On our Sunday trip to the grocery store  I picked up two pints of Blueberries. Gotta love Summer and the $1.50 per pint price! Blueberry Muffins were a must with these beauties so I went straight to Tasty Kitchen to look for a recipe. I came across a recipe that was titled “Best Blueberry Muffins Ever” With a title like that how could I resist? craftedmybones posted this recipe and turns out she also has a sweet blog called Vanilla & Lace. Thanks Abi for sharing this delicious recipe. They really are The Best Blueberry Muffins Ever!

Ingredients:

For the Muffins

1+1/2 cups All-purpose Flour

3/4 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

1 whole Egg

1/3 cups Milk

1 cup Blueberries

For the Crumb Topping

1/2 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Flour

1/4  cup Butter

1 + 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tin or use those nifty cupcake liners. – Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add vegetable oil into a one cup measuring cup, add the egg and the milk. It will look like this….

Pretty cool looking! Now take this egg, milk, oil mixture and add it to your flour mixture. Mix it up and fold in those blueberries! For the crumb topping, mix together the sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. Mix with a fork and sprinkle over the muffins before you bake them. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I set my timer for 20 minutes and at that point they were browning so I pulled them out.  I set them out to cool for a few minutes then shared one with my husband. The BEST. We both agreed! Thanks again Abi for sharing! If you would like to print this recipe then click here.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
• Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
• Sweetened cocoa, for garnish
• Sweetened whipped cream, accompaniment

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 14 inch, light colored, round pizza pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper. Thanks Mom!

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix with a wire whisk. Add to the butter mixture, mixing to incorporate.

That’s Mom adding the vanilla extract to the mix.

Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them.

Spread across the bottom of the prepared pan. Now, we were not sure if we were supposed to cut the circle to fit just the bottom of pan and we decided to leave room up the side. It turned out to be helpful when I was moving the cookie around when I took it out of the oven. As you can see, this picture of the cookie cake was taken in the oven. With Mom visiting, I skipped a lot of photos! The recipe calls for a cooking time of 20-25 minutes. I checked it at 20 minutes and it was still too mushy in the middle so I let it cook for a total of 25 minutes. The cookie will look golden brown on the edges and the center will be still slightly soft. We  used the toothpick test in the middle and it came out clean. The cookie cooled in the pan for 10 minutes and then I transferred it to a wire rack to cool completely.

We did it!! The icing got a little smushed while sitting on the counter but I was really happy with the result!

I took this photo just so you can see the depth of the cookie. Look at those chocolate chips! The cookie was moist and so delicious! I will be using this recipe for cookie cakes from now on! Thanks Emeril! You can find the original recipe here. Big Thanks to MOM for helping out in the kitchen. It was really wonderful having you visit and so much fun having you participate in this blog post! I had to giggle when I was taking the photo of the ingredients. The vanilla was turned to the side and Mom said ” Don’t they need to see the word Vanilla?”

It’s all good. ~Donna

The ingredients are simple. Oreos and Cream Cheese. They super easy to make and so delicious!

One package Oreo’s and one 8 ounce bar of cream cheese. I used the food processor to blend them together.

Hello. I love you.

Whip those Oreos into crumbs, then add the cream cheese. I cut the cream cheese into blocks first. The beer is not included in the recipe but it’s Blue Moon and quite refreshing while you are whipping up desserts. That’s my husband getting in on the Oreo action.

This is what the mixture will look like when it’s all blended together. Gooey Chocolate!

I rolled the Oreo’s into small balls and put them in the refrigerator for half an hour to cool. Once cooled I then dipped them into the Double Chocolate Flavor of a melted Ghirardelli Dipping Bar!

I was popping these lovelies in my mouth!

I topped them off with sprinkles and they were good to go! (The white balls in the back are a type of Spanish cookie…when translated into English =  Nun Farts…but that’s for another post)

These Oreo Truffles were off to a party and were a huge hit! All gone real quick. That’s how it’s done and it’s all good!

~Donna

These are the spices I pulled out to check. No date on the front.

No date on the back. There is an address though. Like I would write them? Hello. It’s called websites.

On the bottom they have these number and letter codes.  No date. No luck. I headed to the McCormick website for information and I found a nifty little spice checker! You can enter the code and then add the city the spice was made in.  The address comes in handy after all.

I entered the codes and the city and here is what I found.

This little message. “The 2000 election lasted way too long. Your spices have outstayed their welcome too.”  Your Spice was made on 5/4/2000

WHAT?? I was 33 years old when this spice was made? My husband was 20? Weeps. I packed and moved it twice?!

“Hobbits were everywhere and lawyers were blonde. If your spices are from 2002 it’s time to replace them.” Your spice was made on 9/13/2002

I can’t even remember what happened in 2002. Where was I? Who was I?

“Dinosaurs ruled the theater. If you have Jurassic spices then it’s time to make them extinct.” Your spice was made 9/19/1993

In 1993 my youngest son was 2 years old. I stilled lived in Texas. That means this spice was moved across County and State lines into Georgia into 3 different houses! This is bad.

