Back In The Day I Ate Raspberry Muffins

When I was in college, the "fast food" joint (DKs) on campus carried muffins in the morning. Starting as a first year, I discovered a muffin with some sort of red berry that was simply heavenly. I couldn't figure out what the red berry was, but was always thrilled when I found the red berry muffins. DKs did not often carry the red berry muffins, I discovered when I began to get a daily muffin senior year. As a senior, I still didn't know what the berry was. 

Nor did anyone else I bothered to ask. 

I didn't figure it out till my last semester. I was sitting in the coffee joint (Java Joint), eating my muffin and drinking my tea between my morning classes when I realized what the berry was: raspberry. 

And boy did I feel stupid.

The reason I liked the muffins was that they were sweet and tart, reminding me of rhubarb. But there was a bite missing that rhubarb has, so I knew it wasn’t rhubarb. It wasn’t a strawberry, because it wasn’t sweet enough. It was in between. I don’t remember how I realized it was a raspberry, as it honestly looked like a muffin with some red goop. It had no discernible characteristics other than it was red, sweet and tart, and fruit-like. 

But, that day in the Java Joint, I realized it was a raspberry. Or it was in a former life before it’d come in contact with whoever baked the muffins for Beloit College. 

Fast forward ten years, and I’m scrolling through Pinterest looking for “healthy” breakfast muffins to bake next week to take to someone who just had a baby. I was getting frustrated because all the “breastfeeding” muffins have all sort of “healthy” things you cannot find in the middle of nowhere. (Or I don’t want to buy it because it costs 12 dollars for a tiny bag and I’ll use it this once and I don’t even know if she’s breastfeeding because I haven’t spoken or seen her since before she had the baby and also I still live in the middle of nowhere.) 

ANYWAY

So, I gave up on the whole breastfeeding muffins and looked at what foods breastfeeding mothers should be eating. (You’d think I’d remember as I was at one point a breastfeeding mother, but I didn’t actually pay any attention till my milk dried up and I was pumping an ounce a day and freaking out and that was when I learned about low flow and suddenly everything made sense and I gave up.)

ANYWAY

The point of this post: I found raspberry muffins. I know I’ve looked them up before, fondly thinking of those muffins I stuffed in my gob throughout college, but I’ve yet to actually try any of the recipes I’ve pinned. Since I had a lemon, when we went to the store, I bought some raspberries (and blueberries. Those were in the breastfeeding muffins someone brought me shortly after EMO was born) and greek yogurt, as I used most of ours last week making the fail at life greek yogurt brownies no one can stand. (Proof: it’s been four days and they are still in the tin and I’ve only had one, Pilot Boy two.) I’ve not had much success when baking with greek yogurt. (The Cake Cookies and the failure at life brownies.) I was a bit iffy to try these, but figured this time it’d go better as there was more liquid than the failure at life brownies.

They turned out pretty good, though they did remind me why I usually do not bake with berries: melting berries went everywhere. And folding the berries into the batter in a uniform manner was hopeless due to the fact it was so thick, but unlike the Cake Cookies, the thick better made a pretty good muffin. Also, while it seems strange to zest a whole lemon (to me), the lemon flavor isn’t really all that strong. Next time (when I make them for myself), I might zest another whole lemon in there. 

Without further ado: the recipe.

Adapted from here. 

Raspberry-Blueberry-Lemon Breakfast (or Anytime Really) Muffins

Ingredients

1 lemon (seriously, you’ll need the whole lemon or another if you really want a lemony flavor)

1/2 cup sugar (white, unless you really want to use something else, but I used white)

1 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt 

1/3 cup oil (I used veggie, but I’d think any cooking oil would do)

1 egg

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour (I would have loved to use white whole-wheat, but tragically, had none so I used all purpose plain flour)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

2. Peel the skin off the lemon. You want to peel, so it doesn’t have to be pretty.  As once you’re done getting the rind off, you’re going to put it in the food processor (or blender) and chop it up into tiny bits. Do not zest, as you want more flavor, so peel that lemon rind off the lemon. (With a veggie peeler, not your fingers.)

