GINGERBREAD PANCAKES

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 cup flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp each of ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Whisk eggs and milk together (I did this in a liquid measuring cup).
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. Add wet to dry, mixing until smooth. If its too thick add water.
4. Cook on a griddle or in a frying pan.  Makes approx 8 pancakes.

Add some syrup and turkey bacon and you’ve got Ashlyn’s favourite breakfast!  This makes about 6 pancakes so make sure to double it if you’re feeding a crowd (or are just really hungry).

Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

Waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk if you don’t have buttermilk)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 + 2 tbsp shortening

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Beat all ingredients until smooth.
3. Pour into waffle iron and cook until done.

Mok Honey

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a pot.
2. Bring to a boil slowly and don’t stir too much (I find this really hard!).
3. Serve over warm waffles immediately.

Zucchini loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini (I used 1 cup zucchini and 1/2 cup grated carrots)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1/8 cup flax seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
3. Combine butter and sugar; add eggs and mix well.  Add zucchini (and carrots)  and vanilla.  Stir in flour mixture and mix until smooth.  Stir in raisins and nuts.
4. Turn itno well greased 2 L loaf pan.  Bake until skewer inserted in centre of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour.
5. Cool in pan for 10 min; remove from pan.  Cool completely before slicing.

Frittata

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups frozen hash browns
• 1 cup breakfast sausage, cooked and chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium red pepper, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cheese (we use whatever blend we have in the fridge)

Directions:

1. Combine the eggs, mayo and milk in a greased 8×8 baking dish.
2. Add hash browns, sausage, onion and peppers; mix until well blended.
3. Sprinkle cheese on top.
4. Bake at 400° for 35 to 40 minutes or until the centre is set.
5. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

A few notes about what I did differently:

• on the recommendation of my friend, I did not bake the muffins, dip into butter and then dip into the topping.  Instead, I combined the topping and sprinkled it onto the muffins before baking.  SO GOOD.
• I doubled the recipe, but only did a single batch of the topping and I still had some left over.
• When doubling the recipe, I used 1.5 cups eggnog and 0.5 cup whole milk (which we have on hand for our daughter).  It was still very “eggnoggy” but I bet I could have gotten away with 1 cup milk and 1 cup eggnog.

And a very important note – do NOT do what I did the first time I tried to make the muffins.  Without thinking, I dumped my COLD eggnog into the MELTED butter.  Add the cold to the hot gradually or it becomes a clumpy, awful mess and you’ll have to start over.  I know better but the baby brain won again.

Eggnogg Muffins With Spiced Butter

Ingredients

Spiced Butter

• 1/2 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Muffins

• 1 cup eggnog or LAND O LAKES^™ Fat Free Half & Half
• 1/4 cup LAND O LAKES^® Butter, melted
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup LAND O LAKES^® Butter, melted

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Combine all butter ingredients in small bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Set aside.
2. Combine eggnog, 1/4 cup melted butter, egg and rum extract in large bowl. Add all remaining muffin ingredients; stir just until moistened.
3. Spoon batter into 12 greased or paper-lined (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly; remove from pan.
4. Meanwhile, combine all topping ingredients except butter in small shallow bowl. Pour 1/4 cup melted butter into another small bowl. Dip tops of muffins in melted butter, then in topping mixture. Serve warm with spiced butter.

I made the batter in the afternoon and baked it that night, so I’m sure you could leave it overnight in the fridge and then bake it first thing in the morning if you want to eat it hot from the oven.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake From Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 15 oz can pumpkin
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the inside of a tube or bundt pan with nonstick spray; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add the pumpkin and eggs and mix thoroughly. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Mix on medium speed until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Prepare the streusel topping: In a small bowl combine the flour, sugars, cinnamon, melted butter and walnuts. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Slide a knife around the pan so the cake doesn’t stick when removing it. Invert the cake onto a plate. Then invert the cake onto another plate, so that the streusel is on the top. Cool completely. Cover and store at room temperature.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  TOPPING:
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I added about the same amount of nutmeg)
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg and butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
3. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.
4. Combine the first three topping ingredients; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Note: these would be fantastic with chocolate chip and/or nuts!

Ricotta Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• Lemon and orange zest
• 2 tsp orange blossom water (if you don’t have orange blossom water on hand, you can substitute orange extract, orange juice and zest, or vanilla extract. I used orange juice)
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In another bowl, make a batter with the sugar and the butter.
4. Add the eggs to the batter one by one, and then add the ricotta, the lemon and orange zest, and the orange blossom water.
5. Mix the flour and the batter together.
6. Add the blueberries and mix with care: we don’t want to turn our batter blue by mashing the blueberries.
7. Use some cooking spray on your muffin pan (I use silicone muffin tins so I don’t need to grease them, and for the 6 that didn’t go in the silicone pans, I used muffin liners – there is enough butter in these that you probably don’t need to grease your pans), and then scoop the batter into the pan.
8. Sprinkle some sugar on top. (I used 1 teaspoon total over the 18 muffins)
9. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins turn golden.