Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

 

Super moist, delicious, & gluten free pumpkin muffins!  My girls even commented they enjoyed the gluten free ones better than the ones with regular flour.  I made these into mini muffins but you can make them into a bundt loaf or a loaf pan if you prefer.  A bundt pan takes about 45 minutes, and a loaf pan takes 60 minutes.  This is my Mom's pumpkin bread recipe except modified some and made with gluten free flour.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

2 eggs  (use my note for using flaxseed for egg-free)

1 2/3 cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill brand)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 rounded tsp cinnamon

1/2 rounded tsp cloves

1/4 rounded tsp ginger

dash allspice (optional)

dash nutmeg (optional)

Directions

Mix sugar, applesauce, pumpkin, and eggs in a large bowl.  In a separate container combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices.  Add all dry ingredients to the batter and blend well.  Spray mini muffin tin and divide batter evenly among the tin.  Bake 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.  Allow to cool about 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

Cheddar Biscuits (Keto/Low carb)

I made these Keto Cheddar Muffins tonight, and they were delicious!  I got the original recipe from the I Breathe I'm Hungry website.  I changed the recipe a little bit, and they were delicious!  I will definitely be making these again!  They are similar to a muffin in texture than a biscuit.

Ingredients

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1 cup superfine blanched almond flour

3 Tbsp coconut flour (or you can use more almond flour)

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp xantham gum

2 eggs

1/3 unsweetened coconut milk (or almond milk)

1/2-3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease or line a standard muffin pan with 8 muffin cups.  Mix all ingredients together and mix well with a whisk or a fork.  Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups, about 2/3 full.  Bake 22 minutes.

Net carbs: 2 grams

Two ingredient banana muffins

A while back I made Banana Spice Muffins with overripe bananas and spice cake mix.  My mom recently started making muffins a lot for my nephews (with a lot of major allergies) with vanilla cake mix and bananas.  The kids all love them, and they are so easy.  I made these with strawberry cake mix and bananas.  I also made chocolate cake mix with bananas for my church one Sunday (mostly because we have a child who had a lot of allergies), and they were a big hit!  Use any cake mix you think would go well with bananas and enjoy.  Just watch for allergens in your cake mixes if you need to be aware of them.  One tip, if you don't have enough bananas, you can add in a little applesauce if your cake mix it too dry.

Ingredients
4 overripe bananas, mashed
1 cake mix (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, spice cake... or another kind if you want)

Directions
Mix bananas and cake mix together well.  No oil, no eggs, no water.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, fill sprayed muffin tins about 2/3 cup full, and bake muffins according to cupcake directions on back.  Remove from muffin tins, cool, and enjoy!  Makes 24 muffins.

Weight Watcher Points: 2 points a muffin

Banana Sour Cream Bread

Ok, don't get freaked out the name.....  my husband hates sour cream and had no idea it was in there, and I bet you won't either.  You don't taste sour cream at all.  This is moist and delicious and honestly, probably the best banana bread I've ever had!  It got gobbled all up at our church for breakfast and my kids loved it!  I found this on the top banana bread recipes on allrecipes and modified it for one bundt pan.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened*
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk**
3 very ripe bananas
8oz sour cream***
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray large bundt pan.  In a small bowl, stir together 2 tbsp white sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and then sprinkle all over bottom and sides of pan.  Cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar.  Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Mix in salt, baking soda, and flour.  Stir in nuts.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Lower fat version: 4 weight watcher points per 1/12th of the loaf (vs 6 per slice without nuts).  This also reduced the calorie content about 100 calories per slice!
Substitute:
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce*
1 egg + 1 egg white**
8oz light sour cream***

Cinnamon Biscuits

I wanted to make something simple and sweet for breakfast at our church one morning, and I came up with this.  It all got eaten up.  :-)  I actually meant to buy crescent rolls to sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar in and roll up and cut into cinnamon rolls, but I accidentally bought the biscuits, but everyone loved it anyway, and it was even easier to put together.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp melted butter
4 - 7oz cans small refrigerated biscuit dough
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk

Directions
Spray a 9x13 pan and heat oven to 375 degrees.  Lay half of the biscuits on the bottom of the pan.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together well in a small bowl.  Brush half of the melted butter on top of the biscuits.  Sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture over top.  Repeat layering.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until biscuits are light golden brown.  Mix confectioners sugar and milk together until icing forms and then drizzle over top of biscuits.

