Blueberry Crumb Cake

This cake is AMAZING! But then again, I love any type of coffee / crumb cake so I might be a tad biased. But really, this cake is so moist and perfect in every way! I saw it on the food network and had to try it.

Streusel Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar


• 1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed


• 1 teaspoon cinnamon


• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg


• 1/4 pound (1 stickk) butter, melted


• 1 1/3 cups flour

Cake Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest


• 2/3 cup sour cream


• 1 1/4 cups flour


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Let's start with the streusel. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then add the flour. Mix it all up and sit aside.

Butter and flour a 9 inch baking pan. For the cake, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer on med/high for 4-5 minutes. Slow the speed down and add the eggs one at a time. Now add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. Time for the dry ingredients! In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into your pan.

Now back to the streusel!

Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the cake...

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! What a great treat for breakfast! :)

Bacon Onion Cheddar Biscuits

I've been wanting to make some type of super supreme loaded breakfast biscuit or muffin for quite some time now. I had some leftover bacon in the fridge from the stuffed jalapenos that I needed to use up, so I decided that was definitely going to be an ingredient in these super supreme muffins. I stumbled across this recipe from the fabulous Pioneer Woman, and let me tell ya...it does not disappoint.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (crisco, Etc)
• 10 tablespoons milk
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 10 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

First step, fry that bacon up. Just 'til it's done and still a little chewy - not burned and crispy. Which by the way, is usually how I like it...crispy. Oh well.
Remove and sit aside to cool. Try not to eat it all and keep the pan out, we're going to use it later.
In a good size bowl, mix together the flour, 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda, and salt. Throw in the 1/4 cup crisco, and cut in until it's incorporated into the flour mixture. For some reason, I hate this step. Just ask my mom. When we make pies together, I always have her "cut" in the crisco.
Ok back to biscuits.

In a separate bowl combine 10 tbsp milk, 4 tbsp vegetable oil, and 1 egg. Whisk it up...

Grate 1 heaping cup of cheddar cheese...

Chop up around 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup onion. Remove the majority of the bacon grease from the skillet and then throw the onions in. Saute the onions until done and nice and colorful...

Grab the bacon, which should be cooled by now, and chop it up.

Pour the egg/oil mixture into the flour mixture, and fold it together until just combined. Don't stir it to death. Should be pretty thick and sticky.
Add in the cheddar cheese and browned onions...

Don't forget the bacon...

Fold together until just barely combined. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan...

Bake at 375 for 20-22 minutes or until done. Nice and golden brown.

Mmmm...look at the inside of this bad boy...

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins

Coffee cake muffins. Mmmm... These are delish! Not your normal muffin consistency by any means. You've gotta try these :)

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
  

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I cut the original recipe listed above in half, so that's why there's not much in my mixer...

With the mixer on low, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. With the mixer still on low, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until just mixed in. The batter will be this super thick, wonderful consistency. Taste it. Mmmm....

Now fold inyour blueberries and scoop into your muffin pan. I used my cool new muffin "top" pan. Thanks Kacie!

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until nice and golden brown...

Serve and enjoy!

Cheddar Chive Muffins

I made these muffins for breakfast, but they would be great for dinner as well. I think I'll try them again next time we have soup...

Here's what you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 stick melted butter

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Stir in the grated cheese and chives...

Now, stir in the egg, milk, and butter until just combined. Scoop into your greased muffin pan and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Strawberry-Banana Muffins

These muffins are amazing. I don't think I've ever had both strawberries and bananas together in a muffin, but I had both on hand and they were getting pretty ripe so I made these for breakfast. Here's what you need:

• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• 1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• zest of 1 lemon
  

In a small bowl, mix together strawberries and 2 tablespoons sugar. Let sit a few minutes until strawberries give off their delicious juices.

In another small bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.

Now in a large bowl, mix together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, 1 cup sugar, strawberries, and lemon zest.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Don't overmix. I also folded in a handful of frozen blueberries here at the last minute....totally optional...

Now just scoop into your muffin pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out dry.

Serve and enjoy!

Nanny's Banana Nut Bread

This is my Nanny's Banana Nut Bread recipe. She always has a loaf made, and if one's not sitting on the counter, well, she'll go pull one out of the freezer ;)

Here's what you need:

• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup ripe mashed bananas (3)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Dash of salt
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Combine the oil, sugar, bananas, and eggs - mix well.

Add the remaining ingredients (except the pecans) and mix.

Now, fold in the pecans...

You can either put this in two loaf pans or muffin pans...up to you. Maybe 1 of each? This time, I used two loaf pans so we could have one to eat and then one in the freezer ;)

Bake at 325 for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out dry.

Beer Bread

This is my mom's *secret* beer bread recipe. It's the best bread ever! Just a warning though...this bread will not last long. Trust me.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bottle of beer
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 9X5 loaf pan. Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Open the beer and add it all at once. It will foam up, but stir just until combined. The batter will be lumpy - it's ok, that's how you want it. Pour into the pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is crusty. Enjoy!

Monkey Bread

This is just your classic, easy Monkey Bread that I grew up eating as a kid. It's super fun and easy to make. It almost doesn't even qualify as a recipe, but I made it this morning for breakfast and it was too good not to take a picture so I thought why the heck not?! Also, I assumed everyone knew about Monkey Bread, but the first time I made it my husband had never heard of it...thus this gave me another reason to post this. Maybe Monkey Bread is a "Texas" thing...

All I do is melt a couple tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a glass pie dish, grab a can of bisquits and tear 'em up in pieces and then stir them around in your pan so they get coated with butter. Then sprinke some sugar and cinnamon over the top, stick it in your oven and follow the cooking instructions on your bisquit can and you got breakfast!

Cranberry Orange Scones

I saw these scones done on a show on the Food Network and I knew I had to try them. Let me tell you - they are fabulous! Here's what you'll need:4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced (that's 3 sticks my friends. yes you heard me, 3 entire sticks...)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Now...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round cutter and cut circles of dough (I actually use a juice glass for this). Place the scones on a sprayed baking pan. Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Now forget about those 3 sticks of butter you used, and enjoy your scones!

Corn Muffins

These are not your average corn muffins. They're extremely moist and oh-so delicious!

Here's what you'll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup medium cornmeal
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your muffin pan with Pam. You can also put paper liners in the pan...I just prefer to use spray so I don't have to deal with the muffins sticking to the paper when you go to eat them. Ok so first, mix the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, melted butter, and eggs. Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until they are just blended. That's it - you're done! Simply spoon the batter into your muffin pan and put in the oven for 30 minutes until the tops are crisp and golden brown. They'll rise about an inch to an inch and a half. After eating these muffins, you'll never buy a cornmeal mix again!