Eight Great Granolas!

Today is our dad's birthday! Or as I like to call him, the Original Wayward. (Yes, I'm the only one. And okay, he not Mom's dad. That'd be weird.)

One of our dad's favorite foods is granola. He eats it with milk for breakfast. When I was very little, my mom would even make granola for him. I remember the honey we used for it (not normally a staple in the Wayward household, sorry). One year for Christmas, I made him a batch, too.

This year, Dad, if you'd like some granola, just let me know! Here are eight great granolas to choose from (or another recipe if you'd like).

My criteria? Something that would read sweet and be suitable as breakfast cereal (i.e. not a bar or a snack, and no chocolate chips—sorry, Dad, even I have to draw the line with chocolate somewhere!). I focused on recipes containing oats, as opposed to other grains. Plus it had to look good!

Gingerbread Granola

Source: kitchensimplicity.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Dark Cocoa Superfood Granola

Source: cupcakesandkalechips.com via Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips on Pinterest

Banana Nutella Granola

Source: sallysbakingaddiction.com via Rose on Pinterest

Pumpkin Pie Granola

Source: mybakingaddiction.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Honey Nut Granola

Source: ledelicieux.com via Traces on Pinterest

Lemon Blueberry Granola

Source: stetted.com via Angie on Pinterest

Cranberry Maple Granola

Source: thegraciouspantry.com via Kami on Pinterest

Caramel Apple Granola

Source: pastryaffair.com via Amy on Pinterest

What flavors would you look for in granola?

Daffodil crafts!

When I was little, I bugged asked my mom about when my birthday would be. Frequently. Finally, when my birthday was close, my mother pointed out the blooming daffodils and told me when I saw daffodils blooming, my birthday was near.

I guess it's kind of appropriate that the scientific genus of the flower is Narcissus, because I think that selfish reason is a big part of why it's my favorite flower.

And today they are blooming, because today it's my birthday! (Incidentally, in the South where we lived, they never bloomed that late again, LOL. But I live in a colder place now, and they've only come out in the last 2-3 weeks.)

So while I'm off celebrating, here's an awesome selection of daffodil-inspired crafts that will fit in great with any spring or Easter decor/menu/celebration/awesomeness.

A Daffodil Cake

Source: elegantweddingcenterpieces.com via Corinna on Pinterest

Daffodil treat cups (great for an Easter basket!)

Source: marthastewart.com via Liz on Pinterest

Daffodil place settings

Source: to-be-charmed.com via Wendy on Pinterest

Beautiful Daffodil cupcakes

Source: tammabley.blogspot.com via Wendy on Pinterest

real Daffodils in a terrarium

Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

How to make gum paste Daffodils

Source: cakejournal.com via Donna on Pinterest

Have you shared any Daffodil crafts this year? What's your favorite flower/flower craft?

THIS POST HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY THE WAYWARD GIRLS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN!!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

Or as I like to call them, pineapple CUPside-down CAKES.

Well, I thought it was clever.

So last Wednesday, my husband came home and announced that we needed to make a cake. My first thought was, "Score! I know what I'm blogging about next week!" My second thought was, "Why?"

Turns out the woman who makes wonderful cakes for everyone else's birthdays had her birthday—on the previous Sunday. After enjoying many of her dark chocolate/strawberry/whip cream leftovers, I knew this cake needed to be special. I'd just seen something about a jellybean cupcake decorating contest. While I don't think this will win any prizes there, I was inspired to use cherry jellybeans instead of maraschino cherries in this:

To make the pineapple upside-down cupcakes, I started with a yellow cake mix. The box called for a cup of water; I replaced half of that with pineapple juice (but the flavor was very subtle in the end, perhaps not even worth it).

Then I consulted a recipe for PU-DC. It called for a brown sugar sauce made with melted butter and brown sugar. Add just a little water and it turns into this:

I opened a poured in a drained can of pineapple tidbits (but I don't recommend this: it did something weird to the butter and looked super nasty. Instead, just pour the brown sugar sauce over the pineapple once they're in the cupcake liners).

I was worried about the brown sugar syrup leaking through paper cupcake liners, so I used foil+paper liners.

Fill the lined cups with the jellybeans first (cut in half), then the pineapple and brown sugar sauce (use a spoon to strategically place the jellybeans and fruit), then a scant scoop of batter:

I tried to make sure the batter touched the sides of the cupcake liner (but with the fluting, I couldn't really get a "seal" to the sides).

Bake as per package instructions:

Very carefully peel the paper off (the jellybeans may stick to the liner, so you might have to rescue them).

The dye from the cherry jellybeans did run a bit, and the effect wasn't so great. Interestingly, the batter pushed the pineapple out to the edges a lot of the time, leaving a pineapple ring:

All in all, they were a little more work for a much more impressive effect than just a cake mix.

What's your favorite kind of cupcake?