First week of spring break is officially in the books! Spring break over the years has looked different, especially in the last 4 years. When I was a kid, spring break meant getting up early, getting on my bike, and exploring the entire neighbourhood while keeping an eye on my little sister and making sure that all the dishes were done before Mom and Dad got home from work. There were no camps, Disneyland vacations, or date days with Mom and Dad. There was only good old-fashioned fun.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying my spring break was better than how we do spring break nowadays. You do you, boo! But for me, that week of unplanned, unfiltered, fun was something I was hoping that my children would be able to experience, despite how times have changed. When HBear was in grade 6, she entered middle school. The formidable years of learning, how to socialize, how to plan your own “play dates“, and just the basic act of meeting up with your friends at the track just because you are FINALLY old enough to do that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, Covid hit on our first day of spring break 2020. HBear was never given the tools to have a good old-fashioned spring break, she was taught how to isolate.
Flash forward 4 years and SBean is in the exact position HBear was in. Grade 6, first year of middle school, and spring break! Well, not exactly the same spot. It breaks my heart to see the differences between the two. SBean has had the spring break of her life! Every day she is out, meeting up with her friends at the school, waiting for her crush to get out of basketball camp, going on scavenger hunts with her friends, walking to the beach, grabbing boba tea, having sleepovers, and calling on her friends! This is all new to us! I am so happy that she has had such a fantastic spring break so far, completely unscheduled! HBear on the other hand has also had a good spring break, keeping to herself, staying inside, and decompressing from being around so many people in the first half of the school year. So different.
While SBean has been busy exploring Penticton with her friends HBear has been working and working on the garage door, an art project we gave her so she can create and spread her talents in our back lane at the same time as covering up the giant penis grafittied on our large door. LOL
They are both having a great spring break. They’re just different. It’s hard to let go of what we dream for them and let them naturally find the path that they are meant to be on. Recently I read a book that said “what is for you won’t go past you”. That really resonated with me. I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break, or at least some spring weather!
All of our Christmas baking is gone! Ninja bought me the cutest new cookie jar for Christmas and I promised him that I would make it my mission to keep it filled! This spring we decided to try out a few new baking recipes to use up some fresh spring bounty! Click the links below to take you directly to these amazing spring baking recipes!
Spring Break Cookies, I made these first because they satisfied everyone, because they have everything in them! Chocolate chips, raisins, and oats? Count me in! Topped with cinnamon sugar these cookies are a combination of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and snickerdoodle… Yum!
Classic Poppyseed Bread, I love poppyseed bread! To me, this quick bread is the perfect way to kick off spring! It is light, fluffy, and subtle with the perfect amount of sweetness, just like spring!
I made Blueberry Blondies for Ninja and myself! The Kids don’t like blueberries?? Blueberries are in season during the spring and BC has a big, beautiful, blueberry bounty! Wow! Lol These blondies have more of a poundcake texture, and the tart blueberries, mixed with the sweet cake is spring deliciousness! They very much reminded me of my Mom’s Weight Watcher Chocolate Chip Bars! She used to bake them when her sweet tooth was begging for O’Henry bars, lol one point per slice, she never quite got it that eating the whole pan (even a slice every 10 minutes) was not weight watcher friendly lol. I still have that recipe actually, it was SO good! Watch out for them coming soon lol!
Ninja went to Costco and bought jumbo muffins. He cut them in half and put them in the freezer and the Kids have them for breakfast or sometimes as a part of their lunch. So I decided to make some Jumbo Chocolate Chip Raspberry Muffins for spring! Using tart raspberries and sweet chocolate chips, these jumbo muffins were bursting with flavour!
Now, I couldn’t do all of this baking and leave my favourite boy out! And by that I mean, Oliver! He is all out of the homemade cookies I baked him for Christmas, so I baked him some Carrot Oat Cookies for spring! He absolutely loved them and now he hangs out around the freezer drawer, waiting to hear his favourite words… Carrot Cookie lol.
Edited** This post was featured at the Senior Salon Pit Stop
Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
- For Coating
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
a big pinch of salt
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minutes between each addition. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl as necessary.
In a large bowl whisk together the oats, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed.
Stir in the chocolate chips and raisins. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer the dough to fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or mat. In a small bowl whisk together sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Form the dough into 2 tablespoon balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each ball about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake until golden and puffed for about 12 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoons poppy seeds
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
⅔ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Directions
Grease a loaf pan and preheat oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
Add egg, milk, and oil. Blend until just combined.
Fold in poppyseeds.
