Cinnamon Puffs

 This is a really fun recipe to do with kids because it is really easy, super fast (Before you have time to get frustrated it's done.), a tasty snack or breakfast food and the results are just 2 minutes away. It took longer to get the ingredients out than for these muffins to cook. Kids will have fun making these with you. They puff up like magic.

My kids and I have done a lot of cooking together over the years. As teenagers they were in charge of making Sunday dinner for our family. We made everything from tri-tip roasts to bar-b-que chicken pizza. My sons auctioned off desserts once a month for a year and they were bought for about $400 each. They did a great job and none of them are intimidated in the kitchen.

2 Minute Cinnamon Puffs

1 C buttermilk baking mix (like Bisquick)

1/4 C milk

1 egg

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon butter, cut into small chunks

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping

1/4 C sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Place paper cupcake liners in a microwave muffin pan or in small round glass baking dishes. Mix baking mix, milk, egg, sugar, butter and nutmeg. Stir until combined about 15 seconds. Fill muffin cups 1/3 full. Microwave HIGH for approximately 2 minutes until top springs back when lightly touched. The top will not be brown and it will look uneven. That's where the cinnamon and sugar comes in-as camouflage! Let them cool a bit and then remove puffs from the pan.

*Note a microwave muffin pan will say "microwave safe" on it. Mine is in a do-nut shape because the center doesn't cook as fast. In this shape all the muffins will cook more uniformly.

Mix cinnamon and sugar. Dip tops of puffs into melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture.

Yield: 6 puffs

Enjoy!

Snowman Greetings

SNOWMAN LIGHTS

I love all the lights and decorations at Christmas time and I generally drag my feet when it's time to pack them up at the end of the holiday season. This year I just wasn't ready for the season of lights to be over so I decided to transform my lights into January Snowman Greeters.

 Kids will have so much fun creating their own snowmen to decorate the house with and watch them shine on these cold dark nights of January. Kids can do almost all of this project. They will need adult supervision and adults will need to use the craft knife to cuts the slit in each cup, otherwise this is a really kid-friendly project.
I got a pack of 100, white 3 oz. plastic bathroom cups from Wal-mart, a string of 50 white lights, a hole punch, some black and orange construction paper, scissors, white glue, and scraps of fabric.
I punched a big pile of circles from the black paper. Then I glued them on to the cups to make the eyes and mouth. Then I cut small triangles of various sizes out of the orange paper and glued those on for the nose. I cut some small strips of fabric about 12 inches long to make the scarfs for a few of the snowmen and glued those on too. When they were dry I used a small craft knife to cut a small slit in the top of the cup in a + shape and inserted the cups over the lights.
Done! The whole project cost less than $5.00.

 Now they can be hung around the front door or over the mantle to greet your winter guests.