Semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies – I could make them in my sleep.  I know the recipe on the bag by heart.  So of course, I go looking for something different.  New.  Better.  Well, this time that quest took me to Australia.  Well AllRecipes.com.au.

Try these – they’re sort of a cross between a pecan sandie (without the pecan) and a milk chocolate chip cookie.  They’re a litte chewy, a little crunchy, a lot delicious.  Get the recipe here.

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Healthy breakfast?  I mean, normally I’d rather make pancakes or waffles drenched in butter and syrup.  Or bacon.  Or more bacon.  MMmmbacon.  Oh but that’s not what this post is about.

This is a MyPlate recipe, which means it’s balanced and (gulp) healthy.  But don’t let that stop you.  This was a quick, delicious little plate of filling breakfast.  You won’t even notice it’s healthy, I swear.  And if you think it’s too good for you, just sprinkle a little full fat cheese in there.

Check it out and make yourself a lovely breakfast pita for here or on the run – it’s a fork-free alternative to that greasy round puck of mcgrease and it doesn’t take any more time than sitting in the drive thru.  You can grab this delicious breakfast recipe here.

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So I have spent a lot of time being disappointed by the way my blueberry muffins look.  It seemed no matter what I did, they were always not super brown on top, and flat.  Flat, flat, flat.

I did some Googling and found some ideas about how to make muffins that look like they came from a bakery with high, domed crunchy tops.  Here are my tips, and a great recipe for blueberry muffins.

Add more baking powder

Muffin batter is a little thicker than other types, and it needs a little extra oomph to rise.  The recipe I used to make these ended up with 4 t of baking powder in it.  I couldn’t taste it and they popped up nicely.

Grease the top of the muffin pan

Add a little slippery stuff to the top side of your muffin tin, not just the cups. As your muffins rise, they’ll spread around the openings of the muffin tin and adding some grease will make them easier to slip out when they’re done. If you forget, just use a butter knife and slowly and carefully release the edges of your muffins as soon as they come out of the oven.

Fill the cups to the top

Most recipes tell you to fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.  You’ll get a little dome, but nothing that looks like it came from the bakery.  Don’t be afraid to fill those cups all the way up with batter.

Cheat a little

Reserve a few blueberries per muffin to drop into the top. That way you can be fairly certain you’ll still have some visible after they bake.

Turn up the heat

For the first five minutes of baking, crank up the temperature to 425 degrees. Yes I know it sounds crazy but you’ll give your muffins a head start on rising, and they’ll brown better. Then just turn down the temp to your recipe’s temperature for the remainder of the baking time.

Make them sparkle

Add a little crunch and shine to your muffins by using sanding sugar on top. Just sprinkle in about 1/2 to a teaspoon per muffin – the larger grains of sugar will remain on top and will be crunchy and sparkly when your muffins come out of the oven piping hot and looking picture perfect.

Give these tips a try and make Best of the Best Blueberry Muffins from AllRecipes.com

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Lazy?  Well, I might be a little when it comes to cooking during the week.  I don’t get home from work until about 7 most nights, and the last thing I want to do is cook and clean.  And since it’s just me and my dog, no one is complaining if I make toast or popcorn for dinner.

This week, however, the fine folks at Johnsonville saved me from my sometimes questionable dinner choices, and I got four different delicious dishes out of the same basic meatballs.

Because I’m an AllRecipes AllStar, they sent us coupons to try their Italian sausage.  I chose Mild Italian, which I found was really the perfect amount of spice (I’m a spice wimp).  I started out by making this quick recipe for meatballs.  Formed quickly, baked quickly, they were ready for action.

I turned them into a lovely meatballs slider on a pretzel bun, and they were an excellent substitute for ground beef.  It was a little spicier than a beef meatball and was great with some cheese and sauce.

They also became a topping for a homemade pizza, and the filling for a delicious calzone.  Every version of these were delicious and each recipe was simple and quick.  So this little exercise kept me from the toaster oven for a whole week, and I didn’t even have to do much cooking or cleaning.  I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of these multipurpose recipes, but this one is a keeper for sure.

On second thought, I’ll revise my “lazy” statement and call it efficient instead

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Tonight I’m writing thanks to my friend Punkin Muffin (you know who you are!).  I went on a “faceless recipe” adventure on AllRecipes.com.  Basically here’s how it works:

1. I search the site for recipes that both sound good and no one has taken a picture of yet.
2. I make the recipe, take the best pictures I can, and rate the recipe.

Sometimes I find gems.  Sometimes I understand why no one has posted a photo.  I mean there are a lot of delicious recipes that just don’t love the camera.  Fortunately this time, I got lucky.  I made three recipes this weekend and all of them turned out well and they turned out to not be too hard on the eyes.

