Easter Muffins

Apr 7, 2012 by lovelypantry

It has been a busy few days and I’m just getting to post this now. The kids were tugging at my legs to get at these little treats. I did not decorate all the muffins because, well… my kids do a really cute thing. They eat the frosting and then say “Mommy! I’m finished!” – and they literally leave the muffin behind. Seriously. If there is frosting, more than likely, they will not eat the cake. Maybe this little thing they do isn’t so cute after all.

I found this recipe in a little book called “100 Muffins From 1 Easy Recipe”. Chances are, I’m going to make every muffin in this book. What caught my eye about this recipe was not necessarily the theme, even though I was certainly looking for an Easter recipe. The cupcakes were adorable! Very simple, compared to what I’ve seen out there, but adorable none the less. I will be the first to say it out loud that I’m not the best at decorating cakes. I only just started a few months ago (barely). I’m teaching myself so that I can at least do something, if needed. Practice makes perfect. I did my best so here’s my first Easter Muffin 🙂

 

 

 

 

I found these a few weeks ago. So perfect! I love that they are reusable and colourful too.

 

 

I wore my apron to do this. I’ve been powdered up by Cocoa one time too many! 🙂

 

 

So this recipe called for only 1/2 Cup of brown sugar. The muffins were not overly sweet so I can see myself adding chocolate chips to this recipe in the future. No frosting needed, of course.

 

 

 

 

These came out quite wonky to me 🙂 The photograph in the book looked waaaaaay better than mine. A+ for effort though, right? 🙂

 

 

And then my Diva daughter decided that she did not want the cupcake with the mini chocolate eggs. Actually, she said that they were not in fact cupcakes because they had no sprinkles on them. She pointed to where I keep the sprinkles and requested that I make “real” cupcakes for her so that she could eat it.

Well excuse me.

The sprinkle princess had her way.

 

 

Take good care of you

~Lyn

 

 

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Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel & Blog Appreciation

Apr 1, 2012 by lovelypantry

One night late last week, I stayed up late to make muffins for my husband and his co-workers. They are doing an internal course in order to advance within the organization. Let me tell you. The work load is what I consider “University INTENSIFIED”. It’s a lot of work and pressure, especially for those who have families and responsibilities. Time management and balance is key. I thought it would be a nice gesture to send something home-made and not some sugar spiked junk from the coffee shop. They need nourishment as well as encouragement over the next few months and beyond. I figured blueberry muffins were portable and universally enjoyed.

I made these muffins for the first time over a year ago and my husband really liked it – we all did. I actually misplaced the recipe that I had found online. Do you know how many Blueberry Muffin recipes are online???? Luckily I found it (phew) and got to baking around 1am.

Yes, 1 AM.

I wanted to have the muffins as fresh as possible since this Diva doesn’t do early very well. Everyone enjoyed the muffins and my husband totally appreciated me making them for the guys. I’m sure he must have been very happy to wake up to that wonderful aroma of muffins at five o’clock in the morning. Thank you dear husband, for leaving a few muffins behind for the family to enjoy 🙂

 

 

 

This recipe is slightly adapted from a recipe found at The Family Kitchen on Babble

 

I prefer Blueberries cooked rather than fresh. Or in a smoothie. However I end up having them, I always enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know, we don’t eat muffins with a fork. Well, I kinda do…sometimes.. 🙂

 

 

Take a Big Blueberry BITE!

 

 

Hey, speaking of appreciation… I’ve had some really awesome food bloggers give me some wonderful awards! I’m so humbled and thankful that my online foodie friends thought of me to give me these awards. So very humbled. I love what I do here at The Lovely Pantry and as I continue to grow, it’s really encouraging to know that there are people out there who understand what it takes to do this. We blog for many reasons including the love of food, the art of cooking, the love of sharing, the love of community and my personal favourite – photography. It feels great knowing that there are people cheering you on! I’m going to share the love in my next post.

 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

~Lyn

 

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Chocolate Stout Cake

Mar 13, 2012 by lovelypantry

I tried to resist making this. I really did. But I had all the ingredients! I just had to.

