Walnut Pumpkin Muffins

These Walnut Pumpkin Muffins are scaled down to make you 6 perfectly delicious baked treats. I tried to make them a little healthy (applesauce instead of oil, egg beaters instead of whole eggs) and they turned out just beautifully. The husband had his with a pat of cream cheese, but they definitely don't need anything except a willing stomach.

You'll Need:

3/4 c + 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

2/3 c white sugar 

1/4 tsp EACH: baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg

1/3 tsp cinnamon

1 egg (or 1/4 c egg substitute)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 c canned pumpkin

3 tbsp applesauce

3 tbsp walnut gems

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the first set of dry ingredients - flour through cinnamon. In a second bowl, mix together the egg, vanilla, applesauce and pumpkin. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients gradually. Stir in the walnuts (or other nuts or no nuts!). Spoon into 6 greased muffin tins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes -
the edges should be golden and slightly crisp.

Makes 6 lovely muffins - just enough for a quiet house.

Granny's Molasses Cookies

 

Among the piles of cookbooks in the cabin, this one is probably my favorite. When I was in 3rd grade, my elementary school collected recipes from teachers and families and put together a cookbook with the cover pictured above. 

Since the principal and family friend that drew that cover passed away recently, I thought it would be a nice tribute to share his artwork and the memories found in this little modest book.

  

My favorite recipe in the book (and by favorite I mean that I make it at least 5 times a year and the page shows it!) is for Granny's Molasses Cookies. It never fails, the dough can be stored in the freezer for months at a time, and they ship incredibly well! In fact, the batch I made for this post was then shipped to a friend in Minnesota - these are his favorite, too! The sign of a good friendship starts with liking the same cookies.

Because I don't want to give away the original author's recipe, and for sentimental reasons, I've found a nearly identical recipe online - CLICK HERE for Cooking Light's Molasses Cookies recipe - that is slightly modified below:

You'll Need:

1  cup  packed brown sugar
1/2  cup  shortening
1/2  cup  molasses
1  large egg
2 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
2  teaspoons  baking soda
1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon  each of  ground cloves and ginger
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1/4  cup  granulated sugar

  

Combine sugar and shortening until fluffy - 

add molasses and egg and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients except for the last bit of sugar. Add to the sugar and shortening mix.

Once the dough comes together, cover the bowl and place in the freezer for an hour or until mostly hardened.

 

Remove the dough from the freezer and shape into 1-inch rounds. 

Roll in sugar and place on an un-greased cookie sheet.

  

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

  

Even if the cookies haven't completely "crackled" yet, remove then from the oven and let them cool on the sheet - they will collapse a little and you'll end up with lovely crinkles!

 

Once cooled, they are ready to go in the mail - or in your stomach!

 Make your weekend a little better with molasses cookies :)

Homemade Hard Cider, Take II

First Day of Fermentation

I can't wait! Our homemade hard apple cider is ready for drinking today! It's been an interesting experiment and we've learned some things for the next batch. In the first cider post, we ordered our glass jugs (carboys) and found some great online resources. Today I want to play a little catch-up and fill you in on how incredily easy the rest of the project has been!

The airlock in a stopper

After a little research, I decided to go with a standard yeast - NOT a champagne yeast since I'd read several places that it makes the cider too dry and not sweet enough. I ordered a couple of packets of SAF Ale S-04 Yeast from The Home Brewery along with the rubber stoppers and airlocks I needed for our jugs (more explanation here in a minute). The yeast can cost from $1-$4 depending on the type, and the airlocks and stoppers shouldn't run more than a dollar or two a piece. 

The final step before the fermenting begins is finding a juice that will make a hard cider. It can be more difficult than you think to find a juice these days with no preservatives, so you can imagine my total shock when I found some in our little grocery store! 

Cloudiness from Fermentation

After pouring the juice into our jug, we added the proportional amount of yeast needed for a gallon- check your yeast packet, it will let you know how much a whole packet is for and adjust accordingly. After plugging it with the stopper and adding a little water to the airlock (which deals with all the gases coming out of the yeasty juice and will keep the bacteria in the air away from fermenting liquid), we were making cider! It doesn't take long to see a lot of action. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!

We let it do its thing for 7 days before transferring to plastic bottles. After a couple of days recharging in the bottles (the plastic should become hard with the gas), we stuck the bottles in the fridge. Tonight we are going to taste the results - fingers crossed!

Ready for bottling! Nice clarity.

In addition to empty bottles, I picked these up for a dollar just for fun!

Bottled cider - recharging before refrigeration

Click here to start from the beginning with Part I!

