Coffee Cake in a Mug

COFFEE CAKE IN A MUG

I have made this a few times, but every time I end up eating it before I remember to take a picture. So I took this picture from the site where I found the recipe. To be fair, mine looked similar. As soon as I take my own picture, I'll replace it, but I definitely don't want to lose this recipe. My kids eat it up and you don't have to make a huge cake that will go to waste.

CAKE

1 TBSP butter, softened, not melted

2 TBSP sugar

Half an egg, slighlty beaten

2 TBSP sour cream

A few drops of vanilla, literally

1/4 C flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

*Place butter in your favorite mug. If it's straight out of the fridge microwave it for 15-20 seconds. Stir in butter with a fork until it's creamy. Add some egg. It's easiest to make two at a time, that way you can just mix up an egg and divide it between two mugs. Stir in sour cream and a few drops of vanilla, just a few. stir in flour and baking powder. Now for the topping.

TOPPING

1 TBSP butter

2 TBSP flour

1 TBSP brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

 

*In a separate bowl add butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix together with a fork or your fingers. I like to add a little to my cake mix so that the cinnamon flavor goes throughout. Add the rest to the top of the cake and microwave for about 1 minute 10 seconds. Now you have an easy coffee cake in a mug. YUM!

Pancake Squares

PANCAKE SQUARES

 

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I have probably made it 10 times already. It's a lot quicker than making individual pancakes and less messy. My boys just eat them up!

 

 

3/4 C milk



2 TBSP butter, melted
1 large egg
1 TBSP sugar
1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl combine milk, butter and egg. Add sugar, then gradually beat in flour. Carefully stir in the baking powder and salt. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. This recipe also doubles well, just put it in a 9x13 dish.

What it looks like fresh out of the oven.

Yummy Granola

GRANOLA

I love granola and this recipe looked really easy so I had to try it. The original recipe called for dried fruits, which would be good, but I opted to not put them in mine.

 

4 C old fashioned oats

1/2 C sliced almonds

1/2 C coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 C coconut flakes

1 tsp ground cinnamon

a pinch of salt

1/3 C vegetable oil

1/4 C honey

1/2 C light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

 

*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat a cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together oats, almonds, pecans, coconut, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine oil, honey and sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Drizzle over oat mixture and toss until evenly coated. Pour onto prepared cookie sheet and spread evenly. Bake, stirring occasionally until golden brown (about 25 minutes). Let granola cool completely. Break up and store in an airtight container.

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIES

This was yet another great find from pinterest. If one day pinterest no longer exists I will have this blog to keep my favorite recipes. Besides I always modify recipes slightly. These cookies were so easy to make. They just take a few minutes to whip up and come out perfectly chewy.

1 C butter

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3 C flour

2 C oatmeal

1 1/2 C coconut

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together until smooth. In a separate bowl combine salt, baking powder, baking soda and four. Sift together then add to butter mix. Stir in oatmeal and coconut. Spoon onto greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Seeing as we live in a higher altitude I added a little extra flour than the original recipe called for. I also love coconut so my recipe includes a little more than called for. I also thought it was a little weird that the original recipe said to grease the cookie sheet, however greasing the cookie sheet turned out perfect. 

These cookies would also be good with nuts and chocolate chips. I think pecans and semisweet chocolate chips would be good or white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

Pizza Puffs

PIZZA PUFFS

I made these for my boys one night and I think I ate more than they did. Oops. They were just so easy to make and eat!



3/4 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP Italian seasoning
a pinch of salt
a generous pinch of red pepper flakes (I like a little spice)
3/4 C milk
1 egg lightly beaten
1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
1 C pepperoni, cur up or I used mini pepperoni
1 C store bought pizza sauce

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes. Whisk in milk and egg. Stir in mozzarella, parmesan and pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir batter and fill muffin cups 3/4 full (this recipe will make more than 24 puffs). Bake until puffed and golden, about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile microwave pizza sauce just until warmed.

Ready to eat!

Easy Mac and Cheese

MACARONI AND CHEESE

This was seriously so easy and yummy. I made a few modifications from the recipe I was trying because it was what I had in my cupboards. This was the first time I tried this recipe and I loved it!

2 C uncooked elbow macaroni (I used ziti because that's what I had)

2 C milk

1 TBSP butter

1/2 tsp mustard powder (I used actual mustard because I didn't have mustard powder and it worked)

1 tsp salt

a dash of nutmeg

1 1/2 C grated cheese plus more for topping (I used Mexican cheese blend because we always have that on hand)

Bread crumbs for topping (optional)

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8x8 baking dish. Place raw macaroni in a colander and rinse quickly. Let drain and place in a medium saucepan along with milk, butter, mustard powder and nutmeg. On medium heat, slowly bring saucepan ingredients to a simmer while frequently stirring the macaroni. This will keep the macaroni from sticking together. Don't leave the stove! The milk will boil very quickly and you don't want it running over. Once mixture comes to a simmer, immediately turn down heat to low. The macaroni will slowly cook in the milk. Continue stirring macaroni frequently so macaroni cooks evenly. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until milk has been absorbed. Stir in cheese until it has mixed in evenly. It doesn't need to be completely melted. Turn off heat and place macaroni in prepared dish. Sprinkle with a handful of cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for about 10 minutes until cheese on top has been melted and bread crumbs are golden brown.