Zucchini Bread

So I had never had zucchini bread before, but I am totally addicted now.  Now wait before you freak out after hearing "zucchini."  If you've never had zucchini bread, it's not what you might think.  No one in my family likes zucchini except me.  But, everyone loves this bread!  I honestly do not even taste the zucchini in it, as zucchini.  It's very similar to a friendship bread or banana bread type of taste.  I found the original recipe as one of the top recipes on allrecipes, but I modified a few things to make it healthier.  I reduced 1 cup of oil down to 2 Tbsp and replaced the rest with unsweetened applesauce.  I tried totally eliminating the oil once, and it was still delicious, but I feel the little bit of oil helps it be more moist.  I reduced the sugar by a little bit.  I add in 2 medium zucchinis, instead of just 2 cups, which is about 3-4 cups.  I also reduced the walnuts from 1 cup down to 2/3 cup, mainly to reduce the calorie content some.  I made these in bundt pans the first few times I made it (yes, I've had to make it a few times already), but I made them into muffins last night.  I honestly don't know if I would make this in loaf pans, only because with me adding all the zucchini in, it might overflow in loaf pans.  Two of my children like this without nuts, but the rest of us like it with nuts.

Ingredients
3 eggs***
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp canola oil***
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 medium zucchinis, grated
2/3 cup walnuts (leave out for nut free or children who don't like nuts)

Directions
Spray either 2 bundt pans (I only have one, so I used an angel food cake pan for my 2nd one) or spray muffin tins.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Beat eggs, applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla together in large bowl.  Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together and then add to wet ingredients and mix well.  Stir in zucchini and nuts and combine well.  Pour into prepared pans.  If using bundt pans, bake for 1 hour.  If making muffins, bake for 22 minutes.  Makes 2 loaves or 36 muffins.

Weight Watcher points: only 2 points or 99 calories per muffin!  (without nuts)

***OR.....  I played around with the recipe and made it even lower in points, calories, and fat
sub 3 eggs for 1 egg and 3 egg whites
sub 2 Tbsp oil for 2 Tbsp melted light smart balance or Olivio
makes the muffins only 1.5 points per muffin or 90 calories per muffin! (this also cuts the fat by over half!)

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

I found this recipe on pinterest and it looked absolutely delicious by the picture.  Now her pictures do this recipe a whole lot more justice than mine.  The big mistake I made was that I put the blueberries in frozen and not thawed, like she said, so when I thought the cake should be done, it wasn't, so when I tried to dump it out, it fell apart, so I had to scoop it back up and put it back in the pan.  Then it just took forever to cook.  I didn't think the frozen blueberries would make that much difference, but it did, apparently.  I did make a couple small changes in the recipe.  I exchanged the oil for unsweetened applesauce.  I also used low fat vanilla yogurt instead of plain, so I didn't add the vanilla extract.  I also reduced the sugar a little bit due to the yogurt not being plain.  So I made this for breakfast at church, and it was very yummy.  It has a very strong lemon flavor, but I love lemon flavored cakes.

Ingredients
for the loaf:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + 1 Tbsp, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vanilla non fat or low fat yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
for the lemon syrup:
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
for the lemon glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or a bundt pan.
2.In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

3.In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and applesauce. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.

4.Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.

5.While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.

6.Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.

7.To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix Clone

We love Jiffy cornbread muffin mix around here, but it's got some ingredients in it that I wanted to avoid, so I decided to make my own, and I found this recipe online and it tastes just like Jiffy.  I don't think I will ever buy Jiffy again.  It's cheaper too.  I already read that you can combine all the dry ingredients and save them in baggies for later and just add oil, egg, and milk later.  On a side note...  I have been researching how to photograph food, so I'm hoping to start improving my photos and replacing some of the old photos I don't like as much.  This was my first "new" photo I took.  This recipe also works great with Mexican Corn Cake. (just leave out egg and milk for corn muffin mix)

Ingredients
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp canola oil

1/3 cup milk
1 egg

Directions
Combine first 5 ingredients with a whisk.  Whisk in oil until smooth and all lumps are gone. 

To make corn muffins, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Add milk and egg to corn muffin mix.  Fill sprayed muffin tins half full.  Bake 15 minutes.  Makes 6-8 muffins.  Or, pour into a small casserole dish and bake 15-20 minutes.

Egg free: I've made jiffy corn bread in the past without eggs by using my flax seed substitute seen on the right side of the page.