3. Put the peel and sugar into a food processor (or blender) and pulse (seriously, pulse, do not blend) until lemon peel is tiny and combined with the sugar. (This will smell awesome. Take a moment and sniff.) 

4. Add the yogurt, oil, egg, and vanilla. Once again, pulse, do not blend, until combined. (This will also smell really good. A different kind of good, but still worth a good whiff.)

5. In a big mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add the wet to this and fold together with a wooden spoon, plastic spatula, or something that is not a motorized mixer. 

6. Once batter is almost combined, add berries and continue folding until there’s no more loose flour. Batter will be super thick.

7. Get out your muffin tins.

8. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray, grease with butter then sprinkle with flour, or line with muffin cups.  Just do something so the batter does not stick to the tin. 

9. Using a spoon, divide the batter among the cups. Fill the cups as full as you can get them, as the batter will rise only a little. (I got a total of 18 muffins out of my batter, filling the cups full.)

10. Bake until edges are golden brown, which will occur around the 18 minute mark. Do not bake for longer than 25 minutes. (Mine finished before the 18 minute mark, but since my oven is usually slow, I set the timer for 20 minutes. Luckily, I checked them shortly after the 18 minute mark, as if I'd left them in there for 20, they'd've burned.) 

11. Remove muffins from oven and cool for five minutes before transferring to wire racks. 

12. Enjoy warm. (Not hot, as the berries will burn your tongue.) 

A Green Cookie

I've wanted a chocolate chip cookies for quite awhile, but didn't actually want one due to this whole "being healthy" thing I'm trying (and sometimes failing at). So, today, since I'm out of spinach, I had to figure out a new healthy treat to feed Time Muncher. I had zucchini, so thus, I made Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies. And because I can't leave well enough alone, I tweaked another recipe. The original can be found here. There is likely nothing wrong with that recipe. I just didn't have enough honey (or local honey for that matter) and I added some almond flour. Because I've got some and I have to do something with it. I also added ginger. Because I always add ginger to stuff like this.

Pilot Boy told me these were very good cookies and he almost alway detests when I "experiment" with chocolate chip cookies.

Anyways, here ya go:

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hidden Zucchini

1/2 cup virgin olive oil (Weird, I know. While all I could smell of the batter of the olive oil, can't taste it once it's baked)
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour (or, 1 cup of all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (or if you're an idiot, 1/2 tablespoon and then attempt to pick out some once you realize your mistake. Didn't seem to affect the recipe too badly.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 whole zucchini, finely shredded and squeezed to rid of some of the liquid
1/2 cup big chocolate chips (I used dark ones)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. (and some over flow if you like chocolate)

What to do with all these things:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment or slip mats. Or not.

2. In a bowl with high sides and that is of medium size, combine the olive oil, egg, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Once these items are in the bowl, use an electric mixer (or a stand one if you want) and...MIX! Until the sugar dissolves.

3. In another bowl of medium size, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Combine in a method of your choosing. (I stirred it with a spatula!)

4. Add the dry to the wet. Use your electric mixer till just combined.

5. Then add the zucchini and mix till the greens tuff is throughly mixed into the dough.

6. Dump the chocolate chips in and use the handy spatula (or spoon, fork, or whatever) to combine.

7. Don't panic when all you smell is olive oil.

8. Drop tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheets, spacing them apart a bit as they do spread a wee bit.

9. Put into the oven and leave there for between 12-15 minutes. (I left mine in for 13:30.)

10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheets for two minutes.

11. Transfer to wire wracks to complete cooling.

12. Eat.

All Things Green and Sweet (Getting a Toddler to Eat Green Things)

So, once upon a time I had a child who ate anything I fed her. Kale and parsnips, check. Quinoa and blueberries, check. Peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes, check. Any combination of baby food I tried, Time Muncher snarfed down. I was thrilled. I had a child who would eat literally anything! Even things I detested.

