Raisin Apple Muffins

About two weeks from now, I'll be leaving for Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I'm really excited. I have not been in the mountains in a very, very, very long time. I use to go all the time as a kid. But, that was usually with my grandparents. My parents aren't necessarily mountainess people. They enjoy the beach. Which is why every year we usually go to the Bahamas or the Keys. However, for what ever reason, both my parents wanted to go the mountains this year.

It was mainly for the fact that my mothers lupus has been getting a little worse this year, making her have to stay out of the sun more often. Which I don't mind. I don't like the sun. It's joked that I'm a vampire. I'm very pale and I don't tan. I could try to tan, but I'll just turn into a tomato. If I could, I would live in an area where light never reached. Somewhere that is always cloudy. That'd be the way to live for me.

Anyways, since I've been just dying to go up the the mountains, I thought about making something that would remind me of it. For me, anything that's reminds me of fall, reminds me of the mountains. I think it was because every time I went to the mountain was usually in the fall. So, Raisin Apple Muffins kind of seemed like fall. Well, for me that is. They're actually pretty healthy for you too. You would never guess either. They taste excellent. They're nice and moist, not greasy, and taste amazing when right out of the oven. Nice and simple.

Recipe

For the Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup shredded tart apple (I used a cheese shredder)
1/4 cup raisins

For the Crumb Topping

2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. quick oats
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. cold butter


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place muffin paper in tins or grease muffin tins. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the apple and raisins. Evenly divide the batter. Fill the muffin cups about two-thirds full with batter.

3. For topping, in a small bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Banana Piña Colada Muffins

To start this post off, I have to say; These have to be some of the best banana muffins I've ever tried!! Seriously, no joke. They seriously taste as though they came straight out from a bakery! It was when I pasted a local bakery that I decided today to bake Banana. And when I thought about it, I hadn't some in awhile, and, it felt like a great time to bake some.

When summer comes around, fruit is something that most people eat because it's hot, and, eating hot food or heavy food just doesn't sound good when you dieing from heat. You want some light and fresh tasty. Fruit is exactly that. And it's been feeling a lot like summer here in Florida. So we've got a lot of fruit floating around here. So, to but the bananas to use, I decided to make them into muffins.

I'm not joking when I say that these are good; Because they really have to be some of the best muffins I have ever made! Coconut and raisins, in my opinion, team beautifully together (especially in that famous rum drink, the piña colada for some of you). The two play just as nicely together in this whole-grain muffin. Banana adds pleasingly moist texture, and an additional taste of the tropics.

Recipe

2 cups flour
1/2 cup diced dried pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. coconut flavor or rum flavor (optional)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup shredded coconut


1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and coconut or rum flavor. Add the bananas, honey, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt, beating until smooth.

3. Stir in the flour, then add the pineapple and raisins. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with coconut.

4. Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and let set for 5 minutes. Take muffins out of muffins cups and serve warm, or at room temperature. Store in an air tight container.

Raisin Nut Granola

Aside from having cereal for breakfast, granola is one of my favorite food to have for breakfast. And I've finally gotten around to posting about this; My favorite granola. It's such a great breakfast food. Gives you plenty of energy to start off your day, and, the good perk about it is; its great for you! But, I would say, that making it homemade is the way to go. I don't really enjoy the store bought granola.

I had one experience when I thought about buying a store bought brand... Me being me, I look at the nutritional facts all the time. I try to make sure what it is I'm buying is actually good for you (I think this habit is rubbing off on my little brother; He now points out whats on the nutrition label). I forget what brand of granola this one I look at, for I'm not to familiar with the different kinds of brands, but I kid you not; This granola was loaded with 40g of sugar!! That'd cause a diabetic to drop down in a heart beat!

It just shocked me. I feel bad for the people who didn't look at the nutritional label. I mean, god... Thats a lot of sugar. And that's just ridiculous! Thats when I decided to just stick to making homemade granola. And this granola; It's killer. This is my favorite granola to make. I totally go bonkers for it, and I've even gotten my boyfriend into it (who is trying to eat more healthy..). A lot of the time, I just eat this plain. I don't usually add milk to it. From time to time, when I've been wanting milk, I'll add a little. But I think it's great just as it.

