Apple Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel

I am a firm believe in the healing power of food. Whenever anyone (that I like) gets some sort of medical percedure, I like to bring them something home cooked, weather it be dinner or a baked good,  you know, so they don't have to worry about starving to death. ( no one I have ever visited was ever starving) Food helps you heal and food makes you happy so bringing a healing person some food only makes sense to me. So when the mr's aunt recently had part of her knee drilled out, cleaned out and stuffed with human cadaver bone marrow ( pretty cool))  I baked her, her husband, and her kiddos some muffins.

Why muffins? Well I was thinking soup or a casserole, but the mr suggests I do a baked good instead. I was going to go with a cake, but then that can get kind of annoying and troublesome with a couple of kids. Cupcakes are to cheesy and don't send the right message of get well, (cupcakes say, run around.. sugar high!), a pie would have been nice, but I am not sure if the kids like pie. Then there are muffins.. muffins are perfect. Not terribly packed full of sugars and crap. A little more hearty, can be eaten as a snack, a dessert, or a quick breakfast, and keep for a good while.  I made them apple cause I gots a shit ton of apple and peanut butter cause protein is good and it just makes sense. 

Apple+peanut butter are BFF's and really, what human doesn't like peanut butter? 

So his aunt and family got the muffins, and the mr only got 1. I think he was really disappointed that I didn't save him another one or make more.  

Oh well. I guess I can make them again, if he is lucky. 

And I feel like I should say get we'll soon Sarrh, but this last is a badass and is already doing great,so I will just say, Hi Sarah, looking good!

Now to the muffins!

The stuff. Dry ingredients are flour, baking packing soda cinnamon and salt. Then we have applesauce, breon sugar, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar. For the streusel.... peanut butter, brown sugar, flour, salt and earth balance. (you could use butter if you want)

The streusel stuff goes into a bowl and gets mixed until it turns into a crumbly, soft dough and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in one bowl, then in another bowl, mix together he applesauce, oil, vanilla,  sugar and lastly, the vinegar. 

Fold the wet into the dry, mixing just enough until incorporated. And remember….DON"T OVERMIX!

Now scoop batter into muffin pans. Use liners, or not… I usually don't but figured that lined muffins travel and keep a little better… plus I just found a bunch when I was cleaning out a kitchen drawer.

Streusel top those muffins!

A view from the side… Use it all, don't be shy, the crumble is there to be eaten… Oh, and lesson learned by me. Next time I make these I will give the streusel a little pat into each muffin, to really secure it to the tops. So yeah, you should do that.

Now into the ove they go!

Pull out to cool when the streusel is browned, the muffins are poofed, and a tester poked comes out clean.

The smell alone will make your mouth water and you tummy growl. 

A muffin win!

Happy Friday!  Do lots of fun fall stuff this weekend!

-C

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Apple Muffin with Peanut Butter Streusel

Makes 12 muffins

 Muffin Stuff

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups applesauce* (recipe here)
• 2/3 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Streusel Stuff

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 3 tablespoon  brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons  earth balance

* IF you are using homemade applesauce (you should!) A little chunky is good. Just make sure that there are no huge chunks. Also, if you applesauce is really thick, just add a bit of water to think it would. It doesn't have to be pourable, but it should have a bit of water content to it. 

Turn oven on to 350 and either grease or line a 12 hole muffin pan

In a bowl, combine all of the streusel stuff unit it becomes a kind of crumbly dough and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix together the applesauce,, brown sugar, oil, vanilla,, and vinegar. Pour the wet into the dry and fold in until  just fully incorporated, br careful to not over mix the batter.

Scoop equal amounts of batter into you muffin tin. Grab the streusel l topping and evenly distipute that all over the muffins, giving the topping a soft pat to make sure it stays put while baking. 

Place muffins in oven and bake for about 30 ish minutes, or unlit the streusel is browning, the muffins are poofy and a test comes out clean.

Remove from oven, pop muffins from tin, and let cool on a rack.

Serve as soon as you want. A glass of milk (plan, nut or cow) or a big old cup of joe goes really well with this muffin situation. 

Peanut Butter Freezer Grapes

I can't stop eating these. They are like little balls of crack and I am an addict.

