Brown Sugar Muffins

Let's talk about my mom.  She's pretty much the most amazing woman in the world.  She did many wonderful things for me growing up, but one of her most selfless acts was that of preparing breakfast for all 6 of us every morning (I say selfless because I am now a mother of three and I hate the morning rush).  When I was in high school and had to be at dance practice at 6:00 am, she would wake up at 5:00 am and make me pancakes.  See what I mean?  Selfless.

In addition to pancakes, she would also make muffins every Sunday morning, filling the house with the delicious and warm aroma that only comes from baked goods.  My absolute favorite type of muffin she would bake was the Brown Sugar Muffin.  Can't you just feel the warmth in the name?  So, in tribute to my mother, here is the recipe for Brown Sugar Muffins.  May it become tradition in your home too.  :)

This is what you'll need ...

Begin by creaming together the shortening, sugar, and egg. (Take note: I never said these were healthy.  Also, the name is kind of a dead give away.)

Then add half the flour, and all of your soda and salt.  Once that's combined, add half your milk.

Keep on mixing.  Then do it again.  Flour, blend, milk, blend.  Once you're done combing the milk and flour into your mixture, add the vanilla.  

Mix it up some more ...

Then spoon your batter into a greased (or lined) muffin tin until each cup is about 2/3 full. 

You'll have some leftover.  Let me show you what I like to do with my extra batter ...

Yep.  That's gonna be my muffin.  :)

Now bake for about 13-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ta Da!  Good morning, Sunday. You just got a little bit better.

And now I'm happy.

Brown Sugar Muffins

Ingredients:

½ C. shortening

1 C. brown sugar

1 egg

2 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 C. milk

1 Tbsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425° F.  Prepare muffin tin by spraying lightly with cooking spray, or lining with cupcake liners.  Cream together shortening, sugar, and egg.  Next, add 1 C. flour, soda, and salt.  Mix together.  Then, add ½ C. milk and beat into mixture.  Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, combining until smooth.  Beat in vanilla.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins until cups are about 2/3 full.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.

Vanilla Bean Granola

Rise and shine, friends!  I thought I'd kick off our morning with a recipe for homemade vanilla bean granola.  Yummy!!!  I learned how to make this easy recipe from the great Sara Voortmeyer at her cooking class at Thanksgiving Point last month.  She's awesome and you should definitely visit her blog (or attend her classes if you're in Utah).  That being said, I've made some alterations to her version because that's the beauty of granola - you can make it your own!  Feel free to do the same.  :)

Before getting started, let's just talk about how expensive store-bought granola is.  I feel like if something is "healthy" then it automatically gets 20% added onto it's price.  We'll call it the cost of eating healthy as decided by "the man".  Just kidding.  I'm not that crazy.  I just don't like to spend $12.00 for 3 nuts and a handful of oats in a box.  That's why this recipe has changed my life.  I love granola, and I want to be able to eat as much as I'd like without filing bankruptcy.  Now I can, and so can you.  Let's begin with the following ingredients:

(Look at all that good stuff!  Yes, that is a box of Rice Krispies.  Don't judge.  You're gonna love this.  P.S. I don't show the vanilla beans in the picture because I ran out.  Oops.)

First, heat oven to 300 degrees and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.  Next, melt your coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat.  While that's melting, combine water, sugar, and vanilla beans (slice open vanilla bean and scrape beans out then discard outer shell, or save for use later) in another saucepan and boil until sugar is dissolved.  In the meantime, combine all dry ingredients, except for coconut and any dried fruit you might be using, into a large bowl.  Add the oil to the sugar water and then pour the whole thing over the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Once mixture is combined, then stir in coconut.

Now, spread the granola out and divide between the two pans.  Flatten it into a single layer, but leave some clumped  together so you can get big chunks later.  Put the sheets into the oven and turn the temperature down to 200 degrees.  Bake for 1 hour, remove, cool, and store in airtight containers.  You can also put into the oven at night, turn off the heat, and then it will be done in the morning.  It's like magic.

Look how cute your homemade granola is!!!

It's the best, right?  You can snack on it plain, give it away for gifts, or throw a handful into your smoothies (so delish).  So many options.  I like to eat my granola with yogurt, bananas, and honey because that's how it was served to me when I lived in Guatemala.  I find it oddly comforting.  Hopefully you will too!

Home Made Granola (Sara Voortmeyer)

Ingredients:

½ C. water

½ C. sugar

1 whole vanilla bean, sliced open, beans scraped out and shell discarded

¼ C. coconut oil (melt first)

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

3 C. old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick)

1 C. crisped rice cereal

½ C. wheat germ

½ C. whole flax seeds

½ C. pecan chips (or other nut like sliced almonds)

½ C. shredded or flake coconut

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°.  Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.  In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and vanilla beans.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Meanwhile, combine all dry ingredients together in a large bowl (except coconut).  Add coconut oil and vanilla extract to sugar water.  Pour liquid into dry ingredients and mix well.  Add coconut (you may also add dried fruit at this point, i.e. blueberries).  Spread onto parchment lined sheets, thinning out, but also leaving some small clumps to bind together.  Place in oven and turn off heat.  Leave in oven overnight and enjoy in the morning.  You can also lower temp. to 200° and bake for 1 hour, then remove from oven, and cool completely.  Store in airtight container.