Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup of warm water (like a baby bottle warm)
Pour into the Breadmachine or in a large freaking bowl
Add
1 tbsp of sugar
Then sprinkle
2 tbsp of yeast over the top

Let this sit for about 5 minutes
When it starts to get all foamy and smelling slightly (this is called a bloom)
Add:
½ cup of oil (I use coconut)
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1-1/2 cups warm milk (I use reconstituted powdered)
and 3 cups of flour (I use half whole wheat and half All purpose)

Turn on the bread machine or mixer and let work for about a minute (or use a spoon mixing 50 time clockwise and 50 times counter clock wise)

It should be stringy at this point. That means you have started to activate the gluten.
Add another 3 to 4 cups of flour and mix until the dough forms a good ball, coming away from the sides of the bowl. (It's okay to add a bit more)

Now if you are kneading by hand you want to turn it out on a lightly floured surface and let 'rest' for about 10 minutes. Then start kneading for 5-10 minutes. The more you knead, the better the crumb. If it is still in the bread machine, don't worry about it. Let it rise for at least an hour in a warm place (I leave mine in the bread machine) until it doubles. Then punch it down. Wait until it doubles again and then divide it in half (don't punch it down) Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

I put half of it in a bowl in my fridge for refridgerator rolls, but for cinnamon rolls:

Put half of the dough on a non stick jelly roll pan. Put saran wrap over the dough and then roll it flat. You can stick it in the dough in the fridge if you want at this point to make it easier to roll.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Now mix up the spread for the inside

1 cup sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup softened Margarine

Spread it evenly over the rolled out dough. At this point I keep my fingers buttered to make it easier to roll up the dough. Starting from the wide side of the pan roll up the dough. Going slowly and smoothly, roll it all up until it is on the other side. Now you can cut it into 12-16 rolls either with a sharp knife or some kitchen string (tying each piece off) Put the individual rolls on a baking pan.

Put the baking pan in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown

While it is baking- mix up the icing:

2 cups of powdered sugar (in halves)
tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of "I can't believe you bought this at ALDI" butter spread or softened butter stuff
4 tbsp of softened cream cheese.

Gather your ingredients, nuke the butter and cream cheese if you forgot to put them out to soften earlier. Medium sized bowl and a fork (which is what I used) or whisk thingymabob.

Put 1 cup of powdered sugar in the bowl.Add the butter and vanilla. Mix constantly. When it is all incorporated, add the cream cheese. When that is all mixed in add the last bit of sugar a bit at a time until you reach the consistency you want. I like it thick so I add the whole cup of powdered sugar.

At this point the rolls should be done. Take them out and put the icing on them immediately.

Try to let them cool and then gobble them up! 

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Mockie's Blueberry Cordial- First attempt Shared Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 9:49am

You will need:

1 Qt Mason Jar
2 cups of blueberries
1 cup of sugar
650 ml of Everclear or Vodka (The Everclear is going to be MUCH stronger than the vodka. You have been warned)
Honey
Patience.

In a wide mouth 1 quart mason jar I layered sugar and blueberries.
I stuck these in the microwave on 30 power for 1.5 minutes, screwing the cap on shaking every 30 seconds.

After that I poured the Everclear until it reached the lip of the jar. I sealed and now I am putting it away for two weeks. At that point I will do a taste test and add a tbsp of honey for complexity, and bottle it. If it doesn't taste ready, I will continue this until 2 months is up.

Here is the yummy concoction already showing it's pretty blue color!

Blueberry Cordial

And in it's resting place next to the honey that will be added later.

yummy!

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Chocolate Syrup of Win

Image by 427 via Flickr

1/2 cup of high fat (22-24%) Natural Cocoa powder
1 cup of water
2 cups of organic sugar
1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 tsp of natural vanilla extract

In a 2 quart saucepan whisk the water and cocoa together over medium heat until simmering, stirring constantly. Whisk in the 2 cups of sugar slowly until it is all dissolved. Bring mixture to a rolling boil on medium high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low and boil for 3 minutes, still whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in salt and vanilla. Store in a sterilized mason jar or bottle in the refrigerator. It will seem thin at first, but will thicken as it cools. Use on anything you would regular chocolate syrup on . It makes AWESOME chocolate milk. :D


Important note: You can use regular sugar, regular cocoa, regular vanilla in this recipe. It will still taste sooo much better than anything you can buy at the market. This is just what I have on hand.

Cinnamon Sugar

A household staple. What goes together better than cinnamon and sugar? Not much!


We keep ours in a resealable container so it is at hand for sprinkling over oatmeal, buttered toast, cream of wheat or whatever you want.

1/4 cup of granulated sugar
3 or 4 tsps of cinnamon.

You can make even more in bulk! It's fast, simple and jazzs up boring breakfast without taking up any more time.

Mock French Toast Bake

Mock French Toast base:
4-5 cups of cubed bread (day old works best)
4 eggs (can use powdered)
1 1/2 cups milk(I use non instant powdered and water)
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Streuesel

Mix all the wet ingredients, using a mixer on medium until it is all a creamy butter color. Put bread in a well buttered 10 inch cake pan in a flat layer. Pour the mixture over the bread and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Cover with the streusel. Put into a preheated 350 and bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve with Maple Syrup or eat unaccompanied! :)


Streuesel mixture

1 cup of flour (oat, wheat or all purpose all work well for this)
1/4- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, or margarine room temperature

I mix mine up in the kitchenaid with the whipping attachment, but you could use your hands, a fork or a pastry cutter. You want it to be in fine crumbs. Try not to sneak it all before you use it. If you have leftovers (yeah, right) you can store it in the freezer in a container for up to 6 months.

Making Coffee Cake :)

So I was thumbing through my copy of the Better Times Cookbook (printed from the website)
and I found a really easy coffee cake recipe. It was about 2 am and my oldest son wasn't going to sleep, so I decided to let him help me bake for breakfast tomorrow.

Easy Very Tasty Biscuit Mix Coffee Cake Recipe

2 cups of biscuit mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup milk or 2 Tbsp milk powder plus 2/3 cup water (double the powder if using instant milk powder)

Cinnamon Streusel Topping
1/3 cup of biscuit mix
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter/margarine
(I mix this up with my fingers)
*optional 2 Tbsp of Maple syrup (the real stuff, toss out that corn syrup impostor)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.Grease up a 9 inch round pan. Mix the cake ingredients together (or let your kid do it) and then pour evenly into pan. I jiggle it around a bit. Sprinkle the topping onto the batter making sure that the entire top is dotted with the yummy streusel mixture. Bake for about 20 minutes. If using syrup, drizzle it on the top when you take the cake out of the oven. Let cake cool before removing from pan.

I am letting it cool off before I put the cover on it. And when everyone is ready to eat, the coffee cake will be an easy thing to pull out! :) Sorry for the blurry pics. All I have is my crappy cellphone camera that is blurry and the color is off. Soon enough I will have a camera again!

Update- I haven't gotten the camera to get pics. (Darn heart issues are tuckering me out) but I made a cute recipe card to go with.