Cranberry Orange Muffins

For the baby blessing, I had a breakfast theme. I had breakfast casseroles, bagles with cream cheese, fruit, and muffins! It was so fun to have all these different muffins to try (thanks for the idea Kristi!). My sister made these and they were a huge hit! She shared the recipe, so I'm passing it along!

• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus more for preparing the muffin tin
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus up to 1 tablespoon for topping the muffins, if desired
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the cranberries and orange juice in a small saucepan, and bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Remove berries from the heat, and set aside to cool and plump. Drain off any excess liquid and set aside.

Lightly brush a 12-muffin tin with butter. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand-held mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter, orange zest, and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Fold the flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, until just combined. Fold in the cranberries. Do not over mix. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool muffins in the pan on a rack. Serve warm.

Buttermilk Yellow Cake and Buttercream Frosting

My friend made this for her daughter's birthday cake and it was so delicious. It was like wedding cake, you know, where it is a little denser than boxed cake? And the buttercream frosting was delicious. I am going to use this cake recipe from now on, especially for birthday cakes because it was so easy to frost and didn't fall apart when you start cutting into it! I don't even like cake and I kept sneaking back to this one for more!

Buttermilk Yellow Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter softened
4 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk(1 Tbsp vinegar to l cup milk)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt

1. Cream butter and sugar till smooth.
2. Add one egg at a time while blending on low speed.
3. In a separate bowl add baking powder to flour.
4. In another bowl add baking soda to buttermilk.
5. Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients to sugar mixture ending with dry ingredients.
6. Add vanilla to all.
7.Bake in greased and floured pans at 325 degrees. Two round pans cook about 20-25 minutes, 9x13 pan cook about 45 minutes.Frost with whatever you want. My friend used the Wilton's vanilla buttercream frosting. (Recipe below)

The Buttercream Icing recipe is perfect for spreading or decorating. Follow our instructions to make it the ideal consistency you need.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (or regular, it just adds a little color)
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Instructions(Medium Consistency)In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

Tomb Buns

I got this recipe randomly last year. But, I had these rolls at Brent's work party before. They're unique because they are empty inside. So, they're the perfect Easter treat. They represent the empty tomb after the Savior was resurrected. And they're fun & yummy. Win win win.

Tomb Buns (Also called Balloon Buns)

Dough:
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1 TBSP yeast

Mix the dough as you would any other bread dough. You could even use Rhodes frozen rolls in a pinch (thawed of course). But once you h ave the dough you separate it into 18 equal pieces and roll each slightly into a round of dough.

For the rest of the recipe you will need:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
18 marshmallows

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Dip one marshmallow in the melted butter, covering it completely, then roll it in the sugar and cinnamon mix. Take one of the rounds of dough and wrap it around the marshmallow, sealing it carefully. This is tricky with the greasy butter, but if it doesn't seal the marshmallow will leak out during the baking.

Once they're sealed, dip the tops in melted butter. Then dip in cinnamon sugar. Place them in greased muffin tins (not lined with papers). Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees until lightly browned. The marshmallow melts, leaving a cave of sugary-cinnamony-melted goodness inside, hence the name "tomb buns."

Eat while warm with a cool glass of milk!

Sloppy Joes

I got this recipe from the Kraft magazine (love it!) and it's
1. So easy - perfect for "those" nights
2. Cheap to make
3. You probably have all the ingredients right now in your fridge
4. Tasty (seriously - I was bummed my kids ate all theirs so I couldn't finish it for them)
5. Kid Friendly

In fact, Bryan liked it so much that he couldn't believe it was so simple! It really was good.

1 pound hamburger
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I highly recommend Original Sweet Baby Rays!)
1/4 cup ketchup
Kraft singles cheese (you could use whatever cheese you have, even shredded)
Hamburger buns

Brown hamburger and drain if necessary. Mix BBQ sauce and ketchup, warm through. Place on hamburger buns with a slice of Kraft singles cheese. Eat! (I placed the cheese on one side of the bun and microwaved for 10 seconds or so to melt the cheese a little). Oh, and if you use a different BBQ sauce, I don't know what it will taste like. We seriously will not buy another BBQ sauce except Sweet Baby Ray's!

Homemade Chicken Alfredo Pizza

So this isn't so much a recipe as an idea. I made my own dough (I'll put the recipe below) but you can pick up frozen dough at the store (Carissa loves Trader Joes version) or go to Papa Murphy's and just buy pizza dough (it's like $2). I got the idea for Chicken Alfredo pizza in Canada. Their Quizno's had a chicken alfredo sammie and it was delicious! I can't find it here, and I don't know how to make flat bread, but the pizza is just as good. And Bryan and I decided to mix up the pizza - try different sauces and topping. Papa Murphy's white sauce is just ranch and minced garlic, so you can make your own Chicken Garlic. I also love pepperoni with white sauce! You can make BBQ chicken pizza, try different cheeses (like smoked or gorgonzola). The possibilties are endless! The dough recipe makes enough for 8 individual size pizzas. You can freeze half the dough if you only want 4 pizzas. My kids loved having their own pizza! Please post a comment also if you make a fun pizza - I need ideas!

