Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I made this coffee cake last night for my women's group and I was quite pleased with the results. The cake is moist, not too sweet and filled with nutritious ingredients. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

Topping
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter
2/3 cup old fashioned oats

Cake
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

• In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.Stir in oats and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
• Add yogurt, pumpkin and vanilla and mix well.
• Conbine dry ingredients and stir into wet mixture.
• Place in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish
• Sprinkle with topping
• Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean

Holiday Treats

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner! So now is a great time to start planning for parties, special dinners, drop-ins, and gift giving! I have put together some of my most popular treats for this season and each one is packaged for gift giving. Or better yet, if you just want to take it home and indulge yourself, I say go ahead, you deserve it! All cookies and treats are made-to-order using only the freshest ingredients. Choose a full size order or pair a cookie bag with one of the hot drink mixes for a unique gift . . . think teacher, special neighbor, co-worker, oh you get the idea. Check out the selections and prices below, and remember, orders need to be placed at least 3 days in advance of expected pick-up date.

Cookies

Large Cookie Tubs $18 (2 dozen cookies) or Cookie Bags $5 (1/2 dozen)
~White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies (filled with white chocolate morsels, cranberries & oatmeal)
~Butter Cookies with Icy Blue Buttercream Frosting (melt in your mouth elegance)
Sweet Treats
~Cookie Dough Truffles $4 (1 dozen) chocolate chip cookie dough covered in chocolate (no eggs)
~Meringue Mints $12 (4 dozen) meringue cookies with Andes Mint pieces
~Cinnamon Glazed Pecans $12 (12 oz. tub) cinnamon spiced pecan halves
Decadent Cheesecakes
$30 (serves 12-16)
~Chocolate Chip Cappuccino (coffee flavored cheesecake with chocolate morsels)
~White Chocolate Raspberry (white chocolate cheesecake marbled with raspberry filling)
Cakes
$25 (serves 12-15)
~Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
~Coconut Cake
Hot Drink Mixes
$4 each (approximately 16 servings)
~French Vanilla Coffee
~Mocha Espresso Coffee
~Hot Chocolate

Email me with questions or to place an order at raredding@hotmail.com
Blessings and Happy Holidays to All!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

There is a hint of fall in the air and that has me super excited for cooler weather, warmer clothes and PUMPKIN! So last evening, I went into the kitchen to see what I could come up with and these muffins were the result of my experiment. I was quite pleased with the results, but try them yourself and see what you think . . .

INGREDIENTS:
1 stick butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ~ 6 oz. container of plain Greek yogurt
1 ~ 15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup buttermilk

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup plain white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger

FILLING:
1 8 oz package cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add Greek yogurt and pumpkin and stir well.

In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar together. Add vanilla and stir well.

Add half of the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture and STIR well (do not use beaters). Stir in buttermilk. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups, either lined with paper or sprayed with cooking spray. Using a small spoon, make a well in the batter of each muffin. Spoon cream cheese mixture into center of each muffin. I used an ice teaspoon and had a little of the cream cheese mixture left over. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and place muffins in center of oven for 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter Protein Bars

These are my favorite on the go snacks! Now that the fall semester is back in full swing, this is my snack of choice right before heading into class when I need to be concentrating on what the professor is saying rather than an empty stomach. They are packed with healthy oats, milk powder and really, who doesn't love chocolate? Here's how to make your own . . .

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dry milk powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate morsels
3 tablespoons peanut butter (I like to use crunchy)
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. Place peanut butter in a microwave safe dish and micro for about 30 seconds. Mix peanut butter in with dry ingredients. Beat egg whites until foamy and add vanilla. Stir egg white mixture into dry ingredients and mix until all ingredients are moistened. Spray a 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray and spread ingredients into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Place pan on wire rack to cool, then cut into bars. Makes 12 bars.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I think these are my new favorite muffins, although I am sure I will feel that way about any new tasty recipe!  The combination of orange and cranberry is super delicious ~ just try them, I think you will agree! This is a double recipe that makes 24 muffins, but you can easily cut it in half for just 12. Happy baking!

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 (12 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)
4 eggs
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup milled flax seed
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 (6 ounce) package dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and orange juice and beat well.
• In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  Add half of dry ingredients to egg and butter mixture and stir with a spoon (DO NOT use beaters).
• Stir in buttermilk, remaining dry ingredients and dried cranberries.
• Divide batter into 24 muffin cups, either lined with paper cups or sprayed to prevent sticking.
• Sprinkle the top of each muffin with sugar.
• Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake muffins for 18-22 minutes.

 Serve warm or place in freezer to be enjoyed later!

Tractor Cake

Got an order for a Tractor Cake and I was a little perplexed about how I was going to pull off the tractor part.  This was for a baby shower and the invites featured a silouhette of a tractor.  How hard can this be I thought ~ well, to my frustration, it was pretty stinkin' hard!  My first attempt resembled something my 15 month old granddaughter might do. I was not impressed and I knew my customer wouldn't be either.  I dashed off to Wally World to find a toy tractor to put on the cake.  I knew in shopping for my grandson a few months ago there had been LOTS of John Deere Tractors available in all sorts of sizes in the toy department.  Evidently, that was then, and this was now, because there was not one toy tractor of any kind on the shelves!!!   Later that night, I visited Tarjay and found a CAT.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it would have to do because I was so outta time! I think the results were pretty good and my customer seemed pleased.  Besides as this little boy gets a little older he will have a fun toy that makes really cool sounds.  This was a vanilla cake with raspberry filling, buttercream and chocolate icing.  YUM, YUM!

Lemon Ricotta Muffins

 I thought it would be fun to start sharing some of my favorite recipes and since I am all about muffins these days, I thought this would be a great place to start.  I found this recipe on line and tweaked it a little and these are my results!

Anything that starts with creamed butter and sugar has got to be good . . . right?

 And the juice of a lemon for a nice little zing . . . kinda cuts the sweet taste!

Now I don't have one of those fancy "zesters," but somehow I make this work.

We are getting there with most of the "wet" ingredients.

Here is my assortment of "dry" ingredients.

Ahhhh, the wet and the dry ~ now to put them together.

This is important, use a spoon when you mix the wet and dry together. You don't want to overwork the batter.

Don't worry about "overfilling" the muffin cups.

Cooked to perfection!

How's this for a breakfast or snack?

And while I was working, I heard the sounds of my grandchildren playing.

What wonderfully vivid imaginations they have!

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Ricotta Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups whole wheat flour

½ cup all purpose white flour

¼ cup milled flax seed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Juice of one whole lemon

½ teaspoon almond extract

¾ cup buttermilk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375°.  Place whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flax seed in a bowl.  Mix together and set aside.

Place softened butter and sugar in a bowl.  Beat with electric mixer until fluffy.  Add lemon zest and ricotta cheese and mix well.  Next add eggs, lemon juice, and almond extract and continue to beat well.

Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir well.  Add buttermilk and stir until all ingredients are moistened.

Prepare muffin pan with either paper liners or spray.  Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups.  Sprinkle tops of muffins with broken sliced almonds and white sugar.  Turn temperature down to 350° and place muffins in center of oven.  Bake for 18 to 22 minutes.  Place cooked muffins onto cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.  These freeze well and can be placed in the microwave oven for 30 to 50 seconds on high for a fresh out of the oven taste.