“Baby Doll dresses and clunky shoes use to be a fresh look , but like your old spices, they’ve lost their flavor.” Your spice was made on 11/2/1995

I don’t know which is worse, that I still have the spice or that I still have the clunky shoes?!

This little spice did not have a code on the bottom. Well, thank goodness for that! I get the message. My spices are Expired! It seems I really did not use them very often as some of them were still quite full. They were sitting nice and pretty in the back of the pantry. Just hanging out sharing stories about Elections, Dinosaurs, Blonde Lawyers and High Fashion.

So long my old friends. Thanks for the few good times I enjoyed you. You are expired. Say Goodbye.

It’s all good ~ Donna

P.S.

The lighting in my house is not so great due to the beautiful large trees that surround it. I found a large box, placed a white foam board on it, took a small white box for the background and used a white poster board to reflect the light. I placed this in front of my back living room window and I was very happy with the results! No flash used only natural light with my Canon and 24-70 lens.

The brownies were so moist and delicious! I did have a mishap with the mold. This was my first time using a silicone mold and I thought they were just magical so I did not spray the mold with non stick spray. Well,  I had to fight the brownies to get them out! It wasn’t a total loss since brownie crumbs are so tasty so they did not go to waste but ended up as an ice-cream topping. The second batch I used my favorite Baker’s Joy spray and out they popped with no trouble at all. I am a huge fan of Ghirardelli Chocolate and I had picked up the candy making and dipping bar at Sam’s Club so I used that to dip the brownie  pops in. Oh so good! But wait! Even better…I had Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on hand so I chopped those up in the food processor and used that for the topping. Double Whammy of Goodness!

Double Chocolate Brownies from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips – These you fold into the batter before baking.

Combine butter, sugar and water and cook over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, stir

until melted and chocolate is smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt into the chocolate mixture

and toss in those extra chocolate chips.

Spoon the brownie mixture into the mold just below the second rim line.

I baked these at 350 degrees and checked them at 15 minutes and they were perfectly done.

Well, perfectly done and then this happened!  They would not come out!

Baker’s Joy to the rescue!

Perfect Pops!

For the chocolate dip, I started with 4 squares of chocolate which I heated in a small glass bowl in the microwave for 30 second intervals until melted.

I chopped up those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups into small crumbles.

I used lollipop sticks (which you can find find at Jo-Ann’s or Michael’s) and I put a lollipop stick right in the

middle of the brownie pop and dipped it into the chocolate goodness.

Then the above happened. It fell right off the stick! What to do?! Eat it? That would be instant gratification and it was delish,

but these were meant to be shared so I tried again. I started by dipping the stick in the chocolate first then inserted it into the brownie then placed

it in the fridge for a few minutes to set. When I took them out of the fridge I dipped them in the chocolate and then sprinkled the

Reese’s Crumbs on top and I was good to go!

All done! I used a styrofoam ball that I  cut in half and stuck the brownie pops in the foam to hold them for serving.

Whew! Loved them! It’s all good. ~Donna

Ingredients

3 cups white sugar

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cups water

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees – I used a bundt cake pan but you can grease and flour three 9 x5 inch loaf

pans instead. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until smooth.

So, while we are adding the vanilla, take a look at my latest kitchen tool!

Aren’t these the cutest? I found them at Merciers Orchard Gift Shop. It was love at first site! This was one

of those “have to have it” items. Totally want, not need, but they are now mine!

Back to the bread….Blend flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Try to take  a photo with one

hand and use the wrong settings and you too will have this sweet blur!

Fold in chocolate chips..see those yummy spices?

Pour this yummy goodness into pan of your choice and bake for one hour or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Oh my goodness..

All cooled down and sitting pretty! I debated on adding a drizzle glaze to it but decided to keep it simple.

It is so delish on its own!

Perfection!

As I mentioned before, I took this to the office to share and I took this photo at work before the last piece was gone!

Thanks again to Jaime at My Baking Addiction for sharing this recipe.

Check out her awesome blog for more of her delicious recipes!

It’s all good.

~Donna

Ingredients I used for this recipe.

1 cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup sugar

3 whole ripe bananas

2 whole eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

5 tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Cream Butter and Sugar

Add in the bananas -

Bananas remind me of the Chiquita Banana Stickers we would pull

off the bunch and stick to our foreheads as kids. Then we would break into song of course!

“I’m Chiquita banana and I’ve come to say – Bananas have to ripen in a certain way-

When they are fleck’d with brown and have a golden hue -

Bananas taste the best and are best for you – You can put them in a salad -

You can put them in a pie-aye – Any way you want to eat them – It’s impossible to beat them

But, bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator – So you should never put bananas in the refrigerator.”

Of course you know that song?

How about now? Does this image help? Good. Now back to the recipe!

Add in the rest of the ingredients – see that cinnamon and chocolate chips? Yummy!

Spray muffin tins and add scoops of muffin mix. I prefer Baker’s Joy.

It contains both oil and flour so you don’t have to mess with greasing

and flouring the pans. Ok? Ok. Now we bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes

or until they are a pretty golden brown.

While the muffins are baking, I deal with this mess. It’s all good though because soon

I have these waiting for me….

