Buttermilk Pancakes

This is a basic, but yummy pancake recipe. We all enjoy it. I found it here- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Buttermilk-Pancakes/Detail.aspx



Mom's Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg
1 1/8 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. butter, melted

1. Preheat and lightly grease a large skillet or electric griddle.

2. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add the egg, buttermilk, and butter; stir together lightly, but keep it lumpy. The batter should look thick, spongy, and puffy.

3. Drop 1/4 cup of the batter onto the cooking surface, spreading lightly with the bottom of the cup. Cook until lightly browned on each side. Serves 4.

(I double this recipe, so it serves us 5, plus leftovers)

Why I love it? It's easy, yummy, cheap, not too unhealthy, and it's something my whole family can agree on! :) The pancakes are a good thickness. My favorite topping for this is berry syrup. Last time I did that, I heated about 1 cup of frozen berries in a pan (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) with a little water & sugar. It was a perfect topping, and it gave us all a serving of fruit!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins

In honor of fall, I HAVE to share this recipe. :) It is deeee-licious. The kids and I just devoured a few.



Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins
Printable version here

2 cups white sugar (you can substitute a little brown sugar for the white, if you'd like)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg, freshly ground if possible
* I use 1 tbsp. Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus in place of the above three spices
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Hershey's cinnamon chips (you could use chocolate chips instead, or omit these)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease muffin tins (with nonstick spray or Crisco), or grease & flour loaf pans. Mix sugar, oil and applesauce in large bowl to blend. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in another large bowl. Gradually mix flour mixture in with pumpkin mixture. Mix in cinnamon chips, and walnuts if desired.

Bake as directed; cool briefly before transferring to rack. Eat muffins warm, or cool bread completely before slicing. Cooled loaves can be wrapped in foil and frozen for up to 1 month. Enjoy!

**Baking options:

• 2 loaves (9x5x3 loaf pans), baked for 1 hour 10 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean), or
  
• 48 mini muffins (PC small scoop, rounded, bake for 15 minutes) and 12 regular muffins (PC large scoop, rounded, bake for 22 minutes)
• About 2 1/2 dozen regular muffins, cups about 3/4 full, bake for about 22 minutes
  
• What I normally make is one loaf and 12 muffins
  

Why I love it?
They're easy to make, comforting on a fall day, and just YUMMY! You can freeze one of the loaves for later if you'd like, too.


(The last batch of mini muffins was still baking when I took this picture)

Creamy Fruit Salad

I got this recipe a few years ago from my brother in law's mom. It makes a lot, so you might want to cut it in half if you're just making it for your family. Or, it's a great thing to take to a potluck because it fills a huge bowl.

Creamy Fruit Salad
Printable version here

2 cups buttermilk
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
Several cups of chopped, mixed fruit

In a large bowl, beat together buttermilk and pudding until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until combined. Stir in fruit until desired consistency; chill.

Pudding mixture


Combined with this:


Equals this! :)


Why I love it?The sauce part of it is really good. The buttermilk gives it a slightly tangy flavor. My whole family gobbles this up. It's as yummy as a dessert, but still has the healthiness of fruit!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com one time, and fell in love! The cookies are kind of small, so it makes a bunch. If you like chocolate and mint, you must try it!



Chocolate Mint Cookies

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
45 chocolate mint water candies (Andies)

1. In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.

2. At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350º.

4. Roll dough into balls (I used my small cookie scoop, which is 1 tbsp.) and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes (mine took 11).

5. While cookies are baking, unwrap mints and divide each in half. When cookies are brought out of the oven, immediately put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. Let the mint sit for up to 5 minutes until melted, then spread mint on top of the cookie. Eat and enjoy!

(Made with 1 tablespoon of dough, this makes about 90 cookies- 7 1/2 dozen!)

Why I love it? The cookies are soft, rich, and chewy, and the mint makes such an easy, delicious frosting! I have always had good feedback when I've made these.