wooden spoon in the bow.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I know this isn't the usual New Year picture but it seem that I am always so busy at Christmas time I really don't enjoy the tree until after. I had vacation after Christmas this year and I got to take time to sip tea and sit by the tree! Ahhh I love it! I love turning off the ceiling lights and watching TV with the tree lights on and a warm cup of French Vanilla tea. Of and of course so of the wonderful goodies from christmas.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

At club Juli made the most wonderful Pumpkin Coffee Cake.And she was nice enough to share it with us. So I am sharing it with you. She put whipping cream on the top and oh it was was yummy. In my search for Christmas morning recipes once I tasted this one, it went to the top of the list.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake
1/2 c. plus 1/3 c. butter softened and divided

3/4 c. plus 1/3 c. sugar divided

4 eggs, divided

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 c. sour cream

15 - oz. can pumpkin

1 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 c. brown sugar, packed

2 t. cinnamon

1 c. chopped nuts

Blend together 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar and 3 eggs until creamy: add vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add sour cream; set batter aside. Combine pumpkin, remaining egg and remaining sugar; stir in pumpkin pie spice and set aside.

Prepare streusel by combining brown sugar, remaining butter, cinnamon and nuts: set aside. Spray a 13 X 9 baking dish with a non-stick vegetable spray.

Spoon in half the batter; top with the streusel, then all the pumpkin mixture. Spread on remaining batter, then top with remaining streusel mixture.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes 15 servings.
Enjoy!

Making Pies at Cooking Class

Chocolate cream pie!!! Yummy! This time at cooking with Melanie (and Mathew)

we did pies. Melanie's mom taught us how to do the perfect pie crust...shh but the secret

ingredient was Lard.... We had a hands on class for this one and it was so much fun.

This was my finished banana cream pie...I felt like a pro!

Even Melanie's son Devin joined in the fun.

And he did better than most of us girls...







This was the black bottom pie we had.



My crust before baking....I told you I look like a pro...

Melanie's mom showing us how to do the custard.

Working on rolling out the dough.

We were having so much fun.

Yes you will be famous after I put you on my blog......

We all look like pros!

Melanie's class is so fun and if you live in Salt Lake you should come ...This is what Melanie's email said about our next class:

Holiday Class will be on December the 10Th Thursday at 7:00 p.m. this class will be $10.00. You will go away with all sorts of ideas for the remaining parties and your own holiday meals, breakfasts, appetizers, side dishes and of course desserts....We will have a great evening filled with plenty of food and awesome friends.
here is the link to her blog...we keep bugging her to add to it but....

she does update the calendar.

http://cookingwithmelanie.wordpress.com/
Hope to see you there....

Apple Cinnamon Bread

Apple Cinnamon Bread

cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp Splenda, granulated *
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp table salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ cup low-fat buttermilk
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine, melted
¼ cup liquid egg whites or Eggbeaters
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cup shredded apple, packed coarsely (Approx. 1 large apple)
2 tsp lemon zest, finely grated*

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat an 8-inch loaf pan (or 2 mini loaf pans) with cooking spray. Peel and shred apple. Grate lemon zest. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, Splenda, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Mix well with a fork and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: buttermilk, brown sugar, margarine, liquid egg whites, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Stir in apples and lemon zest. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (or 2 mini loaf pans) and bake until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. (Or, about 40 minutes for mini loaf pans.) Cool in pan, on a wire rack, for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely. Slice into 8-10 slices and serve.
I found this recipe one day when i was surfing and the site isn't up any more....Dang...Great recipe.