Recipe: Snickerdoodle Muffins

So I got up early this morning, while Ryan was still out on his morning run, and decided to make him some homemade muffins for breakfast. Yeah, I probably should have been out on that run with him, but I prefer to run in the afternoon and not wake up early. That is neither here nor there, I guess, back to these awesome little muffins!

They are called Snickerdoodle Muffins, because they obviously taste just like snickerdoodle cookies. Really, they do. They are moist and fluffy and rolled in cinnamon sugar to form a crunchy, yummy shell, around the muffin. Nothing could be a better wake me up than these. Try them out yourself! You won't regret it!

INGREDIENTS:

Muffins:

8 tablespoons butter, (1 stick)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/8 cups white flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk

Topping:
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare a muffin tin with liners.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Set aside.
4. With a mixer, combine the butter and sugar and cream until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs and vanilla to the wet mixture and combine.
6. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine.
8. Add the sour cream and milk to the wet mix and combine.
9. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the wet mix and stir until you have a smooth batter.
10. Using a cookie dough scoop, plop a scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar/cinnamon.
11. Gently roll the batter in the mixture.
12. Place the ball into the muffin liner.
13. When you have completed all of the muffins, sprinkle the leftover cinnamon/sugar onto the tops of all of the muffins.
14. Bake the muffins for about 18 minutes or until they are golden on top and just baked through.

Recipe: Homemade Georgia Peach Bread

Tonight, after getting back home after four days away, I just had to get back into my kitchen to bake.  This bread sounded perfect to make as Ryan and I had just picked up some fresh peaches which were on sale at our local grocery store. If you like fresh peaches, you'll want to give this recipe a try!

Georgia Peach Bread

• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Shortening
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 Cups Peaches
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/8 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp. Honey

Blend the sugar and shortening until it is a smooth consistency. Once it is, blend in the egg. Chop up the peaches into square centimeter size chunks and add half of them to the wet mixture. Reserve the other half of the peaches. Stir gently to coat the peach pieces with the wet mixture. Add the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Blend well. Add vanilla extract and honey. Blend again, just until the vanilla and honey are integrated into the mix. Add the reserved peaches and stir gently to coat the peaches with the wet mixture. Grease and flour one 9x5 loaf pan. Pour the mixture into your pan. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes or so, depending on your oven. (I put foil over the bread pan at about the 40 minutes mark, because I don't like my bread too dark.) Let cool and enjoy!

Iced-In Pizza and Pie Night

Since I have been snowed in for five days now, count them FIVE, baking has taken over my life. The snow was really coming down yesterday, to the point we had to cancel our trip to Austin. Dang it!

Anyway, even though the office was closed, Ryan decided to go into work. I figured that since he was already out, he could pick me up a few things at the store. So last night Ryan made homemade wheat pizza crusts. My pizza was BBQ Chicken and Ryan had just regular chicken with tomato sauce.

For desert, I made a banana cream pie. I kinda cheated and had Ryan buy a pre-made graham cracker crust. As much as I like baking I hate making my own crusts, graham or regular pie. Anyway, I layered bananas on the bottom, pudding type custard in the middle and whipped cream and bananas on top. It was pretty darn good! I even used skim milk and had Ryan get a reduced fat crust. Anything to still be able to bake but not gain any more iced in the house and can't get out to run weight!

Morning Apple Muffins

I have been having urges to bake and cook lately. I guess with the fact that Ryan is in school so late on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, meaning I cook dinner on those nights, I have really started to enjoy it. Today I decided to make Apple Cinnamon muffins from a recipe I found online. I think the recipe called for too much cinnamon, but they were pretty good overall. We'll see how long this cooking thing lasts.