Morning Muffins

We've made a new commitment around here to having morning scripture study.  It's been a great experience in many ways and it's unifying our family.  But, our kids (ok, and their parents...) still aren't quite used to getting up at the earlier time in order to read as a family.  Most mornings my four year is rolled up in a blanket snoozing through the verses and my eight year old looks a little glazed over for the first ten minutes.  So, in an effort to help everyone wake up and feel a little more chipper yesterday morning I decided to make morning muffins and have them ready for scripture study.

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law and my husband remembers having them growing up.  My own kids request them for their birthday breakfasts and they are always ALL gone within minutes of coming out of the oven.  But, what's not to love... they are full of fresh granny smith apples and topped with cinnamon sugar which, when baked, becomes a slighty crunchy and cinnamony sweet muffin top.  My baby ate three muffin tops and no muffin bottoms for breakfast because the tops are just plain the best.

They are made from scratch which sound like a project but it's really not much harder than using a premade mix.  So, here they are: MORNING MUFFINS.  They smelled so very good this morning.

Here's what you'll need:

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 to 2 Granny Smith apples

Cinnamon Sugar mixture: 2 T sugar for every 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix egg, milk, and oil.  Stir in all other ingredients at once.

Then shred about one and a half apples with your grater and stir them into the mixture.  Then go ahead and add a spoon full or so of that cinnamon sugar mixture to sweeten it up...however much you like ;)

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and then, the best part, sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.

Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Enjoy the smiles from the messy haired pajama laden children stumbling down the stairs and into the kitchen when they smell that irresistable smell. 

No one looked groggy during scriptures this morning.  There were lots of crumbs and a little talking with their mouths full...but they were all bright eyed and awake...PROGRESS!

Homemade Cupcakes?

I make these cupcakes...and I call them homemade. And every time someone eats them they groan with delight and ask for the recipe.  And I'm honest with them and tell them that I use a cake mix.  But it's a darn good cake mix...premium (it says so on the label).  But the real trick is not just in the cake mix, it's in the homemade icing.  Delicious buttery chocolatey finger licky frosting that takes all of about five minutes to whip up...because that's the kind of homemade I like to do.

And yesterday after lunch my little guy and I were in the mood for something sweet. Yellow cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting made his eyes twinkle so we decided to make them right then and there.  I dumped one full pan of them upside down into the oven when I burned my finger trying to take them out....a tragic loss.  But, we did get a dozen and I felt like sharing them with you.  And since you can't taste them through this screen, I'll tell you how to make them too.

First, you must buy the absolute best yellow cake mix on the market. 

The best, in my opinion, is

Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden

It says right on the box that it's Amrica's favorite...and there is good reason for that.  Everytime I use it someone comments on what good cake it is.

Prepare your cake mix as directed, spoon into cupcake liners.  Use two in each muffin cup and the outer liner will be pretty when your done.

 

Bake your cupcakes.  They will come out plain. boring even, but you'll still want to eat one...hold out.

 

While they are cooling prepare the frosting.  Here's what you need:

 

 and here's the recipe:

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1/3 Cup butter (softened)

1/3 Cup cocoa

2 Cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbl. Milk

Make sure that butter is softened first and then beat all the ingredients together with your mixer until it is creamy and smooth.

 

Then get out your pastry bag.  If you don't have one of these you can just pick one up anywhere that sells Wilton products.  I use this all the time and it's well worth the few dollars. You will also need a tip with a wide opening.  I used a number 199 tip.  You can see the basic shape and anything with a wide round mouth and a similar look should work.

 

Fill your pastry bag with frosting.

 

Roll up the end and grab your cupcake.

You are going to make one long continuous swirl starting on the outside of the cupcake top.

 

Go all the way around the outside and then do a circle inside that, and then inside that, until you have a swirly little mountain of pretty icing and then finish it off with a little spike on top. (if you've never used a pastry bag before it might take a little practice, but not much)

And there you have it.  Homemade (kind of) and completely irresistable.  Look at this thing. 

You want to take a bite right now don't you?  Here, I'll do it for you.

 

Wish I could sit down at the table with all of you and give you a glass of milk and one of these right now. But I feel better knowing that all you need is a good cake mix and five minutes to make homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and you'll have your own. And you will be happy.  Because cupcakes make people happy. Yum.