A Right of Passage

Congratulations Class of 2011

It's that time of year again. It's a right of passage. It's a cause for celebration. It's graduation! Actually for our house, it is the first graduation. Yes, Jasen and I made it through school, although at times by the skin of our teeth, but none the less, we both did graduate. High school AND college. Yes, college too. This first for our household is for Logen. Our little Logi is graduating, wait for it, pre-school! (hands raised above our heads) Go Logi, go Logi!

Yeah, I know, pre-school graduation may seem pretty, how shall I say it, unimportant, but I will tell you for that little guy, you would have thought it was the biggest thing he has ever done. Technically, it probably is. Two years of school and now he is ready for the big time, Kindergarten.

Mrs. Handzik and Logen

We arrived in the parking lot to be greeted by many of our family members. This alone would have been enough excitement for Logen, as he loves having company, but when we all walked into school, his buddies were all there and although it was just pre-school, you could see the camaraderie between all of them, just like a group of high school seniors getting ready for their futures. It was all very similar in the way the talked, played and hugged. Really, right then, it totally changed my outlook on the unimportant pre-school graduation.

They went through their production of song and dance, which we video taped of course, and the teachers presented them with their caps and diplomas. Every single child looked so proud to be there in front of their families. It really was something. You could just feel their excitement. As we were leaving everyone was taking pictures, smiling and hugging and I got that nostalgic feeling. You all know what I am talking about. We've all felt it at one time in our lives, but I think I felt it because of the bonds that were made there at that school.

I have to be honest, when we first started to school, I thought I was going to be the outcast. The working mom that isn't there everyday to drop off and pick up their child, watching all of the other moms talk and knowing each other while I peered in from the outside. That's just what I thought would happen, but I was completely and utterly wrong. I am so thankful that I am able to take him to school at least one day a week, but I am just as thankful for the kind and caring moms that I got to meet and become friends with.

Our children formed bonds in pre-school and the families bonded as well. Our class suffered a great loss mid year. Everyone was affected in some way. It would be hard not to be affected. I know it rocked me to my core. It still does. It has taught me many many lessons. I carry her card in my purse as a constant reminder of the blessings I have and not to take anything or anyone for granted, ever. I will remember, always.

Tubbs and Izzy, the helpers
for this task. I always have
little helpers.

My sister in law asked Logen what he wanted for graduation and he told her, that hat, you know that graduation one. We thought that was just  so cute. I thought if that is what he thinks about graduation, that is what I am going to make him. I had seen these on www.skiptomylou.org and went back to look at them to be sure it was something I could make. I decided that this is what Logen associates with graduation, so I will do my best to make them.

Just about all you need
to get going.

Without further ado, I present the pre-school class of 2011 and Logen's Graduation Cap Cupcakes.
This is what I did:
Box cupcakes. We did yellow at Logen's request.
Tub Frosting, white. I think that the chocolate caps will show up better on white frosting.
Sprinkles, what cupcake is complete without sprinkles?
Bite size Reese's cups, unwrapped
Ghiradelli chocolate squares (TIP, there are 14 in each bag, cause it doesn't tell you on it!)
Fruit Roll Up
Chocolate Bark, one square

Bake the cupcakes as directed on the box and let them cool.
Frost them with the white frosting and sprinkle with the sprinkles.
Unwrap the Reese's cups and the Ghiradelli squares. Place the cups, large end down, a few inches apart on a wrack or baking sheet.
Cut the fruit roll up into mini strips. I used a pizza cutter, but I think scissors would work too, about 2 inches long.
Put the chocolate bark into a ziploc bag, melt it in the microwave, slowly on medium, periodically smooshing it around.

The tops are all glued on.

Clip off the corner of the bag and start squeezing a dab about the size of a pea onto the tops of the Reeses, immediately putting the chocolate Ghiradelli squares on top and let them dry.

Tassels attached.

