Pumpkin Muffnuts

Pumpkin Muffnuts? Seriously? Yeah, probably not the most appetizing name, but my friend, Casey and I came up with it on a long drive back from Utah County. It is a combination of a muffin and a donut- muffnut.

Look at those bad boys. 

I made them for a potluck at Casey's house. You know, kind of a tongue in cheek, "hey I actually made the muffnuts we were talking about." Yeah, I ate most of them before they could make it to the plate.

I got the recipe here. It is so easy. It takes 10 minutes to put everything together and 10-12 minutes to bake it all. Perfect for me, since I can't be on my feet for too long these days.

1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/3 vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain pumpkin (I used pumpkin pie filling, because I didn't read the can)
1/2 cup milk

1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBS cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. In a separate bowl, mix oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth, gradually add the dry ingredients until just combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tins evenly. Bake for 10-12 minutes (I did 11).

Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool slightly. Dip the muffins into the butter and then roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Voila! Muffnuts.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I have posted a simple recipe on here before using spice cake mix. Jeff wasn't so happy about it. So, last night I made some from scratch. YUM. He accused me of eating a whole dozen myself, to which I guffawed. But, let's be honest, he was probably right.

I found the recipe on Pinterest, which linked me to here.

As I am apt to do, I made a few modifications.

2 cups canned pumpkin
2 cups white sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp milk
2 TBS vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce and egg. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Slowly add flour to mixture. I added the vanilla and milk as the batter became a little dry.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a GREASED cookie sheet. I say that because I forgot to grease mine and was scraping crumbly cookies off of them and into my mouth. Bake for 11-12 minutes. This makes about 4 dozen.

Brunswick Stew

Brunswick Stew

6 lb. stewing chicken
3 med. potatoes, diced
2 large onions, diced
4 c. corn
4 c. tomatoes
3 t. salt
2 c. butterbeans
1 t. pepper
1 T. sugar

Cook chicken in 3 qts. water until meat is ealily removed from bones(about 2 1/4 hrs.). Add rqw vegetables and simmer, uncovered, until tender. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Add boned diced chicken, and seasonings. Let stand refrigerated overnight, to blend and enhance flavors. Serves 8 to 10.

Comments and helpful hints: You can use fresh, frozen, or canned corn; fresh or canned tomatoes; and if you don't know what butterbeans are--baby limas. I usually don't wait for the vegetables to cook completely before I put in the meat and seasonings. Cook it until it reaches the thickness that you like--and go ahead and serve it right away. When it is cooked outside in big iron pots, it sometimes is very difficult to tell what is what--just a great brown mass of delicious stew.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake

OK, disclaimer. This is not my picture. I got it from this site, where I also got the recipe. I took a picture, I swear, but it wasn't on my camera this morning! This recipe has chocolate peanut icing, but I didn't have heavy cream, so I made my chocolate glaze and it was heavenly!

2 ounces unsalted butter (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
3 ounces creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I eyeballed and know I put in more than that- hee hee)

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease 9x 13 pan. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Mix together brown sugar, peanut butter and butter for 2 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and mix for another 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix for 1 more minute.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Then add sour cream. Mix for 20 seconds. Gradually add remaining flour mixture. Add the water in a slow steady stream and mix for 30 seconds. Add vanilla and mix. Add chocolate chips and stir by hand to finish mixing.

Pour cake batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake for 22 minutes. Let cool and top with chocolate icing, or the one listed in the recipe link if you so desire.

Paradise Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don't get me wrong. I love my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Love it! But last night, I was feeling a little antsy and wanted to try a different recipe. I found a Paradise Bakery one. I don't know if it is their actual recipe, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Let's just say I ate a few with a cold glass of milk, and then grabbed a couple to eat on my late night walk with Jeff.

I did tweak a few things from the original recipe. I know what a whole cup of butter does to my cookies:

Preheat oven to 375.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Incorporate into the butter mixture.

Spoon drops onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

This seriously took me 20 minutes to mix (that includes pulling all the ingredients out) and it made 3 dozen cookies- so about 1/2 hour to bake them all.