Good Morning Muffins

This morning I woke up wanting to make some muffins.  I checked the ever expanding Pioneer Woman Cooks site to find these Good Morning Muffins.  I had orange marmalade on hand from my intentions to make her orange marmalade rolls, but I haven't done it yet.  Anyway, I halved this recipe and I still got twelve muffins that were almost overflowing in their tins, so I have no idea how she only got twelve servings out of her recipe?  Relative to other orange flavored muffins they are good, but they will not be my morning muffin of choice.  I needed something a little sweeter.  I think a little more sugar in the dough would have been great.  Word to the wise...these little jokers smell your house up very quickly and it's almost pungent.  Or at least it was to Luke and myself.  He kept asking me "what's that smell".  They are extremely moist and look great, but just not my thing.  If you enjoy orange flavor and not so sweet in the morning, this would be ideal for you.

*Next time I may add pureed strawberries instead of orange juice?  That may make them taste a bit sweeter.

Taste- 3
Difficulty- 2.5

Oatmeal Crispies with a Twist

I made these oatmeal crispies a couple days ago and they really were so easy and satisfied my sweet tooth just right.  I was extremely happy with the base for this cookie dough.  It is not at all figure friendly, but geez Louise it's yummy.  I love oatmeal raisin cookies so all I did to twist it up was add some raisins.  I saved some dough in the fridge and I will probably make the rest of them while the kids are taking a nap today. 

Another twist, you could probably add peanut butter chips.  That would be great too.

I urge you to try these out one day. 

Taste- 4.5
Difficulty- 2.5

*Just so you hometown Marshall people know...I found organic shortening at Kroger in town, so you can make these cookies completely organic.

Mushroom Swiss Sliders

This week I made Mushroom Swiss Sliders from none other than the Pioneer Woman.  They were soooo delicious.  I made half of them exactly as she says, but my boys and my husband are not a fan of the mushroom and onion chunkiness on top.  I decided I didn't care what they thought and mushrooms and onions are good for you so I put the rest of the mushroom mixture in with the TURKEY meat and cooked them like that.  It sort of disguised the fact that they were eating the veggies but you could still get the good flavor.  The best part of these was the Spicy Fry Sauce.  It's just mayonnaise, cayenne, and ketchup but it adds just a little kick to the burger to fancy it up.

Taste- 4.5
Difficulty- 3

I will make these again sometime for sure!

Italian Cream Cake

About three weeks ago I made the Italian Cream Cake that Pioneer Woman has on her site.  It was one of the more difficult things I have ever made.  You shouldn't really try making this bad boy unless you have a mixer.  A good mixer.  My only other advice, use all the icing.  I thought there was too much and I didn't use it all, that was a mistake. 

Taste- 4 (I wasn't the biggest fan of the actual cake part)
Difficulty - 4.5 (It's messy and there are a LOT of steps)