Baking with Baileys: Mint Irish Cream Brownie Bites w/ Baileys Frosting

When I came across the Baileys Irish Cream Brownie Buttons recipe from Sugar Plum, I really didn't think brownies could get any better. But then I realized that I didn't have any chocolate chips on the cupboard and I needed to get creative (a wonderful way to discover new recipes, by the way). OK, well, not too creative because as it turns out the cupboard was home to a half a bag of mint chocolate chips - woot!

Using Sugar Plum's recipe with a few modifications - including homemade Irish cream liqueur - be sure to make these Mint Irish Cream Brownie Bites for your St. Patrick's Day festivities! The original recipe states that it makes 34 minis, but since I didn't need quite that much I halved the recipe without any trouble. This is for the whole shebang:

You'll Need:

6 tbsp butter
3/4 c mint chocolate chips
1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
4 oz cream cheese, VERY soft

2 tbsp + 1 tsp Irish Cream liqueur (homemade or otherwise!)
3/4 c flour
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

I made Sugar Plum's frosting without any changes (except halving since I only made half of the brownies) - divine!

Frosting:

10 tbsp VERY soft butter

1 c powdered sugar
2 tsp Irish Cream liqueur
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat to 350 degrees and either grease a mini muffin pan or line with mini cupcake papers. Either one will work, but if you've got a good nonstick go ahead and put the batter directly in the pan - you'll get that yummy brownie edge that way!

Using a small saucepan, melt the butter and mix in the mint chocolate chips and instant coffee. Stir until melted and set aside.In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla and sugar and then slowly add the chocolate mix. Stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. 

Spoon the batter into your mini muffin pan - 3/4 of the way full is perfect as they will rise a little during baking. Bake for 15-17 minutes - let them cool in the pan to ensure a tasty brownie edge. 

While you really don't NEED the frosting on these minty chocolate wonders, it certainly doesn't hurt if you're going to go the distance. Whip all the ingredients together (make sure your butter is soft enough that it will blend well) and spread or otherwise frost the brownies. Maybe you have a little stash of green sprinkles on hand? Get those on there, too. Why not? You've already frosted brownies, for crying out loud!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little log cabin 

in this little mountain town - home of the Baking Irish!

Baking With Baileys: Pecan Pie Cupcakes

As I mentioned on Sunday, I decided to make Pecan Pie Cupcakes for Pi Day on 3/14! I figured that it would be fun to try something a little different - and besides, they only had 5 ingredients. They were so easy to make that I'm now convinced that all baking on Sundays should be limited to recipes with 5 ingredients!

Well, let me take that back. Five ingredients PLUS a few add-ins... especially if one of the add-ins is chocolate.  Give a bird a break. Anyhow, once I had made the original recipe and was getting ready to plop the batter down in my mini muffin pan, it occurred to me that these little sweet things would be easy to modify into different flavors. 

Don't get me wrong, plain pecan pie is one of my favorite pies. But pecan pie + chocolate isn't bad either... and I definitely wouldn't complain about a pecan pie + chocolate + irish cream! And so I ended up with 3 different variations of the Pecan Pie Cupcake...

You'll Need:

Original Recipe
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs

Extras:

Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp + 1 tsp for entire batch (24 minis)

Irish Cream Liqueur - 2 tbsp for entire batch

Combine all ingredients. Don't you just love recipes like that?

And here are my variations:

1. Plain Pecan

 2. Pecan + Homemade Baileys

 3. Pecan + Cocoa

 4. Pecan + Cocoa + Homemade Baileys

Add-ins from Top to Bottom: Cocoa, Cocoa/Baileys, Baileys

Fill 3/4 full in a greased mini muffin pan. 

I mean it, don't fill to the top. I did. I regret it. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 18 minutes. 

Remove and cool in the pan.

Slip a knife around the edge while cooling. Since mine "spilt over" I also tried to reshape and cut around the overflow. It wasn't pretty...

...but "pretty" doesn't matter much when you're eating cupcakes 

that taste exactly like pecan pie!

So what variation turned out the best? I will tell you that they were all delicious. However, I will also admit that the plain pecan ones were FANTASTIC and that the mega pecan + cocoa + Baileys was a close second. 

Try it for yourself and let me know :) What other variations can you come up with? I might consider some chocolate chips...

Luck of the Irish Cream

 

St. Patrick's Day is like Christmas for redheads. We're always appropriately dressed no matter what we wear, everyone is your friend for the day, and we can always count on free drinks if we're out on the town! This year I've decided to celebrate by trying my hand at the boozy part - homemade Irish Cream Liqueur! I searched through a lot of recipes and finally settled on one that didn't involve raw eggs - for, well, obvious reasons.

