Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Hello everybody!! I just realized that I have been posting several recipes involving pumpkin, but it's fall, so why not!! :) I've been doing a lot of autumn baking lately, and I thought I would share this delicious recipe for pumpkin spice muffins. I found it at verybestbaking.com, changed it slightly, and came up with these yummy muffins! Happy Eating! :) 

                 

                            Pumpkin Spice Muffins

                 3 cups whole wheat flour
                 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of pumpkin                    pie spice
                 2 teaspoons baking soda
                 1 teaspoon salt
                 1 cup brown sugar
                 1 cup granulated sugar
                 1 can pumpkin
                 4 eggs
                 1/2 cup vegetable oil
                 1/2 cup orange juice
                 
Preheat the oven to 350*.  Line 30 muffin cups with paper liners, or if you don't have any, you can grease it. 
Combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 
Mix the sugars, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and orange juice together well. 
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix it just until it's moist. (If you mix it too much, it will get rubbery and tough.) 
Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
These are good cooled, or you can eat them warm if you prefer them that way. 

Note from Nutmeg: The recipe calls for canned pumpkin, but you could probably use fresh if you want to. Experiment a little and try it out! :)                                 

Chunky Apple Cider Cake

Hello again!  I recently went apple picking with my mom, brother, and grandma.  We had a few adventures, but ended up with a large box of big, beautiful apples.  I'll tell you some of the adventures, but you all have to promise to not laugh too hard, ok?  

The first adventure was actually more comical, but scared us all a little at first.  My grandma and little brother were walking ahead to see if there were any apple trees that would be easier to pick from.  All the sudden, my mother and I heard my grandma say, "Woah!" We looked up to see my grandma tumble to the ground!  We rushed over and were relieved to see her laughing and trying clumsily to get up.  I asked what happened and she said that she had slipped on the apples that had been falling from the tree!  It was very funny to see her laughing so hard, and we all joined in shortly after.  I will save the other story for after today's recipe, so you will just have to be a little patient.

Chunky Apple Cider Cake

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup apple cider

3 cups sliced or diced apples

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

Heat oven to 350*.  Grease an 8 by 8 baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, combine first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine remaining spices, flour, and powder. Add dry ingredients to apple mixture, stirring just until combined.   The batter will be thick.  Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. (At this point I topped my cake with additional apple slices and a sprinkling of raw sugar).

Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I hope you all enjoy this scrumptious cake as much as I did!   Lastly, I didn't forget about the other story I promised you!  My little brother had had just about enough of the day.  He was getting grouchy and upset, because he couldn't reach to many apples.  As he jumped to get an apple, he missed, and grabbed the leaves.  He accidentally ripped off the leaves instead.  When he decided he would have one more go, the tree decided to take revenge.  When the little guy gathered himself for one more mighty leap, the tree dropped an apple on him.  The poor little man had been looking up.  Vengefully, the tree pegged him right in the face.  Come to think of it, he never did get the apple he wanted.  I hope you all enjoyed these stories! 

Hot Fudge Cake Ice Cream Topping

How can you resist a recipe whose title contains the words fudge, cake, and ice cream?!  I was actually trying to make a variation of cake pops, but this turned out to be a very tasty mistake. This rich chocolate concoction is great heated up for ice cream topping, and tastes just like it sounds - like a warm piece of fudge cake a la mode.  You can't find any ice cream in the freezer?  Grab a big spoon and enjoy a scoop straight out of the fridge!  

Hot Fudge Cake Ice Cream Topping

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 Tbs. butter

2 1/2 cups chocolate cake crumbs

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/8 cup milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Melt chips and butter in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, combine cake crumbs and sugar.  Gently stir milk and vanilla into melted chocolate.  Add chocolate mixture to cake mixture and combine thoroughly.  Store topping in a covered container in the refrigerator.

