EASY ENGLISH MUFFINS

I have always loved English muffins; I love all of the nooks and crannies that hold creamy butter and jam or a dab of melting peanut butter. They are very easy to make and they make wonderful breakfast sandwiches (they freeze well too!!).
2 packets dry active yeast (I use 2 tablespoons)
½ cup warm water
½ cup warm milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons honey
2 cups all purpose flour
1 whole wheat flour
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the flours, salt and raisins together and set aside. Whisk the egg into the cold milk and then add the water, oil  and honey. Warm this mixture in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off (bring it to the same temperature you would for a babies bottle). Stir in yeast and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Pour this mixture into a stand mixer (can be done by hand also) and add the dry ingredients. Knead this dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for an hour. Dough should double in size.

Turn dough out onto counter (I do not flour the counter) and roll to ½” thickness. Cut muffins with a 4” cutter (or drinking glass). Place each muffin on a square of wax paper to rise. This will help you transfer the muffins to the frying pan. Let the muffins raise for an hour before you cook them.

The muffins are cooked on a DRY electric frying pan (no grease) or a cast iron skillet. The recipe does not say specifically what temperature to cook them at, it just says medium low for 7 minutes each side. I have found that they cook nicely at 300° on my electric griddle. Serve warm right from the frying pan or  cool on a wire rack and then slice in half and toast.
NOTE: Since everyone’s frying pan and stove temperatures are different, I suggest you try a single muffin and see how quickly it browns before you cook the whole batch.
NOTE: Hold onto the edges of the wax paper square as you gently lift the raw muffin from the counter. Turn the muffin over and gently peel of the wax paper and gently lay the raw muffin on the griddle.

NOTE: Do not grease the frying pan, they will NOT stick. If you are worried about it, or if you don't have a good non-stick pan, you can use a light sprinkle of corn meal on the cooking surface.

PECAN PIE BARS

Picky-picky Hubby says these pecan pie bars are totally addictive. They have a buttery shortbread crust and a nutty (and slightly gooey) baked topping with a great pecan pie taste.

I have to admit that my budget doesn't allow pecans right now (they are almost $10 for a 2 cup bag!!), so I use walnuts, but they are ever so tasty just the same!! I am planning on adding these to my Christmas cookie trays (I'll splurge on pecans for Christmas though).

CRUST
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter (room temperature)

Mix the above crust ingredients and press into a 9" x 13" baking dish (see note below about greasing pan). This mixture will seem crumbly, but don't worry about that. Just pat it evenly into the pan.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for 20 minutes. While the crust is baking, mix up the topping:

TOPPING
3 eggs well beaten
1 cup light corn syrup (like Karo syrup)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 + 2/3 cup chopped pecans (toasted a little)

Mix well and pour over partially baked crust, making sure the nuts are evenly spread. Return to the 350 degree oven and bake for 25 more minutes.

Cool completely in pan before cutting.

NOTE:  The pecan pie bar crust does not stick to the pan, but around the edges of the topping, it does tend to stick. To combat that, I lined my 9" x 13" glass dish with foil. I didn't grease the bottom, but I greased the sides of the foil a little (the new Reynolds Easy Release foil would be good for this). 

Also, let the foil ends hand over the edges of the baking dish a little bit so you can grab the foil "tails" and lift the baked (and cooled) bars out of the pan for easier cutting.

When the bars are completely cool, just lift the whole thing out of the pan and onto a cutting board.They are rich, so cut the bars small.

APPLE CRISP FOR TWO

Click on photo

I call this apple crisp for two, although I guess that is a bit of a misnomer. It actually makes 3 large desserts (like the above photo), so in my warped sense of proportions, it is apple crisp for two (and a little more for later) haha.  This can easily be doubled (just bake it a little longer).

I love a good fruit crisp. I like the topping slightly crunchy (but not HARD crunchy) and I like it to have lots of gooey filling. This is one of the best crisps we've tried in years.

