Cooking With Margaret

Banana Muffins With Crumble Topping  Serves 12   *Very important note*  Spray the muffin tin, (or liners) prior to putting batter in them.  *Tip*  Use a 2 oz ice cream scoop for even muffin sizes and equal baking times   Muffins  Dry Ingredients   3 Cups All Purpose Flour  2 Teaspoons Baking Soda  2 Teaspoons Baking Powder  1 Teaspoon Salt  1 1/2 cup sugar  Nuts *Optional (Pecans Were Used In This Recipe)   Wet Ingredients  5-6 Ripe Bananas, Very Ripe   2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten  2/3 Cup Melted Butter, Cooled   1 T Vanilla Extract   Crumble Topping   2/3 Cup Brown Sugar  1/4 Cup Flour  1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon  2 Tablespoons Butter, cold Vanilla, To Taste  Directions  Crumble  In a bowl combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt  Add butter and with a fork or fingers, combine the two, having various sized clumps makes the perfect crumble. Set aside Directions  Preheat oven to 325 degrees  Spray/butter muffin tins (see note*)  In a bowl combine the dry ingredients, (except sugar) mix

Penuche Frosting This recipe is from my Mom. It’s a recipe that is used to make boxed cake mixes that extra something when you need something to add to them when you don’t have enough time to make and frost an entire cake! A single batch of frosting will frost the top of a 13x9 cake  Ingredients   1/2 cup of butter  1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup of milk 1 3/4-2 cups of powdered sugar Pinch of cinnamon (optional) Directions Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Then add the brown sugar.  Boil and stir over low heat for two minutes.  Add the milk and bring back to a boil stirring constantly.  Then cool to lukewarm.  Gradually add the powdered sugar while beating with an electric mixer.  Then spread on a cooled cake.  Makes enough to frost the top of a 13x9 cake (Best on spice or carrot cakes) 

My Favorite Granola  This is a recipe I have used for snacks and breakfasts. I love it with any yogurt, especially our local dairy yogurt, it is AMAZING!  Ingredients  9 cups rolled oats  2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup of honey  1/3 cup maple syrup 3/4 cup vegetable oil  1 tablespoon vanilla  1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I use dried cranberries, dried cherries, or dried blueberries) 2 cups nuts (sliced almonds are my favorite, but pecans and walnuts are wonderful, too)  Directions Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit  Combine oats, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl In a separate bowl combine honey, maple syrup, vegetable oil and vanilla Pour the liquid mix into the oats and stir until everything is evenly coated  Pour the mix onto a parchment lined rimmed sheet pan Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes Add nuts and stir, baking another 5-15 minutes until lightly golden Remove from oven, allow to cool  Add dried fruit Serve. Will keep in an airtight bag or container

Tips And Tricks To Making Boxed Cake And Brownie Mixes Taste Homemade Everyone loves a good cake, or a delicious brownie, but quite a few people can be intimidated by making a  (or just baking alone) recipe from scratch based on all the measurements and “work” that can go into just cake.  Which is why many choose to use box mixes for a shortcut or just because they don’t have time. This post is to help those who use boxed mixes make them taste homemade. Everything below are tips and tricks used by friends, family and myself when using a boxed mix.  **Some of these changes may alter the cooking time of the cake Sift the mix, this allows all of the ingredients to get recombined after sitting on a shelf, in a box, for who knows how long  Oil vs Butter Now when it comes to using boxed mixes it should always be a 1:1 ratio of whatever fat you use, but changing out the oil for butter that has been melted, then cooled, can make a delicious difference  Water vs Milk, Cream or buttermilk, use a

Jeannette's Zucchini Bread  This is a recipe for Zucchini Bread that my mom got from one of her best friends, and she’s been making it for as long as I can remember! It’s a favorite of ours, and we can’t wait to make it every year when our zucchini in the garden is in overproduction and we need to use it quickly and this is the first recipe we turn to!  Makes 2 Loaves  Ingredients   2 cups sugar 3 eggs 2/3 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder  1 tablespoon cinnamon  2 cups grated zucchini  9x5 loaf pan, greased  Preheat oven to 350 Combine sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla  Whisk dry ingredients together  Combine wet with dry ingredients  Fold in zucchini  Pour into loaf pans Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean Allow to cool, and enjoy