I'll even make parfaits with this. With some yogurt, or, make caramlized bananas with granola. Either ways, its great. And my dad is crazy for this stuff. He'll usually have some before working out. My mom however... She's not a breakfast eater. Which I tell her is bad!! But not that she listens...

"The most important meal of the day, lalalala, yay!" - Spongebob

Listen to Spongebob people!

Recipe

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup cashews, chopped
1/2 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raisins


1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, honey, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

3. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed. Store at room temperature for up to a week.

Pecan Crunch Granola Bars

So, I've seen plenty of granola bar recipes floating around on several websites, that I finally decided to make my own granola bars. My dad was especially happy about this; Being that these were going to be homemade granola bars. He doesn't like anything store bought. He likes anything that is homemade and thats the way he likes it. So he was especially happy about this.

I originally wanted to have dried blueberries in these, however, I could not find any in the store, and I didn't have the time or the patients to make my own dried blueberries. I wanted to make granola bars today. And I had to make granola bars with my favorite nut; Pecans! In the end, it was much better that I used raisins instead of blueberries. I have a feeling that the blueberries the pecans wouldn't have made a good pair. With the cinnamon, everything just came together wonderfully.

One tip I have when making these; LET THEM COOL! If you do not let them cool completely, they will fall apart on you. Then you would had destroyed a beautiful creation.

Recipe

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pecans, chopped into little pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup dried raisins (or any dried fruit)


1. Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes to toast.

3. While thats going, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, extract and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook just until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.

4. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit and coconut, and stir to combine.

5. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and wrap up for snacks or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Oatmeal Raisin Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding, in my opinion, has got to be one of the most comforting desserts ever. Aside from Ice Cream, Bread Pudding is one of my favorite desserts that I enjoy having every time. I actually never had nor heard of Bread Pudding till about 3 years ago after going out for my fathers birthday at Ruth Chris Steakhouse.

We went there to enjoy some really great steak (one of the best I've ever had, by the way. Wish I could still have some...), and I knew that I was going to get a dessert, and my dad was gonna get one to. I mean, it's his birthday. Even though he's a health consensus freak, he to likes to have a good dessert for his birthday. Who really doesn't though?

I ordered the Chocolate Lava cake, my brother order ice cream, and my father, the birthday boy, ordered New Orleans Bread Pudding. When I got my Chocolate Lava Cake, it was way to chocolaty for me. I should have expected such from a Chocolate Lava Cake. I only took one bite and had enough chocolate for the day. But, my father only finished half his dessert. So, I decided to try it. And fell in love. That when I became obsessed with Bread Pudding.

I made Oatmeal Bread the other day and had half of it left. So, I decided to make more use of it. How? By making an Oatmeal Bread Pudding. I used my Oatmeal Bread recipe for the bread, but I got the custard and sauce from Peabody here. This is a really comforting dessert, and when in need of comfort, try this! You'll be in love!

Recipe

Oatmeal Bread

Recipe Here.


Cinnamon Custard

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 egg yolks
4 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg


Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract


1. Make the Oatmeal Bread as in the recipe. Let cool complete.

2. In a bowl, mix together the heavy cream, egg yolks and eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk together all the ingredients until completely incorporated. Set aside until needed.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut up the Oatmeal Bread into 1 inch pieces. Place half of the Oatmeal Bread pieces in a buttered 8 x 8" pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of raisins (if desired). Pour half of the custard mixture over the bread, pressing gently to allow the liquid to soak in.

4. Scatter the remaining bread evenly. Followed by another ½ cup raisins and then the last of the custard. Again, press the bread down gently to allow the custard to absorb into the bread.

5. Place bread pudding into a pan that is large enough to hold both the pan and a water bath. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the pudding pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove from oven carefully and serve with Toffee Sauce.

