Brown Sugar Muffins

You can go from zero to muffins in 25 minutes with this recipe. It's easy to whip up a batch of these before school, and my kids love them more than any other muffins I make. Every recipe I get from Cori is a keeper!

I love my muffin/cupcake stand . . . and Miss Mollie
loves brown sugar muffins the most.

My kids love it when I display muffins on the cupcake
stand--it makes breakfast seem special.

Conference Crepes!

I make crepes three times a year: Christmas morning (continuing my dad's family tradition: he used to make them for our family of eight kids growing up--he was in the kitchen all Christmas morning), and during the April and October General Conference sessions.  I have been making these crepes long enough that it is time for me to retire the old recipe card.

Old recipe card / scroll down for new one

This is a pretty rich crepe batter. As far as my kids are concerned, crepes is the most special food I can possibly make, which is why I save them for special occasions.  They look forward to any time they get to indulge in this delicious French pastry.

My kids, April 2015 on Easter morning.  Mollie set up all her
Littlest Pet Shops, Calvin played with cars and trucks, and
Truman and Brigham organized Brigham's Harry Potter cards
while we listened to and watched the amazing conference addresses.

My favorite crepes from the April 2015 General Conference.
It was hard to choose favorites talks from this conference, but I
really loved "We'll Ascend Together" by Linda K. Burton, and

Buttermilk Baking Powder Biscuits

These biscuits are part of my husband's favorite breakfast (along with sausage and eggs). I always make them on Father's Day, Allen's birthday, and whenever I am about to make a large purchase.

I joke, I kid.

I replace the "buttermilk" (milk+vinegar) with kefir (Click here for my What is Kefir? post) for pretty much any recipe on this site that calls for buttermilk, because I always have kefir, and it tastes just as good and costs next to nothing when you brew it yourself.

These are extra yummy and flaky when I bake them in my deep-dish pizza stone.

Sourdough version:

I just make the biscuit dough like normal, then mix in my sourdough discard (it was a whole cup for the ones below--it adds a great sourdough flavor, but they still rise as fluffy as ever because I don't omit the baking powder.

Cream and Spice Muffins

These muffins are my favorite on a cold winter morning, because they have just a hint of sweetness . . . and a savory, warm, "holiday" kind of taste.  I have mentioned before how my Aunt Kristie sent me a surprise package in the mail when we lived in Arkansas: it was a wonderful and beautiful cookbook called 1 Mix, 100 Muffins, by Susanna Tee.  [I just found out she has a new book called Whoopies! and it is on my Christmas wishlist, Allen Santa].

Growing up in a family of eight kids, we didn't have muffins very often, but whenever we did have them, it was always with hot cereal.  It has always seemed incredibly strange to me to have a breakfast in which muffins are the main (or only) course.  I don't really eat muffins without Cream O'Wheat or oatmeal or hot cracked wheat cereal.

If you don't like Cream O' Wheat, know that I feel
sorry for you.  From the bottom of my heart.

I have great memories of my dad making hot breakfast every morning.  We had cold cereal for breakfast only on Saturday mornings--other than that, it was an after-school snack.  Thanks to this tradition, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day for me.  I wake up hungry every morning, whether I am up at 5:30 or 7:00 or 10:00.  Cold cereal satisfies my hunger for about one hour, so I still eat a hot breakfast most mornings: usually eggs and whole wheat toast, or oatmeal and toast, or Greek yogurt with nuts and berries and some 5-grain mixed in.

But muffins make my breakfast special.  And my square muffin pan pushes "special" to "amazing."

If you want to try out something new for breakfast, this is a great muffin to get you started.  I also think they're a great complimentary treat for hot cocoa.

Square Muffin Pans use regular old muffin liners--when you
fill them with muffin batter, they form into the shape.

Like so . . .

Out of the oven and ready for dusting.

Dust with the magical OXO powdered sugar wand

My kids love it when I get out the muffin rack.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.  If it's not sweet enough for you, may I suggest my all-time favorite muffin?  Cinnamon Ripples . . .

Triple-Berry French Toast Casserole

Every time I make this, I remember that it is actually easier than most breakfasts.  And even though the word "sugar" pops up many times in this recipe, I think it's probably healthier than regular French toast with syrup.  

First of all, it's baked instead of butter-fried on a griddle (which is how I make regular French toast).  It's got whole lot of whole berries--healthy, right?  And after we dust it with powdered sugar at the end, we don't add whipped cream or syrup or anything else--it's good with just a light sprinkle.  