Once they are dry now put a tiny little dab of chocolate onto the top of the square to use as "glue" to put on the strip of fruit roll up. Once they are all on, go back and put another small dab ontop of the fruit roll up to finish it off.
Once they are all dry, just set on top of the cupcakes.


There you go! Congratulations to every class of 2011, even the pre-school ones!

Are we there yet?

Every summer as a kid, our parents would take us to a little cottage buried deep in the woods. The ride to this cottage was only four hours into Michigan, but with all the excitement and anticipation seemed like forever away. They would pack the car to the gills the night before so we were all ready when the time came to leave. Going to bed not knowing when they were going to wake you up to leave was the kick off to the ride. Once we were finally in the car and on our way, it would start...Are we there yet?

I think every kid, on their way in a car, bus, train, plane, whatever, has asked, are we there yet? I think that is something that kids just are born knowing. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? NNNOOO!!!! Come on, we've all experienced it as a kid and may now be having the pleasure of being the adult and yelling no after wanting to either pull your own hair out or kill someone, but my dad had a different answer. What could it be other than no you ask? Just over that next hill. Yep. That was it. Just over that next hill.

My dad would say that and we would look ahead searching for any slight rise in the road. That must be the hill! We would make it past and no exit off of the highway. Are we there yet? You see that hill way up there? Yeah. Well, just over that next hill. This would go on for hours. My dad would do this over and over and has finally told us that his dad used to do that to them when they were on their way to vacation.

Lou? Is that you?

So you may be asking yourself right now, how does this have anything to do with a food blog? Well, here's how. We love pizza, more specifically we love Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza. If you have never had this pizza, don't waste any time, order one for dinner tonight. Eat in, take out, whatever, get one. Tip: if you get the take out, get it uncut. Don't ask, just do it.

I have been toying with the idea of making pizza. I have never made my own pizza, dough and all, from scratch. I remember my mom doing it every once and a while and I clearly remember her bitching up a storm about what a pain in the ass it was, but she would do it as a treat every so often. I must say, that remembering this has probably delayed me in giving this whole deep dish thing a whirl. For real, one store trip I bought the cornmeal, the next time, the yeast, never everything in one trip. It was kinda like being in pizza denial. If I didn't buy all of the stuff, I couldn't make it. I did this even up until the last step. I made the dough without even buying the pan. See? Procrastination, how could I make the pizza without a pan?

Anyway, I shouldn't have to tell you that I started this little deep dish endeavor much like I start all of my new endeavors, on the internet. Yes, I was doing my research. I wanted this pizza to be like Lou's. Now, if you have ever had a Lou's you know that lovely delicious butter, crunchy, just like heaven crust. I'm not gonna lie, that crust intimidates me. So, here I am on the internet, researching Lou's crust. I found some recipes and took what I thought would be the best and molded them into my own. Right now you have to be thinking, are we there yet? Right over that next hill.

I made the dough, which is a brand spankin new thing for me, and let it rest on the counter the 4-6 hours. In this time, I knew I still didn't have a pan to make this pizza pie in. I had Jasen stop at Target, no pan, Kohls, no pan. WTF, does no one in this town make their own pizza?! Maybe this is a sign from God above, you know he had to have created that Lou's heavenly crust and didn't want me trying to infringe on his success. Bed Bath and Beyond. Finally, a pan and I had a coupon for $5 off. God must be smiling up there saying, go ahead, give it a try. Good Luck.

Are we there yet? Right over that next hill. I arrive home to my well rested dough and get to work.

Here is what I did:
Dough-You need to let it rest 4-6 hours or some say overnight in the fridge is even better.
1 1/2 cups 110degree water, mine out of the tap was hot enough to do this after letting it run a little.
1 package of active dry yeast, if you let it rest overnight, otherwise do 2 packs for the 4-6 hour rest.
1 tsp sugar
4 cups of flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup Crisco, I used the butter flavored kind
You will need a 14 inch round pan

In a bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar, mix to combine and let sit for 5 minutes. It will get foamy looking on top and watery underneath and actually smell like dough.

