12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Week 1–Apple Cinnamon Scones

Welcome to week 1 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I’m so excited to participate in this blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. I’ve wanted to do one of these events for a few years now but have always chickened out. This year I heard a few people on my cooking board mention this event and thought it sounded like so much fun so I got brave and signed up. I’m so excited to see what all the other bloggers make these next 12 weeks. Heck, I’m excited to see what I make since I haven’t finalized all my ideas yet!

So, let’s get started! Originally I figured I’d start with a cookie of some sort, but I had this bag of applies sitting on the counter just begging to be turned into some sort of yummy item. Then I started seeing a bunch of scones pop up on Pinterest and my mind started to think – apples….scones…apple scones? A little searching let me know that apple cinnamon scones are pretty popular (I’ve never had one before!) and the idea sounded great. But how does this tie in with Christmas Treats?
That part was actually pretty easy to figure out. Every year on Christmas we gather with my family to open presents and then eat lunch. There’s never any actual breakfast foods present so during the course of the morning we all end up wandering over to the table or counter where all the cookies and candies are and grabbing a snickerdoodle here, a peanut cluster there until we’re all full of sugar and ready to open more presents. So I figure a scone will be a perfect thing to put in amongst all the cookies. It is a breakfast food (less guilt!) and very tasty (more appealing!) plus it is easy to pick up and eat with one hand so you can check out your new toy with the other. These will definitely be nice to pull out of the freezer and have ready for Christmas morning.

  Apple Cinnamon Scones
From: Simply Scratch

Apple Cinnamon Scones

Yield: 8 scones

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour, plus some for dusting 1/4 Cup Sugar 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg, (fresh grated is awesome if you can find nutmeg – I can’t!) 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 1/2 Teaspoon Salt 1 Stick {or 8 tablespoons} Unsalted Butter – chilled 2 Apples (I used Jonathan but golden delicious or honeycrisp were recommended and would be great), peel and shred – I had smaller apples so shred a packed 1 Cup 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Milk, plus more for brushing – Whole is recommended but I used 2% because that’s what I had 1 Tablespoon Sugar, for sprinkling Steps: Preheat oven to 425 and line a cookie or sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Mix all the ingredients up to and including the salt. Then cut your very cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter (or your fingers) blend the butter and flour mixture until it makes small crumbles. Add the apple and mix together. Slowly add the milk, adding in a small amount at a time while you stir until it forms a nice dough consistency. On a floured work surface knead the dough 8 to 10 times and then form into a rectangle. Cut into 8 wedge shapes (I used my pizza wheel and it worked great) and move to the pan using a spatula. Brush each wedge with a small amount of milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until you see that the edges are golden brown. I baked mine in 2 batches of 4 so as not to crowd my pan. Serve warm or microwave for just a few second to warm up.

Happy Birthday Julia!

Today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. I’m a huge Julia fan. She’s always been an inspiration in the kitchen and in general. I read My Life In France and I think she was such a great person. And the French Chef was such a cool little show. I really wish I could see her kitchen – can you imagine being someplace where all that magic happened?

I’m not the only one celebrating Julia’s birthday. Google has a great tribute to her on their homepage.

Also, PBS has been releasing these great remix videos and they recently released one of Julia. I love this so much.

 

Anyone planning to make anything in honor of Julia?

Gooey Butter Cake

 

This is a cake I’ve been making for years now. It is really simple and easy to throw together. It was one of the first things I started making when I started finding recipes online. In fact it is so old that I printed it out back in the day before I knew to write down the source.

I’ve searched all over and it seems that most people attribute this to Paula Deen, so that’s who I’ll link to but know that this recipe can be found all over.

This cake is very sweet and a small piece is really all you need. But it is a great cake and a big crowd pleaser. You can dust the top with powdered sugar but I think this would be great with a serving of berries or even some peaches. I think this cake is even better the second day so you may want to make it a day ahead. But definitely give it a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Gooey Butter Cake

Crust:

1 – 18 1/4 Ounce Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Egg

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

Filling:

1 – 8 Ounce Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

1 – 16 Ounce Box Powdered Sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Mix the cake mix, egg, and butter and pat into the bottom of the pan.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add the butter, vanilla, and eggs until well combined.Then add the powdered sugar until totally mixed. Spread this mixture over the cake mix layer.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. It will still be a little gooey so don’t be scared!

Let cool before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Creamy Taco Mac

Sorry for being absent for so long – we’ve been on mandatory overtime at work so far this year and I’ve barely even had time to make us dinner let alone blog about it. Work should be calming down now so I hope to get back in the kitchen and back here.