Pour into loaf pan, sprinkle caster sugar on top. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Ingredients
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled a bit
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flour
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
Directions
Preheat oven to 325° F. Put parchment paper in a 8-inch square pan.
In a large mixing bowl, add eggs and the cider vinegar, and whisk well. Add the brown and white sugars, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Whisk until well blended.
Add the melted butter and the baking soda. Whisk again until smooth.
Add the flour and switch to a spoon or spatula, stirring well but do not over-mix. Gently fold in the blueberries, trying not to crush them.
Pour batter to the prepared baking pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Use a toothpick to make sure it is baked through.
Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before gently lifting by the parchment paper handles. Cut into squares.
Jumbo Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
6
Jumbo Muffins5
minutes35
minutesIngredients
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 and 1/4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (do not thaw)
caster sugar for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Generously grease a jumbo 6-count muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
Whisk the melted butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined. Avoid overmixing. Fold in the chocolate chips, then gently fold in the raspberries. (Gentle to help prevent them from breaking too much.)
Divide batter between each muffin cup, filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown and centres are set. Stick a toothpick in the center of a muffin to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
Ingredients
2 cups oats, divided
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place 1 cup of the oats and the hemp seeds into a food processor and blend until it becomes a flour-like consistency. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
Add the remaining cup of oats, shredded carrot, flour, Greek yogurt, egg, coconut oil, cinnamon, and ginger, and mix until well combined.
Using a good dusting of flour and a rolling pin, roll out the dough to approximately 1/4-inch thick. Use a dog treat cutter to cut out the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Place into the oven to bake for 20, rotating the tray halfway through cooking, until golden brown. For extra crunchy treats, turn off the oven, leave the dog treats inside, and let them sit for two hours. For softer cookies, remove them after 15-20 minutes to cool at room temperature.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for two weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #373: Come Out and Play. This week, we get together mid-Spring Break to discuss: sweaters, friends, scavenger hunt, sleepovers, Spring Cocktail, dentist part 2, garage mural, Deep & Delicious, Ghostbusters, & Lollapalooza.
I went to the dentist again this week! I had 2 fillings done! Well, 1 deep filling, and 1 filling that was small that had fallen out years ago. I didn’t get out of bed until Friday! So, I did a lot of reading! When my body is so heavy that I cannot lift it through the quicksand AKA air, thank God, I have books! I would be going insane if I didn’t have something to occupy my mind! SBean received her latest Ipsy bag, Oliver enjoyed his spring treats, and HBear dyed her hair a darker copper colour. SBean had 3 girlfriends sleepover this week and they went on a scavenger hunt and then we treated them to prizes from the Dollarama. It was so cute, my MMBesty’s Grandkid, also known as my MBesty’s Kid, AKA PSBesty was working at the counter when they cashed out! Man, years are just flying by!
SBean has been hanging out with her G6Besty a lot lately, and they have been enjoying boba tea, walks to the beach, and waiting outside the school for their crushes to get out of basketball camp lol. HBear finished the curling season with a family curling session with Grandma and Grandpa, and then started on the garage door. Many years ago somebody spray-painted our back garage door, but we never go back there and we forgot about it lol and then we would see it and think we have to do something about that… And then we would forget about it lol. HBear loves art so we asked her if she would spray paint something out there. A bright mural to liven up the back lane. HBear has never worked with spray paint before so this was a whole new challenge, but it turned out so amazing! There are a few touchups that need to be done and it needs to fully dry, but I am so happy with the outcome!
At the end of Ninja’s first week back at work, he brought us home, McCain’s deep and delicious! My Sis and her family are on holidays in Mexico and she gave us a FaceTime this weekend, Mexico looks beautiful! On Saturday it was a rainy day, so we had a family date afternoon and went to the movies! We saw the new Ghostbusters and then crossed the parking lot to take in the Art Walk that began the Ignite the Arts Festival! By the end of the day it felt like my ass was kicked. And I slept. On Sunday, the sunshine was back out, so we got some chores done and Ninja began replacing the fencing in the back lane that Kids kick out all the time! The first week of spring break is over and I think the Kids would say, it was pretty darn good!
6 thoughts on “Spring Break Baking”
You’ve been a busy bee. Hard to decide which I like best, so I will say, send one of each over please and thank you.
Thanks so much for participating and sharing at SSPS 303. See you again next week!
I like to keep the cookie jar full! Thanks for having me, see you next week!
One of my featured recipes for this week’s SSPS, thank you for sharing with us!
What?!?! That’s fantastic! Thank you so much! See you next week 🙂
Looks delicious!! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party – have a fabulous week ahead –
Thanks for having me! See you next week!