Perfect Cornbread Muffins with Honey Butter

Dry Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding (not sugar free!)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. butter, melted and cooled slightly (NOT margarine!)

3/4 c. sour cream

1 c. whole milk (you can substitute lower fat milk, but the whole makes it YUMMY!)

Topping:

Granulated sugar

Honey Butter:

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/4 c. powdered sugar

3 Tbs. honey

Add cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Adjust oven racks to middle position. Grease muffin tins accordingly (This recipe makes 16-18 average-sized muffins or a few pans of mini muffins-- Maybe close to 100 muffins?? I like to make 12 regular muffins and finish off the rest of the batter with the cute minis.)

In a small bowl, melt butter. Set aside and let cool.

Prepare honey butter by combining very soft butter (not melted) with powdered sugar and honey. Add cinnamon. Combine with a fork until light and fluffy. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs until well-combined. Add the sugar to the eggs and whisk vigorously until thick....About 20 seconds. Add the cooled butter, combining well. Add sour cream and mix well, followed by the milk. The mixture should be smooth and lump-free.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix gently with a large spatula until evenly moistened. Don't over mix!

Spray an ice cream scoop liberally with PAM and use it to place one large scoop of batter in each muffin cup. (For mini muffins, use a small cookie dough scoop.) Sprinkle muffins with a light dusting of granulated sugar (I just use a tablespoon heaped with sugar and sprinkle the tops).

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 13 minutes (for large muffins) and 11 minutes (for mini muffins). Muffins should be BARELY browned around the edges but not on top. Make sure that a toothpick inserted comes out clean, but do NOT over bake. They will dry out quickly.

Remove muffins from oven. Before removing from the pan, use a small spatula to spread honey butter over the tops of the piping hot muffins (I probably use somewhere close to 1 tsp. on each large muffin). Remove from pans and let cool slightly before serving.

Serve hot with remaining honey butter on the side. 

Texas Roadhouse-like Rolls

YUMMY yummy yummy! I made these for mothers day to go with our meal. They were a big hit, especially with the *cinnamon honey butter. 

(adapted from: Good Stuff Maynard and pic via)

4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

2 c. milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

3 Tbl. of melted butter, slightly cooled

1/2 c. sugar 

2 quarts all purpose flour (7-8 cups)

2 whole eggs

2 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar.  Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter.  Beat thoroughly.  Let stand until light and foamy.  Add melted butter, eggs and salt.  Beat well.  

Add enough flour to form a soft dough.  Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto counter and let dough rest.  Meanwhile, grease a large bowl.  Knead dough until smooth and satiny and put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. (I used the dough hook on my Kitchen-Aid to knead this for about 4-5 minutes).  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down.  Turn out onto a floured board.  Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes.  Shape dough into desired forms.  Place on greased baking sheets.  Let rise until doubled.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Baste immediately with butter.  Yield: 5 to 6 dozen.  

*Notes: I shaped my rolls by rolling out the dough into a rectangle, about 1/2-inch thick, then I folded the rectangle in half, making it about 1-inch thick. I used  my rolling pin and rolled over the dough, ever so gently, just to seal the two halves together.  I then used a dough scraper and cut the rolls into squares and placed those on my greased baking sheet.  I cut the recipe in half and I got exactly 12 big rolls and baked them for 16-17 minutes.  In order to get the 5-6 dozen rolls like the recipe states, you would have to make really small rolls.     

*Like Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Butter

1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
1 tsp Cinnamon

Blend all ingredients at room temp.

Soft (Pita) Flat Bread

Here is the bread used to in the Falafels.  So yummy!! Thanks Cooking à la Mode!!!

 [via]

(Adapted from: King Arthur Flour)*Makes 8 flatbreads

3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. boiling water

1/4 c. potato flour OR 1/2 c. potato flakes
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 tsp. INSTANT yeast

Place 2 cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl (or Kitchen Aid). Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir till smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes. This process will cook out some of the starch, making the bread very soft and pliable.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several (5-7) minutes to form a soft dough. Add additional flour only if necessary-- The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat soft. Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour. (Note: Since this is a flatbread, the dough will not rise very much due to the small amount of yeast-- But it should still rise noticeably.)

Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each around 3-4 oz.-- I use my kitchen scale for this), cover, and let rest on an oiled surface for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece into an 8-inch circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until they’re flecked with brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out. Stack the cooked bread in between a soft, clean towel to keep them warm and soft. Serve immediately, or cool before storing in a plastic bag.

Red Lobster's Cheddar Biscuits

Another copycat recipe I found over here. These are SO tasty!! 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix

3/4 cup cold whole milk

4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup cheddar cheese (heaping), grated

Brush on Top

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch salt

Cooking Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.
Drop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.
When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter.

Makes one dozen biscuits.

Strawberries & Cream Banana Bread

I needed to use up some more strawberries this week and found this recipe.  LOVED it! I've never tried a strawberry banana bread before, but I'm glad I gave it a try...YUM!!

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups plain flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup butter or margarine
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 3 mashed bananas
* 1 cup chopped strawberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder together.
3. In another bowl, cream together the butter or margarine and sugars. Then add in the eggs, vanilla, sour cream and mashed bananas and mix thoroughly. Stir in the chopped strawberries.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stirring well as you go.
5. Pour the mixture into your prepared loaf pan and bake on 350F for around 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan before removing and placing on a wire cooling rack to cool fully.

(I also drizzled it with a glaze of 2 c powdered sugar, 2 T butter, 1 T milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla.)

World's Best Rolls

Our Best Bites did it again! LOVE love love these rolls! These were a part of our Easter dinner this year...YUM!

2 c. whole milk (if you're in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don't use 1% or skim)
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour
3 beaten eggs

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It's salty. It's sweet. Yum.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn't bubbled, you'll need to repeat this step--moving on with yeast that hasn't been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.

Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes--it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft--it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don't worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they're so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.

Spray 2 9x13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown. When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it's hot. Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

P.S. Using this filling or these fillings, this dough makes fabulous cinnamon or orange rolls. Just bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown. When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it's hot. Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

P.S. Using this filling or these fillings, this dough makes fabulous cinnamon or orange rolls. Just bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Perfect Pancakes

A favorite from one of my favorite all-time cooking sites, The Pioneer Woman cooks. LOVE her. Everything she makes looks amazing. I'm always looking for the perfect pancake recipe, and I believe I have finally found it!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Cake Flour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• Extra Butter
• Maple Or Pancake Syrup

Preparation Instructions:

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring very gently until just combined. Melt butter and add it to the batter, stirring gently to combine.

Cook on a greased skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown. Serve with an obscene amount of butter and warm syrup.

Quick Dinner Potato Rolls

Thanks again Janet for a super yummy recipe! We love these!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
3 T sugar
1 t salt
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
1 pkg. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 cup flour

Directions:

Bring to boil 1/2 cup milk

Take off of heat and add 1/4 cup shortening, 3 T sugar, 1 t salt, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes.

Stir well. Add 1 beaten egg.

1 pkg. yeast (dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water)

Add 1/2 of 2 1/2 cup flour. Beat well

Add remaining flour to make dough. Knead slightly-30 seconds.

Cover and let rest about 15 minutes.

Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut into 3 inch rounds.

Fold over and place the rounds onto baking pan.

Cover and let rise until double.

Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

Raspberry Cofee Cake

Made this to go with our brunch on Sunday...although it really should be a dessert! :)

Recipe originally found here.

1 1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. shortening
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
3 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 can raspberry pie filling (can substitute with cherry, strawberry or peach...but raspberry is our FAVE!!)

Mix first 8 ingredients.

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Press 2/3 of batter into bottom of pan. Spread pie filling evenly over batter.

Dollop the rest of the batter over the top. (It's pretty sticky, so I take little balls of it, smash it flat like a pancake and then lay it on top. I do this over the entire surface so that it covers more space than just dropping little drops here and there.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Drizzle runny icing over the top as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Icing:

Mix 3 C. powdered sugar, 1 cube margarine (melted), 1 tsp. vanilla & milk - prepare it RUNNY so that it pours easily over the top of your coffeecake.

Enjoy WARM with a tall glass of milk or orange juice!