This recipe is the perfect thing for a chilly winter night. It is easy to throw together, very filling, and very comforting. I will definitely be making this again.

Creamy Taco Mac

As seen on Lemons & Love Originally from delish

12 Ounces small pasta
1 1/4 Pounds ground meat (hamburger or turkey work)
1 Can tomato sauce
1 Can diced tomatoes
8 Ounces cream cheese
¼ Cup taco seasoning
Topping ideas: shredded cheese, sour cream, hot sauce

Bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta.

While pasta is cooking brown the meat and drain any grease. Then add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cream cheese, and taco season to pan with meat. Let this simmer until the cream cheese is melted and the mixture is warmed. Stir occasionally while it cooks. Add pasta to the meat and sauce and mix well. You can top with shredded cheese, sour cream, or hot sauce.

Merry Christmas!!

 

 

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

Eat to the Beat: Monkey(Wrench) Bread

I loved when Elly at Elly Says Opa did Eat to the Beat back in the day. As someone who loves baking and adores music it was such the perfect combo for me (prior posts here and here) . I was so sad when she stopped doing it. So, needless to say, I was beyond thrilled when Elly announced she was doing a special Eat to the Beat to celebrate her 5 year blog anniversary. I knew I had to participate, the only question was what band or song to honor with a yummy baked good.

The answer? Foo Fighters of course. Besides the fact that the band is awesome, their music is incredible, and Dave Grohl is amazing - the fact is their name is just one letter off from being FooD Fighters. Perfect, no?

I adore the Foo Fighters. Have since they came out. They are such a fun band with awesome rhythms and lyrics and they just seem like they would be so much fun to hang out with. They were also one of the first rock bands I saw in concert when they opened up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers when I saw them in concert. It was awesome.

I decided to make monkey bread in honor of the song Monkey Wrench because it is an amazing song that I love to rock out to while I’m in the kitchen and I’ve never had monkey bread before. I always think it looks really good but I’ve never had the opportunity to make it. So this was the perfect opportunity to change that fact.

This is such an easy thing to make and I think it would be so much fun to make with a kid. Shaking the bag up would be so much fun for a kid I think, I know it was for me! I danced around the kitchen and made funny faces at Doug while he was on the phone while I shook the bag to coat all the biscuit pieces with the yummy cinnamon sugar mixture.

This would be an excellent addition to a holiday brunch or a get together with friends. It is fun to eat as you can pull apart the pieces, it is really tasty, and it takes no time at all to make. Definitely a winner in my book!

So, happy birthday, Elly Says Opa! Thanks for brining back Eat to the Beat for your celebration!!

Monkey (Wrench) Bread

Source: The Pioneer Woman

3 Cans Buttermilk Biscuits (not the flaky kind)

1 Cup Sugar

2 to 3 Teaspoons Cinnamon (your preference)

2 Sticks Butter – melted

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut each biscuit into quarters.

Combine the white sugar and cinnamon together in a gallon zip bag. Shake to mix up.

Place all the biscuit pieces into the bag, close the bag tightly, and shake until all the biscuit pieces are coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture (dancing optional).

Place the biscuit pieces evenly around a bundt pan.

Melt the sticks of butter and stir in the brown sugar until completely combined.

Pour the brown sugar – butter mixture over the biscuits.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is a deep brown on top. Allow to cool 15-30 minutes and then turn the pan over a plate to remove the bread.

Pumpkin Bread

 

This is one of my favorite recipes and I cannot believe I’ve never blogged this before. I’ve been making this for a few years now – actually from before I even had this blog. That’s how good this recipe is. This pumpkin bread is moist and flavorful. The spices in this are perfect, I think, though you could easily back the amounts off a bit or add a touch more depending on how much spice you like. Even Doug really loves this bread and he isn’t a big pumpkin fan. This would be an awesome item to make and have around over the Thanksgiving weekend. It would be a great small breakfast on Thanksgiving or a yummy treat to stuff in your face after a morning of fighting the crowds for a deal.

The one bad thing about how long I’ve been making this recipe is that I printed it off before I learned about citing. I’ve searched google reader and every blog I could think of and I cannot find the source of this anywhere. So, if you recognize this can you please let me know so I can give proper dues to the original blogger?

Pumpkin Bread

1/2 Cup Oil (vegetable or canola)

1 1/4 Cups Canned Pumpkin (not pie filling)

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups and 1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bread pan with non-stick spray.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In a separate bowl mix the oil, pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, and eggs.

Mix the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until well mixed. Pour into the bread pan.

Bake for 40-60 minutes or until top of loaf springs back slightly from light pressure. Cool for 10-20 minutes and remove from pan.