Then, I started feeing her actual food, meaning non-baby food. Suddenly, zucchini was littering the floor, peas were being thrown at Basil Bea Dog, and even grilled chicken was left behind to be fed to the dog. I tried sneaking veggies into things she ate, but she'd figure me out and the hour long veggie frittata I had slaved over was smashed into the cup holder on her high chair (followed by her evil genius laughter).

I suddenly had a picky eater. And most problematic was her refusal to eat all things green, even honeydew.

I mentioned this to her doctor (after searching Pinterest and finding a few things to try when it finally cooled down as almost everything required baking) and he mentioned green smoothies.

"It's what we fed our daughter when she refused her greens," he said smiling easily and looking almost fond at the memories.

So, after her doctor appointment, I went to the Neighborhood Market by Walmart (because it's colder there and less crowded and I have a panic disorder), I got a huge bag of kale and spinach, along with some frozen fruit. So, I set up to make smoothies.

I had gone through a smoothie phase when I was in my first trimester, then I decided my blender couldn't handle ice and gave up.

So, while Time Muncher was sleeping, but close to when she was going to wake, I whipped up one of the green smoothie recipes I'd found on Pinterest.

Or, well, I fudged it as I didn't have everything. I mean, I try to be healthy, but I didn't have almond milk, coconut water, or any of the other "healthy" things people these days seem to always have on hand.

I thought it was a little gross the concoction I'd made, but Time Muncher sucked it down. I put the left over into some pouches and gave those to her whenever she was hungry over the next few days. Put anything in a pouch and she will eat it.

I branched out into green smoothies that I liked. The best combo I found happen to use kale. I figure since I'm feeding her spinach muffins, she can get a dose of kale in her smoothie.

Yeah, spinach muffins. These things are so good, I can't stop eating them. They are seriously brilliant. I followed this recipe here. The only change I made was I used white whole wheat all purpose instead of white, but that's all I changed, so I will direct you there instead of rehashing the recipe.

Now, for smoothies, I did look at recipes, but for the most part, I found if I just eyeball it, they turn out better. So, here are my fool proof, toddler approved, green smoothies.

KALE SMOOTHIE

Overflowing handful of chopped kale
Splash of vanilla extract (very small)
Thawed mango and strawberries (or fresh)
A soup spoon or two of plain greek yogurt.
A dash of cinnamon. Or ginger. Or whatever strikes your fancy.

1. Add all ingredients to blender.
2. Turn blender on (after you've plugged it in). Blend.
3. When everything is blended and you cannot see any kale bits remaining, pour into sippy cup and serve instantly.
4. Either put left overs into pouches to enjoy the next day, or finish it yourself.

SPINACH SMOOTHIE

Overflowing handful of spinach
Splash of vanilla extract (very small)
Canned pineapple, chopped or crushed. Or buy the slices and cut them yourself
Half a banana, cut up to ease the pain on the blender.
1/2 c of whole milk
A dash of cinnamon, ginger, or whatever spice you'd like.

1. Put everything into the blender.
2. Plug blender in.
3. Blend until you see no more spinach anywhere.
4. Pour into spippy cup and watch your toddler consume spinach without his or her knowledge.
5. Eat the left overs yourself. Or put in another sippy cup to be enjoyed tomorrow.

The last thing I've snuck spinach into is pancakes. It occurred to me, after finding out how much Time Muncher loved pancakes, she might eat them even if they are green. So, I turned to the trusty Pinterest, found some spinach pancake recipes and went from there.

SPINACH PANCAKES
Tweaked from here.

