I think these are our very favourite muffins around here. They’re moist and delicious, and this recipe has never failed me.
1 c. Quick Oats
1/2 cup orange juice (from the jug in your fridge – not fresh squeezed, although that might work too… I’m not sure)
1/2 cup boiling water
Mix these 3 ingredients above in a small bowl, and let sit 15 minutes
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
In medium size bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. (I do it all with a wooden spoon). Add raisins and dump in oatmeal mixture. Stir together.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and gently stir into the butter/sugar/oatmeal batter. (do not over stir).
Pour into muffin tin (I use paper liners, but I guess if you don’t you’d want to grease your muffin tin).
Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Oven temps may vary, but they’re done when you stick a knife in, and the knife comes out clean.
If you saw yesterday’s post, you’ll know that we got SNOW yesterday!!! To celebrate that excitement, I made some cinnamon-sugar french toast mittens for lunch.It was really quite blizzard-like here. It was very exciting, with little people running from window to window, hollering updates every few minutes. To celebrate, we had a little mitten theme going on here. Our mitten-match up was a great activity. It was super-simple to prepare, and all of the Hooligans (from 2 right up to 5) really loved it. Check it out if you’re looking for something that’s fast and easy to whip up, and a great exercise in fine motor control for your little one.
For lunch, the Hooligans knew we were having French Toast, but what they didn’t know was that with all the snow coming down, and the mitten matching going on in the next room, I’d decided to jazz things up a bit.
I went through my Christmas cookie cutters and found a mitten cutter. Perfect!
By gently stretching the bread, I was able to cut two mitts out of each slice of bread. Don’t throw out the left overs and the crusts! I added mine to a bag that I keep in the freezer. I freeze all of my bread crusts, stale bread, buns, etc. and I use them for making poultry stuffing. If you’re not big on that idea, at least tear your crusts up and let the kids toss them into the yard to feed the birds. Why not put them to good use?
While I was cutting my mittens out, I had my George Foreman Griddle warming up. I LOVE my griddle. I am typically NOT a fan of “gadgets” that take up a lot of storage room, but I couldn’t live without this griddle. It’s big enough to cook up LARGE batches of eggs, bacon, pancakes etc.all at once, it heats up quickly, and after 4 years, it is still competely non-stick, which is more than I can say for any of my teflon pans. As for storing it, I keep it on top of my fridge.
Ok, back to lunch. Melt a generous gob of butter on your griddle, and while that’s melting and getting bubbly, dip your mitts in a mixture of egg and milk (I don’t know exact measurements here – I just guess when it comes to french toast). Toss your mitts on to your griddle and flip them when the underside starts to get brown and crispy. Let the other side do the same, and then move them to a plate, and sprinkle them with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.
A little syrup on the side for dipping and you’re good to go!
Making delicious homemade butter is easier than you think!
Making butter is so easy, and the results are so delicious!. It’s a fun, quick and easy to make, and the process will knock your kids’ socks off!
What you’ll need:
a glass jar with a lid
heavy cream (35% whipping cream)
The process in 3 easy steps – FILL, SHAKE, RINSE:
Fill your jar half way with cream.
Put the lid on tightly and SHAKE it like crazy!
Quite quickly, the liquid thicken, and you won’t hear liquid sloshing around anymore. That’s good. Keep shaking! About halfway through, we took the lid off and discovered whipped cream! I had to fight the urge to grab a spoon and dig in!
Keep shaking! After a few more minutes, we heard liquid sloshing around in the jar again. I thought something had gone wrong, and that our thickened mixture had thinned back into cream.
Not to worry! A peak inside revealed that the buttermilk that had separated from the butter! It was ready!!
Pour off the buttermilk, and rinse the remaining butter under cold water, kneading it a little to get all the buttermilk off. This buttermilk can be refrigerated and used for baking.
Now grab something to smear it on. We spread ours on homemade dinner rolls and it was out of this world! You can find my bread machine dinner roll recipe here:
Enjoy it plain, add a pinch of salt, or take it up a notch by stirring in a little grated orange zest or some finely chopped fresh thyme or basil.
Bon Appetit!
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Quick and easy Coffee Cake: friends will beg you for the recipe.
It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch and coffee group. It’s my go-to recipe if I’m having someone stop by for a morning visit, and if my boys go to someone’s house for a weekend, I send one along with them. People go nuts for this cake, and it’s SO quick and easy to make, you won’t even need to look at the recipe after you’ve made it a couple of times. Now, it’s not the most gorgeous cake you’ll ever see, but wait until you taste it!
The recipe:
1 pkg cake mix (I like to use yellow or “golden”)
1 instant vanilla pudding mix (the powdered kind – my box reads “4 servings”, 102 g)
1 cup oil (I use veg. or canola)
1 cup water
4 eggs
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
What you’ll do:
In large bowl, mix (electric beaters) cake mix, pudding mix, oil and water until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating at med-hi speed, for one minute after each addition (whatever…I’m all for keeping it simple, so I crack all the eggs in at once and beat it for 4 mins on med-hi).
Pour half of batter into greased/floured bundt pan (I just spray with PAM…again, all about keeping it simple). Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle half the mixture over the batter. Pour remaining batter into pan, and top with remaining cinn/sugar. Swirl through with a knife.
Bake 350 for 55-60 minutes (or until knife comes out clean)
Seriously! How easy was that?
And it’s versatile!
You can use any flavour of cake/pudding mix you like. I’ve used lemon cake with lemon pudding, and poured and dusted it with icing sugar. I’ve also used chocolate cake/pudding and poured an icing sugar glaze over. Anything goes really. Have fun with it!
Bon Appetit!
If this is your first visit to Happy Hooligans, be sure to pop over and LIKE us on facebook! I update my page daily with easy and affordable ideas for play!
You can follow us on Pinterest too. I have over 80 boards dedicated to simple arts, crafts and activities for kids, as well as several personal interest boards.
