The weeks following the winter holidays always feel peaceful to me. The rush is over and it’s time to catch my breath and rest. When it’s chilly and raining outside, I love spending time at home curled up in my coziest fluffy pajama bottoms and fuzzy socks. Give me a blanket, 75 pillows, a warm cup of tea and these Cinnamon Crumble Scones for ultimate coziness!
The crumb topping on these scones will remind you of a cinnamon crumb cake, which makes them extra nostalgic and comforting. The technique of folding the dough over itself gives them a flaky layered texture. For the tenderest scones, make sure not to over work your dough.
To watch Instagram reel, click here. To watch extended TikTok video showing baking process, click here.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, sugar cinnamon and salt.
Work in butter with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand. Press together to make dime size chunks.
Set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.
Cinnamon Filling
In a small bowl, mix filling ingredients together until well combined.
Scones
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
Work butter into flour mixture with your fingertips or with a pastry blender until pea sized pieces are formed.
In a small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, sour cream and vanilla extract.
Stir cream mixture into flour mixture a little at a time until dough comes together. If your dough is too dry add 1-2 more teaspoons of heavy cream.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Fold dough over onto itself a couple of times.
Pat dough into an approximately 9 x 5-inch oval. Spread cinnamon filling on half of the dough to within 1/2-inch from the edges. Fold dough in half bringing short ends together. Press edges to seal.
Shape dough into a 7-inch round, about 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 8 wedges. (Or 6 wedges if you prefer larger scones.)
Pinch the pointed tip of the wedges and tuck under to seal. This helps to prevent the top layer from sliding off while baking. Place wedges about 2-inches apart onto prepared baking sheet.
Brush tops of scones with heavy cream. Top with crumb topping. Bake until light golden brown, about 18-22 minutes.
Transfer scones to a cooling rack to cool. Drizzle with icing.
Icing
In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, butter, 1 tablespoon of milk and vanilla. Add additional milk until desired consistency is reached.
I remember my grandma making coffee cakes and sweet muffins for breakfast, along with eggs, sausages, hot coffee and a big pitcher of milk on the table. The older generation really loved their coffee cakes. I’ve noticed that many Millennials and Gen Z’s think coffee cake contains coffee. Maybe some coffee cake does contain coffee, but in general, coffee cake is called that because it’s typically eaten with coffee. A classic coffee cake is usually a subtly sweet cake with cinnamon, crumb topping and maybe some icing. The Apple Crumb Cake recipe I’m sharing with you has the elements of a classic coffee cake, but so much better! The cake is fluffy and soft, the crumb topping is chunky and plentiful, and the apples are perfectly tender. And don’t get me started about the icing!
Why do most of our grandmothers cook and bake so well? Because they’ve had decades of trial and error to perfect their recipes, tweaking them here and there until they’re approved and loved by their families, neighbors and friends. This cake has had its share of trial and error. She has earned her place as a well-loved, delicious, beautiful queen of coffee cakes.
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples, sugar and cinnamon.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer apples to a bowl and let cool to room temperature.
Crumb Topping
In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Work in butter with your fingertips until mixture looks like wet sand. Press together to make 1/2-inch chunks.
Cake
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line a 9-inch cake pan with a removable bottom*, or a 9-inch springform pan, with parchment paper. Wrap the bottom of cake pan with aluminum foil and place pan on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy.
Beat eggs and vanilla into butter mixture in three separate addition, making sure each addition is incorporated before adding the next.
In a small bowl, whisk milk and sour cream together.
On low speed, mix flour mixture into batter in three separate additions, alternating with milk mixture. Beat just until combined.
Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Smooth top with a spatula.
Drain any excess liquid from apples. Top cake batter evenly with apples, then topping mixture.
Bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and continue cooling.
Icing
In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of cream. Add additional cream until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over cooled cake.
What’s better than the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking or the smell of fresh coffee brewing? The smell of a warm, sweet buttery loaf of this Butterscotch Bread! The aroma is so heavenly that I’m convinced angel grandmothers bake this on a regular basis in heaven. The rich scent is accompanied by a soft, tender bread topped with a silky butterscotch glaze.
It all starts with browning your butter first. It adds a nutty, deep butter flavor. When browning your butter, use a light colored saucepan so you can see the visual clues. You’ll see it start to foam and brown specks will collect on the bottom of the pan. It will smell nutty and fragrant. Keep a close eye on it. It can go from brown to burnt in a quick second. When your brown butter has cooled to room temperature, the rest of the recipe comes together quickly. You can also brown your butter a day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperate before using.
This delightful bread goes well with coffee or tea and is just as delicious the next day. Store covered at room temperature.
In a small saucepan, cook butter over medium heat until brown and fragrant. When brown specks (not black!) collect at the bottom of the pan, immediately transfer butter to a small bowl. Let cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of an 8 x 4-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the insides.
In a medium bowl, beat brown butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until smooth.
Stir in flour mixture in two additions. Mix just until combined. A few lumps are okay.
Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Bake until top is deep golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 38-43 minutes.
Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, them turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Top with two coats of butterscotch glaze.
Butterscotch Glaze
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and salt.
Continue stirring over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for two minutes.
Turn heat down and slowly stir in heavy cream. Keep stirring until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
Transfer mixture to a small bowl and let cool until thickened.
If you’ve ever gotten up early enough to grab one of those delicious breakfast soufflés at that bakery that starts with a P, then you might just love this recipe. There are plenty of copycat versions online, mostly using refrigerated crescent rolls. I love crescent rolls and you can make a pretty close copy of the originals with them, but why not take them up a notch? In my humble opinion, using puff pastry makes them so much better! These pretty little soufflés will puff up and get golden brown and crispy. You can also personalize each one. Try swapping out the spinach and bacon for your favorite omelet ingredients, such as chopped ham, chives, jalapeños or whatever you like.
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Grease four 8-ounce mini pie dishes* or ramekins.
On a lightly floured surface, roll puff pastry sheet to a 10-inch square. Cut into four 5-inch squares. Place one square in each prepared dish. Dock the bottom of each one by poking holes with a fork.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and red peppers and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with flour and cook 1-2 minutes more.
Slowly stir in milk. Use a whisk if sauce seems lumpy. Cook until edges start to bubble and sauce thickens. Stir in salt. Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Set aside 1 tablespoon of beaten eggs in a small bowl. Add about a third of the sauce mixture into the medium bowl of eggs and whisk until combined. Add the egg mixture back into the saucepan and whisk until smooth.
Stir in Colby-Jack cheese, half of the parmesan cheese and spinach.
Ladle egg mixture evenly into the prepared dishes. Top with bacon and remaining parmesan cheese.
Fold pointed ends toward the center. Brush folded pastry edges gently with reserved beaten egg.
Bake until golden brown and puffy, about 25-30 minutes.
You can serve the soufflés warm in the pie dishes or remove them from the dishes and transfer to a cooling rack.
My mom had a cupboard in the kitchen containing a few old cookbooks that she rarely used. As a child, I used to enjoy perusing them and looking at the baked treats. Some of the cookbooks were so old, they had black and white photos or even just drawings of the food. The ones with drawings interested me because they depicted smiling children enjoying the treats.
When I started learning to bake, I found a recipe for French Breakfast Puffs in one of those old books. The title sounded so fancy, but they were really just simple muffins dunked in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. I have no idea what the name of the cookbook was or what happened to it, but the delicious muffin recipe stuck around for a while. I’ve tweaked the recipe so many times over the years, and most recently, I added pumpkin to it. These Pumpkin Cinnamon Mini Muffins are one of the best versions I’ve created. The inside texture of the muffins is soft and moist and it contrasts nicely with the slight crunch you get from the cinnamon sugar on the outside. They look so cute too, like little pumpkins, and they definitely make children smile!
To watch the TikTok video of these mini muffins being made, click here.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, egg and pumpkin purée until smooth.
Stir in flour mixture just until combined. A few lumps are okay.
Transfer batter to prepared pan, about a scant 2 tablespoons of batter in each muffin cup.
Bake until toothpick inserted into muffins comes out clean, about 11-13 minutes. Do not over bake! Be diligent, since over baking can happen very quickly with mini muffins.
Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes. Turn muffins out onto a cooling rack.
Topping
Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
Dunk warm muffins in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar.
Every peach season, I get excited by the abundance of peaches at my local farmers market and I end up buying way too many. So if you’re like me and you have ripe peaches sitting on your counter, turn them into peach purée. I love adding peach purée to my iced tea or adding it to desserts like this moist, tender cake. This is one of my most popular cake recipes on social media, and for good reason. It does not disappoint! To watch the TikTok video, click here.
Print Recipe
Peaches and Cream Loaf Cake
Moist, tender peach cake with peach cream cheese icing
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Set aside 2 tablespoons peach purée for icing.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs, remaining peach purée and extracts until smooth.
Add flour mixture and beat just until combined.
Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 38-45 minutes.
Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Spread icing on cooled cake.
Icing
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of peach purée. Beat until smooth. Add additional peach purée, if needed, until desired consistency is reached. Fold in diced peaches.
Yellow is the color of happiness and sunshine. These adorable Lemon Scones will bring you a burst of lemony brightness even on the grayest day. The pretty, vibrant yellow sparkling sugar adds a pleasant crunch to the tops. It’s a nice contrast to the soft, tender interior of the scones. These little gems would shine on any breakfast or brunch table. I served them with blueberry jam and green tea, which was so delightful, I’m still smiling.
Have you ever had one of those mornings where you wake up starving? It typically happens to me when I skip dinner the night before. So one morning that happened. My family and I were really hungry, there was a bit of leftover holiday ham in the fridge and these fluffy, satisfying biscuits were born. I think these biscuits need to be included in all lumberjack breakfasts from now on.
