This a brand new recipe that my Mom just found in a magazine in the doctor’s office . They are so good! My dad even wants them to be a regular!

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup lightly crushed cornflakes

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Start melting chocolate in a large pan. When chocolate is melted turn heat down and add all other ingredients except the butterscotch chips. Turn heat completely off and let cool a little bit so as not to let butterscotch melt when they are added.  Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper and let sit until set enough to pick up quickly so you can put them in the refridgerator to completely set. Enjoy!

To be quite honest, I don’t think that I have ever made the blueberry recipe for these muffins before. I have made the Apple-Cinnamon and the Banana though, and they are very good. So I am sure these are too.

Streusel Topping(below), if desired

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil (Sub: applesauce)

1 large egg ( Sub: egg substitute such as ‘Egg Beaters’ )

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh, canned(drained) or frozen blueberries

1.) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups, with shortening, or line with paper baking cups.

2.) Make Streusel Topping; set aside.

3.) Beat milk, oil and egg in larg bowl with fork or wire whisk. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle each with about 1 TBSP topping.

4.) Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. If baked in greased pan, let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm if desired.

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons firm butter or stick margarine

Mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl. Cut in butter, using blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until crumbly.

1 Muffin: Calories 170; Fat 6g

Apple-Cinnamon Muffins: Omit blueberries. Beat in 1 cup chopped peeled apple (about 1 medium) with the milk. Stir in 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon with the flour. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Banana Muffins: Omit blueberries. Decrease milk to 1/3 cup. Beat in 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium) with the milk. Use packed brown sugar for the sugar.

Cranberry-Orange Muffins: Omit blueberries. Beat in 1 TBSP grated orange peel with the milk. Fold 1 cup cranberry halves into batter.

Mmmmm…this cake is so good! Chocolaty and moist, Betty Crocker style!  What else could you ask for?! Oh, did I mention that it’s easy too?!

1 2/3 cup All-purpose flour  (or 2 cups cake flour)

1 1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

 Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round 8 or 9 1/2 inch layer pans. Beat all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, on low speed, scraping bowl constantly for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes. Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Frost with Chocolate Mocha Butter Frosting.

Chocolate Mocha Butter Frosting

1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate, cool

2 cups powdered sugar

 1 1/2 tsp. instant powdered coffee

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

About 2 TBSP milk

Mix margarine or butter and the melted chocolate. Stir in powdered sugar and coffee. Beat in vanilla and milk until frosting is of spreading consistency.

Fills and frosts two 8-or-9 inch layers or frosts a 13×9 inch cake.

I’m not usually a meat type of person, but this recipe is an exception. In my opinion this is the best chicken that has ever been made . It’s another recipe that has been in our home since I could remember. I will say though that it’s not very good if you are more of a plain person who doesn’t cook much with spices.

~ Oatmeal Baked Chicken ~ 

6-8 chicken breasts

1 1/2 Cups quick-cooking oats

1 TBSP paprika

1/2 TBSP chili powder ( if hot chili powder: 1 tsp.)

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 cup butter, melted

 Mix all ingredients EXCEPT butter in a gallon sized plastic bag. One peice at a time, toss chicken in the bag to coat with oat mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet and drizzle evenly with butter. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 - 50 minutes. Great side dishes would be green beans, potatoes, and rolls.

I attempted to make the pinwheel cookies over the weekend. They turned out pretty well, not perfect, so I guess that just means that I need to practice the recipe more.  They did turn out a little bit dry, and they are not very round, more like oval, but other than that I think they taste fine. How did you do?

I just found a new recipe that I want to try. I thought that it might fun to try them together. I’ll let you know how mine turn out as long as you tell me about yours! :)  Happy Baking!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies

 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg

1) Put the chocolate and water in a double boiler. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted; remove from the hot water and set aside to cool.

2) In a bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder and salt; stir well to mix. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and the brown sugar together on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the peanut butter and the egg, beating smooth after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the flour mixture. Remove a little more than half the dough from the bowl and set aside. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the dough left in the bowl and stir it in thoroughly.

3) On a floured piece of wax paper, pat each piece of dough into an 8-inch square. If the dough is extremely soft and sticky, slide the paper onto a cookie sheet and chill briefly.

4) Use a pastry brush to paint the square of chocolate dough with water. Top it with the square of plain dough. Starting anywhere, roll up the two doughs as you would a jelly roll, keeping the roll straight and even. Roll the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, wrap and chill. (You may leave the dough chilled for several days or even freeze it at this point.)

5) To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the roll about every 3/16 inch and arrange each cookie on your baking sheet 2 inches from the next one and from the edges of the pan. Bake for 14 - 17 minutes, until the cookies are firm and very lightly colored. Cool on the pans on racks. Whew! That was a lot of typing!

 Tip: To add flavor to your eggs pour a little hot sauce in! My mother puts it in her Egg Beaters and she really likes it. She kept telling me that I should try it,I personally thought it sounded kind of strange, but after awhile I gave in and tried it. I’ll never eat eggs plain again! Adding some cheese to your eggs also tastes very good.

I told you that I like to bake! This is an old, but good recipe for these cookies. The “new” twist with these are the added ingredients: chocolate chips and molasses. I started making these cookies for a pharmacist friend of ours and after a couple batches he requested that I add the chocolate chips and molasses. He actually gave me a jar of molasses just to make sure that I would remember to add it !

2 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar

3 TBSP. molasses ( optional)

2tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups raisins

1 cup chocolate chips ( optional )

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingrediants into a large mixing bowl.  Place dough on cookie sheet 1 or 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes 

Serves: approx. 3-4 dozen

This is the only version of meatloaf that I have ever had in our home since I could remember. Another one of my Mom’s great findings from years ago.  I have included some substitutes with this recipe for those who are watching their figures .

1 lb. ground beef - Sub. 1 lb. Lean ground beef

1 cup rolled oats (regular, not quick)

1/8-1/4 cup minced onion - Sub. Dried minced onion(works just as well and doesn’t make you cry ).

1/4 cup green pepper, minced

1 egg - Sub. Egg substitute

1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper

1/2 TBSP. Worchestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/8 cup milk - (Low fat milk will work just fine, including rice or soy milk)

1/4 cup ketchup

To taste: 1 tsp. turbinado sugar, 1/8 tsp. garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Shape meat into loaf and place in loaf pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Drizzle more Ketchup over meatloaf. Bake for 40 minutes. Enjoy!  Serves: 6 slices  

This is probably the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I have ever had. It might take some tweaking for some people to get them just right, but when you do, they are delicious. Trust me, I make them all the time !

(Picture coming soon) (Edit: Picture coming someday)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- 2 sticks of butter, room temperature

- 3/4 cup sugar, heaping

-3/4 cup brown sugar, heaping

Combine and mix until smooth (should almost look like thick frosting).

- 2 eggs

- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix well.

- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, heaping not leveled.

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- 1 tsp. salt

Add and carefully stir into your wet ingredients. Will be thick.

~ A whole 12oz. bag of yummy chocolate chips ~ 

Pour and stir in.

Using a small cookie scooper or a spoon, place dough onto ungreased cookie sheets an inch apart. Bake till light brown for about 8-10 minutes. Yield: about 3 dozen? I’ve never counted. Sorry!