Hello Friend.

Warm and delish!

See? Here’s a bite for you.

It’s all good.

~ Donna

“C” is for Cookie that’s good enough for me,
“C” is for cookie that’s good enough for me,
Oh! cookie, cookie, cookie starts with “C”!  ~ Cookie Monster~ Sesame Street

Well, you know what else starts with the letter C? Chocolate! Yes Please. I had huge craving for chocolate on Monday so what better way to squish that craving then to whip up a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies! Years ago I bought the Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book. Mrs. Fields knows about cookies so I used her famous Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The cookies are rich and chewy just the way we like them around this house. The recipe makes close to 3 1/2 dozen which means there are plenty to share….or not…okay…share I will and I did.

Ingredients for this recipe.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 sticks salted butter, softened (I used unsalted butter and added an extra 1/4 teaspoon salt)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Combine flour, soda, and salt – Mix well with wire whisk

Why hello there brown sugar!

Hello white sugar. I have a friend who is waiting to meet you!

Sugar’s meet and mix!

Throw two sticks of butter in the mix.

Butter meets sugar. At this point, please feel free to taste. So buttery and sugary. So good!

Eggs and vanilla in the yummy butter, sugar mix.

Mix at medium speed until just blended.

Add the flour mixture.

Add chocolate chips and mix until just barely mixed.

Hello tasty morsels! You deserve a close up!

All mixed up and ready to eat by the spoonful!

But no, really you should do this and drop by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet.

While the cookies are baking in the 300 degree oven for 18-22 minutes, I start cleaning

up this mess!

Here is a look at the first batch and my first bite! or second bite? Where’s the milk?

All done and nicely stacked….but not for long!

This is a simple recipe with rich results. Enjoy!

It’s all good.

~Donna

I remember my brother and I walking home from school to stay with Grandma. We would drop our school bags and settle in. She would ask if we were hungry and we could always count on a bean and cheese taco as an afternoon snack. She would cook them on the comal and they were toasty and oh so tasty. (For those who have not heard of a comal, it is a griddle or grill typically used in Mexican cooking to cook tortillas, toast spices, sear meat, and generally prepare food.) My Grandma would make fresh tortillas daily. Looking back I really appreciate all the hard work, effort and love she put into feeding her family.

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas I was spoiled by delicious mexican food. I have not been able to find the same flavors in Georgia. When we visit home  we always stock up our on tortillas, tamales and barbacoa. When my family comes to visit they always bring us the taste of home.

I have in the past attempted making flour tortillas. I have tried to channel my Grandma and sadly have not succeeded. There is not a written recipe for her flour tortillas. She took pinches of ingredients and created  warm goodness. My attempt was tough, and pancake like with no flavor. I decided to once again attempt the flour  tortilla. I searched for recipes and came across a blog named Homesick Texan Perfect! I myself am a Homesick Texan and only a Texan would know the flavors I was looking for. I read through the recipe which you can find here. Skimming the ingredients list I noticed there was no lard involved. What? No lard. My Grandma had that lard out on her counter. Everything tastes better with lard right?! I put my trust into Lisa and her recipe and guess what? They were amazing! The right color and texture and taste…oh my!! Thanks again to Lisa the Homesick Texan. Thank you. Thank you.

List of Ingredients used for this recipe.

Two cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Mixing it up.

Nice ball of dough.

Letting the dough rest.

Rolling it out.

Not so perfect but look at how it’s forming bubbles. Bubbles mean it will have dark spots when you flip.

This is one case where dark spots are a good thing!

Big bubbles. This is a good thing.

Yes! Brown Spots! Not so perfect circle but brown spots I am happy to see you!

All done. Notice that nice bokeh (small white circles) in the background. Not planned but I like it!

Hello Lovelies. I am soooo happy to see you!

Dinner is served! So wonderful and so like home! My husband and kids were smiling,

I was smiling. It’s the little pleasures in life! This recipe is a true Texas Tortilla Recipe.

My taste test was eating it with just plain butter and it was heaven. The recipe made nine tortillas

and throughout the process of making the dough balls, rolling, and flipping, I kept thinking of my

Grandma who used to make dozens of flour tortillas daily. What a woman!

Thanks again to the Homesick Texan for posting this delicious recipe. We are happy to have homemade

flour tortillas in our home!

It’s all good.

~Donna

This recipe is called Grandma’s Eggless, Butterless, Milkless Cake. The original recipe can be found here. Special thanks to Tina for posting the recipe!

Ingredients I used for this recipe.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

6 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups water

1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together

In another bowl combine all the wet ingredients together (This part was where that vinegar smell came in)

Pour liquid ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

(Now it was smelling like chocolate. Just to make sure I had a taste or two or three.)

I poured 1/4 cup batter in each cupcake holder and baked in a preheated 350 degree oven

for 15 minutes.

Why Hello There! Nice to meet you. Can’t wait to eat you!

Ohhh, so moist! And Chocolately!

Frosting? No Butter? I decided on simple confectioners’ sugar.

Success!

If you have a need for an egg free, butter free, milkless cake, this one is perfect!

It’s all good.

~Donna