If you love ham and cheese anything, you’ll love these biscuits. You can also add fresh chives or swap out the ham for bacon if you like. I love baking them in a cast iron skillet because of the rustic, crispy sides and bottoms you get from the high heat conductivity of cast iron. To find the cast iron pan I used, click here. You can also bake them in a 9-inch cake pan or pie plate.
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Butter a 9-inch cast iron skillet*
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Work butter into flour mixture with your fingertips, until flat dime size pieces are formed.
Gently stir in cheese and ham.
Stir in buttermilk a little at a time until a shaggy dough is formed.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Fold dough over onto itself a few times. Form dough into a 7-inch diameter 3/4-inch thick round.
Using a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, cut dough into seven biscuits. Press the scraps together and cut one more biscuit. If dough becomes warm at any point, chill in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, then proceed with recipe.
Transfer biscuits to prepared pan. Brush with melted butter.
Bake until biscuits are puffy and tops are golden brown, about 22-25 minutes.
In early September, I saw someone announce the fall season on social media. In addition to people pointing out that it was too early for the announcement, the word police corrected the person with the word autumn. Since both terms are correct, we can call the season whatever we prefer. I think autumn is a pretty sounding word, so I’ll use it for the rest of this post. Whatever you call it, these Pumpkin Spice Mini Loaves are a perfect little celebration of the season. They have just the right amount of pumpkin spices, making them so fragrant that your kitchen will smell like cozy autumn heaven.
I call them loaves because I originally made them in mini loaf pans. They’re so cute and delicious that I often give them as holiday gifts. This year I decided to try them in ramekins and I loved the results! I used 6-ounce ramekins, but you can use 8-ounce ramekins, any size mini loaf pans, a muffin pan or even an 8 or 9-inch loaf pan. Keep in mind that baking times will differ. To find the ramekins I used, click here.
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Pumpkin Spice Mini Loaves with Caramel Filling
Mini loaves of tender pumpkin bread with caramel filling and luscious cream cheese frosting
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour seven 6-ounce ramekins or six 8-ounce ramekins or any loaf pans of your choice.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined.
Beat in pumpkin and vanilla until combined.
Stir in flour mixture just until combined.
Divide batter evenly into prepared ramekins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not overbake. (Mini loaves or muffins bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on size. 8 or 9-inch loaf bakes for 40-50 minutes)
Cool completely if serving in ramekins or remove from pans after cooling for 10 minutes. Continue to cool on wire rack.
Make 3/4-inch well in the center of each loaf. Fill with caramel sauce. (For an 8 or 9-inch loaf, poke multiple holes with a skewer. Fill with caramel sauce.)
Top with cream cheese frosting and pumpkin seeds
Cream Cheese Frosting
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add vanilla extract and salt and beat until combined.
Gradually add powdered sugar and beat at medium speed until combined.
Add heavy cream and beat at low speed until combined.
My dad used to take me on walks in the woods to look for fairy rings when I was a child. I wanted to see a real fairy so badly! I got a book about fairies, hoping to learn more about them. Fairies love little cakes, milk, honey and butter so I’m sure these Fairy Puffs would be fairy approved.
My Fairy Puffs recipe is loosely based on an old favorite mini muffin recipe. I tweaked it quite a bit, including the addition of pink dragonfruit powder. Dragonfruit has a subtle flavor, so the bright fuchsia powder is mostly for color. But oh what a beautiful color it is! You can find dragonfruit powder in healthy food stores or online. To find the dragonfruit powder , also known as pink pitaya powder, I used, click here.
Decorating these little cuties was so entertaining! After sampling multiple variations of sparkling sugar and cinnamon sugar, I decided that dipping the bottoms of the muffins in butter and cinnamon sugar, then dipping the tops in butter and sparkling sugar gave them the perfect balance of sugar and spice. I had purchased some edible flowers a couple of days prior, and they added a pretty, magical touch. The flowers I used are called bachelor’s buttons and I got them at a local gourmet flower seller.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 24 serving mini muffin pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, dragonfruit powder, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add egg and beat until smooth.
Add flour mixture and milk alternately in two additions and mix just until combined.
Fill wells of prepared muffin pan with batter.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Be careful not to over bake. Small muffins can dry out easily.)
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove puffs from pan and transfer to cooling rack. (Loosen puffs with a small offset spatula or butter knife if necessary.)
Topping
Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
Place colored sparkling sugar crystals in another shallow bowl.
Dip the bottoms of each puff in melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture.
Dip the tops of each puff in melted butter, then into sparkling sugar.
We’ve all needed a little cheering up at times, especially this past past year. These cute, happy tarts won’t take your problems away, but they can certainly make you smile, especially if you make them for someone else. They’re super easy to make and they taste better than the ones in the box we ate as kids. You can use store bought pie dough if you want to streamline the process. Any flavor of jam or preserves you have on hand works too!
Feel free to have fun decorating these little cuties. The possibilities are endless. You can use edible glitter, purchased candy eyes or even add mustaches. Happy baking!