6. To make Toffee Sauce, stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add cream and vanilla and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Oatmeal Raisin Sandwich Cookies

It is the cookies I use to live off as a kid. It was the treat I always looked forward to (beside ice cream that is..), and its probably one of the most famous cookies among children (well, beside the chocolate chip cookies). We see these cookies usually all the time in the grocery store. The ones that are in a box, next the the twinkies, cinnamon swirls, snow balls, ho hos, mini donuts (you know, all the junk food) and etc. But thats the food I lived off as a kid. It was also the reasons I drove my parents insane while being high off sugar, jumping up and down off the walls.

Oatmeal Raisin Sandwich cookies. Just the name makes me happy. For one, the oatmeal cookies has got to be my favorite cookies that exist in this entire world, but to have it into a sandwich; Ohmygoodness. With a creamy, silk filling in between two soft, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies; it's just to die for.

Oatmeal cookies are my favorite cookies to use when having a sandwich cookies, but one of my other favorite cookies to use would have to be one of my other favorite cookies; white chocolate, chocolate cookies.You can really use whatever kind of cookies you desire. From monster cookies to heath bar cookies, you can use whatever. You could even use my Oatmeal Walnut Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies; Now that'd be a treat!!

Recipe

Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking rolled oats (not instant)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup raisins


Filling

12 oz. cream cheese
1/3-1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and rolled o2ats. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in eggs. Add applesauce and vanilla. Gradually begin adding the flour mixture the th sugar mixture, slowly mixing the two together. Don't over mix. Fold in raisins.

4. Drop dough by 2 tbsp. full, shaping them into a ball. Leave about 3 inches between each ball to allow to spread.

5. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are golden on the edges. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to wired rack to cool completely.

6. For the filling, make sure the cream cheese is softened. Beat all ingredients in until smooth. Spread a generous amount on the flat side of half the cookies. Sandwich together and serve.

Make about 14 large sandwich cookies

Cinnamon Buns

Year 2007 is out the door; Year 2008 is here. Which means new goals and new me. Every year, everyone usually gives them self a goal to achieve with the coming of the new year. Whether it be to lose weight, to get a job, to travel somewhere or to become famous; Everyone makes some kind of goal for the new year.

Usually, I don't put to much thought in to a goal for the new year nor did I ever really care. This year however, I made a goal that I am going to make myself commit! No slacking or by passing it. This year, I want to challenge myself. To challenge myself beyond my comfort zone. More so than ever. I want to bake things that I've always been afraid of. I want to be better; A better baker. And I'm committed! I will do it!

One of the things I've always been iffy about making is Cinnamon Buns. Just hearing the thought of it kind of scared me. So much time and you must, must, must be exact with a lot of what your doing in the making of Cinnamon Buns or else it will bit you in the butt when you finish. That made me nervous. So I've never really brought myself to even try making them...

But, its a new year and I am going to stay committed to stepping out of my comfort zone and trying harder recipes; Challenging myself beyond. So what better than attempting to make Cinnamon Buns? So I woke up early this morning to get started.

One downside for me in making Cinnamon Buns is; I don't have an electric mixer. Yep, I have to do it all by hand. Fun, right? No, not really. I think I got a work out on my arms with all the folding, stirring and kneading. It truly was a pain in my behind. But I wanted to make them. And I managed.

But I think the thing that bugged me the most was the time. Honestly, I'm a very impatient kind of person. I hate waiting. Its something I hate to do. But if I wanted to have beautiful, delicious Cinnamon Buns, I had to wait. Though I did it, it drove me truly insane! I was literally jumping with joy when it finally came to actually putting the buns into the oven to actually bake!!

And in the end, I was very happy with myself. I finally did it. I made the Cinnamon Buns that I'd been so afraid of making! And they actually came out! They were very tasty, so light and soft. I was in heaven. I added raisins to half the batch because I love raisins in my Cinnamon Buns. I would have done all of them the same, however, I have a few raisin hater in the house...

Recipe

6 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
5 1/2 tbsp. shortening or unsalted butter
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (6 1/2 tbsp. sugar plus 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)


4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon extract
6 tbsp. to 1/2 cup milk



Cinnamon Buns

1. Cream together the sugar, salt and butter(or shortening) using a large metal spoon. (If using a mixer, mix on medium-high speed). Whip in the egg and lemon zest. (You can substitute the lemon zest with lemon, lime, vanilla extract, etc.).

