Oatmeal Craisin Muffins

I must be in the muffin making mode this month, with my last post-Muffin Tin Apple Pie and now with these Oatmeal Craisin Muffins.

I like a good muffin and these are certainly great for breakfast. Oh! who I'm I kidding I like muffins any time of the day or night. The fall weather seems to put me in the right mood for baking, so I decided to try something different. I used Craisins but you could use raisins, chocolate chips, blueberries or any fruit you desire.

I started off by using the basic ingredients from my Quick Cheddar Cheese Muffins with a few changes of course.

Here is what I used to make Oatmeal Craisin Muffins:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup butter (5 tablespoons) softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup of white sugar (Plus a little more to sprinkle on top later)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups Quaker Oats (Quick Oats or Old Fashioned)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray Craisins

Here is how I made my best oatmeal muffins:

In a large mixing bowl, I combined the flour, baking powder, butter, salt, and sugar. Using my KitchenAid Stand Mixer I turned it on low speed using the flat beater bar and let these combine.

In another bowl, I whisked together the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey. Add this to the dry ingredients, and then add the oats, milk, and craisins. Continue on low speed until you have a nice batter as you see in the picture below.

Spoon this batter into greased muffin tins almost to the top. I sprinkled about a teaspoon of sugar on top of each one. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes on the middle rack.

Ready for the oven

Out of the oven

This recipe yielded 18 oatmeal craisin muffins, they are moist inside with a nice firm sugar coating on top. Serve these for breakfast or anytime for a snack, you might even call this oatmeal muffin recipe healthy.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Muffin Tin Apple Pie

The nights are starting to get cooler and perfect for our family campfires. We had our usual fire on Friday night and I had some apple pie filling left over from our Mountain Pies. It wasn't enough to make a whole pie but I didn't want to waste it, so I made these muffin tin apple pies.

I had this idea to make some mini apple pies and decided to use muffin tins. Also, I wanted to use a different pie crust, I follow Connie Murray @Happybellyfoodie.com.

Back in May of this year, Connie posted this recipe, Butter Crust Chicken Pot Pie. Ever since I read this post I've wanted to try her pie crust recipe so here was my opportunity.

When you read Connie's recipe you'll see that she made the crust in a food processor using chilled butter. I used a  KitchenAid stand mixer so I thought it best to have the butter at room temperature.

Other than that I followed her instructions perfectly and what a wonderful crust this makes, you can get this recipe by clicking the above link for her Chicken Pot Pie, and enjoy so many more of her amazing recipes.

Here is how I made these muffin tin apple pies: 

After rolling the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick I used a glass top with a 3 1/2 inch diameter to cut perfect circles.

Norpro Wood Pastry/Pizza Roller

To roll out my dough I use this handy Norpro Pastry/Pizza dough roller. I think this handy tool gives you much more control than using a rolling pin.

I've used one of these for many years and it really makes rolling out your pastry and pizza dough an easy task.

Then I greased a muffin tin and carefully pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides.

I filled these with my apple mixture, oh and by the way I added 1 tablespoon of sugar and sprinkled some cinnamon into the apples while I made the pie crust. Then I cut tops for these using a 2 1/2 inch glass top and pressed them together. Adding a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on top, then cut two slices on the top of each one as a vent.

These baked at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until the crust was golden brown. They came out of the muffin tins very easily and cooled on a wire rack.

Connie's pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky and melts in your mouth, Thank You, Connie.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Buttery Garlic Rolls

Easy Garlic Rolls

Today in Western New York the temperature was 85 degrees with high humidity, but that didn't stop me from turning on the oven to make these easy garlic rolls.

My grandmother made something similar to this every time she made pizza she would make these wonderful garlic knots. I decided to change it up a bit and make it simple, just butter, garlic, and some parmesan cheese.

Here is what I used for the dough:

1 cup lukewarm water plus 2 tablespoons
1 package dry yeast
1-1/2 tablespoon butter (softened)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour

I decided to use butter for this dough instead of oil or shortening, so I didn't add any salt. I added the water, yeast, butter, and sugar in my KitchenAid mixing bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes to let the yeast begin to bubble.

Then added the flour and turned the mixer on low speed. I started out with just one cup of water but the dough wasn't coming together so I added two more tablespoons of water. Then finished mixing the dough by hand on a floured surface,

I covered the dough and let it rise for a little over an hour

 Now I have to tell you this funny story that my cousin told me a couple of weeks ago.

 My mother was baking a cake and she called my aunt and said: "Christy do you have any minus" my aunt replied: "Helen what are you talking about" my mother said: "this recipe calls for 2 cups of water minus 2 tablespoons, and I don't have any minus" Oh! you had to know my mother and aunt, I just couldn't stop laughing.

Okay back to the garlic rolls, Here is what I used for the rolls:

4 cloves fresh garlic chopped fine
3 tablespoons butter melted
Garlic Powder
Parmesan Cheese

I spread the dough on 11x17 greased cookie sheet, brushed the butter on top, spread the garlic, and then sprinkled some garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

I rolled this into a log and cut 1/2 inch pieces

I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, brushed some more butter on top and sprinkled some more Parmesan cheese. Bake these for 15 minutes until golden brown.

They came out nice and crispy with a buttery flavor and garlic in every bite. These make a great addition to your favorite pasta or just as a snack dipped in marinara sauce.

These are a perfect fit for garlic bread dinner rolls

As always thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy!!

Pillsbury Best All Purpose Flour, 5 lb.Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast, 3 pk, 0.75 oz PacketDomino Sugar, Granulated, 4LB CanisterChef'n GarlicZoom Garlic Chopper (X-Large)