French breakfast Puffs

I was looking for a new recipe to make for the kids for breakfast this week. It is their first week of school and I am trying to send them off with a homemade breakfast (at least for this week!) I needed to find something I could make fast and something everyone would like. Wow! This recipe is just what I was looking for! My kids devoured them and then fought over them after school. They have already requested them again. I love it when I find a winner!

French Breakfast Puffs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

topping

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 tbls. melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin pans. I made 24 mini-muffins, but you could make regular muffins instead.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the egg and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the shortening mixture alternately with the milk.

Spoon the mixture into your muffin pan. I used a large spoon to drop the batter into my new $4 pan from Wal-mart! I LOVE mini muffins! Bake the muffins for approximately 15 minutes, or until they are golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Just watch your oven.

While the muffins are baking, melt the butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. When the muffins are done baking, remove them from the pan and immediately dip them into the butter...

and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. They were so hot & smelled so good!

Serve them warm with a side of scrambled eggs. Delicious. I think I am making them again in the morning.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I saw these bars on a blog last week and immediately knew I needed to try them. I have become addicted to blueberries lately, I put them on everything. I am a big cobbler fan also (what am I not a fan of?) so to combine blueberries and cobbler is YUM!

I have found a new favorite recipe. We ate it warm out of the oven with some vanilla ice cream and it was sooo good. I thought it couldn't get much better until I took a piece out of the fridge the next morning - yes, I ate a piece for breakfast! And it was even better cold! I am not allowed to make any more now. I have no will power.

I got this recipe from the blog yourhomebasedmom. She has lots of great recipes!

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Stir together the first three ingredients. Mix in the salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Pat half of the dough in the pan. It is okay if it is a little crumbly, just press it with your fingers until it looks like this.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Mix in the blueberries. I had some fresh berries but not enough, so I just substituted the remaining amount with frozen blueberries. I didn't even thaw them out! Layer the blueberry mixture over the dough in the pan.

Crumble the remaining dough over the top. It will already look pretty!

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden.

Eat warm with ice cream or wait until it is cool and cut into bars. Just try not to eat them for every meal!

Watermelon and Strawberry Lemonade

I love lemonade in the summer! I found this recipe a while ago and make it every time I have a watermelon. It is really refreshing and my kids love it!

8 cups cubed and seeded watermelon

1 cup strawberries, halved

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

2 cups water

(you may substitute Sprite or 7-up instead of water)

Combine all the ingredients and blend until it is smooth (you may have to do it in 2 batches!) A fun trick I have learned, is to cube the watermelon and freeze it ahead of time. Then you have a tiny bit of a slushy feel - my favorite!!

Enjoy!

My favorite Oatmeal Cookies

I am a HUGE fan of oatmeal cookies. I got it from my dad. We naturally gravitate towards them every time if given a choice. I have been making these cookies since I was a teenager. I remember making multiple trips down to the kitchen (in a day) for handfuls of them at a time. They are really that good.

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups quick oats

1 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

raisins (optional)

Add all the ingredients until the vanilla and mix well. Your cookie dough should be smooth and look like this (without the funny child trying to sneak in the picture!)

Next, add the dry ingredients and mix well. Your dough should be a little thick now.

Use a big spoon to drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. It doesn't need to look perfect, that is the great thing about oatmeal cookies! They actually look better when you can see all the texture.

Bake them for about 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Always watch the first batch really carefully to see how long they should bake in your oven. The trick to making these cookies GREAT is to undercook them just a bit. I like to take them out when they are just barely turning golden. It will seem like they wont be able to stay together, but if you let them cool they harden. This is also the trick to keeping them a little thicker. I like oatmeal cookies when they have a thick, chewy center instead of being thin and crispy. SOO Yummy!!

Panukakku

Yeah, it's a funny name. This recipe is also known as mock waffles & german pancakes. But we call it this because my brother-in-law taught us the Finnish name. We thought it was funny and it has stuck.

My kids LOVE this dish. Honestly, there was a time a while back when I refused to make it anymore because I was so tired of it. They would ask for it everyday - and for every meal. I probably shouldn't complain, it is really easy to make. It takes about 5 minutes to whip it together and 20 to cook. Not bad!

Here is how you make it -

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While you are pre-heating, melt 1/4 cup (I use a little less) of butter in a 9x13 pan.

Beat together -

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

3 Tbls. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

It is okay if it is the batter is lumpy, mine always is! When the butter has melted in the pan, remove it from the oven.

Pour the batter into the pan with the melted butter and bake for 20 minutes.

The best part of this dish is watching the batter rise as it cooks. You should end up with some really high sides - my kids fight over them! We love to eat it with some strawberry freezer jam and powdered sugar, Yum!