What makes a flower mo’betta?

I love cornbread. and muffins. and blueberries.  So naturally, I thought, why not throw them all together and see what it’s like! 

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup AP & 1/4 cup whole wheat – couldn’t resist adding a little!)
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries I used frozen since that’s what I had on hand
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable canola oil
• 2 egg whites (one “flax” egg – 1 T. milled flax seed with 3 T. warm water)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk and oil just until mixed. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter add flax seed to warm water and let sit a few minutes until thickened, add to flour mixture.  Gently fold in blueberries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Happy Easter….Monday!  I hope everyone had a fab holiday, and I know lots of kids have this week off for Spring Break.  Unless your county is like mine, and decided to do it last week instead.  Bummer.  Anyway, regular day for us.  Kids are off to school and I’m busy being domesticated.  Not really, I’m sitting here on the computer. obvi.   The dishwasher is running if that counts.  Instead of ruminating on all the things I need to be doing, I’m going to share these lovely buns and a little tidbit of info I learned about the ever elusive…allspice.

As I mentioned on Friday, I made Hot Cross Buns (for the first time).  If you have never had one, they are like a spiced yeast roll with raisins (or currents and sometimes candied fruit peel).  They are very tasty.  They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday and there is a whole history on the buns if you are so inclined to do a search on them.  I am so not a history buff, and skipped over all the boring stuff history, looking for the right recipe.  I know, some people are tsk, tsking me for my lack of pursuit of knowledge.  BUT, that’s not exactly true!  I did learn something….about allspice. 

The recipe I used for the Hot Cross Buns is from   If you go to her site, she has great step-by-step instructions (with pics!) on how to make these.  I followed her instructions exactly, b/c I didn’t want to mess them up! (They were for the parentals you know).  The only changes I made were…(you know there had to be at least one) is that I used skim milk, b/c I didn’t have any whole milk, and I added 1/4 t. allspice, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/4 t. ground cloves, in addition to the teaspoon of cinnamon called for.  AND I added a tablespoon of lemon and orange zest.  This is a must in my opinion.  Oh, and I did not use raw egg white in my frosting, b/c that seemed like a bad idea (especially for my dad who has a weak immune system from his last June).  I used 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 t. vanilla, and enough orange juice to get the right consistency.  I think it was 2-3 T.  Okay, so more than one change to the recipe!

Back to the allspice.  Did you know that allspice is an actually spice, from a berry, not a combination of spices (like I heard many times in the past)?  You can read all about it , if interested.  Since I rarely use allspice, I didn’t have any.  But, you can make an allspice substitution, which is a combination of spices.  All you have to do is combine equal parts of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pepper.  Yes, pepper!  I made mine up and stored it in the classy plastic baggie that you see above.  See, I learned something this weekend.  (Actually, I learned it a while back, but does anyone really care?).  Just passing it along, in case you find yourself without any allspice.

There are so many Easter-y (pretty sure, not a word) things floating around the web.  I have several things bookmarked, and considering Easter is Sunday, I’m pretty sure most of them will not be getting done.  So, I thought I’d share a few, maybe you’ll get a chance to try one or two…

I’ve been slack in posting this week since the kids are driving me crazy out of school for spring break.  Trying to spend some quality time with them (and keep the girls from killing each other).  Today, making cookies is on the agenda.  If I can ever get the energy! 

I know there are lots of Easter treats floating around blog land, and of course, I had to share mine too!  These are super easy, and I thought they turned out really cute.  I made them for my son’s preschool class, and they thought the cupcakes were awesome (but really, how hard is it to impress 2 & 3 y/o’s?).  Except for one little boy, who said “take this chicken off my cake! I don’t like chicken!”  Not everyone is a peep fan apparently.  I have to confess, I don’t actually like Peeps either.  They are cute and all, and definitely make me think of Easter, but I don’t actually want to eat them.  I must say, however, that now that they have come out with a chocolate covered Peep…it may be a different story.  I’ll let you know.

Now, all you need are Peeps…whatever color you like, and some edible Easter grass! I bought mine from Target.  (You can also use coconut, dyed green, but a lot of kids don’t like coconut)  The edible grass comes in different colors too.  I decided on a traditional green grass and yellow chick.  The grass tasted like flavored styrofoam.  In case you’re wondering.  And you need some cupcakes…

I used an egg free recipe that was very similar to Mr. Man’s 3 y/o birthday cake, but I decided on yellow cake (b/c I knew chocolate would be all over the kids’ faces!)  Just like the b-day cake, it turned out very well!  You never miss the eggs.

1 1/2 cups skim milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

few drops of yellow food coloring (optional) *If you really want the yellow hue you get from butter/eggs etc, you can add some food coloring.  I added a couple of drops, but I really don’t think the kids care!

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup and a 6 cup muffin pan or line with baking liners.

2.Add the vinegar to the milk. Let stand until curdled, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk mixture, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly. (I filled mine abt 3/4ths full)

3.Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. 

After the cupcakes cool, frost with whatever frosting you want to use.  I used canned vanilla frosting, b/c I had lots leftover from Number One’s baking b-day party.

Slap some frosting on your cupcakes (it doesn’t matter what it looks like b/c it will be covered up), add your edible Easter grass (I just made little “nests”, but you can arrange the grass however you like), then stick a Peep on top.  You can use extra frosting to “glue” them on.  Then, I added a few jelly beans, b/c the chicks looked sad sitting on top of the cupcakes all by their lonesome.  FYI, preschoolers love jellybeans!  And there you have it.  Cute AND easy Easter cupcakes that kids will love.

I’ll be linking up these cupcakes at several places this week (b/c I think they are adorable) – you can see all the linkys HERE.  Go visit them for great recipes and craft ideas!  Easter is right around the corner peeps 😀

I’m also entering this in the Iron Chef’s Challenge over at ! This month’s challenge is baking powder! An ingredient I couldn’t live without!

Also linking up at