One large handful of spinach
3/4 cup of plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup of milk (I use whole milk since they are for Time Muncher)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon oil (I used veggie)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup almond flour (if you have on hand, if not, leave it out)
1 tablespoon of sugar (any type you feel like using, I used white due to the fact it was sitting right there)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Plug in your blender. Put a skillet on the stove and turn it on to medium to heat.
2. Put all wet ingredients into the blender with the spinach.
3. Blend, blend, blend, blend.
4. Whilst blending, get a large mixing bowl and combine the dry ingredients. Stir until they are combined.
5. Add the wet to dry and mix. If the batter is still too thick, add more milk. If it's too thin, add a little bit of flour. (Each time I've made this, the batter's been too thick, so I added a little more milk. Batter should be thin, but not liquified.)
6. Using a tablespoon, add a dollop of batter to the skillet. Depending on skillet, you might get more or two into the pan.
7. Stand and stare at them till they start to bubble. If they don't bubble (because they are too thick) wait about two or three minutes if you like timing things.
8. Flip!
9. Sing a little ditty in your head.
10. Upon finishing your ditty (which ought to be two minutes or so long), remove pancake from skillet.
11. Wait for it to cool before feeding it toddler.

To reheat the left overs you will likely have (unless your husband is home and he eats them all because they are "SO SMALL! Why are they mini pancakes? Why can't you just make regular pancakes?"), microwave for 25 seconds to heat the middle, then warm on a heated skillet or griddle for a minute just to crisp the outside up. You'd never know they were nuked. Trust me.

An Almost Pinterst Fail

I've had quite a few Pinterest fails. Mostly how to curl your hair. No matter which method I try, none of them work as advertised. However, I've not had many recipes fails.

I almost had one today.

I had planned to make blueberry muffins, but after I worked out today, I really wanted chocolate. So, after checking out this recipe for Chocolate Fudge Yogurt Cookies. Sounds good, right?

They might be, but I followed her directions and came out with a bowl of...a couple balls of dough, but mostly a bowl of flour mixed with coco. So, I improvised.

This usually ends badly. When I do not follow directions, things never taste right and turn out to be a disaster. It's why I don't like cooking and I stick to baking. I tweak occasionally, but I never just...go off the book.

Well, the book failed me this time. I've no clue what I did wrong, but my cookies were in danger, so, I added an egg white, melted a tablespoon and half of coconut oil, and got the electric beater out.

And almost killed the motor. After I was done, I was smelling something...well, wrong. I sniffed the oven, it smelled oven like. I smelled the dough, it smelled chocolate and minty. Finally, I went back to where I first smelled the odor and discovered the motor in the hand mixer was burning. Or something. I unplugged it and put it away. Hopefully it'll work next time.

ANYWAYS

The dough is REALLY THICK, but that leads to what Pilot Boy calls Cake Cookies.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe for...

Chocolate Cake Cookies
(adapted from Chocolate Fudge Yogurt Cookies.)

1 egg
1 egg white
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, semi melted
1 1/2 cups powder sugar (packed)
2 containers of single serving Chiboni plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened dark coco powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp plus 1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt (or the 2 tsps of sea salt, which I added to the mixture instead of sprinkling on top)
and how ever many chocolate chips you want. (I dumped half a bag of Mint Chocolate Chips and maybe 1/4 of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in when the first half bag didn't look like enough)

1. Preheat oven to 355. (Mostly because I cannot set my oven to 356. I can only do things by fives.)
2. Whisk egg, vanilla, and powder sugar together till smooth in a medium bowl. (It will appear at first as if there is too much dry ingredient in the bowl to actually combine, but don't worry, it will.) 
3. Mix the flour, coco, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
4. Add the vanilla sugar egg mixture to the flour coco mixture. Mix together till you give up at ever getting it to actually look combined.
5. Add the containers of yogurt. Attempt the mixing thing again.
6. When you feel like a failure at life, add the egg white and semi melted coconut oil (heat up some water, put a tiny bowl in the bigger bowl of heated water, add the coconut oil and melt. It takes like maybe a minute). 
7. Get out your electric mixer or hand mixer and use it like your life depends on it.
8. Try not to kill your mixer.
9. Once everything is combined and there's no more dry stuff lurking in the bowl, add the chocolate chips and mix again till the chips are lost within the massive amounts of dough.
10. Grab a spoon and drop onto cookie sheets.
11. Put in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven.
12. Cool for three minutes, move to wire wracks.
13. Enjoy.

