Jumbo Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't believe I haven't blogged this recipe yet!  I hopped on the blog this morning to whip up a batch and realized that they weren't on here!  I was so sure that I'd blogged them that I had to go through checking for them several different ways before I was convinced enough to start writing this post.

These are Thomas' favorite muffins.  He's a sucker for chocolate chip {anything}.  And of course, I don't mind them too much either!  ; )

They are a bakery-style muffin that is designed to be made in a jumbo-size muffin tin.  However, if you don't have a jumbo muffin tin, you can make them regular sized.

These beauties have a little bit of spice in them, a lot of chocolate chips, and the perfect consistency!  There's just a tiny bit of crust on the outside, and they're soft and fluffy on the inside.

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 6-8 jumbo sized muffins or about 18 regular size
Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar (or 1 cup buttermilk)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
heaping 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare your muffin tins with either paper liners or cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl,  combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Toss together.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs.  Then add the milk, oil, and vanilla, and whisk.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir as little as possible with a spatula.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pans.  Fill each cup about 3/4 full.
7. Bake jumbo muffins for 30-35 minutes.  Bake regular sized muffins for about 20 minutes.  Tops should be very lightly browning and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
8. Turn out onto a cooling rack and enjoy!

These muffins are super delicious!  I hope they remind you of your favorite bakery!

Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie

Ok, so this smoothie is so good, even my cat is addicted!  Lol.  I should inform you that Lolo loves yogurt.  Every time I eat it, she needs some.  So, when I make this smoothie, she really needs it.  (Please excuse my "unedited" morning face and pj's!)

The great thing about smoothies is that you can easily alter them to match your tastes.  Here are the ingredients that I used, but keep in mind that you can very easily change things out.  One suggestion I would make is to choose a yogurt that you like the flavor of.  Yogurt is a big part of the smoothie, so a flavored yogurt can go a long way in changing the taste.  I really love Publix Wild Berry Crumb Cake yogurt because it has a bit of berry flavor and some spice to it.  Yum!

Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie
Makes: one 16ish ounce smoothie

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen berries (I used unsweetened strawberries)
1/2 - 1 frozen banana (depending on how strong of a banana flavor you like)
6 ounces yogurt (I love Publix Fat Free Light Wild Berry Crumb Cake)
1/2 cup your choice of milk (more if it's too thick)
1 tablespoon honey
Small handful of almonds

Directions:
Add the ingredients to the blender in the order listed.  Then blend well until smooth.  Enjoy!

Vanilla Cake Donuts - Baked!

Well, I will tell you what... the best Little Lovely of the day today is that I spent my afternoon at the beach!  First official beach day of the year!  Woohoo!  And I have a bit of a tan to prove it.  It was the most perfect day for it.  I posted a pic via Instagram, so feel free to follow me in order to see more photos of my life.  There's a handy blue button to do that right over there. ------>

But another little lovely of any day of my life is a wonderful breakfast food.  Every morning I face a serious dilemma because I have to choose what to eat for breakfast.  If it were up to me, I would never have to choose.  It's so difficult because breakfast foods are my favorite.  (Right up there with ice cream)

So I usually eat a wide variety of breakfast foods.  Hence the large number of breakfast recipes I post.  Because really, there's no time of day when it's not appropriate to eat breakfast.  Ya know?!  There are a lot of dinner foods that I would never eat for breakfast but basically no breakfast foods that I wouldn't eat for dinner.  I hope you're with me on this, because if not, I'm pretty sure we can't be friends.  Just kidding.  ... But seriously...

So, since I got a donut pan for Christmas, I have tried out a few recipes with it, and I really liked this one.  I made these donuts with a special Valentine's Day twist (hence the pink and sprinkles) for our breakfast on Valentine's Day.  'Cause who wants to eat cereal when you could have pink sprinkled donuts?!  (Though I do love me some cereal too.)
 

So, these donuts are just a simple vanilla cake donut.  They are classic and delicious.  And of course, a simple icing, in chocolate or vanilla, tops them off perfectly.  *For the pink icing, I wanted a hint of strawberry flavor and the pink color of course, so I just subbed some Hershey's Strawberry Syrup for some of the liquid in a simple glaze recipe.

Baked Vanilla Cake Donuts
Adapted from: Mom Advice
Makes: 6 donuts

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons milk
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a donut pan with cooking spray,
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.  Mix until well combined.
4. Divide the batter equally between the donut depressions.  **I use a plastic baggie with a large corner cut off as an easy batter dispenser.
5. Bake for 9-11 minutes until donuts are fluffed up and just start to brown.
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing them to a wire rack to glaze.
7. Top with your favorite icing (I would really like to try chocolate) and of course some sprinkles, and enjoy!  *Note: Try making a thin icing so that the best way to top these donuts is by dipping them into it.  It's a lot easier than trying to pour it on.

