Banana Nut Muffins

Apparently I'm on a bit of a muffin kick, but these are DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup pecans (you can also use walnuts)

- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar

- 1 tsp. baking powder

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 eggs, lightly beaten

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 3 ripe large bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter the muffins will be), mashed

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Cut butter into small pieces and melt in the microwave (about 30-45 seconds should do it) and then set it aside to cool

- In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts using a fork or a whisk. Set aside.

- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla.

- Using a rubber spatula, fold banana mixture into your flour mixture just until combined. Do not overdo it because then you'll end up with tough muffins.

- Spoon batter evenly into 15 paper-lined muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes.

- Allow to cool on a wire rack.

These muffins are fabulous right out of the oven! Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 233

Total Fat: 13g

Carbs: 28g

Protein: 3.4g

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1 cup milk

- 2 eggs, lightly beaten

- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 cup granulated white sugar

- 1 Tbsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen blueberries can be used)

- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Muffin Batter:

- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

- Cut cold butter into small pieces and blend in using your hands (using a mixer will result in a big mess) The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.

- Remove one cup of the mixture and set aside to use as streusel topping.

- Add milk, beaten eggs, and vanilla to the mixture and blend just until combined (blending for too long will make baked muffins tough)

- Finally, gently fold in blueberries.

Streusel Topping:

- drizzle melted butter over the flour mixture you set aside earlier

- use a fork to mix together (mixture should be crumbly)

- Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners

- Spoon muffin batter into cups evenly

- sprinkle a couple of teaspons of the streusel mixture over each muffin

- bake for 18-22 minutes

- Enjoy!

Nutritional Info:

- Calories 197.7

- Fat 7.2 g

-Carbs 30.1 g

-Protein 3.5 g

Hooty Hoo!

I'm so excited! My sister sent me a fabulous link this evening where you can print out your own OWL CALENDAR!

http://www.myowlbarn.com/p/owl-lover-2011-calendar.html

I can't wait to print mine out!

Pumpkin Cookies

I have had several people ask me for the recipe for the pumpkin cookies, so here it is:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cups QUICK oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup packed pumpkin

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 350

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

3) In a large bowl, use your electric mixer to soften butter. (hint: whenever a recipe calls for softened butter, it's best to use cold butter softened with your mixer instead of softening it in the microwave)

4) Add sugar and brown sugar to the softened butter and beat until light and fluffy.

5) Mix in your egg and vanilla.

6) Alternate beating in dry ingredients and pumpkin

7) Fold in chocolate chips

8) Drop rounded Tablespoons of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes

9) Once cookies have completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting (cream cheese frosting recipe is below if you're feeling especially productive, but Betty Crocker works just fine too!)

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (softened using your mixer)

8 oz cream cheese room temp

3 cups powdered sugar sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Beat the butter and cream cheese together until creamy and smooth

2) Slowly beat in the powdered sugar

3) Beat in the vanilla extract

Enjoy!