Donut Muffins

Donut Muffins

Recipe from Hillbilly Housewife

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 medium egg
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar, mixed with: 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted margarine

In a mixing bowl mash together the shortening and sugar. Add the egg and whisk it all up until it is smooth. Make sure you use shortening, Not Margarine. The shortening gives this recipe it's special texture. Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg into the bowl. Pour in the milk. Mix the batter with a whisk until it is smooth. Drop the mixture into 12 oiled muffin cups. Make sure not to over fill the muffin cups, 1/2 to 2/3 full is full enough. Bake the muffins at 350° for 25 minutes, or until the muffins are brown on top. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool slightly. Take the muffins out of the pan. When they are cool enough to handle, dip the tops of the muffins into the melted margarine. Then dip them into the powdered sugar/cinnamon mixture. Arrange the prepared muffins on a large plate and serve while still warm. Makes a dozen. Very good for breakfast and after school or midnight snacks.

This recipe is very very old, at least 80 years old. It was created by a cook with leftover donut batter who didn't have time to deep fry them. She added a little milk to make the batter thinner, and cooked it in muffin cups instead of deep frying it. The nutmeg is the secret ingredients which gives these muffins their special old fashioned donut flavor. Necessity is the mother of invention, and bless the cook who invented these. My family is grateful.

These were very easy to make and would be good using jam instead of a powdered sugar top.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Black Bottom Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup sugar, oil and water until blended. Stir in the vinegar and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture until incorporated. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 1/3 full with chocolate batter, then top with a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Bake cupcakes in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until done.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes & Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Recipe originally found here

These were fun to make but way way too sweet for my liking. I think next time I make them I'll leave off the glaze and just use the buttercream frosting or maybe just use a teeny bit of the glaze.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients

1 cup root beer schnapps
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned style root beer (like A&W or Dads)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Root Beer Glaze

4 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup root beer
3 Tbs. root beer schnapps*
3 Tbs. vegetable oil

*for a more kid friendly version, replace schnapps with more root beer

You will also need some extra root beer schnapps (1 Tbs. per cupcake)
Or for the kiddies use root beer (again 1 Tbs. per cupcake)
You will also need some basic Vanilla buttercream ( there are many recipes online to try J)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a bowl, mix together root beer schnapps, root beer, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, mix until smooth
5. Sift in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
6. Mix with hand mixer on low, while slowly pouring in root beer mixture.
7. Mix until smooth and lump free.
8. Pour into lined cupcake pan. (Use foil cupcake liners to avoid "leakage" later.) Fill nearly to the top, you may think its over-filled, but it puffs up perfectly this way. Don't be tempted to use more than 24 cupcake cups... trust me. Smiling
9. Bake for 15- 20 minutes, until golden brown and cake springs back when touched.
10. While cupcakes are baking, prepare your butter cream and root beer glaze. For glaze, put all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wisk until smooth and lump free.
11. To assemble, start by letting cupcakes cool, still in the pan.
12. While still slightly warm, pour 1 Tbs. of root beer schnapps over each cupcake. Pour on slowly to allow schnapps ( or regular root beer for the kiddies) to soak in.
13. Once the schnapps has soaked in and let sit for a few minutes, pour a couple tablespoons of glaze over each cupcake.
14. When the glaze sets up a bit and isn't too runny, put a "scoop" of buttercream atop each. For an added touch, you can even place a root beer barrel candy on each one.

Makes 2 dozen cupcakes

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup water
* 6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
* 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a heavy saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil; cook over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Add a small amount of hot mixture to egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Cook 2 minutes longer or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature.
2. In a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, cream butter until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in cooked sugar mixture. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. If necessary, refrigerate until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Store in the refrigerator.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Michelle over at Big Black Dogs tweeted about this recipe the other day and I had to try it. I am so glad I did! They were wonderful! I snuck some into the hospital for my Dad and for my Mom. Dad couldnt have one but Mom did and she said it was really good too. The Hermit liked them. They got YAYs all around! The only thing I might do different is put in more strawberries. I was worried I would put in too many and it would be mushy so I didnt put in enough or my dice was too small. Y'all be sure to check out Big Black Dogs blog because she has lots of VERY yummy recipes (and you can see just how pretty these cupcakes are!)!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Recipe developed by Big-Black-Dog

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp Instant Pink Lemonade Mix
4 large strawberries, carefully diced

Makes 9-10 regular sized cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 10 muffin cups with baking cups and set aside.

Cream butter, sugar and lemonade mix until fluffy. Add vanilla, soda, salt and eggs yolks. Mix in buttermilk and gradually add flour.

Clean berries and remove the stem. With a very sharp knife slice the berries and then dice into 1/4" pieces careful to not crush the berries. If the berries are crushed and then added to the cupcakes, there will be too much moisture and your cupcakes will not bake properly.

Fill each baking cup with about a TBL of batter. Then sprinkle in each cup 5-6 pieces of fresh strawberry. Then add more batter per cup filling each to about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until a test straw can be cleanly removed.


Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe adapted from Sprinkle's Cupcakes

8 ounces cold cream cheese
1 stick butter, firm but not cold
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine butter, salt, and cream cheese in mixer and beat on medium speed 2-3 minutes. Add sugar until just incorporated. Don’t over mix. It should be thick but not fluffy. Add vanilla.

Banana Coconut Muffins

I have been out trolling all the delicious food blogs again. Seriously there are some absolutely fantastic blogs out there! This recipe is one I snagged from A Cookie A Day.... I always seem to end up with 1 or 2 bananas that are just well too ripe before I can eat them. Usually I just toss them or make banana bread but I really wanted to do something with these (other then banana bread!) and when I stumbled across this recipe I thought it was perfect!

Banana Coconut Muffins



1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 (3/4 cup) very ripe bananas, mashed
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Special equipment: a muffin tin with 8 (1/2-cup) muffin cups; paper liners (I used mini muffin tins to help lower the calorie content and make cute little snacks for my co-workers.)


1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin cups with liners.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.

3. Divide batter among lined muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 25 minutes (I cooked the minis for 12 minutes). Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly.

Nutritional Info (calculated for mini muffins not fullsized):
Calories: 53
Fat: 2g
Sod: 26g
Carb: 8g
Prot: 1g

Cheese Cupcakes

mMm. Easy and nummy. My two favorite things. These took about 15 minutes (not counting bake time) to make. I only made 12 and sent most of the home with my Mom and Dad because I knew if I didnt I'd end up eating them all!



Little cupcakes that are actually little mini cheesecakes! mMm!

Cheese Cupcakes

Found via "Just Plains' Cooking"

2 (8 oz pkgs) cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
Cherry Pie Filling (get a small can or have plans for the rest because you wont use much)
2 T Lemon Juice
1 t vanilla extract
18 Vanilla Wafers

1. Place 1 vanilla water in bottom of 18 cupcake liners in cupcake pan.

2. Cream cheese, eggs, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.

3. Pour into liners on top of vanilla wafers, filling about 1/2 liner.

4. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

5. Cupcakes will rise while cooking and then make a well when taken out of oven and cooling.

6. Top each with spoonful of pie filling.

(I do think that next time I make these I will spray my muffin cup lines (I normally use the foil liners) with nonstick spray. They were a pain in the tush to get out of the liner!)



These would be great for a fast dessert to bring to a party on short notice.

On another note, my friend Dawn has turned me on to a very cool product called Photo Studio in a Box. This looks *very* cool and I added it to my wishlist in hopes that Santa will bring it for Christmas. Then maybe I can post pictures that dont look quite so amateurish! If you take pics for a food blog check out the link and you might want to get it for yourself!