Cinnamon Toast Muffins

Posted by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

 

Most people have the ingredients on hand, so give it a try.  These muffins do NOT disappoint!

Yes, the recipe is from scratch, but it’s not too complicated and it only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to get them in the oven, so not much fuss, and my kids LOVE them!

Yield = 12 muffins

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1  1/2 cups all purpose flour
1  1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2/3 cup milk

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium-large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients with a whisk to thoroughly mix. Add wet ingredients and stir with a spoon or rubber spatula just until combined . . . the batter will be a bit lumpy. Do NOT overmix – overmixing will ruin the texture of the finished muffins.

Scoop batter into muffin tins that have sprayed with cooking spray, filling each about 2/3 of the way.  I usually get about 12 medium-large muffins out of this batter.  Bake for 20 minutes or so – or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges. (Every oven is different – I bake them for 22 minutes in mine.)

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffin tops in melted butter, then dip/roll them in cinnamon sugar.

That’s it – enjoy!

Organizing Child Artwork

Posted by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

With four kids, I learned early on that I just couldn’t save every single piece of artwork that my boys brought home – no matter how much I might want to.  Up until now, I’ve been saving as much as I could (and trying to keep things organized) but we’re getting buried in paper!

Our Artwork Wall

One of our previous artwork walls is to the right.

Not everyone has the space to properly display ALL of their children’s art.  I would like to share a couple of easy ideas I have come across to help you wade through the sea of paper.

 

Make and Frame a Photo Collage

This super cute idea is featured by Jen on jenthousandwords.  I could easily see doing one of these for my boys – I need to get to work on it!

 

Organizing Child Artwork
Artwork Collage to Frame

1) Take a photo of the artwork you would like to include in your collage

2)  Create your collage / arrange the photos on your computer

3) Print it yourself, or have it printed at Staples or Kinkos, if you need a larger size than your printer will accommodate  (I suggest finding the frame you want to use first, to help you choose your desired dimensions)

When I complete and frame mine, I’ll be sure to share the finished product.

 

 


Below, however, is an idea that I actually I have made use of myself.  I had heard about this app and it was one of the first things I downloaded when I got my new phone.

 

ArtkiveArtkive Screenshot

Artkive is a really great app – it used to be free, but now there are minimal monthly charges (starting at $3).  This app makes it easy to upload photos of your child’s artwork, especially if you take the photos with your phone.  You can also access the albums from your computer.

They also offer photo mosaic creations (like the collage above) you can hang on your wall, and can they even create bound photo books of your child’s artwork.  (I need to do some of my own, so I can maybe recycle some of the many piles of ‘masterpieces’ – but don’t tell my boys!)

Now that my boys are older, I don’t have as many art projects that come home, but there are some and I do try to take photos of artwork as soon as it comes into the house.  Nothing is going to get lost now!  Sure, I may still save a few examples of my budding artists’ work for each school year tucked away – but I can relax also, knowing that I have other ways in place (or in progress) to save these wonderful memories.

Candy Corn Cookies for Halloween

Posted by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

Halloween is coming!

Cany Corn Cookies 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite Sugar Cookie recipe can be used to create these great Candy Corn Cookies. A small amount of yellow and orange gel icing coloring is used to tint the dough for the larger sections. You bake it like a small pizza & then cut the ‘slices’ into the individual Candy Corns. You can use round cookie cutters or bowls of different sizes to cut the circles – and then assemble them before baking. I put white Royal Icing on the ‘tips’ of the cookies, after cutting, because I thought the plain dough wasn’t quite white enough. You can make them any size you want, but my finished cookies were only about 2 inches long.  I found a great tutorial on these at sugarandspiceandallthingsiced.com.

CandyCornCookiesTutorial