Aside from being a little sticky, Irish Cream is extremely easy to make and has endless possibilities. I made a couple different variations, including Mint, which was to die for! I also read of people adding coconut extract - yum! In honor of our current state of residence, I also made a variation that I like to call Cowboy Cream... see more below!

I made 4 large (750mL) bottles of the stuff to gift to friends and coworkers this week, but  the following recipe is for one batch (4 cups). If you end up using the same Original Irish Cream recipe that I did, I followed the suggestions of most of the Allrecipes reviewers and my modified instructions are below!

You'll Need:
1 cup heavy cream
1 (14 oz ) can sweetened condensed milk
1 to 1.5 cups Whiskey (Jameson is fine, but Canadian ones are better!)
1 tsp instant coffee or espresso granules
2 tbsp chocolate syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
For mint: add 2 tsp mint extract
Bottles/Containers
Funnel

Blend well for 20-30 seconds in a blender. Store in tightly sealed containers - everything from Perrier or other bottled water bottles to mason jars. I got my lovely green bottles from a home brewing store when I ordered the yeast for our hard apple cider.

Add a tag with instructions (store in the fridge, expiration date, ingredients, etc.).  I also considered making a little cookbook of recipes using Irish Cream - how fun for a St. Patty's gift!

And if you're feeling rowdy, try my own Pie Bird invention-  
Cowboy Cream!

 

Substitute Whiskey with Koltiska (a Wyoming liqueur)

If you thought this was tasty, just wait and see how we're going to
BAKE WITH IT starting tomorrow!

Other Recipes from the Blogosphere:

Homemade Irish Cream from Skip to my Lou

Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur from One Perfect Bite 

Homemade Baileys from Yumsugar

  Homemade Irish Cream - Bottled Awesomeness from Cocktail Hacker

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream from The Cupcake Project
DIY Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur by The Hungry Moose

Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

3 cheers for the weekend! In case you are planning to sleep in tomorrow, lounge around in your PJs for a little longer than normal, and enjoy your much-needed relaxation time, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you what you SHOULD be having for dinner!

Perfect for a lazy Sunday, these Slow Cooker Italian Beef sandwiches - slightly modified - will satisfy both of your cravings for some R&R and yummy, warm sandwich goodness. Of course, making your goodness on warm, fresh baked rolls doesn't hurt either :)

You'll need:

• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 teaspoon of EACH of the following: salt ground black pepper, oregano, basil, salt, dried parsley, garlic powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 (0.7 oz each) packets of dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 5 lb chuck roast

 

Treat yourself to a nice chuck roast - the original recipe calls for rump roast, but you'll find that the chuck roast is better for shredding. CLICK HERE for more tips on selecting a good chuck!

  

While you're at the store, go ahead and also pick out your favorite sandwich toppings - for us these means a green pepper, mushrooms, red onion, and usually some provolone cheese.

  

You'll also notice that the original recipe calls for water instead of broth. Trust me on this one, a warm sandwich full of goodness will be more juicy and flavorful if you use the broth!

  

Start on your path to deliciousness by stirring together the broth with all of the spices, bay leaf, and dressing packets in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

 

When the mix starts to boil, place your roast in the slow cooker and pour the liquid over top of the meat.

 

Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. I let mine cook on high for 5 hours but I have the sneaking suspicion that 4 would have been perfect (we have a relatively new cooker and it cooks HOT).

  

In the meantime, since I am fixated on the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, I took my stash of dough out of the fridge and prepped it for fresh rolls.

  

After shaping the dough into long, hoagie-type rolls on a cornmeal-covered surface, I slit the tops and let the dough rest for 40 minutes while the oven preheated. If you want rolls fresh out of the oven, hold on the baking until 20 minutes before the meat is done.

  

When your meat is cooked to perfection... it's not done yet! Remove the bay leaf from the cooker and transfer your meat to a cutting surface. Shred the meat with a fork.

  

Now, you don't have to do this next step, but it really does give the meat a little something extra. If you're feeling up to it and the timing is right, toss the meat back in the cooker with the liquid and let it warm for another 30 minutes to an hour. Now's a good time to get the bread in the oven!

  

That's what I'm talkin' about.

   

Now, if I didn't have some of our homemade mozzarella on hand, I would have topped our sandwiches with provolone or even swiss - it's up to you and your taste buds!

 

We sauteed our red onions, green pepper and mushrooms during those last few minutes before the meat was ready to be devoured....

  

And devoured it was.

Make that 4 cheers for the weekend :)