What's under the cake dome Sunday # 17: Lunch box treats

Today I have been baking for the Mister, as I usually do on Sundays.  But today's isn't one dessert, but rather I've baked up treats to pack in his lunch box for the coming week.

 

First comes his breakfast treat.  The Mister leaves for work at 5:45 a.m. and he doesn't take time to eat breakfast at home, but does appreciate a yogurt sundae that I make him most mornings.   It is very simple to layer plain Greek yogurt with honey, a layer of granola and a layer of blueberries (or other fruit) and send that in with him for a mid morning boost with his coffee.  This week, though, I baked for him GIANT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS with a Streusel topping.  This is my favorite recipe for a big, flavorful muffin.  They're fast to make and once they've cooled I put them in individual zip lock bags and throw 'em in the freezer.  This way every morning I just take one from the freezer for his lunchbox and it has thawed by the time he's ready to eat it.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries

Streusel topping:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).  Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liner papers.
2. Sift together in a large mixing bowl 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.  Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.  Mix this with the flour mixture.  Fold in the blueberries.  Fill the muffin cups right up to the top with batter (the batter will be fairly thick/stiff).
3. Now make the streusel topping:  mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon.  Mix with a fork and then sprinkle over the muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

This recipe will yield 8 or 9 LARGE muffins.

Enjoy!


After I finished the blueberry muffins it was time to bake some cookies for his lunch dessert which is usually fresh fruit and some type of sweet. This afternoon I made a batch of Snickerdoodle cookies. I've posted this recipe before. Next to chocolate chip cookies I think snickerdoodles are a very close 2nd place favorite. They're light, slightly chewy, buttery and oh so good.

Last fall I posted the recipe for Snickerdoodles and you can find it on THIS POST HERE.  These are also very fast to mix up and bake.  I'm looking forward to a big glass of milk and a SNICKERDOODLE or two after supper tonight.  Ooops...you caught me...I've already sampled. 

And since I was in a major baking mode, I knew I couldn't forget my pups.  They like to have a treat too, so I made a batch of Pumpkin/Peanut Butter dog biscuits for them and filled their good dog treat jar back up.  The recipe for this, my homemade dog biscuits, can be found HERE.

This weekend has sped by! I'm glad to have my week's worth of dinner menus figured out and the Mister's lunches too. I truly am happy to pack his breakfast and lunch each day and know that he is getting a decent meal while at work. Just wish I didn't have to pack the lunches at 5:30 a.m. so it is always good when I know in advance and have prepared what I'll need to make. I'm going to mix up some tuna salad for sandwiches tomorrow and chill that. Some veggie sticks with his sandwiches and fruit and cookie ought to tide him over until supper tomorrow.

This was a strange "cake dome Sunday" post, but I did bake and the Mister just came in from working on his car, grabbed a handful of cookies that are cooling on the counter and gave me a big smooch and said "Yummm...these are good!"

Mission accomplished!

Until next time,

Cheers!

Jennifer