Worth the Trouble

Sorry for the extended silence. Things around here have been...well...exhausting.

We are attempting to navigate the treacherous and choppy waters of graduating from crib to "Big Boy Bed." This has been terribly ugly and sleep-deprived.

Thankfully Grammy came up with a solution that can remedy the situation in the short term and we all got a decent night's sleep last two night.

Whew! What a difference a day or two can make.



Today, rather than try to bake something from scratch, I ventured into the wonderful world of King Arthur Flour again.

If you enjoy baking (or cooking, for that matter) please go to their web site. You will not be disappointed. They have virtually everything you might need to bake. They also have some very good mixes and kits to make all different types of muffins, breads, etc.



These were up today. Now, I will warn you, these are more involved than most muffin mixes. I was pretty crabby when I was putting these together (still haven't gotten enough sleep to not be crabby). There are four parts and it seemed like too much work. That being said, the results are so completely worth it.

There is the muffin batter, the filling batter, the streusel and the glaze for the tops of the muffins. Yikes! But look at these beautiful things...are you drooling yet?

Yeah, I know.



Mr. Smith is not a fan of muffins in general. (I know, I know, I married him anyway. You can't have everything!) However, Mr. Smith LOVED these. He also suggested insulin, since they are on the sweet side.

Personal Crumb Cakes...the easy way

I am a huge fan of the King Arthur Flour Catalog.

My Grandma swore by their flour. She would not use anything else in her bread, her sugar cookies, or anything for that matter.

We get their catalog frequently and I am on their email list. I could spend, without even trying, a huge amount of money every month or so just on baking stuff. So silly.

Anyway, they were having a sale, so I caved and bought some mixes. I will let you know about the others. Today, H "helped" me make these. Okay, he actually just played in sink while I made these. A guy has to have priorities!

A disclaimer: I am not a fan of mixes. I do not believe that a mix is ever as good as something made from scratch. I am the kind of nut job that will make a cake from scratch rather than use a boxed mix. Mr. Smith's favorite cake does use a mix, so I have had to loosen this policy over the last few years.

That being said, King Arthur Flour is a exception.



These are just lovely. I like the idea of having individual cakes instead of one large one. They sell the whole thing in a kit, so ordering is very easy.

I will make these again. Perhaps when we have house guests. It would be very nice to serve these warm on Sunday morning.