Frozen peanut butter grapes… I mean, I just can't stop.

So you say you have never frozen your grapes? Well you should. It's the only way I like to eat them anymore.  I was never a huge grape fan, but one day long ago, I discovered the wonder that is the frozen grape and it is amazing, Now whenever grapes are on sale at the grocery store, I buy way to many and end up filling our tiny little freezer with jars and bowls of grapes.  Then whenever the mister goes to grab the bag of  frozen peas for his sore back or knees, there is almost always a frozen grape avalanche. Why I don't put a lid on those containers is even a mystery to me.  Oh, now I remember.. I want easy access.Oopen the freezer, grab a few grapes, and go on my way… not having a lid to take off makes the process a little easier.

Then one day, the frozen grape game turned into something else, something a little more decadent and even more addicting. Where it came from, I do not know. Maybe it's some subconscious throwback to a childhood full of peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches, or maybe it's just that fact that I think peanut butter can pretty much go with anything. But no matter why, I started dipping those frozen grapes into peanut butter and never looked back. And now when I have grapes, it's all I want to eat.

I am warning you now, once you start making these, watch out, because before you know it, you will develop a frozen grape addiction too. And littles.. they are as easily  addicted to these as well. I have seen kids that hate grapes go totally bonkers for these.  Just so you know.

The stuff  you will need. Washed and drained fresh grapes (green or red. I usually use red but the green were half the price and the red ones didn't taste very grapie*) Creamy peanut butter, skewers, and a little bit of cinnamon or cocoa powder (optional)

*Note. When you are the store, try  before you buy. You know what I mean, eat a few while shopping aground. I say this because not all grape are created equal. Some taste way better than others. I have bought grapes before that didn't taste like anything or that have really tough skins, and those just piss me off, so eating a few will guarantee that your money is being well spent and that the grapes won't disappoint you.

Ok, so now let's make these bad boys.

Simple simple. Two grapes per skewer (or toothpick) Lay on a wax paper covered dish or pan and stick them in the freezer until frozen. When the grapes are frozen, melt peanut butter. Take a big glob and stick in a tall skinny cup or bowl and stick in the microwave or heat in a sauce pan and then transfer to a tall skinny vessel.  Take frozen skewed grapes and, one skewer at a time, dip in the peanut butter. Cover with as much or as little of the peanut butter as you want and place on wax paper. If you are feeling feisty, add a sprinkle or cinnamon or even a dash of cocoa powder. Or, this may seem a little crazy, but garlic powder is so F*ing good.(it's worth at least giving it a try) When all grapes are dipped, place back into freezer for another 10 minutes or so to let the peanut butter set up a bit.

Whenever your ready… Eat. And be so happy. And always keep a back stock of frozen grapes in the freezer. They are the best.

Keep it realz.

-C

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Peanut Butter Freezer Grapes

the quantity is up to you, but I recommend making a shit ton!

• Creamy Peanut butter (I use organic creamy from Trader Joes, or natural skippy)
• Green or Red Grapes
• Cinnamon and or cocoa powder (Optional)
• Toothpicks or skewers

Wash grapes and skewer 2 grapes onto a stick. Place on a flat surface and stick into the freezer until frozen, which usually takes about an hour.

Once grapes are frozen, stick a big glob of peanut butter into a tall skinny vessel (Like a juice cup or a 4 oz ball jar) and warm to a liquid constancy in the microwave (about 30-45 seconds) or if you don't have a microwave, stick in a sauce pan, warm on stove, and pour into a glass (what I do)

Remove frozen grapes from freezer and dip into melted peanut butter. Place on a wax paper line tray or pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and or cocoa powder, or not, or a few (whatever you want) and stick back into freezer for another 10 minutes.

Eat as many as you want… Make so many because you will become addicted!

Pimped Out Rice Cakes

I need a good snack.. Something healthy, hardy, fast, and of course, something tasty.

Rice cakes……..basically a flat somewhat crispy disk of puffed rice. Kind of boring, kind of dull, kind of blah. But Add a little somethin somethin….say like this here rice cake that I smeared with peanut stock, topped with banana, sprinkled with coconut flakes and cinnamon and a few raisins…well thats just freaking fantastic!

