Blueberry Muffins

If you have school-age kids then you know exactly how I feel in the morning. Our daily routine in the mornings --- breakfast making, lunch boxes, making sure kids are awake, taking turns in the bathroom (we live in a one bathroom house), walking with my first grader to school --- can be a little hectic. So would you blame me if I really love weekends? Or in this case, fall break?

And what better way to enjoy these not-so-crazy mornings than with a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin. I adapted this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and they turned out great! Moist and not too sweet. Hmmm... Maybe I should have made more. But before I do that let me share the recipe with you. So here it is.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

sparkling white sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease twelve 2-1/2 inch muffin cups or line with paper bake cups. Set Aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Set aside.
2. In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should not be lumpy). Fold in blueberries.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. If desired, sprinkle sparkling white sugar over muffin batter in cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes.Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

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Angels Homestead : Saturday Spotlight  |  A Peek Into My Paradise : T.G.I.F. Link Party  |  Cooking With Curls : Best of the Weekend  |  Domesblissity : Thriving on Thursdays  |  Frugal Foodie Mama : Marvelous Mondays  |  Living Better Together : TGIF Link Party  |  Love and Laundry : Weekend Wonders  |  Love Bakes Good Cakes : All My Bloggy Friends  |  Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen : Get Inspired Pin Party  |  Mellywood's Mansion : Freaking Awesome Fridays  |  Memories By The Mile : Tuesday Trivia and Link Party  |  Table For Seven : Share Your Stuff Tuesdays  |  The Jenny Evolution : Friday Flash Blog  |  The NY Melrose Family : Whimsy Wednesdays  |  The Pin Junkie : Friday Link Party  |  Titi Crafty : Bewitch Me & Titi Link Party

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

I love chocolate. I love cheesecake. And I love chocolate cheesecakes. So it's no wonder that for International Chocolate Day I just had to make these yummy treats.

I got this recipe from HERSHEY'S Kitchens. You can click here to check it out.

I used Reynold's  aluminum foil baking cups instead of using a muffin pan.

I placed them all on a baking sheet, just like how I did on this picture for my Brownie Candy Cups. This way, I got to bake more of them all at the same time. You know how it is when you're craving something, no time to waste, right?

So here it is...

MINI CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKES

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients for CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST:

1-1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 45 wafers, crushed)

6 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

6 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Ingredients for CHOCOLATE GLAZE:

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup (1/2 pt.) whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper baking cups or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Stir together all the ingredients for the CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST in a medium bowl. Press about 1 tablespoonful of CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST mixture onto bottom of each cup.
2. Stir together cocoa and 1/4 cup butter. Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in cocoa mixture. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Fill muffin cups with batter.
3. Bake 35 minutes or until set. Cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Refrigerate. 

Before serving the cheesecakes, melt the CHOCOLATE GLAZE ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth. This makes about 2 cups glaze. Spread CHOCOLATE GLAZE on mini cheesecakes. Allow to set. Serve at room temperature. This makes about 24 mini cheesecakes.

If vegetable cooking spray is used, cool bakes cheesecakes. Freeze 15 minutes. Remove with narrow spatula.

Here are other yummy treats you might like:

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Chocolate Poke Cake

Boston Cream Bites

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I linked this post to these wonderful parties:

Angels Homestead : Saturday Spotlight  |  Anyonita Nibbles : Tasty Tuesdays  |  A Peek Into My Paradise : TGIF Link Party  |  Cooking With Curls : Best of the Weekend  |  Domesblissity : Thriving on Thursdays  |  I Should Be Mopping The Floor : Inspiration Monday  |  Living Better Together : TGIF Link Party  |  Love and Laundry : Weekend Wonders  |  Love Bakes Good Cakes : All My Bloggy Friends  |  Memories By The Mile : Tuesday Trivia and Link Party  |  My Turn For Us : Freedom Fridays  |  On A Wing And A Prayer : My Favorite Posts Show Off Weekend Blog  |  Pink When : diy Sunday Showcase  |  Posed Perfection : All Things Thursday Blog Hop  |  Rain On A Tin Roof : Give Me The Goods Link Party  |  Table for 7 : Share Your Stuff Tuesdays  |  The Jenny Evolution : Friday Flash Blog  |  The NY Melrose Family : Whimsy Wednesdays  |  The Pin Junkie : Friday Link Party  |  This Gal Cooks : Marvelous Mondays  |  Titi Crafty : Bewitch Me & Titi Link Party  |  Who Needs A Cape : Super Sunday Linky Party

Paper Bag Puppet

This post is not about something I made. This one is about a paper bag puppet that my little boy crafted all by himself. Okay, okay, I may have helped him a little but he made most of it by himself. Seriously.

