Sunday Baking time

I seem to go through phases where I enjoy baking (and have been going through it more and more now that I'm pregnant). Today I was lounging in bed, really just putting off having to get up because it's my last sleep in day this week too (now that Carl goes to school, I wake up with him and we get up at either 5 or 6 every morning) and started thinking about what we were going to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

Last week I made amazing pancakes. I used a mix and added this cinnamon apple stuff I had made for apple turnovers. It was really good- Apple pancakes! We ate them all week with peanut butter on top. It was so easy and yummy and kept us both full for awhile, which is very important for pregnant woman and students alike :).

This week, I decided to make muffins. They taste good and are easy to heat up every morning. SOOOOO... here is what I did:

I took regular muffin mix (the only one I can find that doesn't have transfat listed) and doctored it up! So easy.... the only thing the muffins called for is 1 cup of water.

I added:

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup chopped up almonds

1/2 frozen blueberries that I thawed out

1/4 cup craisins (I soak them in water for a few minutes)

1/4 flax seed

frozen slivered almonds on top

Here is what they turned out to be! They are SOOOO good! The almonds on top were frozen so they didn't burn and they taste so almondy and fruity.... YUM!!!

I also decided that while the oven was hot, I would make cookies... I had made them before but we gave some away to neighbors and they are SOOOO yummy, so I made more. Here is what to do:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup splenda or regular sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon (I am not sure if this is how much I added…. I just keep adding until it looks right. I most likely used a bit more than 1 Tbsp)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2-3 cups rolled oats depending on how oaty you like your cookies... the first time I made it I did 3 cups, this time I did about 2 1/2 cups

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 1/4 cup raisins

3/4 cups MINI semisweet chocolate chips (if you use the mini chips, you can get away with using less but it still tastes good)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl cream shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

3. Combine the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour and stir into creamed mixture

4. Add oatmeal, almonds, raisins, and chocolate chips and stir until well blended.

5. Drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

The mix in my wonderful mixer... it makes cookies so easy!

The cookies on the sheet... If you make them bigger it will make about 60 cookies.

The finished product! YUM!!!

The cookies are so good! They are nutty and chocolaty and cinnamony but not too raisiny. A really good cookie that is easy to make and tasty to eat (even Carl says they are super yummy and he is a cookie expert!)