These donuts are perfect for any morning, not just special occasions, so whip some up today!

Thomas' 26th

Today is an especially lovely day... It's my husband's birthday!  So the most wonderful thing about today is that I get to celebrate with him the fact that he exists!  

Very quickly, because I know you probably don't care to read pages and pages about how awesome he is, I am just so thankful for him!  I am truly glad that he exists and that he picked me to be his wife.  He has such a great personality and a wonderful heart, and he never fails to make me laugh.  I love the time we have had together so far and I am so glad that I get to spend the rest of my life with such an amazing person!

There, I'm done with the sappiness!  Moving on, here's a little peek at our birthday activities.

I made one of Thomas' favorites for breakfast this morning: banana bread!  For my Banana Bread recipe, click here.

He had to work today (boo), but we got to meet at our local hotdog stand for lunch.  And though I did take a photo of him at lunch (with his hot dog), I will attempt to preserve his manly dignity and not post it all over the internet.

Back at home, his presents are all assembled.  And he'll have to come home quick if he wants to be able to unwrap them himself.  Lolo was all over these things.  I took literally ten pictures of them and only one did not feature Lolo climbing and sniffing around.  She just loves presents (mostly because she wants to chew on the ribbons and play in the boxes).

His birthday dessert is all baked.  We even sampled it last night, and I was pretty pleased with the result.  Thomas' favorite two desserts in the whole world are cheesecake and crème brûlée , so I scoured the internet (a.k.a. Pinterest) for a crème brûlée cheesecake to make for him.  And I finally found a recipe that met my criteria, and here it is:  Layered Crème Brûlée Cheesecake! 

It features a sweet Nilla wafer crust on the bottom, a rich, airy cheesecake layer in the middle and a creamy crème brûlée layer with some broiled sugar!  It is super rich; a small piece goes a long way.  And that's saying a lot coming from a girl who has a "special compartment" in her stomach that makes her magically always have room for dessert!  (A long-running family joke)  It is absolutely delicious, and it will definitely be a dessert I will repeat, but I may make a few changes next time.  The recipe will be posted later on this week (hopefully Tuesday), so watch out for that!  **Update: You can view the recipe here.

So this evening, I'm cooking Thomas' favorite meal: Chicken Parmesan.  Then we'll just hang out and watch a movie or some Top Gear (UK, of course) and eat some birthday dessert!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Crepes from Heaven

 
So, I bought some fresh strawberries at the store yesterday.  And as I was laying in bed last night, I decided just what to do with them... Strawberries and Cream Crepes!

BEST.  IDEA.  EVER.

These crepes were absolutely amazing!  Seriously, crepes from heaven is not at all an exaggeration!  I could have kept eating these until it killed me.  That's how amazing they were!  I definitely should not have eaten all four.  I would highly suggest sharing these with a friend unless you want to follow them up with a major workout (which I did, good for me, lol).

You should go make them... Now... Whatever time it is that you're reading this!  I had them for breakfast, but they would be equally as perfect for dessert!

So I used my Crepes for One recipe.  Then I whipped (literally) up some cream cheese cream to put inside of them.  And with the tart, fresh berries.  YUM!

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream (for one)
This made the perfect amount of cream for the four crepes that the Crepes for One recipe makes.  *Note: the crepe in the photo was filled a little too full, so I filled the other ones a bit less to compensate.

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Add whipping cream and powdered sugar.  Beat until combined and slightly stiffened.
3. Set in refrigerator while you cook the crepes.  (Crepes for One Recipe)
4. Spoon two dollops into the center of each crepe, then top with fresh strawberries.
5. Roll the crepes up and enjoy heaven!

 I am not even kidding.  I would make these every single day of the week if they wouldn't make me fat!  Please go make them so that someone else will know what heaven tastes like with me!

The Spirit of Valentine's Day

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I made two yummy pink treats yesterday.  The recipes for both will follow next week, but for now, I just wanted to give a little sneak peek.

For breakfast, I surprised the hubby with some baked donuts.

They are a simple vanilla donut with strawberry glaze.  And of course, you can't forget the adorable Valentine's sprinkles I found at the store!  But since Thomas isn't as enamored with sprinkles as I am, I only put them on half of the donuts.

They were super yummy and weren't too sweet.  Definitely a recipe I'll make again, maybe with chocolate icing next time!  Delicious!

