Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins with Lemon Frosting

So I needed something to snack on here at the house.  I really need to get to the store - so my only option was a cookie - or to make something.  I wanted something a little better for me than a cookie chock full of peanut butter, sugars, and chocolate - so I went searching.  I found a recipe for some Muffins that were made with oatmeal and applesauce, they seem like they would be a better option.  (Although I never really did any real research into the matter.)  And I also had some lemons yet that still appeared to be good.  So I thought some lemon frosting would go well with them...  (And thus completely blowing away the healthfulness of the whole thing... oh well...)  I think they turned out really well.  The 3 year old I babysit did not care for the muffin by itself.  Ohlen didn't care to try.  But Noah loves them.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins - recipe adapted from a submission at allrecipes.com.
     The original recipe calls for cinnamon, I left it out due to the fact that cinnamon is causing me heartburn these days.  It also included a topping, but I left that off as I was planning to use the frosting.

• 1 1/2 cups instant oatmeal
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease muffin tins, if using them.  (I used the silicon baking cups.)  Whisk together oatmeal, flour, powder, and soda.  

Whisk brown sugar, egg white, applesauce, and milk together until smooth.  Mix in flour mixture until evenly moistened.  Pour into muffin cups.

Bake about 20 minutes.

Lemon Frosting

1/2 c butter

2 large scoops with a large spoon shortening (very scientific, I know)

Juice from 1 lemon

Powdered sugar to consistency and taste (I really have no idea how much I used... I just kept adding until it tasted right)

Beat all together until it gets nice and fluffy and tasty.

I ended up cutting them in half and frosting the middle, and keeping the frosting in the fridge so I can use it as I go.

    

"Ice Cream"

This will be a super easy recipe. In fact - it only has one ingredient. I put ice cream in quotes, because, well, there is no cream in this, no dairy of any kind, just one thing, and that thing is...a...



Banana.

Yep.

Just a banana (or two or three)

Take a banana - peel it - freeze it - cut it up - put it in a food processor (or blender) - process - Eat!

And it really does look and feel like ice cream! It just tastes like bananas. :) But it is SO much better for you than ice cream, which is why I will deal with the super banana taste.

Now, you can make it more interesting. I added a bit of peanut butter (to keep it on the healthier end of things, I used the peanut butter you grind right in the store - so all you get is just peanuts) and a drizzle of honey. I am really not a banana fan - but this was excellent.

I've heard that you can add other fruits too, as long as 1/2 of the ingredients are bananas. One banana doesn't make a ton of the tasty treat, but it was enough for me. I think next time I will throw in a few berries as well (without the peanut butter) and it is very tempting to top it off with some chocolate sauce.

As seems to be a trend here, I discovered this treat at The Kitchn. (Really, if you haven't checked them out you should. They also have some great kitchen ideas - I think there was an article today about movable islands - which I should check out.)

Speaking of movable islands - Lost starts in less than a week!!

Doughnuts, Donuts, whatever

One night last(?) week Ohlen asked me for doughnuts. (Time is slipping away, so this could have been earlier in the month than that....) Oh, now I remember - it was last Tuesday. Fitting that I write about this now seeing how it is a Tuesday, and Tuesday is the infamous Doughnut Day at our local grocer. It is a magical day where they give out free doughnuts and coffee (yay) in the morning. That morning we had gone and Ohlen got a doughnut and later that evening he wanted another. So I decided to look up a recipe for them. I didn't think I would find anything good, seeing as I don't have a deep fryer and wasn't looking forward to the prospect of frying anything anyways - not a fan. But I searched anyways.

Just a quick aside - I did a quick search of the difference between the two spellings Doughnut and Donut. Most sources call them interchangeable while one blogger insisted that doughnuts are made with dough and the others... aren't.... I'm going to go with the interchangeable call. I use the long form because I am a nerd like that.

Anyways, I found a great recipe for Baked Doughnuts from, where else, the Kitchn Blog. They provided a link to the recipe found on the blog 101cookbooks.com. I tweaked a few minor details and again used margarine instead of butter. (I should probably switch over. Any thoughts??) I also just did a half recipe - this is the full one.

Baked Doughnuts

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (1 package)
2 tablespoons margarine
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine, melted (called for unsalted butter.)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. I used the measuring cup for this to save on dishes. Stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. I would assume you could also mix this by hand. I happen to have some dough attachments so I used them. Here add flour or milk depending on if your dough needs to be more or less sticky. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Move the dough to a greased up bowl, cover, and put in a warm place. I usually use the preheating oven. Let sit until about doubled in size - roughly an hour.

Entertain Child... (optional) :)

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. I don't think this is an exact science. I wish I would have made mine a little thicker. Use a doughnut cutter, if you have one, to cut out shapes. If you are like me and don't have one, just use what ever circular items you have available. I used some of the kids small plastic bowls to cut out the large circles and a small plastic container for the inside holes - although I think it was a little too big, next time I will try to find something smaller. Cut out the outside circle only and then transfer to you baking sheets covered in parchment paper. I didn't have any parchment paper, so I used a silicon baking sheet, which worked fine. Cut out the inner circles. (You wait to cut the inner circles as to not distort the donuts while moving.) Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

More child entertaining, book reading, TV watching... :)

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes. I would start checking around 6 minutes. You really don't want them to over bake. They get hard fast. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat right away. I did have left overs and saved them for the next day.

This was a half batch. Don't forget to bake the doughnut holes too! :)

Verdict:
This is a great recipe and I will definitely be making them again. There is alot of possibility for expanding the recipe, adding different ingredients. Mine were over done, as you can see from the picture. They still tasted ok - although they reminded me of a cinnamon and sugar pretzel (which really is not bad.) The rest of the family also enjoyed them, which is a plus. They weren't as good the next day, unless you put them in the microwave first.