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3 egg whites, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt

Center Filling:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 egg white
2 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a nonstick 9x5 inch loaf pan; set aside.

Mix pumpkin, 1 c. granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3 of the egg whites, milk and oil in large bowl.

Add flour, baking powder, pie spice and salt; stir just until moistened. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese, 2 Tbsp sugar and egg white with wire whisk until well blended.

Spoon half of the pumpkin batter into prepared pan; spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over the batter.

Cover with remaining pumpkin batter.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes or until wooden tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife or thin spatula around edges of pan to loosen bread.

Cool in pan on wire rack 10 min.

Remove bread from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Mini Maple Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins (Puffins)

I found these on Bakerella. Love everything she comes up with!



1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
• In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.
Serve immediately with warmed butter if you like or even just with maple syrup.

Cornbread (Boston Market - like!)

I made this on Sunday with Chili. So YUMMY!!


Ingredients:

2 (8 1/2 ounce) boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 (18 ounce) box butter recipe or yellow cake mix

5 eggs

2/3 cup milk

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1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup butter (softened)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°and mix all dry ingredients.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour into greased cupcake pans or mini loaf pans.
4. Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly in the pan (until pulls away from side a bit).
6. Remove from pan and serve warm.

Almond Joy Bread

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

¾ cup canola oil

¼ cup melted unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla1 tsp coconut extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup sweetened coconut

½ cup raw almonds, chopped

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine the first 6 ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat ingredients on medium speed for 2 minutes.In a separate bowl, sift and combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Starting with the flour mixture alternate flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk and flour…in that order. Mix until just combined, like you would if you were making muffins.

Fold in coconut, chocolate chips and almonds.Pour into two loaf pans or 8 mini loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350F for 1 hours(minis take only about 10 minutes less).

Remove from oven and place on rack to dry. While cakes are still warm, poke several holes in the top of the cake with a wooden skewers. Drizzle Coconut Glaze(recipe follows) into the holes.

Finish glazing cake by taking a pastry brush and brushing on remaining glaze(as much or as little as you would like). When cake is completely cool, drizzle chocolate ganache over cake(I used a piping bag).

Coconut Glaze
1 cup sugar

½ cup water

1 TBSP unsalted butter

1 tsp coconut extract

Place ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about a minute. Turn heat off but leave saucepan on burner. Glaze cake as instructed above.

Chocolate Ganache

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup heavy cream

Place chocolate into a bowl.Place cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil.Once cream has boiled pour over chocolate. Let sit for 3 minutes.Stir with whisk until smooth and glossy.

Parmesan Knots

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I just used the Parmesan in the can...not fresh. But I'm sure you could use either.)
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
dash pepper
3 cans (12 oz. each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (I used "original flakey")


In a small bowl, combine oil, cheese, parsley, oregano, garlic powder and pepper; set aside.
Cut each biscuit in half. Roll each portion into a 6" rope; tie in a loose knot. Place on greased baking sheets.
Bake at 450 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown; immediately brush with the Parmesan mixture. Serve warm or freeze for up to 2 months. (NOTE: To use frozen biscuits, bake according to package directions.)


NOTE: I took the biscuits out of the fridge about 30 minutes before I made the rolls so that the dough wasn't so cold. This made the dough more soft and easy to roll into ropes. Also, I made the rolls literally RIGHT when we were almost ready to eat so that they were hot. I would definitely recommend that. They are STILL good when cool, but MOUTH-WATERING when warm. ENJOY!

Easy Crescent Rolls

Easy Crescent Rolls


1 1/4 cups warm water

2 pkg. dry yeast (1 pkg.= 2 1/4 t.)

1/4 cup soft margarine

1 tsp. salt

1 small pkg. Egg custard (in the jello section)

3-4 cups of flour


Dissolve yeast in water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingred. Knead until smooth. Divide into 2 balls. Roll out each ball into a large circle and spread with butter. Cut each into 12 wedges and roll up fat end first. Place on baking sheet. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 minutes or just until golden brown. Brush with butter.

Note: Custard found in the jello aisle...(pictured in Jell-o brand).
(also sometimes hard to find...I had to try a few grocery stores before I found it)