I blogged about these over a year ago, but I’m going to do it again. We make these muffins a lot. I’ve made a few modifications to make them a touch healthier and yummier. I like to pretend I make these for the kids, but really if I wasn’t fully on the WW wagon right now I would have eaten the whole batch already.

They last awhile and freeze well, so this is a doubled and slightly modified version of what I posted before.

Pineapple Sunshine Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1 cup butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 can (20oz) crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup sunflower kernels
1 cup dried cranberries

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In another bowl, mix the eggs, butter, and vanilla; stir in pineapple. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in carrot, sunflower kernels, and cranberries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups until 3/4 full. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

I want to give a shout out to the Pampered Chef Stoneware muffin pan here. Check out the difference between muffins baked in that pan and muffins baked in silicone muffin cups. The Pampered Chef ones are so much more beautiful!

Pampered Chef Stoneware on the left, silicone baking cups on the right.

I started my holiday goody making today! Yum! (already ate too many) There will be more to come, but these are by far my favorite.

Peanut butter blossoms. Yum! The kids were really helpful this year too.

While Lex was in school and Eve was napping I tried my hand at homemade gumdrops. I was flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens book called Christmas Comfort and Joy at the library a few weeks ago and this gumdrop recipe jumped out at me. It took me awhile to work up the courage to try it, but I finally did and they came out pretty good!

Orange and Lemon gumdrops

Christmas Gumdrops

Ingredients
Butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
3/4 c. water
1 3/4 oz package powdered fruit pectin
1/2 t. baking soda
sugar

Directions
1. Line a 9x5x3″ loaf pan with foil, extending foil over edges. Butter foil. Set aside.
2. Butter sides of a heavy 1 1/2-quart saucepan. In saucepan combine sugar and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves (about 10 minutes). Avoid splashing mixture on sides of pan. Carefully clip candy thermometer to side of pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until thermometer registers 280° F, soft-crack stage (about 10 minutes). Mixture should boil at a moderate, steady rate over the entire surface.
3. Meanwhile, in a heavy 2-quart saucepan, combine water, pectin, and baking soda. Mixture will be foamy. Cook over high heat to boiling, stirring constantly (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat, set aside.
4. When sugar mixture reaches soft-crack state, remove from heat; remove thermometer. Return pectin mixture to high heat; cook until mixture just begins to simmer. Gradually pour hot sugar mixture in thin stream (slightly less than 1/8″ diameter) into boiling pectin mixture, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute more.
5. Remove saucepan from heat. Add desired flavoring and coloring (see below). Pour mixture into prepared pan. Let stand 2 hours or until firm. Use foil to lift candy out of pan. Using a buttered knife, cut candy into 3/4″ squares. Roll in sugar. Store loosely covered. Makes about 72 pieces.

Flavorings
Orange Gumdrops: Add 1 1/2 t. orange extract, 1 t. finely shredded orange peel, 4 drops of yellow food coloring, and 1 drop red food coloring.

Cinnamon Gumdrops: Add 3 drops oil of cinnamon and 7 drops red food coloring.

Mint Gumdrops: Add 3/4 t. mint extract and 7 drops green food coloring.

Lemon Gumdrops: Add 1 1/2. lemon extract, 1 t. finely shredded lemon peel, and 7 drops yellow food coloring.

The other day Lex asked if we could make birthday cookies for my birthday. Hmm… OK! We are making cake tomorrow to share with Julie (her birthday is Monday and we like to celebrate together), so I thought cookies today would be perfect. Apparently by “birthday cookies” Lex meant Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. Yum! I found a good recipe on Allrecipes.com and whipped up some cookies while Eve napped and Lex was at school. I forgot how quick it is to bake without interruptions :)

Ingredients
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup cocoa powder
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
* In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
* Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended.
* Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
* Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop and they are the perfect size!)
* Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a 350° preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

For those of you who think I do nothing but bake all day, here is a healthier recipe.  I rejoined Weight Watchers this week so the baking has been put on hold for awhile (but with the holidays so near I don’t think it will be too long!)  This recipe is adapted from a WW magazine.  I’ve made it a few times and I think it is yummy.  Alan mostly agrees, though I think he’d take something full-fat and loaded with chicken over this :)

Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole

1 c. shredded Swiss cheese (divided in half)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
6 c. steamed cauliflower florets
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 c. fat-free half-and-half
3 Tbsp chopped parsley (I used the freeze dried variety)

Mix 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese with the Parmesan and set aside.

Put the steamed cauliflower into a 2qt baking dish.

Heat the half-and-half over a low heat, add flour, salt, cayenne, and garlic. Cook until it thickens, whisking frequently, about 4 minutes. Add the other 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese and parsley.

Pour over the cauliflower and top with mixed cheeses.

Broil 3-5 minutes, until golden brown on top.

3 POINTS per 1 cup serving. Variations: use low-fat Swiss cheese to reduce points to 2 per 1 cup serving. The original recipe also said to added 3 oz. Canadian bacon strips at the end with the cheese and parsley. I skipped that step, obviously. It will also increase the points value.

PS. Sorry no fancy photo! I didn’t think about posting the recipe until after the leftovers were tucked nicely (and messily!) away in the fridge.

Eve and I made some delicious granola bars this afternoon from Smitten Kitchen, a blog Rosy sent me. You can pretty much add any “dry” stuff you want (dried fruits, nuts, etc.) and choose your “wet” ingredients (honey, syrup, etc.) I’ve tried several other granola bar recipes in the past and none came out quite right. A trick I learned here though, that I didn’t know before, is that if the granola bars are crumbly when you try to cut the, stick them in the fridge for awhile to let the “glue” harden. I have been trying to bake bars longer and longer to get them to harden. Oops. We cut these pretty quickly (we have no patience for baked goods around here!) and they crumbled a bit, so I put the rest in the fridge and finished cutting them later. Perfect! And oh-so-yummy!

Read the Smitten Kitchen post for the whole details, but here is the basic recipe:

Granola Bars

• 1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 2/3c.)
• 1/3 cup oat flour (I don’t have oat flour so I used whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 to 3 cups fruits and nuts (I raided the cabinet and found 1c. dried cranberries, 1/4c sesame seeds, 1/4c crushed hazelnuts, 1/2c cinnamon bits and 2/3c. shredded coconut)
• 1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter) (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup (I used maple syrup)
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.

Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up.)

Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. [Updating to note, as many had crumbling issues:] If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.

On Eve’s request, we had pumpkin waffles for dinner last night. They were super yummy! When we first made waffles (after hubby got me a waffle iron for Christmas!) Lex ate too much and got a stomachache. He hasn’t tried them since. Silly boy. Last night I got him to try the “special orange waffles” without syrup. He liked them, but then asked for syrup. I was careful to give him only small amounts (of syrup and waffles!) to avoid stomachaches. He seemed pretty happy. Eve and I, of course, ate them all up. I got the recipe from weelicious, a cool blog with healthy food ideas. She suggested making cream cheese sandwiches with them. That may be lunch in the near future!

Weelicious Pumpkin Waffles

2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk (I used rice milk)
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used low fat)
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
6 Tbsp Butter, melted

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Sift first 7 ingredients into a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Whisk the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of the pumpkin batter into a waffle iron that’s been buttered or greased and cook according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. Serve with maple syrup or make into sandwiches filling with cream cheese and whatever other fillings you desire.