Just look at that happy little face. Doesn't he look so proud of himself?

He got this idea when he was looking through this book of mine. It's full of fun craft ideas for kids. You know what I love best about this book? I got it for free. A couple of months ago, Martha Stewart Living on Twitter had a tweet that said if you're one of the first 15 people who retweeted their message, you're going to get a free Crafts For Kids book. So I clicked retweet, and sure enough, a few weeks later, my book came in the mail. Oh boy, how I love free stuff!

It even has templates that you can copy for the projects but there was just no way that my little boy is going to make those cute animals. Nope! His puppet has to look scary, which is okay since Halloween is just around the corner. But if you have a kid like mine, it's pretty much Halloween the entire year.

All he had to do was to cut the shapes for the hair, eyes, nose, ears, teeth and hands (I made the hands, don't tell anybody, okay?) and glue them onto the bottom of the paper bag. And presto! He's got himself a puppet! Now if only I can convince him not too play too rough with it so it would not rip. Hmmm... Oh well, I guess he's just gonna have to make himself another one when it starts falling apart. LOL

I linked this post to these wonderful parties:

Domesblissity : Thriving on Thursdays  |  Inspiration Cafe : Kidding Around Link Party  |  My Turn For Us : Freedom Fridays

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Halloween Treat Jar

Halloween is coming up soon so I'm sharing these Halloween treat jars that I made for my little boy's teachers last year. 

I used Jif Hazelnut spread jars that I hoarded saved for projects such as these. I peeled off the label and scrubbed it to remove the adhesive marks on it. 

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Then I measured the height of the inside of the jar, and cut my orange card stock paper according to the measurements.

Next, I rolled up the cardstock and inserted it into the jar.

Since the upper part of the jar is narrower than the lower portion, it kind of helps keep the paper in place. But you can also secure it with scotch tape if you want.

For the pumpkin face I used my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine to cut black vinyl. But you can also

 cut black cardstock paper with scissors and use double sided tape to adhere it to the jar. 

For the jar lid, I used the Silhouette machine again to cut the orange cardstock in a circle shape, and black

cardstock for the word boo! and also for the bat shape. Then I used Elmer's spray adhesive to adhere them to the lid. Next, I applied a coat of Mod Podge on the lid with a foam brush and waited for it to dry.

The last thing I did was put some candies inside the jar and I'm done! They turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

Here are some Halloween ideas you might like:

Free Printable Halloween Treat Bag Topper

Halloween Oreo Cupcake Bites

Halloween Teacher Gift {Hand Sanitizer}

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I linked this post to these awesome parties:

Angels Homestead : Saturday Spotlight  |  Carrie This Home : Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop  |  Create With Joy : Inspire Me Monday  |  Domesblissity : Thriving on Thursdays  |  I Should Be Mopping The Floor : Inspiration Monday  |  Love and Laundry : Weekend Wonders  |  Love Bakes Good Cakes : All My Bloggy Friends  |  Mellywood's Mansion : Freaking Awesome Fridays  |  Memories By The Mile : Tuesday Trivia and Link Party  |  My Personal Accent : The Blog Strut  |  My Turn For Us : Freedom Fridays  |  Oh My! Creative : Halloween Blog Hop & Link Party  |  Pink When : DIY Sunday Showcase  |  Rain on a Tin Roof : Give Me the Goods Link Party  |  Table for 7 : Share Your Stuff Tuesdays  |  The Jenny Evolution : Friday Flash Blog  |  The NY Melrose Family : Whimsy Wednesdays  |  The Wondering Brain : My Favorite Posts SHOW OFF Weekend Blog Party  |  The Pin Junkie : Friday Link Party  |  Thirty Handmade Days : Pity Party  |  This Gal Cooks : Marvelous Mondays  |  Titi Crafty: Bewitch Me & Titi Link Party  |  Who Needs A Cape? : Super Sunday Link Party