Fast, easy, holiday dessert!

[Once again, sorry for the craptastic photo! I took it inside at about 9:00 PM...not the most ideal circumstances!]

If you are looking for a super easy, kid [and adult] friendly dessert for all of your holiday parties, try these delicious chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream! 

You can make any type of chocolate cupcake, or even used a box mix if you aren't down with making your own.

For the buttercream, simply add 1 tsp. of peppermint extract to your normal recipe [I can post mine if you need it]!  I colored mine with "Christmas red" food gel [the kind you get at a bakery store or craft store], and sprinkled the top with red & white peppermint sugared sprinkles.  You could also sprinkle with crushed up candy canes too! 

These turned out so pretty, and delicious!  My boys absolutely loved them!  Also great served with a scoop of peppermint icecream! 

Enjoy!

Food...of the felt kind.

This is the kind of "cooking" I've been doing lately.

I'm making up a shload of felt food for Zoe for Christmas!  I still have plans to make a bit more, but don't know if I'll have it all done in time for Christmas.  I'm going to do a few more donuts, some cupcakes, some farfalle pasta, ice cream sandwiches...

It's been pretty easy, but does have a slight learning curve.  I made all of these patterns myself.  I'm using regular crafters felt---wishing I could be using nice wool felt, but it's a lot more expensive.

I'm also limited in my colors!  I don't love the color of the bacon, but it's all I had and all I could find...I wanted a brighter pink for the donut frosting, but oh well!

The bacon has pipe cleaner sewed inside of it, so it bends.  Seriously, so freakin' cute.

And I love the eggs. They turned out crazy cute...also one of the easiest, by far.

Hate the first donut [dark chocolate with pink frosting].  It took me FOREVER, and I don't like how it turned out.  Perfected it a bit with the 2nd donut [light brown with pink frosting]...but still have a few things to tweak when I make more.

The cookies were a no-brainer, took minimal time, but still kind of cute. 

Maybe after Christmas I'll be able to cook with real food again!

Christmas Crack!

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I'm an all or nothing kind of person, and having "one more thing" to do really stresses me out! I had to take blogging out of the equation for awhile.  I'm really busy making Christmas gifts, enjoying my kiddos and getting ready for the holidays.

Toffee.  I'm not a candy person, but I have loved toffee ever since I was a little girl.  I remember one of my dad's employees always gave him a big "brick" of toffee [from Sees, I think], it came with a little hammer to whack it into pieces.  Mmm.

I don't usually eat things like this [watching that figure!], but Christmas is the perfect time. This recipe is amazing.  It's SO easy.  SO fast.  Cheap.  All signs point to awesomeness.

I didn't create this recipe, in fact, you may have seen it before, but it's too good not to share.  Don't be alarmed of the ghettoness of it, it all tastes and looks fabulous in the end.

Christmas Crack [aka: toffee]

• 1 sleeve Saltine crackers [I needed 1 sleeve plus a few more crackers]
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 c. butter [real butter]
• 1 pkg. chocolate chips [or more, depending how thick you like your chocolate "crust"]
• 3/4 c. chopped nuts [pecans, walnuts, etc.] -- optional

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line a 10x15" cookie sheet [the kind with raised edges] with foil [covering over the edges], and spray with cooking spray.  Cover the sheet with a single layer of saltines.
3. In a saucepan, over medium-hi heat, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring with a whisk.  Pour over saltines, and try to spread it as evenly as possible.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from oven carefully, as the liquid will be bubbly and very hot [duh]. 
6. Allow to cool for about 3 minutes, or until you can see the crackers distinctly.  If your crackers have shifted during baking, move back into place using a fork.  [I didn't need to do this.]
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top and let sit for about 5 minutes to melt.  When all of the chocolate chips are shiney and melted, spread chocolate evenly. [Like you are frosting a cake.]
8. If desired sprinkle the top with nuts and slightly press into chocolate. 
9. Let cool a bit and then transfer to fridge to harden.
10. Once hard, break candy into pieces and store in containers. 

This takes about 10 minutes to make, but tastes like it took a lot longer!! Enjoy!

Oops.

Hopefully you survived T-day without my beloved pie crust!! What can I say? I was busy with baking, 3 kids, art projects [for table decorations], and busy sewing Christmas gifts.

I'm a bad food-blogger lately. Perhaps I should take a small hiatus??

...to come

Coming soon [maybe today/tonight?], my recipe for pie crust. I'm gearing up for a week full of baking. I'm making tons of pies, homemade cranberry sauce, turkey cupcakes [not as gross as they sound!], and many other Thanksgiving classics.

What are you making for T-day this year? Need any recipes? I might have some!

Homemade English Muffins

Okay, seriously. Jackpot.

I've found a lot of recipes for English muffins in the past, but they've all used a lot of milk [in the dough] and shortening, which I'd prefer not to use often, if possible.

I finally found this recipe, the ingredients are basic, the method is easy, and the result is freaking nuts. Seriously. If you've never had a homemade English muffin you are seriously missing out. The are leaps and bounds above the rubbery, preservative filled, store bought kind. Not to mention, SO much more cost effective. It cost me probably .06 cents to make each of these.

Each of these muffins is 110 calories each, 2.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and 18 grams of carbohydrates. Thank you CIA for the recipe!!

English Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

• 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water [110 F]
• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour [next time I'll try half wheat, half regular]
• 1 T. butter, softened
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. cornmeal [+/-]
• small amount of vegetable oil

1. Place the yeast and the warm water in the bowl of a mixer, and stir to completely dissolve. [I added the sugar during this step, to help the yeast activate quickly!] Let the yeast proof until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour, butter, sugar [if you didn't add it in step 1], and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix the ingredients together on low speed [using your dough hook] until well blended, about 2 minutes.
3. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until the dough is smooth, another 5 minutes. [Mine only took 3 minutes!]
4. Shape the dough into a ball, being careful not to overwork the dough, and place it in a lightly greased bowl. [I sprayed my glass bowl with non-stick spray.] Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. [I let mine rise for about 1 1/2 hours.]
5. Fold the dough gently over itself in 3 or 4 places [DO NOT OVERWORK! Or you'll loose the great airpockets inside your muffin] and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
6. There are several ways to shape your muffins. You can roll to about 1/2" thick and use a biscuit cutter [or any circle cutter] to cut the dough. You can roll the dough into a nice uniform log and cut 12 equal pieces. Or you can free form shape them [like I did]. Divide your dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece [using your hands, but not overworking] into rounds, and place them onto a sheet pan that has been heavily coated with cornmeal. Turn rounds over, so that each side gets coated with cornmeal.
7. Cover and let rise until they have risen slightly, about 1/2 hour.
8. Preheat griddle over medium heat and brush lightly with cooking oil. [I used my big pancake griddle, and had the heat on high.] Cook the English muffins until lightly browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins over and cook about 5 minutes more. [It is okay if they are slightly underdone, they will finish cooking when you toast them. If you aren't going to toast them, the be sure to cook them through.]
9. Store in a plastic storage bag in the refrigerator. To split the muffins, use a fork and pierce through, in a straight line all the way around the muffin. They will split right open.

Ooh La La.

As soon as the little people are in bed tonight, I'm going to make homemade English muffins.

Boo-yah, as Camden would say. I found a new recipe and I'm about to test it out.

[I think I'll make some honey butter, and serve them for breakfast. Or homemade honey peanut butter with bananas... For the people who can eat stuff like that and not weigh 10,000 lbs. In case you were wondering, that doesn't include me.]