blogging about food

Well not really but a close second for sure! I wanted to share a holiday favourite with you, a little after the holidays. I meant to make a big batch of this and give it away in mini mason jars as Christmas gifts for friends. Like many, time slipped away from me and the holidays we over. Still, I couldn’t resist this super simple recipe, a staple in our home: Cinnamon Butter! This batch should probably be called cinnamon-maple-vanilla-honey-butter though. If you have read any of my food posts before, you know that I tend to veer away from following recipes. I am more of an instinct person when it comes to ingredients. A dash here, a heavy hand there. In the end, if it tastes good it is probably working just fine. So rather than share exact measurements, I am just going to tell you the ingredients and steps. Everyone has different tastes so feel free to add more of one thing and less of another. Spread it on your morning toast and it tastes very close to french toast with half the work and none of the clean up. A win-win for all the busy mommas out there.

Ingredients:

Butter – I use unsalted and a full pound. This made five mini mason jars.

Cinnamon – my personal favourite is by Watkins.

Maple Syrup – use the real stuff, not pancake syrup.

Vanilla extract

White Sugar – many of you will shake your head at that one but I am sure all the bakers can appreciate it’s importance.

Honey – liquefy before adding.

Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and MIX. I went old school and used a vintage hand egg-beater that my mom had. I was feeling the need to work out some aggression. Probably something to do with the kitchen faucet exploding that morning OR the furnace shutting down for 24 hours and leaving us all shivering our booties off. It’s been a tough week here! Using the hand mixer actually whipped up my butter and made it super frothy though so I will no doubt use that method in future. Taste as you go and add more of ingredients depending on your taste. In my case, it was all of them! But the result was perfection. Every buttery time. Enjoy! Full disclosure: Not the healthiest option and tastes even better on white bread. YUM!

Happy Easter every bunny! See what I did there? =) I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend, spending time with your loved ones and soaking up all of the joy that Easter brings – and all of the chocolate! We have had a full house for this holiday weekend. Not only is my mom close by, my father-in-law is in town and staying with us for the weekend. The weather was cooperating up until this morning – Sunday. We had beautiful sunshine and spent most of the last two days outside in the backyard. I hope everyone got their Easter Hunt in yesterday though because right now it is pouring! I am almost relieved Hallie is too little to know what is going on or we would be outside in our gumboots searching for tiny colourful eggs in the mud. There is nothing wrong with that – sounds like a good time actually! My head cold is being stubborn though and I would mind staying in with my steamy cuppa coffee. Selfish mommy! When the whole house is up and at ’em we will attempt an indoor hunt. I think if we both carry a basket and I SHOW her how to collect the eggs, she may get the hang of it. I already surprised her this morning with her ‘Easter goodies’. She looked quite stunned and happy to wake up to a little display of presents! We even decorated the living room with balloons and streamers which delighted her to no end. The holidays are really special, even MORE SO with little kiddos. It’s just going to get better and better the older she gets too! I can’t believe next year I will have two rascals to be the Easter Bunny for. This year her basket consisted of a tiny stuffed rabbit that she seems to like, and plastic bunnies and carrots filled with Teddy Grahams. There is some chocolate but she hasn’t seemed to notice – don’t think I will give it to her until AFTER breakfast. I also had a bigger bunny but she looks rather scared of it. May pop that guy away till later too. The Easter Bunny even did up baskets for the rest of the family! Mainly just chocolates but for the hubby, I tucked in some cute hockey inspired baby boy clothes. Okay so technically it’s a gift for baby boy coming soon, but something to get hubs excited nonetheless. Well I am a little blank on the words this morning as I have yet to finish my coffee. A bag of mini eggs is calling my name too! But here is a collection of fun photos from the last couple days. All filled with good food, smiles, dirty party dresses and most importantly, LOVE! Enjoy you Easter Sunday friends!