Easy Blueberry Muffins

Bursting with fresh blueberries, these muffins are light, tender, and simple to make!

I love me a good muffin. I mean, who doesn’t love a fresh baked muffin? Especially one that's filled with fresh, juicy blueberries. For starters, the smell of muffins baking in the house is intoxicating. And then biting into one of these muffins, fresh from the oven, is just heaven. I love using fresh blueberries as often as I can, especially locally grown, but frozen will do the job as well.

Cooking with Martha White® Baking Mixes

With varieties like Apple Cider, Banana Nut, Chocolate, and Buttermilk Cornbread, 

you can't go wrong with Martha White Baking Mixes!

I love just about every kind of muffin and bread out there. I admit, I'm a certified carbaholic! I seriously can't live without bread. Although I make a lot of baked goods from scratch, I also love to use Martha White® Baking Mixes when I can. The Martha White®  company has been around for over 100 years, and their high quality flours and mixes are the basis for many delicious Southern recipes. 

The J.M. Smucker Company recently asked me to try out some of my favorite Martha White® mixes and blog about these fine products. As you can see from the picture below, there are a lot of delicious muffin and bread mixes in my local Kroger to choose from! {Use the store locator to find the Kroger nearest you!}

Rosemary Gruyere Popovers

Woody rosemary and nutty Gruyere cheese are a perfect combination in these light and airy popovers!

Do you have your Mother's Day meal planned out? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, I'm sharing a recipe here that you're definitely going to want on your dinner table for the special day. I give you these delicious Rosemary Gruyere Popovers! 

Popovers are light, hollow rolls made from a very simple egg batter. Having your ingredients at room temperature ensures your popovers will be airy and puff up very high. Although they can be made both sweet and savory, I love going the savory route. This simple recipe includes fresh rosemary and delicious Gruyere cheese, a perfect combination in my opinion.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

This cake is light, tender and full of fresh citrus flavors. It's so delicious, it won't last long!

I love citrus fruits. I also love to bake with citrus fruits. They make everything so light and flavorful, and I never feel guilty about eating dessert. This time of year is perfect for all things citrus. From oranges to lemons to tangerines, I want to devour every single one.

I received some beautiful blood oranges in my recent Door to Door Organics delivery, and could hardly wait to make something with them. It took me a bit to decide what to do, but I am incredibly excited over the recipe I developed.

Mini Banana Bread Squares

These light and fluffy little banana bread squares are great for breakfast, to pack in a lunchbox, or as a snack anytime of the day! 

I think I have a problem with bananas. I buy a bunch each shopping trip just so I can let them sit on the counter all week and start to turn brown. You know, because brown bananas mean I can make stuff. Lots of good stuff.

I've made many versions of banana bread, from oatmeal banana bread to caramelized banana bread to whole wheat strawberry banana bread, I haven't met one that I didn't like. And my kids are the same way. They love it when mom makes banana bread. And the smell in the house while it's baking? It's like no other!

Easy No Knead White Bread

Once you make this easy, no knead white bread you'll never buy bread from the store again!

I've always been intimidated to make my own bread. I don't mean quick breads, I mean yeasted breads. Other than pizza dough, I really haven't tried to make anything else with yeast. Not even cinnamon rolls! I don't know why, but I always felt like I was going to make a mistake and the result would be a flop.

When I received my "Trouble-free Thanksgiving" package from Karo Corn Syrup and Fleischmann's Yeast a few weeks ago I knew that had to change. I had to try my hand at making bread, and I told myself everything would be fine. I said Sarah, you got this!

Tart Cherry Scones

Light and fluffy scones bursting with plump, tart cherries perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack! 

Today I am really excited to be posting at Anyonita Nibbles!  I'm a new Monthly Contributor over there and am so happy to be part of Anyonita's team! 

Jumbo Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

There are days when we all need an extra boost. A little pick me up to get us through the day. I had a couple of those days last week. Did it seem like the week lasted FOREVER to you? It certainly did to me! 

To combat those long days I needed coffee. And lots of it. To get an extra special boost, I made these Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins. This is actually a recipe re-do of a muffin I made in the past. But this one was even better.

The muffins were jumbo sized and the flavor was enhanced with deliciously rich Espresso powder. I use King Arthur Flour brand, but there are others out there you can find as well.

Give these a try sometime, your energy level will thank you!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Frosting

I love Halloween and finally got my entire house decorated last weekend. I had some things out but not all of my goodies, so I finished it all up. I think other than Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday!

Since I was in the Halloween spirit I decided to make some fun cupcakes. I tweaked my peanut butter cupcake recipe a bit and they turned out so good! My kids, and parents, devoured them.

Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

I love doughnuts. I mean, who doesn't love doughnuts? Right?

I've been on a quest for quite some time to make tasty doughnuts that are baked, not fried. I finally found them...

These pumpkin spice doughnuts are delicious and healthy. Moist and tender and filled with just enough pumpkin flavor and topped with cinnamon sugar, they truly are delightful.

My kids couldn't get enough of them either, which is saying a lot since my youngest is so stinkin' picky. :)

Pear Crisp

I bought the cutest little bag of Bartlett pears the other day at the store. I love Bartletts because they are sweet and juicy and you can just bite right into them. My kids love them for that reason too.

I knew right away that I wanted to bake with these little guys though. I wanted to make a pear crisp. I've made apple crisp a million times, but never pear crisp. So I took my original recipe and did some tweaking and came up with this delicious dessert.

I told you all awhile back that Greenwillow Grains was kind enough to send me a big box of their flours and grains to bake with. They didn't ask for anything in return, they just wanted me to try their goods. I tried them and I loved them! I still have a few things to try, but I love their Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and their Rolled Oats. I have made countless recipes with both and everything has turned out perfectly!

Glazed Pumpkin Pecan Scones

'Tis the season for pumpkin. And we all know how much I LOVE pumpkin. I've been using it in my recipes for a few weeks now. Pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bars. You name it, I'm pumpkinizing it. 

Sorry, I know that's not a real word.

But it did sound kind of cool.

These pumpkin pecan scones are easy to make and are topped with a delicious pumpkiny glaze. They are perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee, or even better, with a pumpkin spice latte. They also make a great dessert.

This recipe kicks of Oven Month for my Blogger Recipe Challenge group. Look for more delicious oven recipes to come!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Since the weather has cooled off around here I'm in full fall decorating, sweater wearing, pumpkin baking mode. I've got three pumpkin recipes to share with already, and I'm sure there will be more to come!

This pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake is a spin off of the mini double chocolate bundt cakes I made earlier this year. Adding canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice gives this delicious chocolate cake just the right kick. If you don't remember the mini cakes, you can find the recipe here.

Oat Bars with Walnuts & Bittersweet Chocolate

It's back to school in our house, which means it's time to start packing lunches and having after school snacks on hand. Like many other families, I struggle to make lunches less ordinary. I don't want my boys to get bored with what they're eating, plus, I want them to eat healthy!

The last couple of weeks I've been scrounging through magazines and cookbooks looking for inspiration. Luckily, I have a lot of reading material to choose from. (I'm a certified cookbook-aholic!) :)

I came across this oatmeal bars recipe in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook and knew it would be perfect for our family. I changed the recipe just slightly and the bars are absolutely delicious.

These bars are a cross between a cookie and a cake, in my opinion. They are thick and hearty and full of stuff that's good for you. 

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello...is anyone still there? I'm sure you all think I'd left you for good! I feel that way, too. I haven't blogged in a month. 35 days to be exact! I am so sorry for leaving you for so long. Like Ricky Ricardo always said to Lucy, I have a lot of explaining to do! LOL

So, I'll start with the fact that I traveled an ungodly amount for work this summer. It was way too crazy! I feel like my summer flew by. My last trip was to LA in August, and that's where life my life took a tailspin. I was in LA for 5 days, came home and then packed up my house. I'm serious, I packed up my house and moved. 2 days of extreme packing, 1 very, very long day of moving. That was three weeks ago. As soon as we moved my oldest started his junior year in high school, he had his 16th birthday and started driving, then a week later my youngest started 8th grade. So you see, I didn't mean to leave you for so long, it just...happened.

Of course I haven't stopped cooking and baking all this time, I just had no time for pics and blogging. We are going to change that right this very minute though. I'm baaaack! And the best part is, I am in love with my new kitchen! I seriously never want to leave it. Here she is:

I know it's not huge or really fancy, but I absolutely adore it. The kitchen in my old house was a galley - so teeny tiny, no counter space and no storage space. What an awful thing for a baker! I feel so blessed now.

So let's get down to business. Yesterday afternoon I made the most delicious banana bars with cream cheese frosting. Is it bad I wanted to sit down and eat the whole pan? Yeah, I thought so too. These are so amazing and it's probably the best cream cheese frosting I've ever made from scratch. So easy too! Here's the scoop:

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe written by The Chef Next Door
Print this recipe

Ingredients:

For the Bars:
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of a 13x9 inch pan with non stick spray and lightly flour. In large bowl, mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with spoon. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Spread in pan.

Bake bars approximately 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about an hour.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar with spoon until smooth and spreadable.

Spread cooled bars with frosting. Store covered in refrigerator.

Bon Appetit!