Blueberry-Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients

1/4 cup regular oats 
2 tablespoons brown sugar 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided 
1/4 cup butter, softened 
1 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 cup egg substitute 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 1/4 cups fat-free buttermilk 
1 cup fresh blueberries 
Vegetable cooking spray 

Preparation

Beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg substitute, beating until blended. Stir in vanilla.

Combine all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, ending with flour mixture. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin pans coated with cooking spray, filling two-thirds full. Sprinkle evenly with oat mixture.

Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are golden. Cool muffins in pans 5 minutes; remove from pans, and cool on wire racks.

Yield

15 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

For this recipe you will need a mini cheesecake pan

1 eight oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/4 C. sugar

Crust:
1 C. graham cracker crumbs
2 T. brown sugar
1/3 stick melted butter

Topping: Canned cherry pie filling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter with a fork until well combined.
3. Divide crumb mixture evenly between the 12 cups of your mini-cheesecake pan. Using your fingers (if you don’t have long nails!) press crumbs firmly onto the bottom and partially up the sides of each cup; set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, blend softened cream cheese, egg, vanilla and sugar together in a medium bowl.
5. Spoon cream cheese mixture into each cup (they will only be half filled).
6. Bake for 14 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.
7. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool for 20 minutes then carefully remove cheesecakes from pan and let cool completely.
8. Top with cherries and refrigerate until ready to serve.
9. Enjoy!

Homemade Sno-Ball Cupcakes

Triple Malt Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups malted milk powder
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• Vanilla Malt Frosting
• 1 cup malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 325°F and arrange the rack in the middle. Coat 2 (8-inch) cake pans with oil and flour, and tap out any excess flour. Set aside.
2. Combine malted milk powder, flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a separate large bowl, and whisk until combined and smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and whisk until just incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk, and whisk until smooth. Continue with remaining flour mixture and milk, alternating between each and whisking until all ingredients are just incorporated and smooth.
4. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the cakes start pulling away from the sides of the pans, about 45 to 50 minutes.
5. Remove cakes from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 15 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of each, and turn cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
6. To frost, place a cake layer on an 8-inch cardboard round, a tart-pan bottom, or a cake plate. Evenly spread about 1/3 of the frosting over the top of the layer. Stack the second layer, and evenly spread another 1/3 of the frosting over the top and sides of the whole cake. (Don’t worry about looks at this point—this is just a basecoat, a.k.a. a crumb layer, and it will be covered up later.) Place in the refrigerator until frosting is set up and slightly hard, about 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, ensuring it’s as even as possible. Press malt balls into the frosting around the sides of the cake and serve.

How to Make a No Bake Peanut Butter Ball

CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES

 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2-1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1-1/4 cups flour
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease a 13x9-inch aluminum foil baking pan.

Read through this recipe entirely before you begin, as you will need to divide ingredients into separate batters in order to create two layers.

Microwave together the chocolate and butter on high setting 2 minutes. Stir in 2 cups of the sugar and blend well. Stir in 4 eggs and 1 cup of flour. Spread this mixture in the greased pan.

Beat cream cheese, gradually adding remaining ingredients. Combine well.

Spoon second mixture over batter already in pan. Bake in Preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until toothpick has grainy fudge bits but is not clean, like in a cake. Be careful not to overbake.

Reese’s Quiches

Combine:

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup softened margarine or butter

and beat till light and fluffy, whether by hand or in an electric mixer.

Add:

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (you can use chunky at a pinch)
1 large egg (room temp)
1 teaspoon vanilla

blend for several minutes.

Add dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt, more if PB is unsalted

and fold in. Batter will be fairly loose. Chill some hours or overnight. Put the bags of PB cups in the fridge too. 

To bake: Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bring dough out at the same time you start the oven preheating. I sometimes use this time to unwrap the PB cups (which I put back in the fridge … this is the one thing you want cold). I use my trusty 1” scoop to portion it out. Try for a scant fill (around half the scoop) as that means that you will get more cookies. Seriously, it doesn’t need a lot, and the baking soda will make it puff out. 

After all the cups of the pan are filled (or water put in the empties!) I wash my hands and poke my index fingers in the center of each dough ball (a la thumbprint cookies). This will help it cook better, but by all means, don’t worry about making little tart shells. 

Bake for six or seven minutes, or until it is starting to get browner on the edges.

While the cookies are baking, make sure all the candy is unwrapped. If the candy is cold, I can easily unwrap 24 in seven minutes. It takes longer if the candy is warm.

When the timer goes off, remove the pans from the oven. The cookies will have puffed. Using the pads of your thumb or fingers, firmly place a peanut butter cup in the middle of each cookie “pillow”. Cookie edges should be even with or above the candy, as much as possible. 

Place back in the oven for 45 seconds to one minute. No longer. Remove and cool on racks for some time until the chocolate has set back up again. This will take at least an hour. Do not rush this part. 

Makes 4-7 dozen 

Heath Bar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (Eight 1.4 ounce bars) 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

2 Cream butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (a couple minutes). Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.

3 Alternatively mix in the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes (better an hour).

4 Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls (size of a large marble). Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets. (Make sure there is plenty of room between the cookie balls, and that the cookie balls aren’t too big. These cookies spread!)

5 Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended.  Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, and stir in remaining flour.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Combine the 4 tablespoons sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.  Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.  Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are beautifully golden.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.