2 large Granny Smith apples (see note)
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Toss with the above ingredients and place in a greased baking dish (I use a 9" x 5" loaf pan). Sprinkle two tablespoons of water over the filling. NOTE: Don't mix the water into the above mixture, just sprinkle it evenly OVER the filling; trust me it works perfectly and makes the BEST sauce.

For the topping, mix
¼ cup quick oats
¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons melted butter

Use a spoon and mix the topping ingredients until everything seems coated with butter. Evenly sprinkle it over the fruit filling. Bake in pre-heated 350 oven for 30-35 minutes or until apples are tender.  Let cool 15 minutes before serving (if you can wait that long).

NOTE: Make sure you use a good baking apple like Granny Smith. Regular eating apples don't work well in this kind of recipe (they get mushy).

NOTE: If you want to make dessert for 6, just double the recipe and cook for 45 minutes in an 8" x 8" pan.

WEEKEND BREAKFAST PIZZA

I don't buy refrigerator ("whomp tube") biscuits very often, but I DO buy them for this recipe. My family absolutely loves this quick and easy breakfast. As a matter of fact, the first time I made this, I was told "this is gold!!"  Even Picky-picky Hubby gave double thumbs up which is rare!!

 

This weekend treat can easily be "tweaked" to suit your family. Here are the basic ingredients:

8 ounce Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
1 pound (total) cooked breakfast meat (see  note)
1½ cups frozen shredded hash browns (thawed)
1½ cups shredded cheddar
4 eggs  (don't be tempted to add more)
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Open the refrigerator rolls and press into an ungreased 12" pizza pan, pinching all of the seams shut. Important: make sure you press some of the dough up onto the sides of the pan to create a "lip". DO NOT PRE-BAKE THE CRUST.

Cook (and completely drain) one pound of your favorite breakfast meat (NOTE: I used equal parts of crisp bacon, breakfast sausage and finely diced ham...but ANY combo will work well. Just make sure the total weight is about a pound).

Sprinkle the cooked breakfast meat, evenly, over the unbaked crescent dough. Next, evenly sprinkle the thawed hash browns and cheddar cheese over the cooked meat.

In small bowl, whisk the 4 eggs, black pepper and milk together. Drizzle evenly over everything.  NOTE: Don't be tempted to add more eggs. It is going to SEEM like it isn't enough, but trust me...it is perfect.

 

Lastly, sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over all.  Bake in a 375 pre-heated oven for 30 minutes (my oven took 28 minutes). Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before you cut it.

 

Sauteed mushrooms, peppers, etc. would be wonderful in this breakfast pizza. Just add them the same time as the thawed hash browns. You might have to add a couple extra minutes to the total baking time if you add a LOT of extra veggies.

NOTE: You can also use one of those small boxes of JIFFY pizza crust mix instead of the crescent roll dough.

NOTE: If you use frozen hash browns, make sure they are thawed before using in this recipe.

STRAWBERRY FROSTING

This quick and easy strawberry frosting is just delightful. I used fresh strawberries, but I see no reason why frozen (thawed) strawberries wouldn't work.  It has a light, fresh, fruity flavor and was a big hit at my house.

1 cup UNSALTED butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar (see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt
5 tablespoons strawberry puree (see note)

Whip the butter, with electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Add the strawberry puree (I just pureed fresh strawberries in my food processor), vanilla and salt. Beat till smooth.

NOTE: The liquid of the strawberries will vary for everyone. If your frosting seems too soft, just add extra powdered sugar (a little at a time) until you get the consistency you want.  If you are going to use this for piping trim, you'll have to add at least another cup to a cup and a half of powdered sugar.
NOTE: This recipe will easily frost 2½ dozen cupcakes if you are just frosting them with a knife.

CLASSIC BUTTER CAKE

A few days ago, my cooking buddy Katy, at Food For a Hungry Soul, posted a great classic cake recipe. It immediately caught my eye, not only because it looked so moist and delicious, but it looked quick, easy and used all standard pantry ingredients (my idea of a great recipe).

The recipe is all I hoped it would be. We had company for the weekend and the cake was a big hit. As a matter of fact, it was gone in about a day and a half (and it makes a nice big cake!!).  I hope you try it, it is delicious, thank you Katy!!

