Sweet Melissa Sunday - Pear Cranberry Muffins with Gingersnap Crumble

I almost forgot to post this! Been a busy weekend and a busy day and now, at 9:30 Sunday night I just realized I hadn't posted for SMS yet. Nothing like getting in under the wire! :D

This week's recipe, chosen by Jennifer of Maple N' Cornbread was Pear Cranberry Muffins with Gingersnap Crumble. I love muffins and was excited to try these. I baked a lot of different things this weekend and one of the things I baked was Molasses spice cookies and I decided to use them for the gingersnap crumble.

These were quick and easy to pull together. I didn't make any changes in the recipe. I just read the posts on the P&Q and saw that a lot of people made changes to keep the muffins from being too dense, but I missed that, and, after trying these, didn't think they were too dense for my tastes.

The gingersnap crumble was also easy to pull together. I only wished I had known how much the muffins would spread as they baked. I put on what seemed like a "ton" of crumble only to have it separate and spread out over the top of the muffins so it seemed like there wasn't much at all. I am sure the muffins would be even better with the crumble covering the muffin tops rather than just here and there.

These tasted delicious. I could detect the orange from the zest , not overpowering, just a nice undernote. The tart cranberries were a nice compliment to the pears' sweetness. And, the occasional crunch from the gingersnap crumble contrasted nicely with the moist crumb of the muffin. My hubby and I ate two of them, each, for breakfast this morning.

I loved this batter and am already thinking of the different ingredients I could add to it. Of course, apples and raisins were the first ones I thought of, but the variations are endless. This is a good recipe to keep handy. I am planning on making these again tomorrow morning, to take to my son and daughter-in-law's house for breakfast.

So, thanks again Jennifer. Great choice! And, if you would like to see what the other bakers thought, click here!

Sweet Melissa Sunday - Devil's Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

I'm back! And, just in time to bake this wonderful dessert. This week's choice is Devil's Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and it was chosen by Holly of Phe/Mom/enon. Thank you Holly!  I love peanut butter and chocolate and this one did not disappoint.

The cake was very easy to put together and smelled delicious while baking. I was a bit taken back by the 6 sticks of butter in the frosting recipe, but stuck to the recipe as stated. I think in the future I will cut back on the butter a bit. The peanut butter taste came through, even though there is only a 1/2 cup of peanut butter in the frosting, but I found the frosting too rich, too buttery. Even my hubby, who seldom finds anything "too much" said the frosting was extremely rich.

The cake is fudge-like, almost like a brownie. The chocolate flavor is deep and intense. It was moist and delicious! I will use this devil's food cake recipe the next time I need a chocolate cake to impress.

So, thanks again Holly! I loved it, and would definitely make it again.Head over to Sweet Melissa Sunday's if you would like to see what the other SMS bakers thought

Sweet Melissa Sundays - Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins

This week's recipe was Caramelized Onion, Sage, and Cheddar Muffins. It was chosen by Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen.

I have to admit I wasn't going to do this one. I am not much on savory muffins. I like my muffins sweet and fruity. Onions? Sage? Cheese?? In a muffin? But, I decided to pull some chili out of the freezer for dinner tonight and figured I might as well try the muffins. Thought they might go well with the chili. I cut the recipe in half, because I didn't want to have a dozen muffins I didn't like sitting around the kitchen. Silly me!

These muffins were delicious!! And, they were so easy to put together. I think I had them in the oven in under 30 minutes, and that included frying up the onions. I followed the recipe just about word for word, omitting only the cayenne pepper. My hubby isn't big on pepper of any kind. I left in the black pepper, but cut it back a bit.  I fried up one white onion in some olive oil until the peices were nice and brown and caramelized. Love the smell of onions cooking. Should have know these would be good just because of the onion. I chopped up some fresh sage and tossed that in with the onions and 1/2 cup mild cheddar cheese. (Didin't have any sharp on hand). Filled my muffin papers up with the batter and tossed them in the oven to bake for the 30 minutes.

The smell of them baking was wonderful! After 30 mintues I took them out of the oven and put them on a rack to cool. They puffed up and you could see little pieces of onion and cheese peeking out through the crusty top. I let them cool for about 30 mintues or so and then tried one.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, they were delicious! I think I would kick up the sage a tiny bit and also the cheese. I cut the recipe in half, but think while the onions were about perfect as far as flavor went, the other two flavors were almost overpowered by the onions. But, still, the texture was perfect, nice crusty top and moist and tender inside. The flavor combination was great and I think they will go wonderfully with the chili later. I am thinking about trying the Bosc Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut ones next. I have to say this recipe certainly changed my opinion about savory muffins.

Head on over to SWS to see what the other bakers thought.

Sweet Melissa Sunday - Orange Scented Scones

This week's recipe, chosen by Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery, is Orange Scented Scones. You can find the recipe posted on her site.

I love scones. I am the only one in my family who does. So, I didn't have to worry about sharing any of these with anyone else. :) Actually the husband tried one, but I think it's just because I was raving about them and he wanted to see what he was missing. He thinks they are too much like a biscuit and to him the only good biscuit is one with sausage and egg on it.

I read a lot of the posts from those of you who had already made these. One of the biggest things I kept seeing was most used more zest than was called for in the recipe. So, I did the same. I used the zest from one whole orange, and added about 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract to the dough. I wanted the orange to really come though on these.  This was a really simple recipe to make. I did use my food processor and it made quick work of putting the dough together. I loved how you could see tiny pieces of the zest and the butter in the dough.

I traveled to Ireland a couple of years ago and one of the high points for me was a stop at a farm house where we were served fresh baked scones with jam. The scones were round shaped instead of triangle shaped and that is how I chose to make mine. Before putting them in the oven, I brushed them with the heavy cream as suggested in the recipe. When it came time for the sugar I decided to try something a bit different and I added a few drops of orange extract to some raw sugar I have and then sprinkled that over the scones. I thought it might kick up the orange flavor a bit more.

I thought these were wonderful. You could smell the orange as they baked and the aroma was mouthwatering. I barely let them cool before biting into one. They were tender, buttery, melt in your mouth goodness. The raw sugar on top added the little bit of crunch I like in my baked goodies. They were great plain, nothing on them at all.  I ate two of them before they had been out of the oven 10 minutes! I loved the texture of them. I am planning on trying this recipe again, only next time I think I will play around with the "scented" part...thinking blueberry with lemon. Maybe apple with cinnamon. The combinations  are endless.

Thanks again to Robin for choosing this recipe!   Hop on over to SWS to see what the other bakers thought.