Then, for our Valentine's Day dessert, out of the many desserts I had picked out, Thomas chose the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake Balls.

So I made a million of those and topped them off with the same adorable sprinkles!

The thing about cake balls though is that one cake makes a ton.  So we will be sharing a bunch of them with friends over the next few days!

We had a great time yesterday, spending some time outside together.  Then we ordered some pizza and came home for a relaxing night in.  We decided to save "The Monuments Men" for a different night, so I'll give you a review of that when we see it.  Instead, we rented "Riddick" and watched some Olympics while snacking on cake balls!  All-in-all, a fabulous day!

Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze

Yes... This cake is exactly as amazing as that title makes it sound!  No question.

We had some friends over for dinner last night, and we usually have a system that one couple cooks the dinner and the other couple brings dessert.  But yesterday, I was really hoping and banking on the fact that our friends wouldn't have had time to make a dessert because I was majorly itching to try out my new bundt pan.

So, with all of that in mind, I hopped on Pinterest yesterday afternoon to find the perfect first recipe for my pan.  Oh and find it I did!  Thank you to Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe for posting this fabulous recipe on your blog!

This cake is amazing!!!  As you may know, cinnamon is by far, my favorite thing ever!  I looooove baking with it.  And pretty much, when it comes to cinnamon, I never follow the recipe.  If it says 2 tablespoons, there is no leveling it off here.  No, no, I add those heaping spoonfuls without hesitation! 

The brown sugar and cinnamon swirl in this cake give it an amazing sweetness that is perfectly balanced by the yellow cake and vanilla glaze.  Everything about it is delicious.  The texture is incredibly gooey and moist.

And the photos you're seeing may or may not be from the slice I had for breakfast this morning.  Yep, I was one of those people this morning.  And oh my goodness, I am so glad I was.  Because, last night when we ate the cake at room temperature, it was fabulous.  But...

...This morning, when I had it warmed up with some melted butter on top, it was positively heavenly!  You know, it's basically a coffee cake anyway.  I could have easily polished off another quarter of the cake hot with butter on top.  It was divine!  My mouth is watering for another piece right now just looking at the pictures and thinking about it.

Even if you're not eating it for breakfast, I highly recommend smearing on some butter and popping it in the microwave for half a minute.  Your taste buds will love you for it!

So without further ado, here is this absolutely amazing recipe.  I only made a few small changes from the recipe I found, but you can check out the original at Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe's blog.

Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze
Adapted from: Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe
Serves: 10-12

Cake:

• 1 box yellow cake mix, dry (15-16 ounces)
• 3/4 cup oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup yogurt (The original recipe suggested greek, I went with regular fat-free vanilla.)

Brown sugar and cinnamon swirl:

• 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray; then coat it with a very thin layer of flour.  (You may be able to omit these steps if you have a non-stick bundt pan.) 
2. In a small bowl, mix together your brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. 
3. In the large bowl mix the dry cake mix, oil, eggs, and yogurt with a whisk until everything is incorporated and there are minimal lumps.
4. Pour half of your batter into the bundt pan and then scoop half of your brown sugar mix over the top. With a knife, swirl the two together. Top with the remaining half of your cake batter and the other half of your brown sugar mix. Again, swirl together with a knife or skewer. You will have to swirl it quite a bit to get everything mixed together well.  Gently tap pan on the counter to settle and even out top.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool it in the pan for about 10 minutes before inverting it onto a cake platter or plate. Let it cool before drizzling the glaze over top.
7. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until it is completely lump free. Spoon or pipe over the cake.

Serve!  Remember, you can serve this cake at room temperature, or warm it up a bit in the microwave.  Try out some butter on top or a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

The original recipe stated that the cake would keep for one day at room temperature or two days in the fridge.  I put mine in the fridge last night, but I'll try to give you an update on how long it lasts, if I don't eat it all today!

Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Generally speaking, I don't love oatmeal.  The texture grosses me out.  It's so blech.  But, the only oatmeal I've tried in years is the instant stuff.  Obviously not the best quality in the world.  But I love love oats.  Granola is a huge fave of mine.  And I love crisps and things that have baked oats as a topping.  So, like I said, it's the consistency of the oatmeal that I don't like, nothing to do with the taste.

With that in mind, I was absolutely dying to try a crock-pot oatmeal recipe that I've seen on Pinterest a few times.  I finally got around to throwing everything in the crock-pot late Saturday night for breakfast on Sunday.  And I actually liked it!  The consistency was less yucky and the big chunks of apples and the juicy raisins helped.

Though this would never be my favorite breakfast option.  I would always choose a huge, hot, fluffy baked good hot out of the oven.  But this oatmeal is a great change up.