And because they are pretty much nothing but air.. there is no need to feel guilty about eating a few. Have a rice cake snack party… spreads of nut butters, bean dips, smashed fruit, avocado, mashed sweet potato, heck…just some mustard or hot sauce would be nice. The list of topping goes on and on. And shelf stable for a long time to boot. I mean, you can keep a bag hanging around for quite a bit of time, just as long as you keep them air tight.

What I am trying to say is…rice cakes are awesome little vessels for all things nice.

HaPPY Snacking!

-C

Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

I needed something quick, something everyone would like and I needed it to come from food I had in the house……Pretzels, peanut butter and chocolate chips turned into little nutty nuggets. A last minute christmas treat.  I have stumbled apron something that I am sure to make many more times to come. People were really into them and for real, so easy and  took so little time to make.. Fast, happy, peanut butter and pretzels dipped in chocolate, I mean, do you know anyone that would say no to that? And just because I made them for Christmas does not mean that we cannot make these for any occasion, like New Years,  maybe a birthday party or even laundry day. You can even make these as a fun afternoon activity with the kiddos.…Make them whenever you need a fun little treat!  Note….This is one of those treats that is vegan, gluten-free (just get gluten-free pretzels) and doesn't have a ton of sugar..Eveyone can eat them! Hooray!!!!!! (Maybe don't feed them to a child with a peanut allergy)

Simple as this….Half a bag of pretzel rods(any shape would work)… A big scoop of peanut butter and some chocolate chips…

.                                       Pretzels go into the food processor and pulsed until a mostly fine crumbly crumble. Now in goes the big ol scoop of peanut butter. Pulse until mixture comes togetherGo ahead and take a bite……so good right?..Start turning the mixtures into small balls..think grape sized.

Once the mixture is all rolled out, stick into the fridge or freezer for a little about a 1/2 hour to set up.

Right before you take the balls out of the fridge…melt down the chocolate.  Like my make shift double boiler? I know….jealous. If you have one, use it, but if not, a big pot with water and a smaller thin metal or a glass bowl works.. The pot or bowl should fit onto the big pot, but I was having a hard time and couldn't find any of my bowls…..so i did what I could. Bring water to a boil then turn to simmer. Place chocolate in small bowl on big pot and stir until chocolate is melted, silky and smooth. Remove bowl from boiler and start to dip those balls! Reheat chocolate if needed but be careful to not get any water into chocolate or else it will seize up and you won't be able to melt it anymore.

Drop a few balls into the melted chocolate. I was doing 2-3 at a time. Take a spoon or spatula and gently roll  or coat entire nugget. Remove and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

That's it...Imperfect little perfect candy nugget truffle thingys….I sprinkled the tops with colored sugar.. you know, for a little holiday fun.. 3 simple ingredients( oil doesn't count).. and 10 minutes of hands on time…can't get much better then that. 

Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Peanut Butter
• 10-12 Pretzel rods
• 1 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• tablespoon coconut oil

Pretzels go  into food processor and pulse until a fine mealy constancy.. Add peanut butter and pulse until combined and is easily handled. Add a bit more peanut butter if the mixture seems to dry or another pretzel if mixture is too loose.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Roll mixture into small grape sized balls. Pace in the fridge or freezer for 1/2 hour.

After the balls have chilled, place chocolate chips and coconut oil into  a double boiler and heat until chocolate is fully melted. Place balls 2-3 at a time into melted chocolate, roll around to completely coat, then transfer back  onto wax paper. Once all balls are chocolate coated, sprinkle with something( if you want) and place back in fridge to set up.

Share(if you feel like it) and Enjoy!!!

Fluffernutter and Nutella Yule Log

.I am awesome. It's ok for me to say that today because this is probably the coolest and most fantastic thing I have ever made in my entire life. Phew, I had to get that off my chest.For the last week I have been thinking a lot about what holiday treats I want to make. I have been planning on making a full fledge yule log with the rolled sponge cake, the filling and the candy mushrooms and taking a whole day to do it. Well that is just not happening this season.. The next week is nutters and I have so much other baking to do that I just don't have time to do a log…bummer

Oh, but how my mind never stops.. See, it's not the cake that I wanted to make, it was more making a cake look like a piece of wood that was appealing to me.  So I must try, or better yet, create my own version of a yule log…………...