Then add the olive oil, salt, cornmeal, Crisco and only 3 cups of the flour. Mix with a dough hook on low to medium until it is smooth. It will start being into a dough ball shape by now. Start adding the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time. Each time mix it until the flour is completely incorporated. Then let it mix for 2-3 more minutes.



Pre heat your oven to 500. Yes, 500.

This is what it should look like.
Ready for the dough.

Well oil your deep dish pan with olive oil. I did this by pouring some oil into the pan and then rubbing it around with a clean paper towel. DO NOT USE THE NONSTICK COOKING SPRAY. You've come this far, oil the pan the right way. Then take some cornmeal and sprinkle it on the bottom of the pan and kind of shake around so it covers the pan.

Now you are ready for the dough. Take the dough and spread out evenly in the pan, pushing it about an inch up the sides of the pan. Are we there yet? Right over that next hill.

There you have it. The dough. This pizza better be damn good. This is a pain in the ass. I was channeling my mother there.

So now, you are ready for your toppings. We did half sausage and garlic, of course,  and the other half sausage, garlic, tomatoes and onions.

I browned the ground Italian sausage in a pan and removed it from the grease. Chopped the onions and tomatoes and was ready. Here is where it is different. I used Mozzarella slices, NOT shredded. It took TWO packages of the sliced cheese, a can of diced tomatoes, well drained and a can of tomato sauce, don't forget Italian seasoning.

Adding the final layer of cheese.
Cover the whole thing.
Logen is starving and can barely wait.
Are we there yet?

Are we there yet? Just over the next hill. Ok, you have your dough spread in the pan. Take some olive oil and brush it on the dough before topping with anything.

Take your sliced cheese and line the bottom of the pan. You got it, right on the dough. Cheese first. Then take some tomato sauce and spread it over the cheese, kind of like you are frosting a cake.

Now add the browned sausage on top of the sauce. Then add the veggie toppings of your choice and I ALWAYS add garlic. It's a big hit around here and gives wonderful flavor. Ok, don't forget to give a generous shaking of your Italian seasoning.

Now, you want to do your second layer of mozzarella cheese slices. Cover the whole thing. Frost your pizza again with more of the tomato sauce and now add the drained diced tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little parsley and with Parmesan cheese.

Ready for the oven.

Look at that hottie!

Are we there yet? Right over the next hill. Put that baby into the oven, middle rack at 500, uncovered and bake for 15 minutes. Check it and see how it is going. I actually ended up baking ours for about 22 minutes. It looked pretty good by then and the center was hot when I stuck my finger in it.  Take it out and let it "rest' in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then we and I really mean Jasen, removed it from the pan, which could have been disastrous, but ended up being ok. TIP: you need a pretty big spatula, server thing to get it out of the pan. Lift the pizza with the server and slide that baby out of the pan. Way to go Jasen!

Taste testers reporting for duty.

Are we almost there yet? Right over the next hill. So now you have your lovely pizza ready to cut. Do your traditional deep dish triangles and serve it.

Lou's Part 2: Coming soon!

Now we tasted this pizza and I thought, boy, this is good and it was my first try. Jasen was impressed and the kids ate it up too, but I thought, I'm not there yet. This isn't the same as Lou's. It's pretty damn close, but not the real deal. That's when Jasen and I started brain storming. What am I going to do differently, what am I going to add? That will be for another post. Maybe an update, an addendum.

Are we there yet? Right over the next hill.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

You never know where you are going to find your next good idea. I am always thinking and when I get some alone time, mostly while driving home from work, I like it quiet. Yes, I know most of you that know me are laughing wildly that I just said I like it quiet, but really, most days on my way home from work, I am in complete silence. No phone, no radio, just me and my thoughts. It is kind of a decompression time for me. Our house is usually a beehive of activity and mostly noisy activity, so those minutes on my ride home are peace, even though it is peace going about 75mph down I-80. I come up with some good ideas on these rides home, but not today.

