Cinnamon Rolls and Orange Rolls

Growing up, almost every Sunday morning before church, our family would sit down to a breakfast of hot cinnamon or orange rolls. We would wake up and my parents would preheat the oven and throw a pan of cinnamon rolls in the oven. We'd get dressed and by the time we were ready, the rolls were coming out of the oven and quite often my mom would have whipped up a batch of frosting for the top of them. What good memories I have of those days.

I have decided to start a family tradition of gifting cinnamon and orange rolls to my neighbors and friends at Christmas time. What a fun gift to give that can either be eaten immediately, frozen and saved or eaten for Christmas morning. My family enjoys walking around to each of our neighbor's homes and delivering the rolls with a little note that includes reheating instructions and Christmas blessings.

Now, when I make cinnamon rolls, I go back and forth between using my mom's recipe and Pioneer Woman's recipe. They're both good and turn out about the same. When I use Pioneer Woman's recipe, I don't heat it on the stove like she says to do. I just use hot milk and mix in my mixer. It's a big recipe for my little mixer but I make it work. One recipe of Pioneer Woman's makes about 7-8 pans of rolls. One recipe of my mom's rolls makes about 3 pans. Here's the recipe I grew up with. It's called Army Sweet Basic Dough because it's a recipe that was used in the Army for their sweet rolls.

Army Sweet Basic Dough

*Set 2 sticks of butter out to soften for later*

In a small bowl, mix and let stand until foamy:
3/4 cups hot water (as hot as you can get your tap water and not burn yourself)
2 packages yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1 Tablespoon sugar

In large mixing bowl: cream together (with cake beater):
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt

After creaming above mix, add and cream together:
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

Add yeast mixture and:
2 cups flour

Mix well. Switch to a dough hook.
Add:
2 cups additional flour (knead for a long time to break down gluten). I usually add another 1-3 cups of flour at this stage until the dough pulls away from the wall of the bowl. There shouldn't be flour in the bowl that can't be absorbed but if it's sticking to the walls of the bowl, you can add more flour. Don't go crazy with it though. If it sticks a little, it's okay.

Preheat oven to warm for 5 minutes. Grease the bowl, flip the dough to coat both sides with oil (prevents drying out). I generally just spray it with my aerosol spray. Cover with a cloth. Let rise 2-3 hours until doubled. Punch down the dough and let rise for 10 minutes. (If you try to roll it out right away it'll tend to pull back in on itself due to the gluten. Allow the gluten to rest for a short while and it'll be much easier to roll).

Get 2-3 cake pans ready. In each pan put 1/4 cube of melted butter in each pan and 1/4 cup of brown sugar (sugar is optional...butter is not).

Pour dough onto floured pastry cloth or work surface. Using a large, sharp knife, press to cut dough in half. Return half to your bowl. Shape other half into a rectangular shape with your hands and then roll out evenly. At this point, the dough should not be sticky. Use enough flour to make sure it doesn't stick to your work surface or rolling pin. You shouldn't have to add much if you added enough prior to rising. Work the corners out so you don't end up with an oval. You want a large rectangle.

Once you have your rectangle, spread 1/4 cup or so of soft butter over the surface with a spatula. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, sugar and sprinkle with raisens. The cinnamon and sugar should cover the entire surface. Roll up and cut in half. Keep cutting your sections in halves until you have the size rolls you want. This helps you end up with even sized rolls. Mine are usually only about 1 inch wide when I place them in my pans. *(be sure to put them in pans with butter/sugar on the bottom). Remember, they will rise and spread. I usually end up with 24-36 rolls depending on how I cut them. Don't crowd your pans. I will usually put 6-8 rolls/pan. Think about the size of your family when you place your rolls. If you have 4 people, maybe make pans of 8. We used to use some larger cake pans and put 12 rolls in them so we'd each get 3 rolls to eat. The point is, it's flexible. There's no perfect number.

Place pans in a warm oven and let double in size for 30-60 minutes. The rolls should fill the pan at this point. Remove from oven and preheat oven to 350.

