Sally McKenney's Blog, page 178

Buttery Blueberry Streusel Muffins.

My new favorite blueberry muffin recipe! Buttery and moist, these fruity muffins are heavy on the brown sugar streusel and juicy blueberries.

I make my sparkling blueberry muffins on the regular. We’re talking at least once per month. Have you tried them yet? Big, bold, and bursting with bakery-style goodness. Those muffins will always be one of my favorites.

I felt a little jazzy the other morning and decided to break my routine. I creamed some butter, added some streusel, lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, and tons of juicy blueberries.

Sometimes change is a good thing!

Today’s muffins are extremely moist and light. Light and fluffy enough to qualify as cupcakes, but hearty enough for breakfast. They’re less dense than my original blueberry muffins, but have more depth of flavor from the brown sugar and cinnamon. The brown sugar is crucial to their flavor!

These buttery blueberry streusel muffins are absolutely my new favorite.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies.

Fudgy homemade chocolate brownies stuffed with a peanut butter filling and topped with peanut butter and chocolate chips. If you like peanut butter cups, you’ll love these!

Attention all peanut butter lovers!

Last week, I shared my favorite chewy fudgy homemade brownie recipe. My hungry fiancé and friends asked for them again (they’re that good), so today I bring you chewy fudgy homemade brownies, peanut butter style.

These brownies will blow your chocolate and peanut butter loving mind.

The idea is quite simple. Make my ultra fudgy homemade brownies. Stuff them with a peanut butter cup filling of sorts and top with… you guessed it… more peanut butter and chocolate. Sip a healthy smoothie as you go and then put on your fat pants. Prepare to overindulge; it’s amazing.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Strawberry Mango Breakfast Smoothie.

Juicy strawberries, mangos, bananas, and your favorite granola come together in this healthy layered smoothie!

A few of my favorite things join forces today in this cold, creamy breakfast smoothie. Strawberries, mangoes, bananas, and/or granola are usually always apart of my breakfast in some form or another. But today, I blended them into this gorgeous drink.

Pretty drinks just taste better, right?

I’m a sucker for smoothies. I typically make a green smoothie after a workout, and when I’m feeling a little more indulgent – peanut butter chocolate is the way to go. But upon returning from Mexico this week, I craved nothing but juicy mangoes. The mangoes there are out of this world. Think of the sweetest, juiciest mango you’ve ever tasted. Then multiply that by 100 and you’re not even close to how incredible they were!

I’d go back to Mexico… just for the mangoes.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Le Creuset 5 Piece Cookware Set Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday!

Ha! Who am I kidding, Wednesdays are far from exciting. But there’s a way to fix that – a strawberry kiwi margarita paired with a peanut butter cup blossom cookie.

Take that, hump daaaay!

 To show some appreciation for ya, I’ve teamed up with a few other bloggers to host a Le Creuset Piece Cast Iron Cookware Set giveaway.

Continue reading:Le Creuset 5 Piece Cookware Set Giveaway!

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Peanut Butter Cup Blossoms.

Soft-baked, thick style peanut butter cookies topped with Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Back from Mexico today. Sigh.

What an incredible trip! We went for Kristen and Seth’s wedding. I was lucky enough to be Kristen’s bridesmaid; she had us all wearing these beautiful red dresses (the red color is called “apple”) and gave us matching red flip flops for the reception. Lots of great food, tons of margaritas, laughs, pool time, beach time, and 100 degree heat.

Wish I could’ve stayed longer! Congrats again to the beautiful couple.

Back from vacation means back to reality, back to the gym, and back to eating healthy.

B-O-R-I-N-G.

So, let’s put all that nonsense aside for at least 1 more day and stuff our faces with soft and puffy peanut butter cookies. Complete with a gooey peanut butter cup on top. In both regular chocolate and white chocolate.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Photo A Day, April.

Welcome back to my Photo A Day posts! I’m posting this from sunny Riviera Maya, Mexico. Today my best friend Kristen is getting married to Seth. Kristen was my college roomie for 3 years and I’m so excited to be by her side this afternoon.

Let’s rewind to April real quick though. The month I first appeared on TV and in the newspaper, visited Panera Bread’s test kitchen, celebrated Easter (with the Easter bunny… sort of), PR’d in a 10K, and frequently drank margaritas. But hey, what else is new?!

Guess what? I’m going to be on WBAL TV (local Baltimore NBC) again this month. Tune in on Saturday, May 24th at 9:30am. I’ll be making my tie-dye cake! I’ll be sure to share the TV segment on my blog if you are not a Baltimore local.

Continue reading:Photo A Day, April.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Chewy Fudgy Homemade Brownies.

