Holiday Morning Bliss: A Collection of Make-Ahead Treats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease muffin cups or use liners.
2. Cream butter and sugar together with a mixer.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix until fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, and salt; stir to combine.
5. Alternate adding dry ingredients and the milk to the butter mixture.
6. Toss blueberries in a little flour and fold them into the batter.
7. Scoop batter into the prepared muffin pan.
8. Spoon the extra sugar on top of muffins.
9. Bake at 375° for 25-30 min

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease bottom of a loaf pan.
2. Cream sugar and butter together. Stir in eggs.
3. Add mashed bananas and water; beat 30 seconds.
4. Stir in remaining ingredients (except nuts or chocolate chips) until just moistened.
5. Stir in nuts or chips.
6. **I top mine with mini chips and course sugar**
7. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour (sometimes it's more like and hour and 10 minutes).

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease 2 loaf pans

2. Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

3. Separate evenly into the 2 loaf pans

4. Bake for about 50 minutes. Until a toothpick comes out clean and loaves are golden.

5. Let the bread cool before removing it from the pans.

6. Mix together the glaze ingredients and pour over the cooled bread. I like to put the bread in the fridge to let the glaze harden up a bit before I slice it.

Instructions

- PREHEAT OVEN TO 375°

-Soak the 1 cup of raisins in boiling water.

-Cream 1 stick softened butter, 1¼ cups sugar, and ¼ cup molasses together in a mixer. Add the 2 eggs. Blend until combined.

-In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.

-Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture at a low speed.

-Drain the raisins. Pat dry.

-Add the chopped walnuts (if using) and the raisins to the hermit batter. Stir to combine.

-On a floured towel, cut the batter into 4 sections.

-Roll 1 section at a time like a sausage on the towel.

-Place the hermit bar logs onto a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. I use silicone baking mats

-Flatten the logs slightly with your hand.

-Brush tops with a beaten egg.

BAKE AT 375° FOR 15 MINUTES

Let bars cool before cutting them diagonally into bars.

I find that using a dough scraper works great to cut the bars!

Store the New England hermit bars in an airtight container. They do stay fresh for a long time!!

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease the bottom only of an 8x4-inch loaf pan with shortening or use cooking spray; no need to flour.

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set this dry mixture aside.
2. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat 1 cup of sugar and the softened butter until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the water, vanilla, and canned pumpkin on low speed.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, or until the batter is moistened.
4. Stir in 1/2 cup of the miniature semisweet chocolate chips.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread it evenly.
6. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of miniature semisweet chocolate chips, and then sprinkle with coarse sugar.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
8. Allow the pumpkin bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy your homemade loaf of pumpkin bread!