Because we usually weren't eating them right after we made them, we cooked them and then reheated them later which is what the following directions are for. We would always bake our rolls for about 15 minutes until cooked through. (They're a little undercooked at 15 minutes bit still edible. If you want to fully cook them, I'd leave them in for 20-25 minutes). Lay out about 2-2 1/2 feet of tinfoil and flip pan upside down on to the center of the tinfoil. Scrape any remaining sugar from the bottom of the pan and roll up the sides of the tinfoil to close. Turn and wrap with one more layer of tinfoil on the other side. Allow to cool and then you can freeze the rolls in the tinfoil and then just thaw, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes while still in the tinfoil. This way, you have your pans free for other uses. After you reheat the rolls, unroll the tinfoil, place a plate on the bottom and flip over. Your rolls are now face up and ready for frosting.

Basic Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
Drop of almond extract
(Personally, I always like a good cream cheese icing but this one's easy and works good as well)

Variation: Orange Rolls
My mom would switch back and forth between cinnamon and orange rolls. As a child, I preferred the cinnamon rolls but now I really enjoy the orange rolls as well.
Make everything as normal but instead of cinnamon, sugar and raisens, use the following filling and a different icing to create orange rolls.

Orange Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
Stir together and sprinkle over buttered dough

Orange Glaze Icing:
3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sour cream

I hope you have fun making cinnamon rolls for your family and make many wonderful memories!

Cinnamon Toasted Almonds

I first had these in Germany. They were being sold from a kiosk in a train station, and you could smell them all over the station. Then I ran across this recipe at tasteofhome.com and decided to try them as Christmas gifts. They are so easy, and make your house smell equally as wonderful! The only change I would make is add maybe 1/2 cup more almonds, as there was too much sauce.

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 25 min. + cooling

2 egg whites
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups unblanched almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until frothy; beat in vanilla. Add almonds; stir gently to coat. Combine the sugars, salt and cinnamon; add to nut mixture and stir gently to coat.

Spread evenly into two well-greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake at 300° for 35-45 minutes or until almonds are crisp, stirring once. Cool. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 4 cups.

Cran-Yam Crumble

My sister gave me this yummy twist on traditionally unpopular sweet potatoes! You can mash the sweet potatoes or leave them whole, depending on your texture preference.

2 17oz. cans of yams, drained (I could not find this size, so I used 29 oz and added a little pureed pumpkin)
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 bag of cranberries
handful or so of mini marshmallows

Mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon and then cut into it the butter. Mix in the cranberries. Reserve about half of the mixture to use for a topping. Mix all together with the yams and place into a 9x13 glass baking dish. Then put the reserved mix on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 min. adding the marshmallow to the top during the last 10 min. of baking.

Chicken Bryan-Carrabba's Recipe

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

This meal is delicious! Very fancy looking when prepared and other meats can be substituted for the chicken. The first time I had this was with pork chops and it was amazing then as well. 

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

Servings Size

• 
  
  0
  

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt, to taste

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Olive Oil

4 ounces goat cheese

6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2-4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

4 teaspoons onions, minced

8 tablespoons butter, divided

6 tablespoons white wine

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon's worth)

Directions:

1. Brush chicken on both sides with olive oil, season to taste with Kosher salt and cracked pepper.
2. Grill chicken until done (internal temp of 165F) - prepare lemon butter sauce while chicken is grilling.
3. Saute onion and garlic in 2 Tbps butter until soft and fragrant.
4. Add white wine and lemon juice, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes to reduce.
5. Add remaining 6 Tbsp butter, a little at a time, until it melts and mixture is emulsified.
6. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and basil, heat until hot (but do not overheat or sauce may break).
7. Top nearly-done chicken breasts with 2 oz each of the goat cheese until cheese warms and softens.
8. To serve, spoon lemon butter sauce over chicken breasts.
9. Enjoy! I serve this dish with pasta tossed in butter or olive oil (the delicious lemon butter sauce will perfect it), garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad -- yummmm!