Apple Raisin Oatmeal
Adapted from: Pinterest  (I'm not sure what the original source is.)
Serves:  about 6

Ingredients:
2 sliced apples (I used small-medium Gala, and I cut very thin slices and then cut the slices in half.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 cups oats (I used old-fashioned oats)
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1/4 - 1/2 cup raisins (I eye-balled it.)

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed.  Do not stir.
2. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
3. Stir in raisins and allow them to warm for a few minutes.
4. Serve.

If you're not a huge fan of oatmeal consistency, I'd recommend this recipe. 

Enjoy!

Let's Pretend Like It's Winter

Yeah... so.... most of you probably can't believe those words just came out of my mouth, or rather my keyboard.  I really don't love winter.  Every time someone starts up a conversation about winter, it always includes something to the effect of "Oh, but the snow is so pretty!"  Yes, I agree, the snow is pretty.  But for every pretty day of snow, you have at least five days of cold, windy, grey sky, dreary days.  Basically, I just hate being that cold.

But anyway, it's the middle of August, and it's about as hot as it ever gets during the year, and yet I had a small winter moment this morning.  I was jonesing for a hot, delicious drink, so I decided to try out a recipe that I found on Pinterest for "Hot Vanilla Milk".  Because, I love hot chocolate, so why wouldn't I like hot vanilla milk?!  And I was just intensely curious as to what it would taste like.

It was so yummy!  Warm, sweet, smooth.  Just overall yum!  I didn't really change anything from the original recipe that I found, except that I wanted just one cup of it rather than the four that the recipe made, so I just scaled it down.

Hot Vanilla Milk
From Laugh With Us Blog
Makes 1 cup

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a mug.
2. Microwave for 60-90 seconds.  Stir well to make sure the sugar is dissolved.
3. Top with marshmallows if desired.

 Oh!  It was soooooo good!  Next time I'm going to try it with a sugar substitute for less calories.

In all seriousness, I'm really glad it's not winter, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy my few favorite parts of winter!

It's Definitely the Little Things {Lundi Little Lovelies}

Today is a wonderful day so far!  And it's because of small blessings that sometimes would be easy to miss if we weren't looking!  I've found that the key to finding contentment is in appreciating and thanking God for the little things he blesses us with!

So here are some little lovelies from today:

• I got to meet the hubby for lunch at Panera this afternoon!  And this is like so many little lovelies wrapped up together with a nice, pretty bow!  I love getting to meet up in the middle of the week (and usually a workday) for lunch.  I don't know what it is, but it just makes the whole day better!  It was such a blessing that Thomas had the time to take a break; I didn't have anywhere I had to be; we have the money to get to eat out when we want; Thomas chose Panera!  So many little things that make me happy!
• Piggy-backing on that, when I got to lunch, Thomas informed me that he also got to work from home the rest of the day!  Yay!  So he's sitting next to me now, and even though he's working, we still get to be together.
• I made some yummy crepes for breakfast this morning!  The recipe for one serving of crepes is shown below!  I'm still going to be cooking for one a lot this week, so I think I'll be continuing the single serving recipes.
• Church volleyball starts tonight.  This one is only half of a little lovely, because only half of me is excited about it.  The other half would rather chicken out and stay home.  The last time I played volleyball was in high school.  Eek!  But it was so fun.  Volleyball makes me reminisce a lot.  Thomas and I started dating the summer before our senior year, and I started hanging out with his friends... A LOT.  And man, I just love those guys.  Thomas had the best friends, and hanging out with them was ALWAYS a good time.  But anyway, back to how this relates to volleyball; one year at youth camp, we had this huge volleyball tournament, and I was on a team with Thomas and his friends.  We played like 8 games in a row without a break and were on fire!  It was awesome.  We didn't win the tournament because we lost the very last game we played (I blame it on the fact that we played a zillion games in a row, and the winning team only played twice total.)  But, it just reminds me of all the good memories I have from hanging out with his friends.

Anyway, now I'm off in lala land.  Let me bring it back and give you this yummy crepes recipe.

Customizable Crepes for One
Minimally Adapted from Like Mother, Like Daughter
Serving Size: Makes 4 crepes about 6-7" in diameter

Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour
1/6 cup milk
1/6 cup water
1 egg
2/3 tablespoon melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until well-combined.  (I used my hand mixer.)
2. Heat a small skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray.  ( I used my 8" skillet.)
3. Pour batter into the hot skillet by the scant 1/4 cup.
4. Swirl batter around a little to thin it out.  Cook about 1 minute.
5. Flip the crepe over and cook the other side for 30 seconds.
6. Place on a plate covered by a paper towel to keep warm until all four crepes are ready to serve.
7. Fill with your desired toppings and enjoy!

