Streusel Topped Banana Muffins

I love breakfast. It is awesome. Sugary Cereals, Waffles covered in syrup and whipped cream, crepes filled with strawberries and chocolate syrup, pancakes with peanut butter and jelly on them, cinnamon toast and….I could go on and on and on. It is one of my favorite meals of the day. I also like having it for dinner. Yum!

When I was dating Mark I thought I knew pretty much everything about him. Then we got married. And I learned he doesn’t really like BREAKFAST!!! He hardly ever eats anything in the morning…sometimes waiting all the way until 12 to eat anything. Aka Lunch. What? On top of that he especially doesn’t like it for dinner…Double What? I was crushed. “I thought I knew you!” I yelled at him. “I can’t believe you deceived me!” (Okay really I DID NOT yell those things. haha) But I couldn’t believe he didn’t love one of my favorite meals of the day. I have now made it my mission to get him to eat breakfast at least 4/7 days a week. It is hard people but it makes me feel better knowing he is eating in the morning (I literally feel anxious about the fact that he doesn’t) So I try to come up with irresistible things for him to eat. I finally made these:

For the muffins you need:

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Almond Milk
2 Cups Mashed Bananas
1/4 Cup Oil
2 Tbsp Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla

Mix together in bowl. No rhyme or reason required. Just toss it in and mix! Then make this:

Streusel Topping:

1 Cup Oats
1/3 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/8 tsp. Baking Soda
3 Tablespoons Butter

Put muffin batter in cupcake liners or just spray your muffin pan before pouring the batter in. Then sprinkle streusel topping all over the tops of the muffins.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tips from Kj:

Double Streusel topping anyone? I like to make a little extra topping and really smother those babies! The topping is SO GOOD I could eat it plain. (Who am I  kidding? I do. It makes me happy.)

Best served warm with some butter. Yum!

You can also make this into bread. Just put it in a loaf pan, cover with topping and bake at 350 for about 1 hour.

Also in case anyone was wondering. Now that I have a baby boy I plan on having many breakfast for dinner nights with him. Mark can go get fast food or something but we are having waffles!! haha Pin It

Orange Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

I decided to whip up one of my hubby’s favorite treats for Valentines day this year. I figured it couldn’t be too hard. I already love making cinnamon rolls so just add some orange zest and ta da you have orange rolls…right?? Actually yes! Right! (Plus a few other tweaks) Normally I buy these at the store in the little tubes that scare you when you open them. This year with our poor college student “no money for Valentines rule” I had to go homemade. This morning he was headed to the fridge to get his usual bagel and I was getting my baby up for the day…running into the kitchen I probably looked like a crazy person as I pretty much forbade him from opening the fridge. Then I proceeded to get out his surprise breakfast and he seemed pretty excited.
 
Something you should know about these rolls is that if you have a sweet tooth. It will be satisfied. And it might even beg you for more! My hubby doesn’t have too much of a sweet tooth and he said they were very good just very sweet…he ate it all though so that was a good sign that he really did think it was good! If he thinks something is too sweet and it is not good he’ll just leave it there on his plate…for me to finish after I finish mine. Which I always am happy to do! I was drooling wishing I could eat one. I think I’ll freeze one to eat when my baby boy is weaned. Or I’ll just make a whole batch just for me in May :)
These are super easy and yummy just make sure you have a few hours where you will be at home when you make them. They need a little bit more attention than other recipes.

For the ROLL DOUGH you need:

1 Package Yeast
1 Cup Warm Milk
1/4 Cup Hot Water
1/4 Cup Butter
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 egg
1/8 C Orange Juice
1 Tsp Orange Zest
1 Tsp Vanilla
3 1/2-4 Cups Flour

In a small dish dissolve the yeast in the hot water let it sit for about 3 minutes. Meanwhile mix the milk, butter, sugar, salt, and egg together. Add yeast mixture and mix well. Add 3 cups of flour at first and then add more until you have a ball of dough. Lightly flour a flat surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Place ball of dough in a greased dish and cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled or for about an hour. (I normally warm up my oven as  I’m making the dough turn it off and place the dough in there)
While your dough is rising make the filling.

For the FILLING you need:

1/2 C Butter Melted
1 C Sugar
2 Tablespoons Orange Zest
1/8 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Mix Sugar, Zest, Nutmeg, Brown Sugar and set aside.
When the dough has finished rising punch it down divide it in half and roll it out into a long rectangleish shape. Brush the dough with half of the butter:

Sprinkle half of the filling mixture over the top of that:


Now you have to decide if you want large rolls or small rolls. If you want mini rolls start on the long side and roll it into a long tube. Slice the rolls about 1 inches thick and place in a baking dish so there is space between them. If you want big rolls roll it from the short side and cut them the 1 1/2 inches thick and place them in a baking dish big enough that there is space between them. You want them to have room to rise up and get comfy. See Below:

Let rise for another 45 Minutes. I told you you couldn’t leave! These babies need your tender love and care. While you wait you can make the glaze!

For the Cream Cheese GLAZE you need:
2-3 C Powdered Sugar
4 Tablespoons Cream Cheese
4 Tsp Milk
1 Tsp Orange Juice
1 Tsp lemon Juice
Mix starting with 2 Cups powdered sugar and mix adding more until you have a consistency you like. I like thicker glaze so I used more powdered sugar.

Now your rolls have risen. You might be feeling worried. There seems to be a lot of liquid in the pan. Oh no! It is okay. You WANT that! It is buttery orangey goodness. It will leave a yummy “sauce” on the bottom of your roll. It is good. Promise!

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes for the small ones and 20 for the large ones. But watch them closely when the time gets near. You want them to be nice and golden on top.
Then brush your glaze over the top and there you have it!

