Go to Muffin Recipe - add whatever your mood compels you to!

Who knew that the secret to awesome strawberry cream cheese muffins, or chocolate chip, perhaps fresh blueberry streusel was all in the cakey part; the base recipe. Ever since I picked up on a recipe I enjoy, and tweeked with, I think you will appreciate it too and be inspired to throw in whatever the heck you want as well.

You'll need:

1/2 cup butter @ room temp (so 1 stick) 1 cup brown sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup milk/half & half (I personally like the 1/2 & 1/2) 2 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla/vanilla extract/imitation vanilla/vanilla-whatever THEN - a few cups of whatever you want. Strawberries? Blueberries? Chocolate chips? (If you need help with ideas/incorporating please email me or message my twitter account!)

So here's the awesome thing i've realized about baking; the most important part is properly measuring all ingredients. THEN, once you're ready to incorporate all the goodness, it's not much of a big deal what order you go in (I know a baker or chemist out there would correct me in a heartbeat, but trust me - it's not going to ruin your muffins if you go out of order)

Firstly, preheat the oven to 375. This is just as important as the proper amount of ingredients. All too important.. Then grease your muffin tins and/or use paper muffin holders. In a bowl, add sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. Mix until creamy, and then slowly add everything else. With that flour, make sure you don't toss in a heap or it's going to make your arm soar the next day from mixing. Finally, add in whatever delicious item you've chosen to incorporate. Bake for 15 - 20 mins, and of course always check the centers. I use wooden skewers, and they should come out clean with no goopy batter! Now, get ready to enjoy baked awesomeness at home for literally pennies and a much healthier alternative to what's at the coffee shop!

See you guys soon! - BCB

Bread end pieces, and the likes...

Don't ever throw away those end pieces, and leftover pieces of french bread! (OR any bread, cracker, etc.) What you need to do, is have a ziploc bag ready for you to throw in all the stragglers and when you've accumulated enough.. Turn them into breadcrumbs! I use them for meatballs, meatloaves and any recipe that calls for this item.

Here's the process; With the accumulated pieces of bread, put them into a food processor, and pulsate until they are into tiny crumbs. (This doesn't take long at all) Then depending on what you prefer, you can put them out on a tray to air dry or just put them in the freezer as is. Then, incorporate the amount needed into each recipe while you are cooking! See you guys soon! - BCB