 

 I filled my crepes with half of a fresh peach chopped up and mixed with some brown sugar and cinnamon.  (I heated the mixture up in the microwave to make it all warm and gooey first.)  Then I topped them with powdered sugar and honey!  But, you can fill and top crepes with pretty much anything you want: nutella, peanut butter, fruit, whipped cream, the list goes on and on!

Here's to the little lovelies that bring me closer to contentment!

Cinnamon Sugar Scones for One (Kind Of)

So, this one isn't exactly a single serving recipe either.  I scaled the original recipe down to make three small scones.  So, technically, you'll have to eat these for breakfast for a few days... oh darn!

Honestly, I was amazed at how delicious these scones were.  They were so light and flaky.  Wow!  I could have eaten all three in one sitting, but I managed, with some difficulty, to make them last two days.  They were amazing, and the glaze on top was the perfect finish.  I will definitely be making these again... soon!

Cinnamon Sugar Scones
Adapted from: Money Saving Mom
Scaled down to make 3 small scones (see original website for full yield version)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter
1 teaspoon yogurt (I used fat free vanilla, but plain would work too.)
scant 1 tablespoon honey
scant 1/8 cup milk (if in doubt, start with too little; you can always add more if it's not enough)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
3. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or a fork until crumbly.
4. Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl and then add them to the dry ingredients.  Use your hands to mix the dough until it forms a ball.
5. Divide the dough into three sections and pat out until they are about 1/2 inch thick, and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
6. Brush the tops with a very thin layer of milk.  Combine 1/2 tablespoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over scones.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
8. While the scones are baking, stir together the following ingredients to make the glaze: 1/4 cup powdered sugar, scant 1 teaspoon milk, 1/8 teaspoon vanilla. 
9. While the scones are still warm, drizzle the glaze over the top.  (When I make these again, I probably won't use the entire batch of glaze just so it isn't overpowering.)
10. Eat while warm!  Refrigerate any leftovers, and reheat in the microwave before eating.

Once again, I cannot express how incredibly delicious these were.  Wow!  I can't wait to make them again!

Also, here is my tart from Thursday that I didn't get a chance to post:  Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Tart!

The photo isn't great.  But this time, I finely chopped some of my sugared strawberries and stirred them into the cheesecake pudding.  Then I drizzled some melted chocolate chips on top!  It was sooooo good!  Also, I can't wait to make a s'mores version with chocolate pudding and toasted marshmellows on top!

Have a yummy weekend!

The Theme {Lundi Little Lovelies}

*Ok, so I'll just add photos tomorrow.  They're being stupid, and I'm tired of waiting for them to be ready to upload.  Check back tomorrow for an update with photos.

So, this week, I'm going to be cooking for one a lot, and I'm going to have a little more free time than usual.  And yesterday, while I was doing dishes, I came up with a great idea!  (Most of) this week's posts are going to be revolving around a theme.  And the theme is...

Table for One

{Easy, Single Serving Recipes}

Ok, so I know it's not super fancy or anything.  But really, this is an excuse to try out all of those "mug" recipes I've had pinned for ages.  Some posts may just have ideas for one-person meals, but most will center around recipes like: brownie for one, cookie for one, cake for one... you get the picture.

So... here is the first of this week's recipes:  

Coffee Cake in a Mug
Adapted from: My Happy Place
Some quick notes about this recipe:  First off, next time I make it, I will do so in a ramekin instead of a mug because the streusel topping was stuck at the top, and my mug was so tall.  (This time I made it in a mug, and then ended up turning it out into a ramekin to eat.)  Also, it's not as amazingly delicious as the traditional coffee cake that my family makes, but it is really good for a microwave version.

Ingredients for Coffee Cake:

• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 egg
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• Splash of milk
• Scant 1/4 cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for Streusel Topping:

• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Sprinkle of nutmeg

Directions: 

1. Melt the butter in a small bowl or in your mug/ramekin.
2. Add the sugars, egg, sour cream, and milk; stir.
3. Add  flour and baking powder, mix until combined.
4. Place in your mug/ramekin (if not already).
5. Stir the ingredients for the streusel together until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Top the coffee cake with streusel.
6. Microwave for 1 minute.  Continue microwaving at 10 second intervals until the desired consistency is reached.  (My microwave took a total of 1 minute 30 seconds.)

It's really, really hot; so you should probably let this one cool a bit before you eat it.

I hope you enjoy the first single serving recipe of the week!  More to come!