This idea was found and thought of while in the dentist office. Actually it was in the waiting room while the kids were in with the dentist, but still. So I am sitting there, in my peace (quiet), and I was reading a children's themed magazine when I came across these cupcakes. They were part of a St. Patrick's Day article, but I thought these could be used any time at all to make someone smile.

If you work the batter to the edges of the liner, it WILL work!

Rainbow cupcakes. Hmmm....that's gonna take some work. I often shy away from recipes that are multiple steps or take a lot of effort, but I thought these were so cute that they would be worth it. Sometimes you find things that are just worth the effort and I really do think these are. Everyone that had one smiled. That alone made it worth the effort.

Even though you will fill these up pretty high, they will
turn out perfect!

Here is what I did:
1 box white cake mix, follow the directions on preparing the batter.
1 can of white frosting. I used cream cheese frosting from Aldi, my favorite place
Food coloring
Jelly beans

All of our batter bowls.
She can't wait to lick
those spoons!

Let's keep this as simple as possible.
Prepare the cake mix as it says on the box.
Get out six bowls and scoop equal amounts of batter into each bowl. I used my 1 cup measuring cup and just scooped.
Get out the food colors and add each of the following to a bowl.
Red, easy, it comes that way.
A tiny bit of red plus more of the yellow=orange.
Yellow, again, easy, comes that way.
Green, easy.
Blue, easy.
equal parts of blue and red=purple, easy.

Adding the layers one color at a time.
Be careful not to mix the colors
when you are working the batter
to the edges.

Now line the cupcake pan with paper liners and start with the end of the rainbow, purple. Put a little scoop into each tray and kind of smooth to the edge of the liner. This is the time intensive part.

This is what the batter should be like
when it is to the edge, but NOT mixed
with the color underneath.

Do this step again with the blue, green, yellow, orange and finally the red. Really it wasn't that bad.
Your cupcakes will be pretty full to the top. I was really worried about what was going to happen and if the overflow would be bad, but they turned out perfect!
Bake as the box directs for cupcakes.
Remove from pan to cool.

Perfect for Easter or
anytime you could
use a smile.

Once cooled, I frosted them with the white frosting and topped with the little jelly beans. They were cute, so what the hell, right? You gotta look around the house and use what you have. You'll be amazed at what you can make.

That's it. The kids loved them. Payten had a great time helping by licking off the spoons for all of the colors and my friends at work got a smile out of them too, which made them totally worth the effort.

They're Grrrrrapes!

These are so easy that we made them!

This week was St. Patrick's Day and of course, at work, we have to have some sort of celebration. Every celebration at work always revolves around food. It makes people happy and almost makes them think they are having fun at work. I said almost. The theme was Grazin the Green and it was a potluck where you had to make or buy something green. See the theme here?

I wracked my brain trying to think of something different, something that I haven't brought into work before and something that people will like. Hhhhmmmmmm...what do people like? My friend, Tracy, had written some ideas onto the sign up sheet to spark peoples interest and sure enough, one of those things sparked my thoughts. Green grapes! Grape salad! That's easy, right?

So began my quest for green grapes. I was at Aldi, which I LOVE and do an overwhelming majority of my shopping at, and they only had one package of grapes left, so I thought, I will just run to Dominick's. It's across the street and on my way home. Payten and I run in there after our shopping spree at Aldi, after she conned me into two packages of jelly beans, we finally made it over to the produce. Our Dominick's produce section is very large and they usually have a wide selection of items. I thought this was going to be a quick trip, grapes, in and out. Well two bags of jelly beans later, I am looking at these green grapes, if you can even call them that, and I was thinking, how in the world can they have this on their shelves? I stood there looking around in total disbelief at what they had there for green grapes, rather, brown, moldy, mushy fruit fly infested, grapes, not to mention the price they wanted for these so called grapes.

Take that Dominick's!