Calories/WW points: 4 weight watcher points, 170 calories, .9g fiber, 6g fat, 25.7g carbs, 3.7g protein

100% Whole Wheat Rolls

I have been trying to find a good whole wheat roll recipe.  Most of the recipes I find have white flour in them, but this one is 100% whole wheat, and I really liked it.  I changed a couple of things, but not a whole lot.  I did find I had to let mine rise for quite a while, so I might need to add a little more yeast next time, or I just have to start them early enough.  I made this using my breadmaker on dough cycle, but if you don't have a bread machine, dissolve the yeast in warm milk or water first and then add your other ingredients.  Stir very well and kneed.  Then let sit for about an hour before making into rolls.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups milk (or water)
1 1/2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk
2 Tbsp sugar or honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions
Combine all ingredients in your breadmaker.  Set on dough cycle.  Roll into 16 rolls on a cookie sheet.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Easy Garlic Parmesan Biscuits

These are delicious!  Everyone in my family really enjoyed them, and they were so easy.  I got the original recipe, Easy Garlic Cheddar Biscuits from skinnytaste.com and then I used ingredients I had on hand.  I really want to try these again with reduced fat cheddar, thinking they might be like a light version of Red Lobster's.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter (or smart balance)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried parsley (or 2 Tbsp fresh)
2 cups Bisquick mix
1 cup minus 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup fat free or 1% milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together remaining garlic, parsley, Bisquick, garlic powder, and cheese.  With a fork, cut in butter until well blended.  Stir in milk.  Do not overmix.  Drop batter onto cookie sheet or roll and flatten into biscuit shapes to make 14 biscuits.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Weight Watcher Points: 2 points per biscuit

Gorilla Bread

I made this a few weeks ago for church breakfast.  It is a Paula Deen recipe, so really can it go wrong?  It was devoured and everyone absolutely loved it!  In fact, a few people said that I could make it every week and they wouldn't mind.  :-)  It's very much like monkey bread but on steroids, as someone put it.  Or as someone else said, I basically took everything that is so sinful and delicious and put it into one dish.  :-)  It's not for those on a diet.  :-)  I did modify it a little bit, but mostly just on how to put it together, based on someone's review.

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
8oz cream cheese, softened
4 small 7oz cans refrigerated biscuit dough (originally called for 2 12oz cans, but I couldn't find that)
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a bundt pan.  Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together.  In a small sauce pan, melt butter and then add brown sugar and allow that to melt, stirring constantly.  Set aside.  Cream together cream cheese, vanilla, and 3 Tbsp of the sugar/cinnamon mix.  Press the biscuits out with your fingers and spread a little of the cream cheese mixture in the middle of each of the biscuits.  Fold the biscuits over and seal.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of nuts in bottom of bundt pan.  Layer with half of the cream cheese filled biscuits.  Sprinkle with 1/2 of the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Pour half of the brown sugar and butter over the top.  Layer with another 1/2 cup nuts, rest of the biscuits, cinnamon/sugar, and brown sugar and butter.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup nuts.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.  Place a plate on top and invert.

You can put this together the night before and refrigerate.  Bake in the morning for 45 minutes since it will be cold from the fridge. 

Optional: you can make into a monkey bread and leave the cream cheese and vanilla out.  I made it like that another Sunday and it was still rant and raved about and totally eaten.  It does make it a little easier to prep.  Chop the biscuits into quarts before layering if you do it this way.  You could also use a dairy free spread instead of butter and make it dairy free.

Cherry Danish

I have been making a special breakfast for our church plant every Sunday morning.  I told them they get to be my guinea pigs for trying new recipes.  So far they haven't seemed to mind.  :-)  I made this one and my friend Chip, who is a real chef, absolutely loved it.  He took 6 of the leftover little pieces home and only had 3 by the time he got home.  :-)  The only real change I made from the original recipe is that I baked the bottom layer of crescent rolls so I wouldn't chance them getting soggy.  You could try this with different pie filling flavors too, apple, apricot, rasberry, strawberry, blueberry...