Problem solved. Peanut butter, fluff, nutella and a wrap.  And oh what a piece of wood I made.(insert dirty joke here) A yule log,(or yule branch), but whatever. Its food that looks like a piece of wood. I am happy. 

Simple ingredients…I pictured 2 flour wraps because I was going to make 2, but ended up only making one, so one wrap per log works…… A glob of fluff, a glob of peanut butter… A smaller glob of nutella and a sprinkle of a crunchy cereal (I used crispy rice cereal) The cereal is not essential, but it add a little bulk and crunch to the log and when eating wood, there should be a little snap crackle and pop.  If you want to make this into a vegan log, use vegan marshmallow cream. You can even omit the mallow and use a banana, or jam, or anything you want. Heck, you can make a smorgasbord of logs…That would be fantastic. A bundle of logs of all different flavors….I am doing it!!

 Trim off two opposite  side of the wrap and put them aside, you are going to use one of the trimmings in a second. Smear the peanut butter, fluff, and a bit of the nutella all over, even to the very edge of the wrap.

        Sprinkle the crunches on top  and then starting rolling from one of the non trimmed edges,  Try to get it as tight as you can. 

  Take one of the scraps and smear some more peanut butter and nutella all over it(leave our the crunches) and roll. You will end up with a branch nub. Attach the nub. I smeared more fluff to the bottom and it stuck on pretty well, but (not shown here) I took a little piece of a spaghetti and stuck it in the nub to keep it in place. If you don't use the fluff in your log, I would use the spaghetti(It is edible and will soften from the peanut butter so you don't have to worry about taking the noodle out)

Looks good right…You can go ahead and stop here if you want to…Its pretty great, but one more minute and…

A bona-fid Yule log…well its kind of more like a branch, but whatever.

 I used the other end of the spaghetti noodle dipped in the nutella to make the lines. I just free formed it and it really transformed the log into a LOG!!! Just to jazz it up  I added a handful of crunchy rice with the extra glob of pb and fluff, mixed it up and made little piles of  yule log landscape.   Added a few dried  cranberries and pistachios for color…. It like taking walk through the woods. After the mister ate the crispy mounds, I sprinkled some flaked coconut around it and that looked pretty fantastic too.

Needless to say that if you make this, your day will be excellent.Make it for a friend, you will bring them joy. Its hard not to smile when looking at food that looks like wood. Happy.

These little logs would make fantastic party snacks. Fast and tasty … can't get better than that.  Think about walking into an office party, or better yet, a school party….All the other parents will think you are awesome and then probably start to hate you..Hey, it's not your fault that you are cool enough to read my blog.(it's ok, you can share the website) SO make them for friends, for family, for anyone.. Just don't try to start a fire with the logs….It might not turn out so well.

Have fun splitting wood!!!

-C

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Yule Log

One wrap makes one log

• 1 big glob of Peanut Butter
• 1 big glob of marshmallow cream (vegan or what not)
• 1 small glob of nutella (again, vegan if needed)
• 1 medium flour wrap
• 1 handful of crunchy rice cereal
• a spaghetti noodle

Note..Use these flavors or make up you own…...PB and Jam…PB and Banana.. PB and Apples ….Cream cheese and Jam.. the possibilities are endless.

With a sharp knife, trip two opposite sides of a wrap and set trimming aside for later. Spread the peanut butter, fluff, and nutella(or whatever ingredients you want) all over wrap, up to the  very edges. Sprinkle crispy rice all over.

Starting from one end, roll wrap leaving the seam on the bottom. With one of the wrap trimmings, spread more peanut butter fluff and nutella all over and wrap as well. Place a dollop of fluff on the bottom of the small nub and place on the roll where ever you see fit. For a better hold, snap small piece of spaghetti noodle and stick through nub into log.

For the tree markings, dip a toothpick or spaghetti noodle into nutella and lightly draw little lines on the log…..And you are done. If you want to jazz it up, sprinkle rice cereal or coconut or whatever you want to make the log look more nature like, do it. .

And now its time to eat your log…..

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!!