Fruit Salsa

FRUIT SALSA with CINNAMON CHIPS

To be honest I didn't really follow the recipe as far as the amount of fruit that was put in. I just sort of put in what I had and what I thought sounded good. It just took a lot longer than I thought because I wanted the fruit to be chopped up really small so it really resembled salsa.

SALSA

4 kiwis, peeled and diced

1 fuji apple, cored, peeled and diced

1 pound of strawberries, diced

2 white peaches, cored, peeled and diced

1 mango, cored, peeled and diced

1 tsp white sugar

1 tsp brown sugar

3 TBSP simply fruit raspberry preserves

*Combine everything and mix it all up. Simple enough, right? I really liked the apples and peaches for the crunch.

CINNAMON CHIPS

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

1 C white sugar

2 TBSP cinnamon

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a gallon sized freezer bag and mix it up. Spray both sides of each flour tortilla and cut into small triangles. Throw those in the bag and shake it up. Spread out onto ungreased cookie sheet until cookie sheet is full. Do not over lap chips. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes. They will crisp up a little after they have cooled. Serve with chilled fruit salsa. SO YUMMY!!!!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

RASPBERRY CRUMB BARS

I had some leftover raspberry filling from my sister's wedding and thought that raspberry crumb bars would be a GREAT way to use up that filling... Plus, I already had all the other ingredients.

1 1/2 C flour

2 1/2 C oatmeal

1 1/2 C brown sugar, packed

1/2 C finely chopped pecans

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 C butter melted

2 C raspberry pie filling

1 tsp ground cinnamon

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix flour, oatmeal, pecans, and baking soda using pastry blender or fork. Stir in butter until well mixed. Reserve 2 C of the oat mixture for the topping. Firmly press remaining oat mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust begins to brown. Carefully spread filling over warm crust. Stir cinnamon into the reserved oat mixture and sprinkle over raspberry filling. Lightly press into filling. Bake 20-25 minutes or until top is deep golden brown. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour) before cutting.

These were really good. I think I could have gotten away with using less butter. The crust was also pretty thick that a little extra filling wouldn't have been a bad idea either. These were really good though. Something I will definitely make again!

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

 YELLOW CUPCAKES WITH RASPBERRY FILLING and VANILLA CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

I'm not going to write down the recipe for the cupcakes because, well, I just used a box of cake mix and made them according to the package directions. Oh, but I did add some raspberry filling that made them oh so good.

FROSTING
1/2 C butter, room temperature
8oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 C powdered sugar
1-4 TBSP heavy cream or whole milk

*Combine all ingredients in electric mixer. Cream together until well combined and fluffy. About 3 minutes. If you are piping it you don't want to add too much milk or it will be too runny.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

*If you are making carrot cake cupcakes or red velvet I would recommend adding an additional 8oz of cream cheese and a little more powdered sugar if needed.

Batman Cake

 BATMAN CAKE

Malakai asked for this for his birthday for about 6 months. He was thrilled when I finally made it.

CAKE

1 (16.5oz) box Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix

1/3 C dry instant chocolate pudding and pie filling

1/4 C flour

1 C water

4 eggs

1/4 C mayonnaise

1/3 C vegetable oil

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Divide evenly into the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 24-29 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Take out of pan and set face down on wire rack. Once completely cooled, wrap in saran wrap and freeze over night. This just makes it easier to cut and decorate. Next day cut off the top of cake to make a flat even surface.

FROSTING

1 C butter

1 C shortening

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp butter flavoring

1 tsp clear vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1TBSP meringue powder

about 2 lbs powdered sugar

*Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Cream together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add meringue powder and a little bit of the powdered sugar. Mix together and continue to add powdered sugar. I use almost a full 2 pound bag. Beat on medium high for 3-5 minutes.

I put my cake on a cardboard round. Cut the edges leaving about 1/4 inch of cardboard around the cake. Spread a small, thin amount of frosting on the cardboard to act like glue. Place one of the two cakes face down on the cardboard. Spread that layer with frosting and place the other cake on top, face down also. Spread frosting over entire cake. This time I used a store bought fondant and dyed it yellow to save time. Roll the fondant out and place on top of cake. Slowly smooth fondant over cake and cut off any excess fondant. For the Batman symbol I just printed off a symbol that I liked, placed it over a sugar sheet and cut out the design. the sugar sheet was really easy to use. I highly recommend it for decorating. My friend Amy had some leftover edible paper that we put around the cake. Honestly I wish I would have just used my sugar sheet because the edible paper was so hard to work with and I didn't like the look of it.

I thought the cake was perfect for what Malakai wanted and it wasn't too difficult to make!