OLD FASHIONED BUTTER CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 2)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour two 8" x 2" baking pans and set aside. (see note)

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, milk, and vanilla. Beat on high speed of an electric mixer for 2 minutes (scrape down the sides of the bowl once in a while). Add the eggs and beat two more minutes.

Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally between the pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven.

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Katy frosted her butter cake with a delicious looking chocolate frosting, which I planned on repeating until I discovered I didn’t have enough powdered sugar, so I opted for a cooked frosting that uses granulated sugar, you can find my recipe here.

NOTE: The first time, I made this cake, I made the mistake of not measuring  the depth of my 8” cake pans. Katy’s directions said 8” x 2” and I found out (all too late) that my pans were 8” by 1½”. The cake baked beautifully, but got so tall that it came over the top and flowed over the edges (and down the sides) of the pan (thank goodness I had them on a cookie sheet!!) The next time I made the cake, I used a 9” x 2” pan and it worked beautifully (baked in 30 minutes).

RASBERRY SHORTBREAD BARS

Everyone loves these raspberry bars, they have an ultra-buttery shortbread crust topped with cooked raspberries and a streusel topping.They are very sweet, buttery, tender AND they cut nicely...perfect for gift giving (these will definitely be in my cookie gift boxes this Christmas). Yes, you heard me correctly...it is never too early to start planning your holiday baking!!.

Raspberries grow well in Alaska, so if you are lucky enough to have some in the freezer, this is a wonderful recipe for them; I'm not so lucky, so I used a 12 ounce bag of frozen raspberries.

Put the berries (no need to thaw) in a heavy saucepan with ¼ cup of water and one cup of white sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium high and simmer the berries until they thick (I turned mine down to a medium low heat and simmered them for about 15 minutes). Set aside to cool (they will thicken even more as they cool).

SHORTBREAD CRUST

21 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled to room temp.

This seems like a lot of butter, but it makes an upper and lower crust

¾ cup of white sugar

2 large egg yolks

3 cups + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour

No need to use an electric mixer, I did it all with a wooden spoon. Mix the sugar into the melted butter and whisk in the egg yolks. Stir in the flour to make a very stiff dough. Remove two cups of this dough and pat evenly into a foil lined 9 x 13 pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or put in freezer for 7 minutes). Set the rest of the dough aside.

Bake the 9 x 13 chilled pan of dough, on the middle rack of your oven, for 20 minutes at 325.

After 20 minutes, the dough will still be very pale in color and will not have any golden color on the edges. Remove it from the oven and spread the cooled raspberry filling evenly over it.

To the reserved shortbread dough that you set aside, add ¼ cup of granulated sugar and use a fork to break up the dough into crumbs (I use my pastry cutter).

Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the raspberry layer. Bake on the TOP rack of a 350 oven for 25 minutes (mine took 32 minutes). Watch the crumbles towards the end of the baking time so they don't get dark. 

Cool baked bars on a wire rack for at least an hour or until completely firm. You can speed set them in the fridge. When the bottom of the pan is completely cool, lift the bars out of the pan by pulling on the flap ends of the foil. Cut into 2" bars. These will keep at room temperature for a week.

 NOTE: The butter measurement of 21 tablespoons is not a typing error

NOTE: Line  your 9" x 13" baking pan with foil and leave the ends of the foil a little long, so you can use them as handles to lift the cooled bars out of the pan. You don't have to grease the bottom of the pan because there's so much butter in the shortbread, but DO spray the sides of the pan/foil with cooking spray so the jam doesn't stick to the sides.

NOTE: Pay attention to baking temperatures. The first crust pre-bake is on the middle rack at 325. The final bake is on the TOP rack at 350. The recipe says it is baked on the top rack so that the bottom of the crust doesn't get too dark.

NOTE: If you want to take a shortcut, I am fairly certain you can just use raspberry jam instead of cooking the berries. I have not tried it this way, but I don't know why it wouldn't work (although I'm fairly certain that the cooked berries taste "brighter".