Ingredients
2 cans (8oz each) crescent dinner rolls, divided
2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 egg white (leave out for egg free)
1 tsp vanilla
20oz can cherry pie filling
1-3 Tbsp milk

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Unrolls 1 can of crescent rolls into 2 rectangles.  Press onto bottom of sprayed 9x13 pan.  Press the seems together to seal and also spread dough to edges of pan.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes and then remove.  Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, egg white, and vanilla with mixer until well blended.  Spread onto crust.  Cover with pie filling.  Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls, separate into 2 rectangles.  Pat out for form 9x13 rectangle, pressing seems together to seal.  Place over pie filling.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  Gradually add milk, 1 Tbsp at a time to remaining sugar.  Beat with whisk until well blended and the consistency you desire.  You may only need 1 Tbsp.  Drizzle over danish.

Mom's Pumpkin Bread

This is my Mom's recipe for amazing pumpkin bread! I love pumpkin bread, and this is my absolute favorite recipe! Originally my mom made it with butter instead of applesauce, but she started using applesauce more recently and it comes out just as yummy and delicious but without the added calories and fat. Note: I have tried making this with baking splenda twice now and then once with half brown sugar and half splenda (same as the splenda sugar blend) yet it does not come out at all! It comes out extremely flat and dense and does not taste the same at all. I have no idea why, but trust me when I say, I could not get it to work.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup applesauce

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/3 cup water
2 eggs (see my side note about using flax seed for egg substitute for egg-free)

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 "rounded" tsp cinnamon

1/2 "rounded" tsp cloves

1/4 "rounded" tsp ginger

dash allspice (optional)

dash nutmeg (optional) Directions

Mix sugar, applesauce, pumpkin, water, and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate container combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices. Add all dry ingredients to the batter, blend well. Spray the bottom only of a bundt or loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes for a bundt pan or 60 or more minutes for a loaf pan. Bake until toothpick comes out "somewhat clean" (we like our pumpkin bread moist). Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling.

WW points: 1/8th of a loaf = 3 points

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

I found a recipe for Poppy Seed Bundt cake on allrecipes, and it called for vanilla pudding, but I love lemon poppy seed cake, and I had a thing of lemon pudding on hand, so it worked out nicely. I know the vanilla would be wonderful as well, but this makes it my own anyway. So yummy and very easy!

Ingredients
1 package yellow cake mix
3.4 package instant lemon pudding mix (or you could use vanilla)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract (or lemon extract for a stronger lemon flavor if you like)

Directions




Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 10" bundt pan. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, pudding mix, and poppy seeds. Make a well in the middle and pour in water, oil, eggs, and almond extract. Beat on low until blended. Scrape bowl and beat for 4 minutes on medium. Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out and cool completely.

Danila's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My friend Danila makes this wonderfully delicious banana bread with chocolate chips. I made it because I wanted something sweet to have on hand that was somewhat healthy for me. She replaces most of the oil with applesauce, and she also made it for me with the brown sugar splenda blend, but I ended up making it with regular sugar. Next time I might try using half splenda and half brown sugar since I don't have the brown sugar splenda blend. Either way, it is super yummy! If you don't have a bundt pan, use a regular loaf pan and you probably have to increase your bake time. You could also leave out the chocolate chips if you prefer and add nuts or don't, but either way, it's delicious banana bread. Thanks for the recipe, Danila!

Ingredients

3-4 ripe bananas

1 cup sugar or 1/2 c Brown sugar blend Splenda

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup Quick Oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbsp canola oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanila extract

1 cup or 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup) (leave out for dairy free)

Directions

Mash the bananas with the sugar, add to the wetstuff, then add to the dry stuff, mix just until batter comes together. Do not mix smooth. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool.

Amish White Bread

We absolutely LOVE my ricotta rolls, and so does everyone else I've ever made them for, but I don't always have ricotta on hand, so I wanted to try to find another yummy recipe, and I found this one, and it certainly comes in a very close second to my ricotta rolls. These are so soft and sweet and delicious! The first time I made them (because I've made them a few times since), all I did was literally stand there and butter them and hand them out and my family ate every single one straight from the pan. :-) I got the recipe from allrecipes originally.

Ingredients
1 cup hot water
1/3 cup sugar
1 packet of active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp canola/coconut/Olive oil
3- 3 1/2 cups bread flour

Directions
Put all ingredients, ending with water, in stand mixer. Turn mixer on low until blended and then alternate between high and medium until it forms a smooth ball of dough. Divide dough up, roll into balls and flatten some, and place onto a cookie sheet. Makes about 14-16 rolls. Keep about 1-2 inches apart, so they have room to rise. Cover with clean, dry towel, and allow to sit for 1-2 hours to rise. Bake at 350 degrees 13-15 minutes or just until lightly browned on top. You can also make these in your bread maker by making the dough in the bread maker and then rolling into balls.