So here is the first – Judy’s Pumpkin Muffins.  This one sounded good so I took a chance – it only had one review before me, so it could have gone either way.  But I think they turned out pretty and tasty.  Very moist, the right amount of spice.  The only thing I’d change next time would be to add a little vanilla and maybe a bit more cinnamon.  They’re easy to make and tasty – highly recommended for you and/or your punkin muffin!

You can find the other very photogenic recipes I made this weekend by visiting my Facebook page.

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Sometimes you just want a quick and delicious lunch; there’s nothing wrong with a little shortcut here or there.  This recipe couldn’t be simpler!  2 Pillsbury Grands biscuits, 2 slices of cheese, 2 ounces of ham.  Flatten out the biscuits, fill them with the ham and cheese, and an egg wash over the top. Bake it for about 15 minutes and it turns a lovely golden brown with a deliciously gooey ham and cheese sandwich tucked inside.  Definitely a welcome warm lunch on a cold winter afternoon.  Get the official recipe here.

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One of our challenges with the AllRecipes Ambassador program was to add pictures to recipes that didn’t have one yet on the AllRecipes Italian site: allrecipes.it.  The language barrier is a bit of a challenge.  But I must say I really enjoy baking by weight rather than volume.  It feels so much more precise to me.

In any case, this one of the creations from that site.  I think it’s a winner.  If you like dark chocolate and a dense, moist cake this is for you.  I’ll add the recipe here translated into English.  Serve it warm from the oven or give it a day.  I think this would be fantastic with a little ice cream on the side, or a big dollop of sweet whipped cream.

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At my new job I’m in an office for the first time in a while, and they have a Halloween celebration every year.  We did a sort of pot luck where everyone brought treats, part of us dressed up for the day and we had a costume contest.  I have to say I wasn’t sure how far to go with a costume, so I went minimal with a tiara and wand – Dollar Store princess

I took in a double batch of Caramel Corn Treat Bags which was a big hit, and also took pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.  There were a lot of pumpkin treats, but the caramel corn and pumpkin cookies disappeared really quickly.

The pot luck was an easy and affordable way to throw  a work party and everyone got into the spirit of the day.  Our costume winner was “A broken record” – he broke some records and attached them to his shirt, and kept repeating what he said all day, like a broken record.

The costume winner is top row left – broken record

All in all it was a really fun day, made more fun with treats

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It’s easy to tell which recipes are my favorites by how weathered the cards are.  This one is my most trusty recipe – everyone loves it and it’s very easy to make.  It’s delicious with pecans or without.  With cream cheese frosting or without.  There are a few keys to a great banana bread.

1. The bananas – they have to be really black to get a good banana flavor.
2. The bake time – I almost always cook my banana bread longer than the recipe indicates.  I’ve found that if the break (the top where the bread breaks open) is  just dry, the bread is done throughout.  If it’s still wet, you’ll find the middle of your bread a bit mushy.
3. The flavor – Cinnamon tastes especially good in banana bread; I always add more than the recipe says.  I usually cheat on the vanilla also, adding just a bit more.
4. The pan preparation – This recipe doesn’t say it, but if you don’t grease your pan well you’ll be peeling the bottom off and you’ll have a big crater in it.  I use the cooking spray with flour in it because my pan always, always sticks.

One of the things I love best about recipes, even in baking, they become your own.  No one’s banana bread comes out quite like mine (for better or worse!), even when I share the recipe.

There’s just something in the amount of time or speed at which it’s mixed, the ingredients that get measured slightly differently.  The way it’s panned, de-panned.  When it’s sliced.  The love that goes into it.

So, I hope you enjoy my banana bread recipe, and I hope you’ll make a loaf or more.  Just by making it, you make it your own.

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I’ve never made caramel corn before.  I assumed that whatever I worked and slaved to make could never touch the perfection that is Garrett’s popcorn.  And boiling sugar scares me a little if I’m being honest.  So why try?  Well, this month for our AllRecipes challenge, we had Karo recipes and caramel corn is one of them.  And even though I think it’s worth every penny, I don’t have $30 laying around for a bucket of Garrett’s.  So I figured it was worth a shot.

o.m.g.

This was pretty easy to make – pop popcorn, boil sugar, butter and Karo (I used the dark Karo for this), pour it on the popcorn and bake the goo for 45 minutes.  To make things easier I used a disposable roasting pan and just let it cool in there also.  The recipe calls for 4 quarts of popcorn but to make it extra caramelly I used about 3 quarts (1/3 cup of unpopped kernels).  It made the house smell a-mazing and it is definitely on par with the $30 tub.  Now if I can figure out how to make the cheese part of my beloved Chicago mix, I won’t have to venture downtown on a caramel corn pilgrimage anytime soon.

Make your own (because I’m not sharing!): Caramel Corn Treat Bags

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