One tip I saw on the original link was to substitute white wine for the second half of the butter to help make it a bit healthier. It will save lots of calories. I have not tried this substitute as I haven't yet made this dish myself but I'm sure I'll give it a shot when I make it.

Peak Pancake

From Susie Demers

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Powdered sugar
Fresh berries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in 9 inch glass pie pan* and melt butter in oven. In blender or food processor, combine milk, flour, eggs, salt and vanilla and process until smooth. Remove pan from oven and increase temperature to 425 degrees. Pour batter into pie pan and return to oven. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce temp to 325 degrees and bake another 8-10 minutes. Invert on serving platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with fresh fruit or cooked fruit sauce.

*I tried it in a bundt pan because I thought it would be beautiful to have the ring shape. The bundt pan did not work out so well. It stuck horribly so I ended up with a pile of peak pancake instead of a nice round shape.

Winter Chopped Salad

Our friend, Dina Jones, brought this salad to our Harvest Party a week ago. I enjoyed it SO much and have been thinking about it ever since I ate it, wanting more! Yes, it's THAT good! The recipe is from the book, Seriously Simple Holidays by Diane Rossen Worthington. This would be a great dish to take to a party, serve your family for dinner or as a first course at a big family dinner. The flavors mesh so well together and the dressing is subtle but delicious. This salad makes quite a bit so you might need to adjust the size if you have a smaller group to feed.

Serves 6 as a first course or 8 as a main course (I think it really serves much more than that!)

Ingredients:

Dressing:
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper


1 head radicchio, cored and finely chopped (the red lettuce)
2 heads romaine lettuce, light green and white leaves only, finely chopped
1 1/4 pounds cooked chicken breasts, skin & bones removed and cut into 1-inch dice (about 3 cups)
1 Fuji, Gala, or Pink Lady apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup candied pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup crumbled blue or fresh goat cheese
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1. Make the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, honey, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Taste and adjust seasonings.

2. Place the radicchio, romaine, chicken, apple, cranberries, nuts and cheese in a large salad bowl.

3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with pepper (if desired) and serve.

Advance preparation:
Make the dressing up to 2 days ahead, cover, and keep at room temperature. Whisk well before using. Make the salad up to 4 hours ahead, cover, and refrigerate.

The Clever Cook Could:
* Substitute 3 cups diced cooked turkey for the chicken
* Add 6 strips of bacon, fried until crisp and crumbled.
* Omit the chicken and serve the salad as a first course
* If you're not a fan of chopped salad, tear the leaves into bite-size pieces instead of finely chopping them.

The Simplest Roast Turkey

If you would like a GOOD, simple and FAST Turkey recipe for the holidays, please try the one below. It makes one of the tastiest, juiciest turkey's that I've ever had and it only takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to cook!!

From Gourmet Magazine (found by Laurie Reynolds)

1 turkey, 14-16 pounds
2 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp black pepper

Note: You must start with a clean oven or be sure. If you don't have a clean oven the fire alarm will let you know when the turkey is really getting there! If you don’t want to hear “from the turkey” then clean your oven before beginning!

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Mix salt and pepper in small bowl and sprinkle it evenly in turkey cavities and all over skin. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close but not touching bone) registers 170 degrees, 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours. Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into the roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180 degrees. Cut off and discard string from turkey.
Makes 8-10 servings. (I have used larger turkeys up to 20 pounds and they turned out fine, just adjust cooking time and watch temp.)

Monkey Bread

Every Christmas morning our family enjoys a breakfast of Monkey Bread and Eggs Benedict. This is a tradition that stems from my husband's childhood. It's pretty quick to make and sure tastes great.

From the Kitchen of Grandma Joyce Zachary

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

½ cup margarine
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2 (10 oz) cans Hungry Jack Biscuits

In small saucepan melt margarine. Coat bottom and sides of ungreased 12-cup fluted tube pan (or bundt pan) with 2 Tbsp of melted margarine. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp. of the nuts over bottom of pan.

