Baking

Today is one of those days! I woke up bright and early and started my mission in the kitchen. I'm still trying to venture out and try new recipes. I get in a rut of just following family recipes, which are good of course, but it makes me wonder why I have boxes and boxes of cookbooks that still have stiff bindings! This morning I made Sugar Donut Muffins and a Cherry Pie. The pie is mom's "birthday cake" since we were out of town.

Sugar Donut Muffins


Sugar Donut Muffins

1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ cup plus 1 TB vegetable oil
¾ cup plus 2 TB buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For topping:
4 TB butter, melted
½ cup sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color. Add in all the vegetable oil, all the buttermilk, vanilla extract and mix well.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add this to the wet mixture.
Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
While muffins are baking, melt butter in one bowl and in another bowl pour in the ½ cup sugar. When muffins are done, take muffins, one by one and dip the top of muffin into melted butter then dip into sugar. If, you’re feeling even more creative you can dip all sides of the muffin. You can also add cinnamon to the dipping mixture. Cool on a wire rack.
yield: 12 muffins
*TO BE GIVEN AWAY :)*

Cherry Pie



1 crust (use any recipe: I use our family recipe)
3 c. pitted cherries
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. almond extract

Set oven to 425 degrees. Line 8 inch pan with crust. Mix sugar and starch together. Add cherries to sugar mixture and mix well. Add and stir in extract. Pour into pan with crust. Dot with butter. Cover with the top crust, sealing edges. Cut slits. Brush top with sugar and butter (optional). Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake until crust is done, about 30 to 40 minutes.