Thick, fudgy, chewy homemade brownies made completely from scratch. You will never make a box mix again!

Greetings from the plane. Today are headed to sunny Mexico for 5 days for my best friend’s wedding. Riviera Maya – so excited to sit back with a margarita in hand and let others do the baking and cooking for me!

Enough about me. Moving on to why you’re really here… homemade chocolate brownies. Is there truly anything better in this world? Maybe if you add peanut butter frosting and chocolate covered pretzels and serve with chocolate milk. Oh heavens yes.

But today, let’s discuss the real deal. A brownie in its purest form. My favorite chewy fudgy homemade brownie recipe. No mixer, no strange ingredients, just pure brownie love.

Everyone has a favorite brownie recipe. There are so many homemade favorites! But today I’ll show you how to make chewy, fudgy homemade brownies. Because in my dessert loving world, a brownie should be two things: chewy and fudgy.

Chewy brownies have a dense structure, but still have a little crumb. Fudgy brownies are dense, with a moist, intensely chocolatey interior – somewhere between a chocolate truffle and piece of fudge. I like my brownies so rich and dense that it tastes like frosting you can eat in bar form. Now how delicious does that sound?

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Blueberries ‘n Cream Cupcakes.

These blueberries ‘n cream cupcakes are bursting with vanilla, juicy blueberries, and a hint a lemon. Top them with lush cream cheese frosting and they’ll be a new favorite!

We are headed to sunny Mexico tomorrow for my best friend’s wedding! Kristen and Seth are our good friends here in Baltimore; Kristen was my college roomie and I’m so excited to be by her side on her wedding day.

We’ll be in Riviera Maya – have you ever been there before? I bought a huge white sun hat, this adorable dress in navy, and a colorful new bikini. Everything from Target, my home away from home. Somehow hot pink nail polish, tortilla chips, and a new scented candle jumped in my cart too. Funny how that happens every time I walk into that store.

By the way, have you ever read this before? My friend sent it to me. 53 thoughts every girl has while shopping at Target. SPOT ON.

In the middle of all my packing and last minute errands this weekend, I took a break to bake a batch of cupcakes for my neighbors. A new recipe, full of juicy blueberries, a hint of lemon, and topped with ultra creamy cream cheese frosting.

The batter for today’s recipe is my go-to vanilla cupcake/cake batter. The one and only basic vanilla cupcake recipe I’ll ever use. You don’t even need a mixer to make it! I’ve created over a dozen varieties from this one recipe including strawberry cupcakes, piña colada cupcakes, marble cupcakes, and butterscotch cupcakes.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Glazed Strawberry Bread.

Super moist strawberry quick bread is mixed together in a snap. Drizzle it with a sweet vanilla glaze and get ready to indulge. This is a new favorite!

How was your weekend? Whatcha do?

Mine started off with a visit from my mom and sisters. We went out to lunch (complete with macarons for dessert) and Sarah asked me to be her matron of honor. She’s so crafty; I keep telling her to start a blog! Her wedding is next June, so I’ll be a matron by then.

Saturday was my first local book signing. I had no idea what to expect since the event wasn’t a typical book signing location. It was a giant conference geared towards women’s interests, health, and hobbies. I had a couple tables right in the front with balloons, signs, piles of cookbooks, jars of sprinkles, and a lot of pink. Are you surprised?

I didn’t bake for the event because there is nothing fun about making cookies for 900 people. Maybe for future (smaller!) book signings. PS: I added an Upcoming Events page (under the PRESS menu drop-down) so you can stay up to date with my book signings and promotional events. Hope you come visit me for some of them. If you have requests for locations, please let me know!

After all the running around, it was nice to have a low key day getting caught up and baking some sweets. I made today’s glazed strawberry bread for breakfast. I had a nice thick slice with a side of fresh fruit and lots of coffee. I took the leftovers to our dog park friends (the humans) and they gobbled it all up in minutes.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Chocolate Frosted Donuts.

These chocolate frosted donuts are baked, not fried – and are so simple to make! Cover them completely in sprinkles and you’ll find yourself eating more than just one.

I saved one of the best recipes I have ever, ever made for this morning. It’s bright and sunny outside, the birds are chirping, my allergies are in full force (though these donuts do help), and it’s time for some major chocolate sprinkle donut action.

TGI-freaking-F. Shouldn’t sprinkles be apart of breakfast everyday? Amen.

When I was little, my family and I would travel to Michigan each summer to visit my grandparents. My whole family is from Grand Rapids, so we spent a good amount of time there in the summer. My grandparents had acres and acres of land, a pond, a pool (with a slide!!), and enough candy to make any dentist cringe.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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