The Somewhat Healthy Triple Chocolate Muffins

So, I'm trying to eat healthier. You know, to loose those last ten baby pounds that are hanging out around my middle. I've been working out at least three times a week, but as usual, my diet is always the hardest thing to alter. Mostly due to my love affair with sugar.

I love sugar.

So much.

I troll Pinterst often for "healthy" baking recipes. Granted, most times I get distracted by all the other sugary goodness out there, but I decided I'd try a "healthy" one today. Granted, I lacked the whole wheat flour and unsweetened almond milk, but whatever. I actually had the coconut oil! And I had the zucchini.

Yeah. That's right. I baked something sweet and chocolate with zucchini.

And they are utterly brilliant. They are not very sweet, likely due to the use of half the sweeter called and the use of dark chocolate, but they are so good. And they hit the spot. And you cannot taste the zucchini at all.

So, here's the recipe, which I adapted from here. Her recipe is healthier than mine, due to her use of white whole wheat flour and unsweetened almond milk. I did cut the honey, but I used regular flour, so I will call mine....

The Somewhat Healthy Triple Chocolate Muffins

1 1/4 cup of your choice of flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened dark coco powder (or whatever you have)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon vanilla (I love vanilla, but you can use 1 teaspoon if you don't love it like me)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1/3 cup of honey (just fill the 1/3 cup in half)
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup of shredded zucchini
1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup of dark chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup of white chocolate chips, plus a few to sprinkle on the top before baking

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line muffin tin with liners and spray. (Seriously, no matter what kind of liners you're using, spray them with nonstick cooking spray. These babies like to stick, so spray away.)
(Random: I tested out silicone muffin liners and they are AWESOME. The muffins popped right out and I can reuse them again and again.)
3. Shred the zucchini into the smallest bits you can manage.
4. Put the pile of zucchini in two paper towels, find a sink, and squeeze. Make sure all the extra water gets out. If you soak through the first set of paper towels, get another set and squeeze till no water comes dripping out. Set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, coco, baking soda, salt and whisk together. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl (hopefully one with tall sides) combine the coconut oil, egg white and egg, and vanilla. Mix on medium till you cannot see any bits of coconut oil. The mixture should be smooth.
7. Add the zucchini, unsweetened applesauce, and almond milk. Mix till combined on the low setting.
8. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing till combined.
9. Fold in the chocolate chips.
10. Spoon into the muffing liners. The original recipe said you'd get 12, but I got 18 filling each about half full.
11. Bake for 22 -25 minutes. I put mine in for 23 minutes and 30 seconds. But, every oven is different.
12. Let cool for awhile. (I didn't time this part.) Once cool, remove from muffin liners and enjoy.

Sweet and Salty Cookies

Carmel Sea Salt & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been rather keyed into sea salt carmel lately. I can't remember when the cravings for it began, but I'll blame Starbucks for lack of people to blame. Anyways, I found these nifty carmel bits at Jumbo Foods (local grocer) awhile  back and was like, "Dude, these could be used for cookies."

So, of course I bought them.

And they sat in my cabinet for over a month. How do I know it was more than a month? Well, my daughter is four weeks old and I bought them before she was born. Thus, I've had them for over a month.

So, since I feel like a normal person (kind of) once more, I thought I'd bake some cookies. Whilst my parental units were in town for two weeks, I made cookies, but I didn't use the carmel bits. Since I'm venturing out to be social with people my own age on Friday (and giving Basil Bea a much needed dog play date), I figured I'd try my all time fav cookie recipe and throw the carmel bits in instead of the dark chocolate chips.

Now, for YEARS I've tried every single chocolate chip cookie recipe I've run across. And they all pretty much taste the same to me and usually are kind of a let down after they are no longer fresh from the oven. Well, after we moved into the house and I had a kitchen once more (well, mostly I had all my baking stuff back, as I had a kitchen whilst living in San Antonio, but I digress...), I pulled out the newest recipe I wished to try: Brown Butter & Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I was a little leery of the recipe for two reasons: brown butter and the whole two hours in the fridge.

