How to make McMuffins (or English Muffins to normal people)

A couple of weekends ago I was up later after Jeff went to bed. Nothing abnormal for me when I have a lot on my mind. It is hard for me to go to bed anyway, but when I have a lot on my mind, it is almost impossible. I got a wild hair and looked up English muffin recipes. I did not have the time that weekend to try them, but last weekend I did. They were AWESOME. And relatively easy. Jeff liked having them for breakfast this week. He asked why I decided to make "Mcmuffins." I said well to normal people those are english muffins, not something you get at McDonalds. I am now in the process of making my second batch and thought I would share the recipe with you.

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted shortening
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Warm the milk over low heat until it bubbles. Remove from heat and add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, combine the yeast and water and let sit about 10 minutes, or until it is creamy. Combine milk, yeast and 3 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Add the salt and the rest of the flour. Knead and then place in a greased container and let rise. I preheat my oven to the lowest temperature possible when I start making the dough. Then I turn it off and place my dough in the oven to rise. After it has doubled in size, take it out and punch down. Then roll out to 1/2 in thickness. Cut out with a biscuit cutter, glass or whatever round object you have. Sprinkle wax paper with cornmeal and place cut outs on wax paper. Sprinkle tops with cornmeal and cover and let rise again for about half an hour. Heat a greased griddle or pan over medium heat. Cook 5-10 muffins on each side until brown.

These are great because you can freeze them and then pull them out of the freezer, cut in half and pop in the toaster.

Jeff LOVED the Mcmuffins as he calls them and they will be a staple in out house from now on.

Cinnamon Sugar Yummieness

I made these this weekend and they are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever tasted.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy; then add eggs, and beat well. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pudding mix. Mix contents of both bowls togethr. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven; allow cookies to cool momentarily on baking sheets before removing them to wire racks to cool completely.

I did not use the chocolate chips or the nuts, and probably never will. They are wonderful without them! I also lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper so that the cookies did not stick. They are soft and buttery and wonderful!

Homemade mayonnaise...not for the faint of heart.

I had found a recipe for homemade mayo a few weeks ago, and decided that when I ran out of the mayo we had, I would try it. So Thursday night, while fixing our lunches, Jeff told me that he had used the last of the mayo. I had told him to let me know.

Today I headed to Wal Mart to get a stick blender, which one of the recipes said I would need. I came home and began my recipe.

First attempt: I was following one recipe I had found and I broke out my new stick blender. I put one egg yolk and salt in a bowl. I proceeded to TRY and blend until sticky. Yeah, it did not work. There was not enough in the bowl to really BLEND. So I dumped it out and tried again with the same recipe.

Second attempt: Same recipe but different equipment. I used a mixer this time. I mixed, and I mixed and I mixed. Adding oil all the while. After about an hour and it still did not look like the pictures on the recipe I was following, I decided to try another recipe.

Third attempt: New recipe. I spent about 30 minutes or so looking for a new recipe. I found one that used just a regular blender, and seemed easy. So I tried it. It finally emulsified the way it was supposed too. I tried it though, and did not really like the way it tasted. I had used olive oil and it tasted TOO much like olive oil. So I tried again.

Final attempt: I used the same recipe as on the third attempt, but used vegetable oil. This time it turned out really good.

Next time I think I will try using about 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil, to give it a little bit more flavor. Other than the massive amount of time it took me to figure out what worked, it was well worth the effort. Besides the Daytona 500 was on, it gave me an excuse not to act like I was interested!

The final results recipe:


1 egg

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (smoked garlic powder from Blue Moon Farms)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup vegetable oil

dash of salt and pepper to taste

Combine egg, garlic, and salt/pepper in blender until well blended. Slowly pour oil into blender in a thin stream while still blending. I noticed it did splash quite a bit, while pouring in the oil, but it could have been my blender.

The ingredients all emulsified perfectly with this way, AND it was super easy to do. Only took me about 5 minutes total.

The original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic which I did on the first attempt with this recipe. (With the olive oil.) On the second attempt, I used the garlic powder.

Like I said before, next time I plan on using 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Like my potato chips, I will keep playing with it until I am happy.

****Edited to add*********

In answer to your question Janelle, it is supposed to keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks. It did not make a HUGE amount either so I do not see us having any problem using it up before it goes bad.