Valentines Ideas

Valentines is a fun baking holiday too. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Valentines Bark with Conversation Heart
This one looks very festive and a good use of conversation hearts. Because, let's face it, conversation hearts are fun and cute, but they don't taste very good

Cupcakes with Piped Hearts: You can melt white or milk chocolate and put it in a piping bag and pipe hearts onto wax paper. They will harden and then you can stand them up on top of the cupcakes. Super cute!!

Anything Red or Pink
Sugar cookies cut into hearts and decorated with pink and red sprinkles or frosting are always a big hit. Also red velvet cake or cupcakes are a good Valentines treat, here are some red velvet suggestions along with recipes

Cupcakes for 2
This is a fun little treat if you and your Valentine are staying in and you don't want to eat 24 cupcakes!!

Happy Valentines Day, I hope that you all have a wonderful day with your sweetie!!

Mega Berry Streusal Muffins

We struggle with breakfast at our house. My girls don't really want to eat it, they could take it or leave it. So I am always looking for things that they can grab and eat that will be good for them, but they will still eat. I recently read a book called "How to Bake a Perfect Life" It is fiction, but it is about someone who owns a bakery and it is filled with recipes. That is where I found this one. It has yogurt, oats, whole wheat flour, and not a lot of sugar. And it has a ton of fruit, so it appeals to the kiddos. I made them last night, and they were a big hit, I loved them too.
Hope you enjoy!!
Berry Streusel Muffins

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Oats
1 T Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Honey (or raw sugar) I used 1/2 cup of each
1 1/2 Cups of Plain Yogurt (I used plain Greek yogurt, it adds a little more protein)
1 6oz container of Blueberry or Raspberry Yogurt
1/2 Cup Milk
3 T Canola Oil
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg
1 Cup Each of Raspberries and Blueberries (I only used blueberries, you could use any combination of berries you like)

Preheat oven to 400, line muffin tins with liners, or grease them
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine all the wet ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and combine until completely mixed. Fold on the berries. Divide among the muffin tins and set aside.

Streusel Mix (you nay need to double this to have enough for the muffins)
1/4 Cup Flour
3 T Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Chopped Nuts (walnuts, pecans. or almonds)
1 1/2 T Melted Butter

Combine all the ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins

Bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes to let the berries set, then cool completely on a wire rack

Holy Cow!!

These look amazing and I shall make them at once!!
Sprinkle Bakes

Toffee

When I was a kid my mom made a recipe every year called Butter Crunch, and it was a toffee type recipe and it was awesome. But it was very difficult to make, my mom struggled with it for years. For a couple of years I tried to make it and it never worked. I went through a ton of butter every year, and it never worked. A couple of years I wrote it off and decided that the recipe was flawed and I needed to find a new one. That is where this recipe came from. It is pretty close to the one that my mom made, with just a few miner adjustments. I usually double the recipe too so that it spreads thicker

English Toffee

14 Tablespoons of Butter
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons of cold water
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans (optional)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
6 Oz Chocolate Chips

Butter a cookie sheet and set aside

Put butter, sugar and water in a heavy pan or skillet. Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove the spoon from the pan (this is very important, you have to leave it alone) and cook to a very brittle stage (about 300-310 on a candy thermometer or you can do a cold water test) Remove from heat and add the pecans and the vanilla. Pour onto the cookie sheet and spread it evenly. Let it to cool slightly and them put the chocolate chips on top. Spread them as they melt. Cool completely and then break into pieces.

Variations:
You can chop the nuts and put on top after the chocolate melts instead of inside the toffee

After the chocolate melts you can put crushed candy canes on top

You can do all kinds of things, be creative

Sugar Cookies

The Christmas season got a little away from me this year. I had grand plans of posting all sorts of recipes, and here we are on Christmas Eve and I have only posted one. I am going to post a few today, they won't have pictures, but still really good recipes.
This is by far my favorite sugar cookie recipe. I love soft fluffy sugar cookies, not the thin crispy kind, and this recipe fits the bill!! It has a ridiculous amount of baking powder in it, and I love them. Once you put the frosting on, they are delightful. It might be a little late for this year, but hold onto this one for next year, or Valentines day, or Easter!

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Butter
1 Egg
4 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking soda
4 teaspoon Baking powder (yes, 4)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Milk

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Combine all the dry ingredients, add to the butter mixture. Add milk and vanilla. Roll out the dough pretty thick, you will need a lot of flour on the counter and on your rolling pin. Cut out the shapes and put them about an inch apart on the cookie sheet (they grow) and bake for about 8-10 minutes, depending on the size of cookie.

Frosting (I am a big fan of a buttercream type frosting, so that is what this is. I know some people like the royal icing type, because it looks prettier, too each there own)

2 Cups Powdered Sugar *
1/3 Cup butter room temperature
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1-2 Tablespoons of Milk (add more if it is too thick)

Combine all the ingredients, if you want a double layer of frosting or you are planning on piping on the frosting double the above recipe

Buttery Sandwich Cookies

Tis the season for all kinds of crazy baking. I spent the entire day yesterday baking, so I will be posting several recipes over the next few days. I first came across this lovely little cookie last year and I made it for the family and it was a HUGE hit. The cookie is super buttery, but it has no sugar in it, so you definitely need the filling, but together they are buttery goodness!!

COOKIES:
2 cups butter, softened (4 sticks)
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
4 cups flour
.
Cream softened butter, gradually adding flour, then cream. Roll onto a generously floured surface, approximately 1/4 inch thick, and cut into 2 inch circles (or another small cookie cutter shape). Prick each cookie with a fork three times and back for 7-9 minutes at 375 degrees.

* I found these cookies to be VERY delicate, so I froze them after they cooled slightly, which helped them hold up while I frosted them.
.
FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1.5 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbs. heavy cream
2 teas. vanilla
.
Combine filling ingredients and spread between two cookies.
.
Yields 50-60 sandwich cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.

PS. You will think that there is not enough filling, but there will be plenty, so load they up because the filling is the best part

Monkey Munch, Puppy Chow...Blah Blah

I have heard this called several different things, Monkey Munch, Puppy Chow, whatever you want to call it, it is really good!! And it is very easy to make.

Monkey Munch

1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Butter

Melt all the above ingredients. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, microwave another 30 seconds until smooth
Add 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla.

Pour over 9 cups of cereal (corn chex, rice chex, cripix something along those lines) and toss until coated.
Pour cereal into a ziploc bag. Pour 1.5 cups of powdered sugar into bag and toss until coated.

***If you eat the whole bag, make sure you check your shirt for the evidence or it the powdered sugar will give it away!