I picked up a little recipe book called Irish Favourites and the recipes were interesting… as in, I’d make most of the recipes in the book! It was perfect timing seeing that St.Patrick’s day is right around the corner. The original recipe had a cream cheese frosting but I opted out. The chocolate cake is bad enough. And by bad, I mean good.

 

 

 

Look what I found – Jamaican Dragon Stout. The sweeter alternative to Guinness. My hubby had a stash and was nice enough to let me use one. I’m not a stout drinker myself, but I think I may like cooking with it.

 

 

 

The recipe called for a 13 X 9 inch baking pan but I thought it would be more interesting to use a Bundt pan. Okay, I just really wanted to use it. This is my first Bundt cake. Chocolate Stout Bundt Cake. Sounds good!

 

 

Glazing was some messy fun! Me and my daughter had green fingers for a while…

 

 

 

 

A rich but not too sweet chocolate cake, made with a Jamaican stout…just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

 

 

About how long do I need to walk on the treadmill to fix this?

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Sweet & Sour Muffin Meatballs

Mar 12, 2012 by lovelypantry

I love when I find a good recipe. Better yet, I love when I find a good recipe that I can improve on 🙂 A while back, I wanted to make meatballs but not just regular plain meatballs – nothing boring. I came across Sweet & Sour Muffin Meat Loaves from myrecipes.com so I decided to try. The first time I made it, I wasn’t sure of the texture and it certainly did not have the colour I was hoping for. I tried again, taking notes on the changes I made and I never looked back. Instead of calling them meat loaves, I’ll say that these are awesome baked meatballs, full of flavour and a nice rich colour.

I wanted to serve it with mashed potatoes and steamed carrots but.. since the meatballs were super spectacular, I’d have to jazz up the company! This was such a great meal! It was different and comforting.

 

 

 

And here’s the fun part!

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes, the meatballs will look something like this

 

 

Brush the meatballs with the remaining sweet and sour mixture

 

 

Pop them back in the oven for about 10 minutes or so. Your kitchen will smell marvellous. Don’t let your meatballs burn! Watch them carefully. Cover with foil if needed.

 

 

I especially love the dark, caramelized sweetness of the meatballs and the sweet and sour sauce. I found that it paired well with the carrots and potato. Each component complimented each other quite nicely.

 

 

Take a bite!

 

 

Seriously. I’m hungry.

 

Happy Monday, friends! ~ Lyn

 

 

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Buttermilk Quick Bread

Mar 7, 2012 by lovelypantry

I’m quite fond of quick breads. I love how easy they are to make and the wide variety and variations of each recipe that I come across. I have yet to make a quick bread that I did not like. Granted, I scrutinize the ingredients very carefully before I decide to make it. Please allow me to formally introduce you to Buttermilk Quick Bread. A very simple bread that I have been making on the weekends if I have any buttermilk in the fridge. I found this recipe on one of my daily sources of inspiration: The Kitchn, and knew as soon as I saw it, that I was going to make it. I’ve made it 4 times already – twice plain, once with raisins and this past weekend, with blueberries. Versatile little quick bread, isn’t it? The original post, has a few other variations that look interesting to try too – like Pesto Loaf. (Are you imagining a green quick bread?)

I love that this plain bread is like a canvas. You can tweak it to your liking and chances are, it will turn out great.

 

The consistency of the batter is quite thick, so you have to gently spread into the corners with a spatula.

 

 

Ah! Perfection!

 

 

It’s best to use a serrated knife to cut this bread since it is a bit delicate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like that because the batter was so thick, the raisins didn’t have the chance to sink to the bottom of the pan 🙂 For some recipes with a batter of thinner consistency, like the Ginger Carrot Bread, you have to toss the raisins (or small fruit like blueberries) in flour before folding them into the batter. So nice that I was able to skip that step.

 

 

Finally, with Blueberries. I wanted to cut the loaf to take a quick photograph however, I was entertaining so I did not want to cut it before we were ready to eat it. Everyone loved it!

 

 

Happy Wednesday! I hope the week has been off to an awesome start! I’ll be back soon.

Cheers for now.

Lyn

 

 

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