Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

Its that time...time for my famous pumpkin muffins!!! I changed it up a bit this year and put together a mish-mosh of 2 different recipes that I have come across and my own little twist. These muffins are packed with everything fall! They are moist, flavorful and just make you feel happy when you eat them.

Minis ready to be devoured

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
Makes 12 regular muffins (original says 24 I got 12) or 48 mini-muffins

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese (I used 1/3 fat free)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your muffin tin and set aside.

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until combined and smooth.

3. Slowly stir in flour mixture to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

For the filling:

Beat the cream cheese until softened. Beat in the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.

For the streusel topping:

In a bowl combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. With your hands mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Fill muffins tins about 1/3 of the way full with the pumpkin batter. Add a good dollop of cream cheese to the center of each one. Fill the tins about 3/4 full and top with streusel topping.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes for regular muffins and 10 minutes for minis, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Place muffins tins on wire racks for cooling. Remove from tins and enjoy!

(Took bits and pieces from Two Peas and Their Pod and the streusel from GroupRecipes)


These...are...amazing. They are so good!! I am so glad I tinkered around with a few different recipes to make something so good and truly delicious! I sort of just went by what I had I hand and what I could do with what I had. I am really glad I found how to bake the cream cheese right into the muffins, cause I used to pipe them into the bottoms and it was a pain and I felt like you never got quite enough.

And not only is the cream cheese amazing but that slightly crunchy and sweet brown sugar topping is awesome. I think it makes the whole muffin! And the muffins itself, when you don't get a bite of cream cheese is delicious and moist. Very flavorful and light.


These muffins are a winner!! You must make these for a fall gathering or for your neighbor or someone you love, or just for yourself. They are that good!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry ~Happy Autumn~

-BellaRosa

Banana Muffins with a Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Crumb Topping

My Hubsie brought me home a box filled with bananas and peaches, which I don't think I can do anything with the peaches cause they seem to be way past their prime...and they scare me. But I started looking up recipes for banana muffins, cause I really enjoy making muffins. And I found this recipe for some banana muffins with a crumb topping, which I thought would be perfect! I posted some Sour Cream Banana Muffins before but I never thought about adding a crumb topping...so these sounded good!

Banana Muffins with Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Crumb Topping
Makes 12 regular size muffins
(original recipe found here.)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

For crumb topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 T flour
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 T butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin pan, if not using muffins liners.

Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. In another bowl mix together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Make sure to slowly temper the egg/banana/sugar mixture before pouring all the melted butter into the bowl to prevent the eggs from cooking. I let my butter cool a little before adding to eggs so I didn't have this problem.

Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Spoon batter into muffin cups.

In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle amply on top of muffin batter.

Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The mini-muffins took about 8 minutes to bake.

Banana Crumb Topped Muffin...Mmmmm :)

Now of course, if you know me, then you know I had to make mini muffins, but I did make 6 regular size muffins and it then it made 20 mini-muffins after that. So it makes quite a bit! I thought these were going to have an intense banana flavor cause it seemed like a lot of banana after I mashed them, but they are nice and lightly flavored and the crumb topping gives it a nice crunchy texture without adding nuts.

Mini and Regular Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping
Makes 6 regular and 20 mini-muffins

This was a great way to use up the over-ripe bananas the Hubs brought home and I do love making muffins..so it's win/win!

Mini Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...and use up that extra fruit!

-BellaRosa

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I had my eldest brother and fam. coming over for dinner and I saw this recipe posted from Brown Eyed Baker (who adapted it from My Baking Addiction) and knew I had to make them for my dinner guests. I was glad I was having dinner guests cause I really wanted an excuse to make this blondies and not have a whole pan of them to myself and Hubsie...we don't need that!

These bars were really easy to make and didn't take any time at all. I was making them while my hands were burning from handling some jalepenos, so they were easy enough I could make them while in pain...*sigh*

Snickerdoodle Blondies
(original by Brown Eyed Baker here.)

2-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract2 T granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease your 9x13-inch baking pan; set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Beat together butter, brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla. Beat, scraping the bowl, until thoroughly combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. Give the dough a final stir in rubber spatula or wooden spoon to make sure flour is incorporated.

4. Spread dough evenly in your prepared pan. Batter will be think an off-set spatula works great here. Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed (I checked with a toothpick. Inserting it and seeing if it came out clean.) Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Crunchy Cinnamon-y Sugary Tops :)

These were freaking delicious!! I think I totally forgot to add baking powder...but they were fine! The had a nice sweetness and went great with a nice hot cup of jasmine green tea. I love the density they had, but that could be because I forgot the baking powder...hahah :) I'm a "middle piece" kinda girl, but I had an end piece and it was equally delicious. It had great flavor and a nice crunchy top from the cinnamon sugar...I will definitely make these again! Oh and my 3 year-old nephew devoured his! He is pretty picky so that is a big feat!! Auntie did a good job!

Avan hugs for Auntie

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...and check out some great food blogs for recipes!

-BellaRosa

Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

I have been baking up a storm lately!! Ok, I have made banana muffins and oatmeal cookies, but whatever, I don't really bake that often. I also made some Toll house Choc. Chip Cookies last night, but that doesn't really count, cause its the recipe off the bag and not really that exciting.

So a while ago I looked up recipes for chewy, soft oatmeal cookies, cause really, I despise crunchy hard cookies...especially if they are meant to be soft! So I found a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who by the way, I love! This is the 2nd recipe I have made so far. She has a recipe for Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies, and they are yummy! Now I love a good oatmeal cookie, and I have to say I really enjoy making these more than other cookies. They are so easy and I had everything on hand.

Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg1/2 tsp. vanilla3/4 cup flour1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins (I used ones that were actually made for baking, they were moister)
1/2 cup walnuts (I used 1/4 cup almonds, cause half my batch was with nuts)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture until smooth. Stir in the oats, raisins and nuts if using them.
• At this point you can chill the dough for a bit, or scoop the dough on the cookie sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking.
  
• Scoop cookies onto parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine took 7 1/2 - 8 cause my oven runs a bit hot) until the edges are brown and golden.
  
• Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool.

I found my cookies to get a bit more brown than I expected, but they are still delicious.

*Note: By the way! I am having so much fun being able to take my food photos in natural lighting!! So fun!! I swear I took 40 pictures of these cookies...some were a bit blurry which was kinda disappointing, but seriously...I am so proud of the pictures, as well as the ones for the Sour Cream Banana Muffins. Plus it helps that I have a lovely green wall to take pictures against. Shout out to my brother and sister-in-law who got me those great appetizer plates in the first photo up there...I was so glad I saw them and thought to use them for my cookie pictures.

left: with slivered almonds right: just raisins

Happy Baking & Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Barbequed Chili & Mario Kart

So I have been on a search for a chili recipe. I know my mom's chili, it's good. I love Steak 'n Shakes chili, I could probably not duplicate it. I wanted to find a chili recipe to be mine, or something I would enjoy making and that everyone would love. So I found this recipe from Rachael Ray that she made on her talk show (I didn't see the episode, I saw the recipe posted on Twitter).

It was for a Barbequed Chili. This damn thing has that tang of bbq sauce and the meatiness of chili. It's amazing! I love it!! It doesn't have the normal spice or cumin in it, which I actually kinda like, cause I feel like I can't always handle all the cumin, it's a strong tasting spice for me. I changed up the recipe a bit to go with what I had on hand and what tastes I liked. I also added beans, cause there were no beans in the recipe! I was like...you need more than just meat in here! So here is my recipe for the Barbequed Chili.


Barbequed Chili

1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 T Chili powder
1/2 T paprika
1/2 cup of beer (other 1/2 for your husband)
1 cup chicken stock, or beef whatever you have on hand
2 T cider vinegar
2 T brown sugar
One 8 ounce can (1 cup) tomato sauce
1/2 can of kidney beans or whole can if you want more beans

• Heat a large dutch oven, or saucepan over medium-high heat with olive oil.
• Add the ground turkey and beef and brown. Add onion and garlic and season with black pepper. Cook a few minutes until onion is soft and translucent.
  
• Add the chili powder and paprika and stir in beer. Let simmer and reduce. Then add stock.
  
• Combine brown sugar, tomato sauce and vinegar, then stir into the chili. Bring to a bubble, reduce heat and simmer. (I don't have an exact time on this, I would say maybe an hour, but you just want it to get thicker and not so liquidy.)
  
• Add the beans toward the end to heat through. Or add them when you add the tomato sauce, brown sugar and vinegar mixture if you want them softer. I couldn't remember when to add beans to chili.

Now, growing up my mom's chili was always served over elbow macaroni. May seem strange to some people, but it's how I grew up. It's so good! So I made elbows with mine, but you can certainly eat it straight up in a bowl with crackers.

If you want the original recipe click here.
*Note: My recipe makes half the amount of the original. I have made the full batch before and there was just far too much leftover...but it is really, really good the next few days...yum!

Last night was also fun because my best girlie Kay came over! She had never had this chili before, nor had she eaten chili with elbow macaroni before, so it was all new for her, but she said it was really good! So that made me happy! And Kay is my fellow video game girl, so we had to play some Mario Kart Wii while she was over! I love playing with her, she is so much fun! She is the best!!



That's all for my dinner from last night folks!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!
...and kick butt in Mario Kart!

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread couldn't be easier. And what's better than sugar, dough and butter...nothing! This is a great dessert or party food because its just pulls apart and everyone can take however much the want. And it's so delicious!

Here is the recipe I used, I have one other one and one for mini monkey breads, but the mini calls for making your own dough and this one just uses store bought biscuit dough in the tubes. And yes it uses a stick and half of butter. Get over it. It's butter. It's delicious and you won't be eating this all the time. :)

Monkey Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cans (16 oz.) Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (should be 8 in a tube)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350. Grease a fluted tube or bundt pan.

In a storage baggie combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Separate the biscuits so you have 16 biscuits. Quarter each biscuit and place in the baggie with the cinnamon sugar.

Toss to coat each biscuit piece with the cinnamon sugar.

Arrange the biscuit pieces in the greased bundt pan.

Melt the butter and add the brown sugar and combine. Pour over the top of the arranged biscuit pieces in the bundt pan. Bake for 28-32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy. Let stand for 10 minutes in pan. Turn out on to a serving dish (I like using a pie pan cause it's gets gooey and messy and the side on the pan help keep it all contained) and serve warm.

It will be ooey and it will be gooey...that means it's good! I love that fact that it is all pull-apart, I think that is so fun! You get a little messy and it just easy going and comfortable. It's a great warm, comfort dessert. I hope you try it and enjoy!
Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

P.S. Please don't judge my pictures...I am gonna have to work on the whole lighting thing *argh*

*Note: You could really add anything you want to this recipe. Adding rasians or nuts would be good or even dried cranberry. Maybe try chocolate chips and they could melt and make it all chocolatey!