Dough:
3 cups flour, divided
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
2 T canola or olive oil

In a large bowl (I did mine in the kitchen aid), mix 1 1/4 cups flour with yeast and salt; add warm water and oil. With the paddle attachment, beat for 3 minutes. Stir in another 1 1/4 cups flour. When it starts to form into dough, switch the attachment to the dough hook. Let it run until it's lump free, adding a little more flour if its still sticky. I ended up kneading it by hand a little bit to get all the flour in. If you are only using half the recipe, cut half off, cover in plastic and freeze. Let remaining dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 425. On a lightly floured surface (I mixed in cornmeal too - I like the crunch on the pizza dough), divide dough into four pieces, and then divide then again to make eight. Roll each into 6-inch rounds. Transfer to a greased baking sheet or two (I sprinkled them too with cornmeal). Build up edges slightly and prick bottom of crusts with a fork. Bake 8 minutes. Spread sauce and toppings. Bake 8-10 minutes more.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza:

*Alfredo sauce (store bought or homemade - I used Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo - and only like 1/4 of the jar)
*1 chicken breast, cut up into small cubes (I only used 1/2 the chicken breast, but you can add more for more meat)
* 4-6 slices bacon, chopped
*Tomato, diced
*Any Italian cheese blend, 2 cups
*Optional - cut up spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, etc

Layer sauce on pizza dough. Add chicken, bacon, tomatoes, and other toppings. Top with cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

For some reason I totally forgot about these cupcakes. I made them last year for some picnics and barbecues and they were gone within minutes. They are very easy to make and the lemon taste is very light, so they aren't too sweet. I got this off the Kraft website- you can't go wrong with them! It makes 24 regular size cupcakes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

1 box (2 layer size) white cake mix
1 box (3.4 oz) Jello lemon flavor instant pudding
1 cup water
4 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1- 16 oz package powdered sugar
1- 8 oz brick cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Heat oven to 350ºF. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, water, egg whites and oil in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined muffin tins.

Bake 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes. An option is to add 1 tsp lemon zest to the frosting for an extra zing, but I don't like the texture of the zest so I don't do that.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Brownie Cookie

I got this recipe from "Studio 5" on KSL and these cookies are amazing! Along the same lines as the layered mint chocolate brownies but different and sooo good. I made them twice in one week for two different events and both times they got eaten right up. I love that the middle mint layer is just melted mint chips! How easy can it get! You can also use store bought chocolate frosting for the top if you want even less work. These are worth every bit of effort and perect for St. Patricks Day!

Chocolate Mint Brownie Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar and mix until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture until well combined.
Using a 2 inch ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until firm. You don't want to under bake or over bake these cookies. Let cool.

For the middle layer

Ingredients:
1 cup Guittard green mint chips, melted

Spread a layer of the melted mint chips over the cookies. Put them into the fridge to let them set for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make the frosting.

Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
milk

Using a mixer, cream the butter. Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa until well combined. Slowly add to the butter. Add the vanilla and a dash of milk at a time until the consistency is thick enough to spread on the cookies. Beat until smooth. Spread the frosting over the mint layer.

Dark Chocolate Mousse in White Chocolate Cups

These are as good as they look...or maybe even better. So they take a little work but I'm addicted to them. It's another Giada recipe (I LOVE HER!) but here are my tips:

• Once the white chocolate is almost melted, remove it from the heat. Otherwise it continues to melt and the liquid continues to evaporate from the chocolate, making it dry and hard. Also, I used a paint brush from the kid's water paints (which I washed well) because I used mini muffin liners, not the regular-sized ones.
• I didn't use orange zest. I'm not a fan of orange and chocolate. If you are, go ahead and add it!
• If you don't own pastry bags, just use a sandwich bag with a tip cut off.

8 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped (I used Nestle chips)
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I did half of each)
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
White chocolate curls, for garnish

Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners (mine made about 20 mini cups). Melt the white chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Spoon 1 tablespoon melted chocolate into each paper liner. Using a pastry brush, coat the chocolate evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the liners. Freeze until the chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Remelt the white chocolate in the bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon into each cup and brush over the bottom and up the sides, forming a second coat. Freeze until completely set, about 1 hour.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate in top of a clean double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. At this point, set aside to cool completely.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream and sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Set the whipped cream aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone cheese, melted bittersweet chocolate, orange peel, and vanilla in a large bowl just until smooth and glossy, about 30 seconds (do not overmix). Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture in 2 batches. Transfer the mousse to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the mousse into the white chocolate cups. Sprinkle the white chocolate curls over the mousse and serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate overnight, and then let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving