Healthy Cinnamon Struesel Oat Bran Muffins

This recipe is a pretty healthy recipe! It calls for very little bad for you ingredients so I don't feel so bad making these for my family. The recipe is after the mouth watering photos :)

These healthy cinnamon oat bran muffins have a lovely cinnamon struesel topping so it gives it an extra layer of texture as well as flavor.  You could substitute applesauce for the brown sugar. I didn't have any in the house, but next time I plan to do that.

This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Oat Bran Muffin Recipe (adapted from THIS recipe)

• 1 3/4 Cup oat bran 
• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 Cup packed brown sugar (again, I used light brown sugar)
• 1/4 Cup honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 1/4 Cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400degrees. Line regular sized muffin tin with paper or foil muffin wrappers. Set aside.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl (oat bran, flour, baking powder, cinnamon). Set aside.
3. Mix together dry ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth and combined. 
4. Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients, a little at a time until combined.
5. Spoon mixture into muffin tin. Add struesel (recipe below) if desired.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick stuck into the center of a muffin comes out clean. The muffins will be browned on the top, but still moist.

Struesel Recipe (adapted from THIS recipe):

• 1/4 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 Cup packed brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
•  2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Smash all ingredients together with a fork until crumbles form**.  Sprinkle over muffins right before baking.

**My crumbles were actually quite moist so I had to separate them into smaller pieces while sprinkling over the muffins.

Peanut Butter Truffles

These Peanut Butter Truffles are a delicious and decadent little treat!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy, but creamy would be best)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 bag of chocolate chips (approx 6 oz chocolate)

Steps:

1. Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until completely combined. This mixture will be thick. I just used a fork to mix until it got mostly combined and then finished mixing by hand.
2. Roll peanut butter mixture into approx 1inch round balls. Refridgerate.
3. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler over low heat or via microwave. 
4. Roll peanut butter balls into chocolate.
5. Place on foil or wax paper and let the chocolate set.
6. Store in an air tight container. I kept them in the fridge.

Peanut butter mixture.

Finished truffles.

Close-up. So delicious!!

Triple Chocolate Oatmeal Cookes

I had an old recipe for chocolate oat cookies, and so I decided to turn that into triple chocolate oatmeal cookies!

Triple Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips
• 1/2cup softened butter (half a cup equals one stick)
• 1/2cup granulated sugar
• 1/4tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4cup oats (not instant!)
• 3/4cup all-purpose flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/4tsp baking soda
• 1/4tsp salt

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Melt one cup of semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler on low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when all chips are melted completely.
3. Beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fuffy.
4. Add in melted chocolate, vanilla, and egg until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
6. Stir in 1cup of semisweet chocolate chips and 1 cup white chocolate chips.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes until edges look set. 
9. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes and enjoy!

This recipe makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Additional notes:

• These cookies are super gooey, but the longer you let them set, the firmer they will become.
• If you are a nut lover, add a 1/2cup of walnuts or pecans!

S'mores Cookie Bars Recipe

I recently made S'mores Cookie Bars (click here for original recipe).  OMGosh, make sure to look around her blog because she has sooooo many amazing recipes! I am in love.

I didn't have an 8X8 baking dish, so I adapted the recipe so I could use an 8X12 baking sheet. My adaptations are in Orange.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 Regular sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
• 1 large container marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8X12inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
3. Set aside 1/3 of dough and press the rest of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough (as shown in the photo below).  
4. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme/fluff. 
5. Place remaining dough in small pieces over the marshmallow fluff (as shown in the photo below).
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Pulled Pork The Cheater Method

Tonight I made Barbecue Pulled Pork for the first time and just made up the recipe. It was so great that I wanted to share it. I really wish I had taken a photo of it, but I thought of that too late. Definitely will take a photo next time!

I used pork roast. I put it in the crock pot with onion powder, salt, pepper, and water (as much as you want to your taste, I go heavy on the salt and the pepper). Cooked it on high until cooked and tender. I left it in the crock pot about 5 hours.

Then I pulled out the roast and at this point it was already falling apart. I used a fork and shredded it all the way.

I put the pulled pork in a roasting pan, covered it with barbecue sauce and then put it in a 400degree oven for about 20 minutes.

For barbecue sauce, we just use a kind we can buy. We prefer Jack Daniel's® Original No. 7 Recipe™

It's got that excellent smoky flavor. I am not a huge barbecue eater, but when I do, there is very few BBQ sauces I will eat, and this is one of them (the other is made by this BBQ dive locally).

When the pulled pork came out of the oven, I mixed the barbecue into the pork and then served it as sandwiches. It was EXCELLENT and so easy!!

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

I really enjoyed this recipe! It was super easy to make too.

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

The original recipe that I adapted can be found here. My adaptations are in Orange.

Filling (I doubled these ingredients because I wanted A LOT of swirl)

8

oz cream cheese, softened

2 eggs
6 tablespoons sugar

1/2

 teaspoon vanilla

Brownies

1

box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box

1/3

cup semisweet mini chocolate chips 

1. Heat oven to 350ºF (325ºF for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 9-inch square pan with shortening or cooking spray. In small bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Set aside.
2. Make brownie batter as directed on box. Spread 3/4 of brownie batter in pan. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter over filling. Cut through mixture with knife several times for marbled design. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
3. Bake 40 to 44 minutes or until toothpick inserted in brownie 1 inch from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. For 16 brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 16 brownies

For more photos, click here!

"Marbleous" Peanut Butter Squares

"Marbleous" Peanut Butter Squares

I adapted the recipe that you can find here. My adaptations are in Orange.

Peanut Butter Squares

1/2

cup granulated sugar

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

1/2

cup butter or margarine, softened

1/3

cup peanut butter

1

egg

1

cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1

cup old-fashioned oats

1/2

teaspoon baking soda

1/4

teaspoon salt

3

tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

1

tablespoon milk (used 2.5 tablespoons milk)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 1/2

cups powdered sugar

1/4

cup crunchy peanut butter

2 

to 2 1/2 tablespoons milk (had to use the full 2.5 tablespoons here)

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, beat granulated and brown sugars, butter, 1/3 cup peanut butter and the egg with electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the warm bars. Wait a minute and spread out the melted chocolate into a thin layer. Cool completely on wire rack, about 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, mix all Peanut Butter Frosting ingredients until smooth and spreadable; reserve 1/3 cup. Stir cocoa and 1 tablespoon milk into remaining frosting until smooth. If necessary, stir in additional milk until spreadable.
6. Spread cooled bars with cocoa frosting. Drop Peanut Butter Frosting by teaspoonfuls onto cocoa frosting; swirl through frostings for marbled design. For squares, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

We stored them in the fridge and then just set a couple of squares out to get rid of the chill. They would have been fabulous reheated in the microwave for 15 seconds or so, but we don't have a microwave LOL!

Makes 48 squares