Tips from Kj:
If you want to make these into cinnamon rolls that will work too! Omit the orange juice and zest from the dough. (You will need a little less flour)

For the filling use the same amount of butter but mix 1 Cup Sugar, 4 Tbsp Brown Sugar, and 2 Tbsp Cinnamon to sprinkle over the top of the butter.

For the glaze just don’t use orange juice or lemon juice. You might need a few extra teaspoons of milk and a little more cream cheese.

I am linking up at: Sugar & Slice :) Come party with me! Pin It

Valentines Treats

The day of love is coming…make treats for your husbands, friends and neighbors! Here are some twists on two of my recipes that make great valentine surprises!
First:

Recipe Link HERE
I just made these with strawberry cake mix and rolled them in sprinkles after filling the middles with cream cheese frosting. If you want to you can cut your cookies into hearts after baking to spread a little more love!
Next:

Recipe link HERE
For these I used Cheesecake pudding this time. Then I dipped some in sprinkles, left some plain, and drizzled chocolate over the others. These are so good with the cheesecake filling. YUM!
What is your favorite Valentines recipe?? I’d love to check some of them out if you leave links in the comments below!
Happy Month of Love. I hope someone spoils you and makes you feel loved!

This post was featured on: Sugar & Slice I feel so loved! Head on over there and visit! Pin It

Best Rice Crispy Treats!

For Easter thisyear we made egg shaped Rice Krispy treats made from peeps instead of normal marshmallows. The result? Cute colorful DELICIOUS rice crispy treats that taste so so so (a million so’s) better than normal ones.

First:
Melt the butter in your pan. (sorry no picture…this is a pretty boring step)

Next: Take Your Peeps and Stick them in A pan…these poor peeps think they are having a pool party but don’t realize they are actually about to be melted… :(

After that….Melt them!! Poor Peeps…finally realize this is not a party…. haha (Try not to mix the colors yet! It is tricky but almost possible)

Next mix in the crispies!

After that stuff them into plastic eggs and then transfer onto a cookie sheet!
This part is fun because your fingers get gooey goodness on them that you have to lick off after :D

TA DA!! :) These are amazing…we pretty much ate them all in one day! (With the help of some friends of course)

Recipe:
3 tablespoons butter
3 Packages of peeps (the ones that have 12 in a pack)
6 cups Rice Krispies

Follow the steps above and you will have it made! :) These are so super easy.

Tips from KJ:

These don’t have to be “Easter” rice crispy treats only. How fun would it be to make these at Christmas, Halloween, Valentines day, Forth of July…and any day they sell peeps for?? :) I think these will be a staple in my dessert recipe book for any time we are feeling like some Krispies!

 

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The Cupookie

One day about 3 years ago I said to my husband (boyfriend at the time) “I am going to make you the YUMMIEST cookie things…” Naturally he wondered what exactly “cookie things” were. I explained to him that I was going to make cookies out of a cake mix and then put frosting in the middle and he was going to be a happy man…I figured that would calm his fears of eating “cookie things” and I could get on to baking. (This was long before Pillsbury started selling their funfetti cookie mixes..these are legit and original-or at least I thought I was being pretty original)

Anyways so like I said I thought I had cleared his worries and I’d be able to bake…but this was NOT the case. He was convinced that my cookies were going to end up being cupcakes. No matter how many times I told him I was making COOKIES he was sure it wouldn’t work. (we hadn’t been dating very long…he did not yet understand my love for baking and cooking or that I was actually pretty good at it) I finally sent him into the other room and proceeded to make this recipe (only not Valentines...I used lemon for his but this is the only picture I currently have):

                  CUPOOKIES
  “Cookies from cake mix with frosting in the middle”

1 package cake mix
2 eggs
¼ cup oil

In a large bowl mix together the cake mix, oil and eggs. Roll into balls depending on the size of cookies you want. I normally do 1 inch balls.
Cook at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. The bottoms of the cookies should be light brown; the cookies might seem like they need a little longer but do not leave them in…it will take away from their goodness.
Immediately put the cookies on a cookie rack and in the refrigerator until cooled (just enough so the frosting won’t melt…you don’t want them too chilly). Immediately pair up the cookies and sandwich them together with frosting-if you wait until later they just won’t be as good. Put in a Tupperware container or zip lock bag and refrigerate. 

For even better results: FREEZE THOSE COOKIES! For real. We are convinced that a frozen and then thawed cupookie tastes 100% better (if that is possible) than their unfrozen friends.


In the end he LOVED THEM! They became one of his favorite treats and he became the envy of his co-workers because he always had these in his lunches. We laughed a lot about how he thought they were going to turn into cupcakes…that is how the name came about because even though they didn’t turn into cupcakes but he started calling them cupookies (cupcake cookies) and the name stuck!
You can Make them for any occasion: Christmas, St. Patty’s, Birthdays, Halloween….or just because you want to eat something delish.

I absolutely love these and they are so fun because you can use whatever kind of cake mix you want, whatever kind of frosting  you want, and whatever kind of mix ins you want! One time I used a chocolate cake mix and we mixed in 3 musketeers bars chopped up…they were so amazingly yummy! (well to me anyways…the hubs does not like chocolate so you can imagine who’s tummy those ended up in) We also have decided that homemade frosting rocks the house with these but if you must use store bought frosting they will still be absolutely delish!

Tips from KJ:

Our favorite cake mixes to use are-Cherry Chip, Funfetti, Spice, Lemon, Strawberry, Carrot….um maybe all of them!

Online you can find a lot of recipes for cake mix cookies…but seriously this one is so simple and it is the BEST! I also use applesauce sometimes instead of the oil if I am feeling particularly healthy that day. :-p
Putting ice cream in the middle of these is a MUST!
Putting frosting on the top layer to make them cute for special occasions is also fun!





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