Nutrition: (if you make 15 rolls) Calories: 120, fat 1.9g, carbs: 21.9g, protein: 3.2g, fiber: .8g

Big Bird's Banana Bread

This came from an old Sesame Street book we had at home. Daniel, my 4 year old, made most of it by himself for a preschool project, and it turned out yummy. I was surprised at all the healthy ingredients in it. I wonder if you could even substitute applesauce for the butter and make it even more healthy? Daniel loved being able to make this bread by himself, and he wanted to share it with everyone! :-) Such a fun kid project

Here is what you will need:

3 ripe bananas

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter (use dairy-free spread if needed)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 big bowl

1 big wooden spoon

1 fork

1 bread pan (rub some oil around the inside of it)

1 wire cooling wrack (I don't have this, but it's ok)

1 measuring cup

1 set of measuring spoons

Here is what you need a grown up to do:

1. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees

2. Melt 1/4 cup butter (I did this in the microwave)

Here is what you do:

1. Peel the bananas and put them in a bowl

2. Mash the bananas with the back of a fork

3. Carefully add the melted butter

4. Add the baking soda, flour, and honey

5. Stir everything together with a big spoon until it is all mixed together

6. Pour the mix into the oiled pan

7. Bake for 1 hour

8. After 1 hour, put a toothpick into the middle of the bread. Is there some bread on it? If there is, let it bake a little bit longer. If there is no bread on the toothpick, the bread is done! Ask your grown up helper to take the bread out of the oven. They need to take the bread out of the pan and put it on a wire wrack.

9. When the bread is cool, cut it up and share it!

Creme Brulee French Toast

I found this recipe on Gina's Skinny Taste website. She lightened up another version of this Creme Brulee French Toast and I basically took the 2 recipes and made my own version. It was very yummy! I made this Christmas morning for a special breakfast. It didn't say to serve it with syrup, but I did but only a little bit because the brown sugar bottom is very sweet. I think next time I would reduce the brown sugar some if I was going to put syrup on top.

Ingredients

-1 cup brown sugar

-1/4 cup water

-10oz challah, country-style bread, or Italian bread (I used Italian because I couldn't find one of the others at the store), cut into 1" slices (watch for allergens)

-5 eggs

-1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%) (use soy milk for dairy free)

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

In small saucepan melt brown sugar and water over medium low heat, stirring until smooth and melted, about 1 minute. Pour into a 9x13 sprayed baking dish.

Arrange bread slices in one layer in pan, squeezing them tightly to fit. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients and pour evenly over top of bread. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set casserole out to warm up a little while you preheat your oven. Bake uncovered in preheated oven 40 minutes.

Top with powdered sugar or syrup if desired.

Sour Cream Biscuits

These biscuits are amazing! If you don't like sour cream, don't worry b/c you don't even know it's in there. They are so yummy!!! My mom gave me the original recipe, and I make them a little different than the books says, not in ingredients but in directions. I LOVE these!!!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus some for kneading)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sour cream (I used light the other day and couldn't tell the difference)Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Mix flour with baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into medium bowl.
3. Cut in shortening (I use a fork) until mixture is crumbly.
4. Add sour cream and stir until moistened.
5. Turn out dough onto well floured surface. Knead just until all is blended and not sticky.
6. Press dough down with hands to form a circle about 3/4" thick.
7. Take butter knife and cut into fairly even 2" pieces or so (doesn't have to be exact). This is where I mostly differ b/c they suggest using a biscuit cutter, but I find this is way easier. Makes about 16 small biscuits. If you use the biscuit cutter, it says it only makes 8, 2 1/2" biscuits.
8. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until just golden brown. Serve with butter or margarine!

Mexican Corn Cake

So... I wanted to make a corn cake that didn't have eggs in it. I have gotten the Mexican Chi Chi's corn cake before, and it's so awesome, and I think I remembered what was in it, but it's hard to find the mix. So.... I used a jiffy cornbread mix and made up my own, and it turned out amazing! I served it with my soft tacos the other night when my Pastor and his family came over for dinner. They rant and raved and just about fought for the corn cake. My Pastor's comment, when I said I should have made more, was that I couldn't possibly have made enough. If you like corn cake, this is so easy and cheap, you have to try it!

Ingredients
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (or use Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix Clone recipe)
1 can cream corn
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup waterDirections
Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a sprayed 2 liter baking dish. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.