We were outta there. Paid for our jelly beans and hit the road. Now I need to make this salad and I need grapes. Thanks to Jewel and my friends at work the next day, I had decent GREEN grapes. I brought those grapes home and on the busiest of days, baked cupcakes, rather Jasen finished baking the cupcakes, I went to yoga and at about 8:45p.m. started my grape salad.

Being a working mom, that squeezes absolutely everything I can into one day, I am always happy to have the EASIEST least time consuming recipes. If it tastes goods, my family likes it, it is simple and quick to make, I love it. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Let's face it, we all want tasty food that anyone can create and in a short period of time.

Back to my story, so it's 8:45p.m. and I have to whip up this salad.
Here is what I did:

4lbs of green grapes washed and dried. When I say dried, I took a paper towel and blotted them before I picked them off of the stems.
2-8oz packages of cream cheese, soft
(I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1-16oz container of sour cream
(I used the light sour cream)
2 cups of white sugar
2 tsp of vanilla

The ingredients below are optional. I have never had the salad with these in it, but I assume it would be good.
8oz chopped pecans
4TBS brown sugar

My always willing, taste testers.

OK, wash the grapes.
In a large bowl, mix the soft cream cheese, sour cream, white sugar and vanilla. Beat this very well until it is really smooth. I'm talking smooooooooooooth as gllllaaaaaasssssss. (Jasen and the kids have been saying smooth as glass for everything lately, I guess I have been easily influenced.)

Grape picking, child labor.

Now, blot the grapes on a paper towel as you pick them off the stem and throw the into the, smooth as glass, mixture.

Finally, fold them in, so that they are well covered. You don't want any naked grapes.

Cover and refrigerate before serving.

For the optional step that I don't do:
After you fold the grapes into the smooth as glass mixture, then sprinkle with the brown sugar and pecans and mix again, cover and pop them in the fridge. Again, I don't make it this way, but I assume it would tasted good.

Now one final thing. Auntie Elaine has made her debut to this blog with her heavenly cupcakes, which I also brought to our Grazin the Green event. I owe this recipe to her too. She is amazing when it comes to quick delicious little treats. A+ Auntie Elaine!

I Think It's Called a Qwe-chee.

Let it stand 10 minutes???
But we are starving mom!

Quiche. Sounds fancy, right? That is if you know how to say it. Every single time I hear the word quiche, I think of my good friend Karen. Karen was in the midst of planning her wedding and they were getting ready to choose their menu. There was an array of appetizers to choose from, delicious dinner selections and of course, the lovely cake for dessert. I am sure any of you that have planned a wedding or some large event similar has been faced with the daunting task of choosing what to eat. Karen and Justin went for the tasting event and came home with rave reviews on the food. They loved it and that made her wedding planning a lot easier. Of course, we were all excited to hear how it went and what was good and what did they pick. As any bride to be, Karen was really excited to tell us all about it and she started with the appetizers. She raved about how good they were and that there was this thing on the menu she had never heard of before, mini quiche, but Karen didn't say quiche. Karen said, I think they are called qwechees. Qwe-chee. Yes, qwe-chee. We all sat there with blank faces and all of a sudden it hit me! QUICHE! Oh My God, you are talking about quiche! I immediately burst out laughing and said it's quiche! Seriously, this is one of my all time favorite Karen moments other than at her bachelorette party when we got into the car and she told me to stop driving so fast. We were still in the parking lot, car in park. Karen, I love you and I also love qwe-chee.

Since, I love the quiche, I decided I was going to try and make one. It couldn't be that hard, could it? Just because it has a fancy name doesn't mean it should be that hard. It is only a qwe-chee after all. I have the pie crust, I have eggs, cheese and veggies, why not? I started off as I always do when embarking on something new, I hit the internet for ideas. You know a point of reference, a starting point.

I have my tried and true favorite sites, bettycrocker.com, allrecipes.com, kraftfoods.com and of course good ole google. I google everything, but for this particular endeavor, I went to kraftfoods.com. I got there and they had an array of different recipes. I usually go through a couple different ones and pick and choose things I like from each recipe and meld them into my own. That's what I did for my delish qwe-chee.