2. Add the flour, yeast and milk to the mixture. Stir by hand until dough forms a ball (Or mix on low speed). Knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. (If using a mixer, switch to dough hook and increase speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes). You may need to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temperature for about 2 hours or until dough doubles in size.

4. When doughs doubled in size, mist the counter with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Lightly dust a rolling pin and roll out the dough into a rectangle, about 2/3 inches thick and 18 wide by 9 inches long (14 inches wide by 12 inches long if you want larger buns). Don't roll dough to thin or finished buns with be tough.

5. Sprinkle dough with cinnamon sugar and roll the dough up into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. With the seam side, cut the dough into 12 to 16 pieces each 1 1/4 inches thick (8 to 12 pieces each 1 3/4 inches thick for larger buns).

6. Line 1 or more pans with baking parchment and place buns 1/2 inch apart so that they aren't touching but are close enough to each other. Proof at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes or until pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cinnamon buns for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool buns in pan for 10 minutes and then streak white fondant glaze across the top while they're still warm. Remove buns from pan and place on a cooling rack to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

White Fondant Glaze

Cinnamon buns are usually topped with a white glaze called fondant. There are many ways to make fondant glaze, but here is a very simple way to make it.

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 1 tsp. lemon extract and 6 tbsp. to 1/2 cup milk, briskly whisking until sugar is dissolved. Add the milk slowly and only using as much as needed to make a thick, smooth paste.

2. When the buns have cooled but are still warm, streak the glaze over them by dipping the tines of a fork or a whisk into the glaze and waving the fork or whisk over the top of the buns. Wait 20 at least 20 minutes before serving.

Raisin Nut Bread

I came to realize that I hadn't made bread since who knows when. Not having baked any in so long, I decided that it was time to bake up some yummy, delicious bread for indulgence. Usually, I'm always baking up some kind of Banana Bread. Whether it be Chocolate Chip Banana Bread or Peanut Butter Banana Bread, it would usually have banana's in it.

However, for once, I wasn't in the mood for any kind of banana bread. Which is a shocked for me; In my house, I'm known for being the one to eat all the Banana Bread! I was however in the mood for anything with raisins or cranberries. I don't really understand why, but I've been having these really strong craving for any kind of dried fruit! And since I had raisins on hand, raisin nut bread was what came to mind.

Took time and I hate waiting, but it the end, it was worth it. Though the bread wasn't really as moist as say, banana bread would be, it was still moist enough and very, very delicious. A great morning breakfast!

Recipe

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp. grated orange peel


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Mix in walnuts and raisins to coat with flour mixture. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix orange juice, butter, egg and orange peel. Add to flour mixture with a wooden spoon until just blended.

4. Pour into a greased 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pan and bake in 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Bread

Due to a few family issues, I hadn't seen my grandmother in the longest of time. I decided I wanted to pay her a visit today because I felt that with all the problems that she is currently going threw, it would be nice. But, I didn't want to show up empty handed. I wanted to make her something nice.

When I think of the season Autumn, first thing I think of is Pumpkin. And since it is that time of year, I wanted to bake something with pumpkin. Since I'm really big on baking bread, it was what I decided on baking.

Of course, I did not want to leave it as just plain Pumpkin Bread. I had to add something in there. Walnuts and raisins sounded really good with pumpkin, and raisins and walnut are kind of like a autumn food.

It came out positively amazing. First bite I took and it certainly felt like autumn. It was very cake like, which I like it that way. I was very satisfied with how this came out, and I could tell my grandmother enjoyed it as well. I'm defiantly going to make this again.

Recipe

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups pumpkin
3/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, nuts, raisins, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cloves, allspice, and ginger until well blended.

3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, Mashed Pumpkin, and oil until well blended.

4. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and stir just until well blended. Pour equally into two oiled 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans.

5. Bake in the oven for about 50-60 minutes. Let cool.