I mean, what the heck is brown butter?

It's melted butter that's brown and kind of nutty. Does it make a difference in recipes?

Yeah. Trust me.

I think the first time I made them I threw them in the fridge for two hours like the recipe called for, but I didn't really brown the butter properly, but they were still good. (I did not successfully brown butter till I made those doughnuts.) Out of the two recipes I tried out that week, Pilot Boy like the Brown Butter and Sea Salt cookies best.

One would think because we both liked them, this recipe would be my to go. Nope. Why?

The whole putting it in the fridge and brown butter. (Also, it calls for a tablespoon of greek yogurt, which I don't usually have on hand since I made myself sick of it by eating it for a year straight for a meal during my Greek Yogurt Diet phase.)

HOWEVER, in looking for a recipe to make cookies with my carmel bits, I decided to go with this one since it called for sea salt.

And let me tell you, THEY ROCK.


So, here's my adapted recipe if you care:

Sweet Stuffs

Throughout my pregnancy, I've not had "cravings" in the typical sense. Yeah, I'll randomly want something, usually Arby's, but that happened to me before I got knocked up. Usually around that time of the months...and it was usually chocolate.


I am a sugar addict. I'm completely and utterly addicted to sugary items. Most of the things I've "craved" have sugar. Are are made mostly out of sugar. So, I've actually done quite a bit of baking. Recently, I've wanted doughnuts.

I always get random cravings for doughnuts. Usually when there's no doughnut place in sight. (Except that one time when I was in Boston when I was 13 and I desperately wanted a doughnut and no one would let me have one.) Anyways, I usually want a doughnut after three pm and all the doughnut shops in town (there are several) are closed. The first time I craved doughnuts, I went to local food store and got some of their Krispie Cream doughnuts. They fulfilled my craving and I was happy.

However, I thought: there must be a healthier way to eat a doughnut, right?

Then I remembered: Baked doughnuts.

I'd need a doughnut pan. I didn't have one, hence why I'd never tried it before. So, I logged onto Amazon, used the last of my credit card reward points and happily bought two doughnut pans and a doughnut cutter for when I decided I'd like to tackle yeast doughnuts myself.

I also got a cookbook all about doughnuts: Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home. 

So, I was amped up to make doughnuts.

Then I read the cookbook.

It called for things I'd a) never find in the tiny town I live in (I can't even find white whole wheat flour, people) and b) whole milk (that I can find easily now that I know it's not called whole milk, but vitamin D milk).

Also, the recipes all made way too many doughnuts for me to eat alone, so I took to my old fall back: Pinterest.

That's where I found the recipe I decided to use. Reasons I decided to use it: a) it didn't call for any special flour; b) it didn't call for any special type of sugar; c) it claimed to make only 10 doughnuts; and d) it didn't call for whole milk except in the glaze, which I figured I could fudge with skim.

So, I made these doughnuts.

They were good.

They were actually really easy to make.

Pilot Boy came home and announced, "Wow, these are good!"

I did learn a few things the first time I made them.

1. Use actual buttermilk. I've never actually bought buttermilk before, but since I was going to the store to get real butter for these babies (the fake stuff doesn't brown as nice, tragically) I decided I'd get some buttermilk. And man, they taste better with the real thing as opposed to when you milk the milk you have with vinegar. (or maybe I'm just mental, I'm not sure)

2. Don't make the glaze in a pie plate. Also, cut the glaze recipe in half.

The second time I made doughnuts, I wanted to make non-chocolate cake ones. I went with the other recipe on posted on Joy the Baker: Brown Butter Doughnuts.

They were not as good as the chocolate and I doubt I'll make them again. I'm not sure what went wrong, as once more I followed the directions and didn't do my own thing, but they were chewy and tasted horrid. I also made a batch of chocolate ones and froze the dough I didn't use (will I ever use it? I don't know. More than likely not, but I was tried and didn't feel like making more doughnuts.) The Brown Butter Doughnuts recipes claims to make six, but I got almost eight, thus why I began the chocolate ones when I wasn't going to, but then I did.