To use, simply heat up some mixture in the microwave as you would hot fudge topping and pour over ice cream.  It is a little thick, so I usually end up topping my fudge with ice cream   ;)  Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Hello, everyone! This is Nutmeg here, with a recipe that I think you will all enjoy. My dad loves these cookies, and they are very fast and easy to make! If you are trying to figure out a quick recipe for last minute company, or on a day when you don't want to heat the oven up, these are perfect!  I hope you enjoy them! Happy Eating! :)  

                Peanut Butter Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

                                  2 cups sugar
                                  3 tablespoons cocoa powder
                                  1/2 cup butter
                                  1/2 cup milk
                                  3 cups oats
                                  1/2 cup peanut butter
                                  1 tsp. vanilla extract

Put the sugar, cocoa powder, butter, and milk in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it boil for one minute, then remove it from the heat and add the oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix it well.
Quickly drop dough by spoonfuls onto a sheet of waxed paper, and let it cool. Yummy! :) 

Note from Nutmeg: Make sure you bring the mixture to a boil SLOWLY, or it will not set properly! 

                               ~Nutmeg

Farmer's Biscuit

Hi!  Today's article comes with a little background.  This recipe was given to me by my aunt, passed down to her from her family.  The story begins when her family came over on the Mayflower.  They were not nobles, or anything so extravagant, but farmers.  As time continued, and they could hire farmhands, the women needed a good hearty breakfast  to feed the hired help.  Biscuits were simple, and could go with nearly everything, but they needed a hearty biscuit, something to stick in your insides and last you till dinner time.  This biscuit recipe is just that.  It is dense, and very filling.  The biscuit recipe also needed to be easy to remember.  All you need to know for this recipe is how to count.

Farmer's Biscuits

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup lard, butter, or shortening (or as they remembered it, about the size of a hen's egg)

just enough milk (about 1/4 cup, and somehow this translates to "5")

knead 6 times

Directions

Heat the oven to 400*

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.

Add lard, butter, or shortening.  Using your hands, pinch together until completely combined.  Flour should have a sandy texture.

Slowly add milk, making sure dough does not get sticky, but stays slightly flaky, just sticking together.

Knead six times.

Flour countertop, and turn dough out onto the floured surface.  Pat out into an about 1 1/2 round, making sure it is all even.  Cut out into desired size.  (note: When you put all the dough back together when you run out of room to cut out anymore, do NOT roll back together.  Push together from the sides.)

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15 to 20 minutes or until the top edges start to brown, and the bottoms are golden.

These biscuits really were very hearty, and filling!  It is easily understood why my aunt's kin were so fond of the recipe! 

Mysterious Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Hiya everyone!  You are probably wondering why on earth these muffins are mysterious.  Well, I'll tell you.  There is zucchini  in them.  Quit giving me the hairy eyeball!  You really can't tell it's there!  I am guessing you still don't believe me.  Why don't you try it before you knock it!

 Mysterious Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

3 cups peeled,shredded,and drained zucchini

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

2 lemons, zested and juiced

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 cup sugar

2 packets stevia

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

pinch salt

dash nutmeg

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder 

sliced almonds

additional sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*

Mix together all ingredients except for almonds and additional sugar.

Spoon  batter into muffin tins and sprinkle almonds and additional  sugar on top. 

Bake  for 20- 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yumm!  Lemon poppy seed is my favorite!  If anyone has a favorite recipe, you should comment and leave it for us!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Hey everyone! Autumn is very close, and I thought I'd share this really yummy recipe for the perfect autumn cookie! :) I took these to youth group and there were none left, so they must have been good! :) I hope you enjoy it! Happy Eating! :) 

                            Pumpkin Spice Cookies

                          Cookies:              
                                 1 1/2 cups flour 
                                 1 tsp. baking soda
                                 1 tsp. baking powder
                                 1 tsp. cinnamon
                                 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
                                 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
                                 1/4 tsp. salt
                                 1 1/2 cups sugar
                                 1/2 cup butter, softened
                                 1 cup pumpkin
                                 1 egg
                                 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
                          
                         Glaze: 
                                 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
                                 3 tablespoons milk
                                 1 tablespoon melted butter
                                 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350*.
Combine the first seven ingredients in a medium bowl. 
Beat the sugar and butter together until well combined, then add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla. 
Mix well, then gradually beat in the dry ingredients, and mix it well. 
Place by tablespoon on greased baking  sheets and bake for 15-17 minutes. Cool completely before putting the glaze on. 
For the glaze, mix all of the ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over the cookies and enjoy! :) 

Note from Nutmeg: In order to make the glaze look "prettier" I put it in a small plastic sandwich bag and cut a little hole in the corner, then piped it on that way. It makes less of a mess. :)        

                               ~Nutmeg