Apple Cider Donut Muffins

I love the crisp autumn air, the leaves changing colors on the trees, the pumpkin spice everything and most of all, these apple cider donut muffins!

These apple cider muffins are one of our favorite healthy breakfast options. They have the perfect amount of sweet from the cider and brown sugar and the sour cream helps keep them extra tender and moist. 

Does your family have any fall traditions? I’m not sure if it’s like this everywhere else, but when fall rolls around here in Utah, all sorts of pumpkin patches pop up with corn mazes and fun activities for families. One of our favorite places is down in a little town called Santaquin at Rowley’s Red Barn. It is the cutest farm with a red barn where you can buy ice cream, fall produce, the best apple cider on earth AND the most outrageously delicious apple cider donuts. I don’t know what they put in those donuts, but they are dangerous!

These apple cider donut muffins are those donuts but in muffin form because, let’s be honest, muffins are just easier than donuts! Everyone has a muffin tin but not everyone has a donut pan. It’s time to make these donut muffins a new fall tradition in your family!

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Welcome to the weekend, friends! I’ve had a great time catching up with family and friends in Phoenix for the past few days, but I have to admit that the jeans, boots, and jackets in the closet at home are calling my name again. Bring on the fall weather, please! I can hardly wait to be back in Ohio. (Fingers crossed for no travel delays today!)

ON THE BLOG this week: Strawberry Banana Smoothies are simple, easy, and refreshing as a snack or even a meal all on their own. This smoothie is delicious with only four ingredients!

I’m not exaggerating when I say this Peanut Butter Fudge is one of the best fudges I’ve ever tasted. Rich, creamy, over-the-top fudge that is so easy to make, you might laugh.

While we’re on a peanut butter loving roll here, Peanut Butter Ice Cream tastes like the inside of a peanut butter cup, transformed into cold and creamy homemade ice cream.

Tender green beans, baby potatoes, smoky bacon, and sweet onions are perfectly combined in this irresistibly classic southern side dish.

Walnut Cookies are tender buttery sweet cookies with a center of chewy brown sugar, walnut, and sour cream filling. Not a fan of walnuts? Try them with pecans. However you make them, these cookies are likely to be a new holiday favorite.

What I’m CRAVING: My friend Sue’s banana oat bread with a warm maple walnut glaze caught my eye last week and I can’t stop thinking about it. I definitely need to make it this fall.

My FAVORITE THING this week is this cozy heated throw blanket. As the days start cooling off, this is a great way to stay warm and cozy without heating up the whole house. I ordered another one as a gift for a friend this week and was thrilled to see that a few of the colors are on sale for 40% off.

What we’re READING: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. After asking on Facebook for a few new book recommendations, several of you suggested I read this one. As soon as it was available from my library, I inhaled it.

This is the true story of a 24-year-old woman who woke up strapped to the bed in a hospital room, unable to control her movements or even speak, with no memory of

Walnut Cookies are tender buttery sweet cookies with a center of chewy brown sugar, walnut, and sour cream filling.

Walnut Frosties

I have no idea where the name Walnut Frosties originated, but my friend Margaret shared a batch of these cookies with us a while back, and with the very first bite, I asked her if she’d pretty please share the recipe with me.

She was kind enough to do so and now I’m willing to bet that you’re going to love these Walnut Frosties every bit as much as we do!

The cookie is a brown sugar drop type of cookie. The brown sugar and butter combination makes for the perfect cookie base for the nutty filling.

The filling combination of walnuts, sour cream, and brown sugar bakes up into a sweet Brulee-like crust on top of the buttery cookie.

To achieve the perfectly filled cookie use your thumb or the back of a melon baller to create a circular indent in the cookie. Then fill the cookie with the walnut filling. Don’t be afraid to overfill just a bit as it will bake down and fill the indentation nicely.

If your cookies spread too much while baking chances are your butter was too soft when you started. If the dough seems too soft to me I like to bake a test pan with 2-3 cookies on it first to see how much they spread. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or so to firm it up if it spreads too much.

My friend shared that traditionally they make these at Christmas. She had no clue why, it was just what they do. However as delicious as they are I am making them year around!

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Peanut Butter Ice Cream tastes like the inside of a peanut butter cup, transformed into cold and creamy homemade ice cream.

Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream

With a rich swirl of peanut butter and plenty of chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, this is a treat that you’re going to be finding every excuse to make. If you’ve already fallen in love with this creamy peanut butter fudge, I can tell you now that you will love this ice cream every bit as much!

I usually figure a batch of homemade ice cream to be 5-6 servings. However, this is very rich ice cream and we tend to enjoy it in smaller portions.

To make this ice cream, you’ll whisk together creamy peanut butter with milk, heavy cream, and vanilla. This mixture is sweetened with brown sugar providing an added richness.

While the ice cream is churning, you’ll make the sweet peanut butter mixture to swirl into the ice cream. And while you’re at it, you should probably go ahead and chop up some peanut butter cups to sprinkle on top of each serving.

The most popular question I get is whether it’s possible to make ice cream without a machine. The answer is YES. You can make ice cream without a machine. Find the full directions here!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Peanut butter swirled ice cream filled with peanut butter cups in every bite is a guaranteed win. With a drizzle of warm chocolate sauce or a generous spoonful of hot fudge over the top, this is an ice cream treat that few can resist.

I shared this with a friend who was visiting and she immediately asked how soon I’d be sharing this recipe. So, here you go! This one is certain to be everyone’s new favorite.

The chocolate here is optional, but if you love the chocolate peanut butter combination as much as my family does, you’ll want to try it both ways.

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Better Than We Found Them

What if our purpose is merely to leave people and places better than we found them…❤️

I once found myself doing a few simple tasks that should have been a basic part of life but instead began to ignite embers of resentment in my heart.

I had just spent some time inside of our home fixing a few things and then moved on outside to tackle a real mess of a weed situation.

With each yank of a wretched tendril another seemed to appear before my eyes. Medusa’s never ending snakes seemed to be the ground with which I was working and suddenly the nastiness of her was in my heart. I found myself thinking, “could we ever live somewhere that starts out beautiful instead of always a place that needs to be rescued?!”

And then “she” appeared before my eyes.

I pictured the previous home we’d been in.

Rescuing Our Home

I imagined her old and depleted. Her feelings of being forgotten hung with every worn wall and broken hinge.

I felt her ache and depression; unneeded, unwanted, empty and ugly.

And then I saw us.

My little family happily working with small children running here and there as we gently began to love her.

Moving walls and brightening her shadows.

Lifting smudges and beautifying her surroundings with a few more plants here and a little weeding there.

Suddenly she was awakening. She began to straighten herself up when we were around, standing a little taller and almost giving in to a smile and giddiness as the children laughed and played.

Soon enough the gray shadows of nothingness were replaced with confidence and purpose.

There she was, loving us as we were loving her.

She had purpose once again and all because a little family showed her that she still had life left to live and something wonderful to become and offer.

Leave People and Places Better Than You Found Them

My heart completely softened as the sentence rang through my mind and heart with such clarity as the sun breaking forth through the morning haze:

What if your purpose is merely to ❤️Leave people and places better than you found them.❤️

What if that’s what it means to keep your covenants?

What if that’s your noble duty on earth?

People and places… better than you found them. ❤️

READ: Better Than We Found Them