Anyways, I can vouch the chocolate baked doughnuts are awesome.

The other thing I've recently been making often is cookie dough balls. Frozen cookie dough balls. I like these because they are sugar, chocolate, and cold. And they are small so you don't feel like you're eating a whole bunch when you chow down on four or five of the tiny balls. I cut the recipe in half, as I don't have room in my freezer for a full batch. They are really good on a hot day.

I should be running...

Things that have happened since I last posted:

1. It snowed. A lot.
2. Basil threw up.
3. Pilot Boy smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving.
4. I saw Harry Potter and it was the best movie yet. They should have split all the movies in two.
5. They would make more money that way. I bet they didn't think of that till the end. They suck.
6. Pilot Boy helped me put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Or the day after our Thanksgiving. We celebrated at day late because he got lost.
7. I then went to Target on my own and have a Christmas decoration over load.
8. I can light my house inside by Christmas lights becasue I put them all inside and not outside.
9. Have you been outside? It is cold. I'm not hanging lights out there.
10. Basil ruined my Christmas sweater. She and I were no longer friends.
11. I can listen to Christmas music and no one can tell me its too early.
12. All my christmas presents are wrapped. Except one. Which I haven't bought yet.
13. Oh, wait, Pilot Boys presents are still at the store. Don't tell him that.
14. The windows are always forsty when I get up. Its kinda cool. Or cold.
15. I made another batch of Martha cookies. They still do not look like her cookies. I'm not sure how she gets her cookies so flat. Magic?
16. I had a custom order for a purse! It was totally awesome. Even though I had a fight with the purse. I won, btw.
17. Basil loves snow. She has carved out paths to walk in. And poop in. I'm pretty sure she's not clear on the concept of having one spot to poop in.
18. I watched the leak footage of Craig Ferguson's song to the original "Doctor Who" theme. It was AWESOME.
19. Relatives invade tomorrow. I have to clean the house today. For some unknown reason I thought it was Wednesday. Not sure why. Its not like I didn't turn the calender. I did find a clock I forgot to turn back. Hence why I didn't feed Basil or myself till way after seven. I thought it was only after six, people.
20. The sun doesn't fully rise till after 10 am here. Then it is i annoying. Super annoying.

The Cable Company Must DIE

Last night I turned to the local ABC channel.

It was black. It was five till eight and the channel was black. I sat there and stared at the black TV for awhile till my husband walked in and asked, "Why aren't you watching Lost?"

"I am watching Lost. This is what Time Warner thinks Lost looks like tonight."

He got down on his knees and tried to get the TV on the basic, not the digital, but still black. He went into the bedroom and discovered that channels 4-12 were all black. He came back into the living room and told me this.

"Yeah, when one of them is black, all the local channels are black," I said, still staring at the black TV.

This has happened before, where the local channels all go black. It usually happens in the morning, for a few hours or something, but in the mornings it is just sort of annoying. Last night it was HIGHLY ANNOYING because it was DURING PRIME TIME and I could not WATCH LOST. This upset me greatly and today I looked into getting a dish. There is not much choice in the dirt hole, but in all honesty, I have NEVER in my life had TV channels just go blank for hours at a time. The other annoying thing that the digital Time Warner cable does is that for unknown reasons it will freeze and skip during shows. I was trying to watch FX this afternoon and every five seconds the picture and sound will freeze and turn all to that pixel and then freeze and skip. This is annoying. A land based cable should not do this. Back before I entered the dirt hole it never did this. The dish would do this before it would go out, as in when a plane flew over or a thunder storm showed up. However, the dishes don't seem to do that here, one lack of huge planes and lack of thunderstorms.

I just have to figure out a new internet company, as I have a feeling if I cancel the cable, they'll screw me for internet. Stupid Time Warner.

On a better note, I made cranberry-strawberry bread and I put too much ginger in it. It's interesting.