Here is what I did:
1 frozen in the pan pie crust, make it easy on yourself, just get the frozen but thaw it out before using
5 eggs
1/3  cup of milk, I almost always use skim, unless the Vitamin D is all we have
1/3 cup of miracle whip
1/2 to 3/4 cup of shredded cheese of choice, I used cheddar
fresh chopped veggies of choice, I used 1/2 of large onion, 1 green pepper, and some broccoli
1/2 lb of sausage, browned you know the kind, like Tennessee Pride or Jimmy Deans in the big roll

Ok first, brown the sausage and when it is almost done, throw in all of the chopped veggies. Mix them up and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes. Just enough so they aren't so crisp.

Beat the eggs, milk and miracle whip until it is all mixed very well.

Stir in the veggies and sausage and then add the cheese.

Now take your thawed crust and poke the bottom with a fork. You don't have to pierce it completely, just poke all around the bottom. I guess it is supposed to help it bake or something, not sure why, but I did it and it worked.

Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Trust me the 5 eggs will fill it. Any more and you will have an over flowing eggy mess on your hands.

No jiggle in the center, golden, this baby is done!

Place it onto a cookie sheet, bake on the center rack for 40-45minutes at 375. You will know this is done when the center is set and it is a golden color. Give it a good jiggle, if the center moves, it's not done, if it is firm, take it out.

Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Happy Qwe-chee eaters!

There you go. Qwe-chee or quiche depending on your mood. We also had fruit on the side and the kids loved it, so that means it was a hit in our house. We will definitely be having qwe-chee again.

Heaven or Hell? You decide.

Just waiting to be devoured.

Alright, it is January 24th and all of my posts have been about sweets. Many of you may be thinking, hasn't she made any New Year's resolution's? Why is she torturing us like this? What is wrong with her? Well my answer is, no, I have not made a single New Year's resolution and again, no, I am not torturing anyone. Nothing is wrong with me and I am just indulging you in some sweet treats. No master plans to make all of my friends fat as I try to stick to my "lifestyle change". (Imagine the sound of an evil master mind's laugh here)

Anyway, this one isn't even mine, so you can all send a big thank you out to Miss Kim, our babysitter. Not only does Miss Kim put up with the crap my children serve up on a daily basis, but Miss Kim comes up with some absolutely terrific recipes. Yes, Miss Kim is a "lifestyle change" killer and I trust my kids with her everyday, thank you very much!

There are times when I pull up and get out of the car to smell from the front walk the delicious aromas of wonderfully delicious things cooking up inside of this woman's house. Christmas time is especially dangerous because she finds time to make cookie platters for all of her friends and neighbors. These aren't your traditional one or two type platters either. She has every different kind of cookie or bar on this tray. I look forward to it every Christmas season and again, the smell when you walk into the house. Aaahhh, pure heaven, until the high pitch shrills coming from my children's mouths viciously snap me back into reality.

Now some of you may find this next recipe from Miss Kim to be pure heaven or on the other end of the spectrum pure hell. I still can not decide for myself on this. I think I am in limbo somewhere in purgatory. On one hand this is so deliciously good, the butter and sugar combating the slight salt, aaaahhhh, pure heaven, right? Then you have to weigh in the addictive nature you will develop after eating just one, pure hell I tell you. So there you have it, right in the middle, purgatory.

Although I feel torn inside between pure heaven and hell, I still plan on making this again and soon. I have all of the ingredients in the pantry and they are just beating down the door trying to get out. So without further a do...Carmel Corn.

Here is what I did:

Who knew styrofoam
could taste soooo good?

2 bags of puffed corn, not popcorn, but that airy puffed Styrofoam type puffed corn
1 1/2 cups of butter
2 cups of packed brown sugar
2/3 cups of Kayro syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Bring the butter, brown sugar and the Kayro to a rapid boil and then time for two minutes, continually stir it. I actually turn on the timer to be sure and make sure you scrape down the sides to get the sugar granules down. It will be looking frothy by the end of the two minutes.

Then turn off the heat and add the vanilla and the baking soda and mix it good. It will continue to have a frothy look to it.

Have the puffs in a large roasting pan. I actually start off with them split into two pans because it makes the initial mixing easier otherwise it is spilling out all over the counter. (The first time I used the throw away kind and the second time I used two real roasting pans. It made no difference either way.)

Once you have the puffs into the two pans, pour half of the frothy carmel into each of the pans and stir to coat, then combine them all into one pan and give it one more turn.

Bake for an hour at 250, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes.

Spread onto two cookie sheets lined with wax paper to cool, but please, give this a try when it is fresh out of the oven warm. You will want to die it is sooooo good.

So there you have it people. I think this is Miss Kim's own little way of torturing me for all of the crap my kids give her through out the day.

Thank you Miss Kim for everything you do. I truly appreciate your hard work, patience and your super yummy recipes.

Butter Dipped and Sugar Coated, Need I Say More?

I'm on a diet. Wait no, Weight Watchers claims it has to be a lifestyle change, which I agree with, but I still call it a diet. When I have to continually watch every tiny morsel of food I put into my mouth, it's a diet. There are no if ands or buts about that.

It never fails that when I really really crack down on my lifestyle change, I crave sweets. They are my downfall by far. You want a brownie? Sure. You want some ice cream? Sure. You want some candy? Sure. You get the picture. Sweets are my thing, which is why I think I love baking so much. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Baking could be one of my favorite things to do because #1, I love sweets, #2 it makes the house smell soooo good and #3 when you are done, you have this wonderful sweet treat! See, it's great, except for the clean up, which I have already made very clear I hate doing.

Back to the reason for this post. Baking and sweets. Back in the fall, yes, I already know I am behind, I picked up the kids from the sitter and she said try this and held out this little sugar covered ball of baked goodness. Me being me didn't even bother to ask what it was, thank God I don't have any allergies, saw that it was covered in sugar and popped it in my mouth. AAAAAAAAAA tiny rays of sunlight came down from the sky and there I was floating into baked goodness heaven! What was it you ask?

Here they are in all of their sugary delicioius glory.

Mini Donut Holes. YUM! Imagine bite size butter, sugary, cinnaminy heaven. That is what these tasted like. They were so good, I thought I would give them a shot. They couldn't be that hard to make, could they?

My sitter forwarded me the recipe and here I am thinking how could these be better? Well it was fall at the time and what is ready in fall? That's right, pumpkin. Since we had just been to the apple orchard where they have wonderful pumpkin donuts, why not make these donut holes pumpkin too?

So here is what I did:
Donuts
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 can pumpkin, NOT the pumpkin pie stuff in a can
1/2 cup milk, I always use skim
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour

Yummy sugary coating
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 375 and grease the mini muffin trays. I use the baking spray.

The little Pip making sure
that they are being mixed
properly.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Stir in the milk and mix in baking powder, pumpkin and flour until just combined, so don't go crazy mixing, just until everything is combined. IF YOU ARE NOT A FAN OF PUMPKIN...just leave it out. They are still VERY VERY good!!!
Fill the mini muffin tins half way full.
Bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes, they will be slightly brown. Don't over bake or they will be dry and no one likes a dry donut hole.

In a separate bowl melt the 1/4 cup of butter for the coating.
In another small bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon for the coating.

Remove the muffins from the pan, dip into the melted butter and roll into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, set onto a cooling rack.

Let cool and serve, but I will tell you, these were absolutely delicious warm!

These are some what time consuming due to the butter dipping and sugar coating, but they are totally worth the work. I am not a fan of time consuming recipes, but if the outcome is delicious, I will do it. These are worth it. I promise.

Give them a try and let me know if you think they were worth the effort.