Bread Pudding and Shortbread Cookies

Hello, hello, long time no time no chat, well actually not really. Fact about me #1, never had/made bread pudding...Crazy right! I thought it was about time to try it, so I got all the ingredients together, and was a mix'n and stir'n, unfortunately it didn't really turn out. But then again that could just be because of a bad recipe, lack of experience, or you know, never having tried it. Maybe it's just not my thing, but at least I tried it...right?  

Now onto more important things like my new  FAVORITE cookie recipe, shortbread!!!! It's quick, easy, and most importantly delicious. I am a huge fan (as you may have guessed) of easy baking. I like recipes that are easy, quick, yummy, and use only the few ingredients I have in stock. Another thing I am also a huge fan of substitute cooking/baking. For you out there that don't know what substitute cooking/baking is put simply, "If ya don't have it, that's okay."  Of course you can't substitute everything, somethings have to be what they have to be. Things like flour, sugar, icing sugar*, etc., cannot be substituted which is why I like to always have them on hand for my spontaneous baking. But things like nuts can be substituted  for raisins, dried cranberries, or sometimes chocolate chips. Or sometimes you can substitute more crucial ingredients like butter for margarine, water for milk, etc. If worse comes to worst sometimes I just switch out recipes and make do, I once found a recipe for icing using just flavoring, milk, sugar, and butter. NO ICING SUGAR! I think that's one of the reasons I love my new shortbread recipe, butter, icing sugar, flour, vanilla! That's it!  So here it is, the big reveal:

BEST SHORTBREAD EVER

Ingredients

1 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 1/2 cups of flour

Heat oven to 350F. In a large bowl beat butter, icing sugar, and vanilla together with a spoon. Stir   flour one cup at a time. (If dough is crumbly, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons of softened butter or water into the dough)

Roll dough 1/2 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into small shapes with hands or cookie cutters. Place 1/2 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until set and bottoms are golden brown. Remove immediately and cool completely on wire racks.


And that's it, easy peasy and so much fun. You can also add your own flavors or once cool dip in melted chocolate for extra yummy goodness. So next time you need a go-to cookie recipe  this should be your first choice.

* Icing sugar is also referred to as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar, but they are all one in the same.

Cinnamon Muffins!

 Well, Hello there. Yes I know it has been forever, and yes I know some of you might not want to forgive me, but you will after you see what I have for you today. Cinnamon Muffins, these yummy little holiday treats will leave you wanting more, that's for sure. Now for the best part, they are amazingly easy, no overnight soaking, no 30 ingredient shopping list, just the basics.  So, let's get started. 

Dry Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of baking powder

Wet Ingredients

3/4 cup of milk

3/4 cup of oil

1 egg beaten

Optional ingredients

a handful of chopped walnuts

a handful of golden raisins

So first preheat your oven to 400ºF or 200ºC. Now mix all your dry ingredients together until mixed, loose, and fluffy. Next, add your wet ingredients and mix until moist. When I first made this I found that the batter was still a little dry (more like cookie dough), if this happens to you just add a table spoon of both milk and oil until you get a thick batter consistency. Now if you want to add chopped walnuts or raisins, or both, by all means throw them in after you have mixed both the wet and dry ingredients. Leave your muffins in the oven for 18-20 minutes and they will turn out beautifully. I was able to make 16 small muffins from this batch, so just a little forewarning you may want to double this recipe if you are making large muffins or quite a few of them.

Tip: I also chose to sprinkle a little brown sugar mixed with a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon on the batter before putting the muffins in the oven, for a little decoration.

Tip: Another thing you could do is make a simple icing with powdered sugar and milk, to make your muffins taste like cinnamon rolls.

Truth be told, I could barely keep my fingers out of the batter, it's just soooooo yummy! Try adding your own twists like nutmeg, chocolate chips, or maybe treat them like cupcakes and fill the with some cream cheese icing or maybe some cinnamon drizzle.