Cinnamon Rolls

I am not a fan of cinnamon rolls but I LOVE these!  My family loves them too!  They are so awesome and easy to make, I give them away as gifts.  Thanks Paula Deen for the recipe.

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1/4-ounce package yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

Glaze:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls. 

Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

Yet another easy bread recipe to add to my list of growing bread recipes.  These recipes help me to move to making fresher, healthier and better tasting bread for my family.  Once again, thanks to The Well Floured Kitchen for this recipe.

 

 

Ingredients

• 6 cups (1 lb 8 oz)White Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 Cups (16oz) Water
• 4 tsp Instant Yeast
• 3 Tbsp. (1.5 oz) Coconut Oil or Butter, Softened
• 3 Tbsp. (2.75 oz) Honey
• 1 Tbsp. Salt

Instructions

• All all ingredients to mixer fitted with the dough hook and stir until combined. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes.
• Continue mixing for approximately 5 minutes, the dough will start to come together and become smooth (in bakers speak, the gluten will develop). Please note you can make this recipe without a mixer. In fact I recommend you make your first few loafs by hand. It is important to learn how the dough should feel , which is only something that can be learned by trial and error. You knead dough by pushing it away with the heel of your hand, then folding over and starting again. (There are some youtube videos on kneading if you are a visual learner) Your ultimate goal is a dough that is smooth , not sticky or dry. If you knead your dough by hand, it will take a little longer, about 10 minutes. If your dough is dry, add some water 1 tbsp. at a time, if it is too sticky, add flour 1 tbsp. at a time.
• At this point place the dough in a greased covered bowl to rise until doubled in volume, approximately 1-2 hours.
• Punch down the dough and split in half. Shape each half into a loaf: Gently flatten, fold in the sides slightly, then bring the top down, bottom up, pinch the seams and give it a gentle roll to smooth. Place shaped loaf into a greased 8x4 bread pan and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until the dough has doubled again and is about an inch above the pan.
• Place your loaves into a preheated 350° oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the bread has reached a 190° internal temperature. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then take them out of the pan to finish cooling on cooling rack.

Notes

You can use sugar or sucanat in place of the honey.

If you are new to whole wheat bread, you can use any ratio of white flour in this recipe, slowly adjust the recipe until you are eventually using all whole wheat.

Remember if your kitchen is very cold you may need an ounce or two more water, if it is very warm, you may need an ounce or two less water.

This bread freezes beautifully, I recommend slicing it first.

Don't throw away stale bread! Grind it in the food processor and store it in the freezer for homemade bread crumbs.

Crusty Whole Wheat Artisan Bread

I am always looking for new and easy bread recipes.  I want to move farther away from mass produced bread and move more toward making my own.  This is a recipe I found from The Well Floured Kitchen.  This recipe does make two loaves of bread.

Ingredients

• 6 Cups (1lb, 8oz) White Whole Wheat Flour (I used 4 cups of whole wheat and 2 cups of unbleached all purpose)
• 1 Tbsp. Instant Yeast (or 1 packet active dry yeast)
• 1 Tbsp. Salt
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar or Honey
• 2 Cups (16 oz) Water

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients together by hand or with a heavy duty stand mixer. If you are using active dry yeast you will need to proof it first with 1/4 cup of the water and 1 tsp. of the sugar. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes. If the dough seems too dry or wet, adjust now with a bit more flour or water. Knead for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes by mixer.
• Cover and allow to rise approximately 1 hour, dough should double in size.
• Punch down the dough, and shape into a circle or oblong loaf.
• Cover and allow to rise again, approximately 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400°.
• Bake for 30 minutes until nicely golden brown, or an internal temperature of 200°

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was trying to find something slightly health that was easy to fix, and my family would like.  I did some searching and found this great recipe.  This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies but can easily be doubled to make more.  I hope you enjoy them as much as my family enjoys them!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 can of 15 oz pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter, brown sugar and white sugar together in a bowl until creamy.  Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix until smooth.

Add flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop 1 - 2 tablespoons of batter onto a parchment lined baking pan and bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 10 - 12 minutes.

Pizza Bites

My family loves Double Kwik pizza rolls but they are way too expensive.  I have tried several different recipes but this one is the closest, and my family loves them.  You can add other ingredients if you want, but we are tradionalists when it comes to pizza rolls.  I hope you enjoy them!

Pizza Bites

makes 48 bites divided into 3 trays, prep 20 min, cook time 20 min

• 2 recipes pizza dough (or 2 cans refrigerated pizza dough)
• 8 oz block mozzarella cheese
• 4 oz thin sliced pepperoni
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Garlic Salt 
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• pizza or marinara sauce

1. Prepare pizza dough, recipe on my blog, and roughly chop pepperoni. Cut block of mozzarella into 48 cubes.
2. If you are going to bake some (or all!) right away preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 3 pie pans.
3. If using refrigerated pizza dough: roll one dough out into a large rectangle and cut into 24 pieces. Repeat with 2nd pizza dough. If using homemade dough just pinch off walnut sized pieces as you go.
4. In each dough piece place a couple pieces of chopped pepperoni and a cube of cheese. Seal dough around meat and cheese and place seam side down in pie pan.
5. Repeat, placing approximately 16 dough balls in each pie plate.
6. Once assembled, combine butter and spices and brush over the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
7. Now you can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze or you can bake right away.
8. When ready to bake: bake at 400°F for 16-20 min. Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce.

Basic Pizza Dough

My family LOVES pizza!  But I hate the expensive price of restaurant pizza and frozen pizza is yucky! :)  I have used many recipes over the years, and but this one is the best.  It is very easy to make and very versatile.  You can use it for mini pizzas, pizza bites, grilled pizza, cast iron skillet pizza, breakfast pizza, anything you can imagine.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.  I mostly double my recipe each time.

Basic Pizza Dough

makes 1 recipe pizza dough, prep 10 min, rise time 1 hour

• 1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp loose yeast)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 3/4 cup flour

1. Combine yeast and warm water, stir to dissolve.
2. Let this sit for several minutes, until you see bubbling of the yeast.
3. Add oil, salt, and flour. Stir to combine.
4. Once dough starts to come together, turn out onto a floured counter and knead to thoroughly combine-until dough is smooth and elastic. If it is uncooperative let it rest for a few minutes and come back to it.
5. Place dough ball in a greased bowl and cover loosely. Allow dough to rise until doubled, approximately an hour, if your house is warm.  If your house is cooler, like ours, rise time will be longer, even two hours or more.

I am all about saving money and buying the least processed items that I can.  By doing this, I save money, I know what is in my food and I feel that I am feeding my family food that is a little more healthy.  I use Bisquick for my oven fried chicken, sausage balls and a few other favorites.  Plus it is easy to whip something up for dessert or anything with a little bisquick on hand.  I make mine with lard instead of shortening.  Lard is all natural and is more easily processed by the body.  It is says it lasts for four months, mine never lasts more than a few weeks.

Homemade Bisquick Mix

 

 

6 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl.
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
4. Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix".