Refrigerator Bran Muffins

These are some of the most delicious and moist Bran Muffins ever! :) They are a true favorite at our house. It makes A LOT so I half the recipe most of the time even though the batter is good in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Full Recipe:

2 cups boiling water
6 cups Kellogg's All Bran Cereal
1 cup Shortening
4 eggs
1 quart Buttermilk (4 cups)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tsp baking soda-- sift this into flour to remove      
   lumps
5 cups Flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1- In a large bowl, pour boiling water over Bran
2- Add shortening. Stir until shortening melts. Cool.
3-Add the other wet ingredients and mix
4- Mix dry ingredients then add to wet ingredients. Stir lightly just until mixed.
5- Drop by spoon fulls into well greased muffin pans (or muffin liners if you prefer), filling them 2/3 full.
6- Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness.

**If you choose not to use all of the batter now you can cover it and put it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. when you go to use it again DO NOT RE-STIR just scoop with spoon or small measuring cup.


**Half Recipe Measurements**
1c boiling water
3c bran cereal
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs
2 c buttermilk
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking soda (sifted into flour)
2 1/2 c flour

Mini Ham and Egg Cups

I'm not a big fan of soft yolks or fried eggs in general. I'm a scrambled egg girl... with cheese, of course. :) So I adapted this recipe to my liking from another recipe I saw online (don't we all do that to a recipe?). These could totally be adapted to have whatever you wanted in your scrambled egg mixture to be more of a quiche, too. Super fun and flexible!

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
salt and pepper
Cheese, cubed
12 Deli Ham slices

(Makes 6 Ham and Egg Cups or increase ingredients to make as many as you need.)

Mix up into a measuring cup with a pouring spout (it will be easier, I promise).
I actually ended up cutting these up a little smaller so that they'd be sure to melt.Put an ungreased muffin pan into the oven and preheat the oven to 400. Once 400 is reached, remove the pan, and turn the oven up to 450. Quickly spray the tins with non-stick spray and put 2 ham slices in each muffin cup. (The first time I made these, I only did one...and 2 would have been better.) Pour egg into each cup and then put a few cubes of cheese into each one as well. (I only made 5 the first time, but there was definitely enough egg for 6.)These are the ham slices I used.Bake ham and egg cups for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and let sit for 1 minute. Remove from oven and gently remove cups with a spoon.Serve with desired side dish. My husband liked to sprinkle Frank's Hot sauce on them and pop them into his mouth. My kids LOVED them as well.
I thought they looked super cute!!
Here is how is how they look with the cheese melted on the inside.

Mini Breakfast Pizzas or Muffin Cups

This recipe is adapted between two separate recipes I found. One recipe is from another great recipe blog, Taste the Joy, who got it from a Pillsbury cookbook. The other recipe is what I adapted our mini deep dish pizzas from. It is found here. These breakfast pizzas are fun, easy, and your kids can help. It's also a great little breakfast to make up quick and take around to the neighbors or to make when you have company. They'll love you for it!

You will need:
1 tube Flaky Layers biscuits (flaky layers biscuits just work best)
Scrambled eggs, cooked and flavored to you liking
Sausage (ground or links), chopped ham, or bacon
Shredded cheese
Muffin Pan

Cook eggs. We like scrambled. It's fun to add different things to it (peppers, onions, etc). But my kids are more plain-old-scrambled-eggs-with-salt-&-pepper kind of kids, so we kept it simple. Even though we put shredded cheese on top, I still like to add a bit of cheese to my eggs 'cuz I like me some CHEESE!!!

Cook desired meat. I prefer to use the sausage links and then cut them up. But we've used ground sausage and it works fine as well. Chopped ham (in small chunks) is wonderful in these little cups and as well as chopped bacon slices. If I'm feeling really energetic, I do a couple of each kind so people have a variety to choose from.

Grease muffin pan. Then carefully cut each biscuit in half.

Spread each biscuit half into the bottom and up the sides so there is a little well in the middle.Bake at 350 for about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and press the dough back up the sides and the bottom since they will puff up a tiny bit. (I didn't pre-cook them when I made them the first time (as you can see from the picture) but it is definitely something that makes a difference.)

Carefully spoon eggs, meat, and sprinkle with shredded cheese.Repeat until you've got as many "cups" as you'd like. As seen in the picture, I used 3 biscuits and made 6 pizzas. Then I use the remaining biscuits the same day for mini pizzas for a snack or quick lunch or dinner.

Bake at 350 for another 8-10 minutes or until edges of biscuit are lightly golden and cheese is melted. Carefully remove from muffin pan and cool for a couple of minutes on a rack.Serve with desired side dish... hashbrowns and orange juice are our favorites.

These store great in the fridge -if there are any left- and are so easy to reheat. My kids loved making these and we'll have to make them again.

Chocolate Muffins

These are way too easy. You'll almost feel guilty. But don't, they're so yummy and they have great texture. (Note: the picture is with my changes. I added cream cheese and chocolate chips. Leave it to me to make something kind of healthy not even close to healthy.)

1 pkg Rich Chocolate Cake or Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 small can pumpkin

Mix together with mixer.I used a Rich Chocolate cake mix for this batch. I think I prefer the Devil's Food.Put in muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes. If you don't like pumpkin, don't worry. These don't taste at all like pumpkin... at all. I was surprised there was even pumpkin in them when I had them the first time. I think it might even be fun to put a small dollop of cream cheese in the middle before baking. But I'm a little obsessed with cream cheese.

Note: A white cake mix can also be used. But the chocolate ones are DELICIOUS!

Variation: I mixed together 1/2 pkg cream cheese, half of a beaten egg, and 1/4 cup sugar with a mixer. Drop by tbsp into each muffin. I tried to put mine in the middle and then sprinkle them with mini chocolate chips on top. But I think making a well in the middle of each muffin and then putting the filling in would work better. I'll have to try that next time. These take a few minutes longer to cook. And they're more like dessert than breakfast. Super rich and yummy. We liked ours with fresh raspberries. :)

Monkey Bread Muffins

This is just a twist on an old favorite
and it's a fun recipe to make with your kids

1 tube of Pillsbury Flaky Layers biscuits
cinnamon/sugar mixture in a ziploc bag
melted butter and brown sugar to desired consistency
Muffin pan
Non-stick spray OR Muffin liners (optional)

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Put pieces in ziploc bag and shake. (This is my kid's favorite part.) Spray muffin pan or use muffin liners (or both). Place 3 pieces into each muffin cup. Repeat. (One muffin cup will have just 2.)Using a spoon, drizzle brown sugar mixture over each muffin cup. If you want them super gooey, put more on. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Naturally, they are best served warm. We like to serve these with scrambled eggs and cheese.

Note: I should have put these in muffin liners. I think they would have been less mess. If there are any left, place them in ziploc bag. When you want another one later, just pop 'em in the microwave for 20 seconds.