Add remaining nuts, brown sugar and water to remaining margarine; heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Separate dough into 20 biscuits; tear or cut each biscuit into quarters and shape into a ball. Place ½ of the balls into the bottom of the pan. Drizzle half of the caramel sauce over balls. Repeat layers.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. (I’ve found it may even need 30-35 minutes but you may need to put some tinfoil on top to prevent the top from burning if you cook it this long). Invert immediately on a plate and remove from pan.

Optional Variation 1: sprinkle dough generously with cinnamon and add to each layer of dough.
Optional Variation 2: add 1 tsp or so of vanilla to the caramel mixture at the end of cooking. It really enhances the flavor and makes the monkey bread smell delicious.

The last time I made this recipe, I opted to make my own biscuit dough rather than buying store-bought. It turned out great and I actually liked the flavor of the dough better than the store-bought because sometimes I find their dough a little too salty. It also costs a lot less than spending nearly $6 on two tubes of refrigerated dough. If you’d like a good and easy biscuit recipe, I posted my recipe here.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Recipe from allrecipes.com

I made some of this bread last night to take to Bible Study this evening, and it is fantastic! The directions say that it gets better over time, so try to make it a day ahead if you can.


Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Modifications:
I used 1 cup brown sugar and 2 cups white sugar. Many of the reviewers on allrecipes.com reduced the sugar and/or substituted 1/2 cup apple sauce for half of the oil. The texture was absolutely perfect as I made it, so I would not be inclined to modify the wet ingredients, although I did look at the amount of oil and cringe! Other possible modifications are adding nuts or dried cranberries.

This really is an amazingly moist and flavorful bread, perfect for a special treat or to share with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, or anybody else who likes autumn goodies.

Peanut Clusters

Peanut clusters hold a special place in my heart. My grandma made them every year for the holidays and gave them out to family and friends. They are simple but tasty and keep well, so they make excellent gifts!

16 oz Chocolate CandiQuik
24 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
20 oz Dry Roasted Peanuts

Melt the CandiQuik and chocolate chips together, stirring frequently. Combine peanuts and melted chocolate and spoon onto waxed paper. Let cool completely.

It took me less than an hour to make them today. I opted to melt the chocolate in a saucepan, although microwaving would have been quicker. Cooling time is going to depend on your cooling method and the weather. They can be cooled on a counter top or on trays in the refrigerator or freezer.

Here they are cooling on my counter:

I ended up with 54 clusters. If you need to increase or decrease the recipe at all, the chocolate to peanut ratio is 2 to 1. The exact CandiQuik/chocolate chip ratio is based on package sizes more than anything else and can certainly be adjusted. We don't actually know what proportions my grandma used, but my mom is pretty certain that she used more chocolate chips than CandiQuik.

My grandma used to buy jars of peanuts and then use the jars (washed, label removed) as gift containers. It's a good idea, but you can store them and give them away in any sort of packaging. Festive paper plates and plastic wrap work just as well!

Funnel Cakes

This is a true carnival funnel cake. Light and fluffy. After cooking, dust with powdered sugar and serve hot for a fun and tasty treat. Funnel cake doesn't have to be a once a year event...make it any ight right at home. Make them when you're camping or don't have time to bake. You can pre-mix the dry ingredients and then it is super fast to add the egg and milk for a yummy treat.
Ingredients:
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
Directions:
1. Beat egg and milk. Mix all other ingredients and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth. (I used my blender and it worked great)
2. Using a funnel (a refillable mustard/ketchup bottle from Wal-Mart works great. Just snip the tip to widen it), squirt batter into hot oil working from center outwards. When the bottom looks golden, use a fork to turn it. Remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy. Drain on plates covered with paper towels.
3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat up!

*This recipe made about 3 good sized funnel cakes. It's very easy to double, triple etc.

*Tip: I made a huge amount of the dry ingredients and just added milk and eggs to it. When I first guessed how much powder ingredients to add, the batter was too liquidy so it broke into lots of pieces in the pan. If it's not thick enough, it won't all stay together in the oil. Just add a bit more of the powder ingredients and it'll work great.

* Note in the picture the bottle of batter. It works GREAT! I'd highly recommend using something like this for pouring the batter.