Caveat: I let everyone dust their own, because it's so fun to use the powdered sugar wand . . . and they don't understand the word "lightly"--so maybe only my French toast feels slightly-healthier-than-regular-French-toast.

Maybe I am just justifying how often I want to make this breakfast, because no matter how you slice it (but you should slice it into 1-inch cubes), it's DELICIOUS.  And if you make more than one pan, it's an easy way to feed all your company.

Pumpkin Waffles

Finally, I get to add a recipe from one of my favorite people, Renee H!  She and I worked together in a church calling for several years, and she's just about one of the sweetest women I know.  And a fabulous cook, to boot!  When she told me about these pumpkin waffles, I knew I wouldn't rest until I tried them myself.

Divine.  What better hot breakfast can you have on a cold October morning than one that makes your whole house smell like a bakery?  My kids loved 'em, too, and they've been permanently added to our Saturday morning breakfast choices.  Enjoy!

If only you could smell this picture: it's what heaven smells like . . .

I can't even stand the clipart I found to make this recipe card.  Isn't she the cutest little waffle you've ever seen?

Coffeecake Muffins

Holy cow, these are divine.  I think they may have just kicked Cinnamon Ripple muffins out of the number one muffin spot.  And they should be good, because they are pretty labor intensive.  If I ever make these muffins for you, it means I love you from the depths of my soul.

First of all: pecans.  They are, like, ten dollars a POUND.  You can eat filet mignon, or you can eat pecans.  And I promise you, people, this recipe makes it worth it to shell out (heh, heh . . . like a shell?  Like a nutshell?  Never mind).  Since it only calls for a half-cup of pecans per dozen--you'll probably have some left over for other yummy recipes.  (I added some to the streusel in my peach pie on National Pi Day and it was delectable).

***Downright Heart-Warming Personal Anecdote:
We had two very mature walnut trees when we lived in Arkansas, and when my dad came to visit us, he could not believe our good fortune.  He promptly bought us a walnut/pecan roller, like this one:

We used it to roll along the ground and pick up the walnuts--like one of those Fisher-Price Scoop And Whirl Poppers.  Both walnuts and pecans are inside a leathery green husk that you have to rip off to get to the nut--a walnut husk stays on, but the husk around a pecan will dry out and fall off on its own when it's ripe.  We visited a farmer who had an old-fashioned walnut huller and he hulled our walnuts for the price of half that we had picked.  It was so cool to watch!

We drove by our old house on our last Arkansas visit to show the kids where we used to live, and discovered to our HORROR that the new owners CHOPPED DOWN the walnut trees. The 75-year-old walnut trees that were still giving fruit!  What?!

At least I kept our walnut-roller. I gave it back to my dad, who now uses it on his own walnut tree that he planted twenty-eight years ago.   It's finally been bearing nuts for the past five years now, and seeing firsthand all the work it takes: planting, waiting twenty-plus years, picking, hulling, drying, then finally cracking and eating, has made me realize that nuts are expensive for a reason. ***

You don't have to drizzle glaze on the top, but why wouldn't you?

Mmmmm . . . glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaze.

Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins

These muffins are just a tad more time consuming than most, but so worth the effort. I got the recipe from Cook's Country, the best cooking magazine ever [click here for more of my C's-C favorites].  The picture in the magazine was so mouthwatering I had to try them myself.

The only "extra" things you are doing with these muffins is coring, peeling, and slicing two apples, and making a yummy glaze that you brush on halfway through the baking time.  They really don't take that long, particularly if you have a corer/peeler/slicer.  I used one Pink Lady and on Jonathan apple this time around, because that's what I had in my fridge.

Arrange the apple slices on top of the thick muffin
batter, pressing gently to help them adhere

It looks pretty even before you bake it . . .

This is after it's baked for 15 minutes.  Remove the pan
and brush glaze on top of each muffin

Mmmmm . . . Glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaze . . .

Bake till it gets all caramelly on top . . . mmmmm . . . caramelly

I had to make fancy muffins to use the totally
fancy and beautiful muffin tier that my sister
Bonnie MADE for me!!!  It was such a thoughtful
gift and it really dressed up the table. 

Muffins + oatmeal + pretty place settings = perfect breakfast

The glaze makes the muffin liners sticky, so I put each muffin in an
extra liner so they wouldn't stick to the tier or the table.  Bonnie
also gave me a ton of cute muffin liners for my birthday . . .
you can never have too many, people.

Muffin, Undressed.

The cheddar cheese in each muffin is what puts them over the top.

You cannot go wrong with these ones.  Not only are they delicious and satisfying---they're so pretty that they put cupcakes to shame!