Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls to this afternoon I mixed up a batch. 

I am not a very good blogger as Iforget to take pictures until I am well into the recipe or forget to take a finished picture until dinner is over.  I had begun making the dough when the light bulb went off to take a picture and blog! 
Here is my recip for Cinnamon Rolls
2 tbsp yeast
3 cups warm water
Put this into your mixing bowl and give it a stir.
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
Melt these together in the microwave
To the yeast mixture add:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
butter/shortening mixture
2 cups flour
Mix for 3 minutes.
Add about 8 cups more flour a few cups at a time.  Depending on the size of your mixer you may need to dump it onto the table and knead it all in. 
Once well kneaded put into a oiled bowl and let rise til double. 
Afte it has doubled punch down and divide in half.
Roll out into rectangle and spread with very soft butter...

 As you can see here I used melted butter...I prefer to use very soft butter that I can smear in.  Sprinkle with cinnamong and sugar.  I use a healthy amount of brown sugar.  The Chief prefers white sugar..interesting isn't it!  I prefer brown..he prefers white!



Roll up and then slice about 2 inches thick, or for thinner ones about an inch...

Once you have them cut, place into a greased pan and let them raise again til doubled.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes or so. 

Turn out onto foil lined pan (easy clean up once they are gone!) and then frost....

Oh my gosh..these are most delicous! 

Icing Recipe

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup melted butter

3-4 tbsp cream or canned milk

Mix til creamy and then slather over the tops of the rolls.

I don't measure this..I just dump and hope for the best!  And my advice is to use cream!  I also dumped in some powdered vanilla too. 

Enjoy!

















Cornbread

I am always on the quest to find the perfect recipe.  I found one for brownies, bread, pie and now cornbread!  I have a ton of cookbooks and have tried numerous recipes for cornbread and they have all been less then most delicous.  It turns out you just need to know the right people when looking for a good recipe! 
This past May I went to Cornish Utah to welcome my very first granddaughter, Alivia Brittania Armajo, when I also discovered the perfect cornbread recipe.  Majas's sister and her family were there also and Kerri had planned a most delicoius dinner that included cornbread.  I made the gluten free pan for Maja and Kerri made the regular pan.  Both are, oh my gosh, most delicious! 
Last night the Chief made dinner, chili.  He makes a good pot of chili, and I made the cornbread. 

I wish I had taken a picture before I cut it...oh well. 

Look how moist and tender it is..it truely is most delicious!

Here is the Kirkman recipe for cornbread.  You're gonna love it!

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

3 tbsp melted butter

Stir dry ingredients together and mix in the wet stuff.  Pour into a greased pan, not 9x13, the one just bigger then a 8 inch square. 

You can also make muffins too. 

Bake 350 til done...(I failed to write down how long) about 20 minutes or so. 

A little story of me and cornbread...when I was a little girl I remember my granny making cornbread for dinner.  I had never had it and when I took a bite it tasted like there was sand or dirt in it.  I was convinced that my granny had put sand in the cornbread.  From then on I did not like cornbread. 

I know...crazy huh!

Happy Fall

Caramel apples are a yummy fall treat.  Let me back up a bit...like to last weekend.  I thought it was time to get the Halloween stuff from the garage..ok, back a few days further, I went to the Dollar store and they had their Halloween stuff out.  I bought a bunch of stuff....that is when I decided to get the stuff from the garage.  So last Saturday we brought in all the Halloween stuff.  The little girls and I began to decorate the house...midway through stretching the spiderweb stuff across the living room it dawned on me.  It was only the middle of September.  I thought it was close to October 1...so I had 2 choices, take it down  and disapoint 3 excited little girls.or continue on.  We finished decorating and the girls were so excited to show dad how scarey our house was!  At the check out counter I also bought a Halloween cookbook.  I planned to make some cute halloween goodies throughout the month of October.  Since I seem to have no perception of when October is I started making treats tonight and to start the Halloween season here are some most delicious caramel apples. 
I started by washing 8 Granny Smith apples and putting them in the fridge. 

Next we had to unwrap a bazillion caramels.  Ok, not quite a bazillion but 2 14 ounce packages of them.  I put them in a heavey pan.

While the pan was heating we put the sticks in the apples.

Once the caramels were melted it was time to dip them.

Here is the recipe from the book.

Caramel Apples

1 package (14 ounces) caramels

1 tbsp water

5 Granny Smith apples ( I doubled the recipe and it was enough for 7 medium apples)

Small wooden sticks

Wash, dry and refrigerate apples. 

Unwrap caramels and put in heavy skillet with water..cook and stir til smooth. 

Poke popsicle stick into apple and then dip in the hot caramel, spooning over the top to cover. 

Set to harden on wax paper. 

If desired you can roll the apples in chopped nuts, sprinkles or chopped candies. 

Enjoy and Happy Fall

Angel Food Cake

 I have always wanted to make an angel food cake.  I thought they were complicated and tempermental.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  I read this book titled "Notes on Cooking" A short guide to an essential craft by Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich.  It was one of my many bathtub reads.  A section in the book is called 'mise en place' which means 'put in place'.  That phrase has been a great help.  The chapter talks about having all your things in order, in place, ready to go when you are cooking.  So many times the mixer is running...and I am trying to hurry and separate eggs or find something to add..and if I remember to 'mise en place' things go much more smoothly.  As you can tell by the picture above..I have 'mise en place'.  I know...a miracle!

Angle Food Cake

1 cup sifted cake flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 3/4 cup egg whites (about12)

1 1/2 tsp cream of tatar

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

Sift together cake flour and 3/4 cup sugar. 

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until foamy.  Add 3/4 cup sugar 1 tbsp at a time beating at high until stiff glossy peaks form.  Blend in vanilla and almond extracts. 

Add flour mixture in 4 parts, folding about 15 strokes after each addition.  Spoon batter into ungreased 10" tube pan.  Pull metal spatula through batter once to break large air bubbles. 

Bake in 375 degree oven 35 minutes or until cake tests done.  Invert tube pan on funnel or bottle to cool.  When completely cooled, remove from pan.  Makes 12 servings.

I did measure the whites!

 All mixed and ready to put in pan....

 light and fluffy...

 Doesn't that look fabulous!

 The Coke bottle.  I had John go get me a bottle of Coke...he brought me  a plastic bottle of coke.  I explained to him that I needed a glass bottle...he came through!  I saved it in the back corner of the cupboard!

 Baked and inverted on fancy schmancy Coke bottle!

I ran a knife around the edges of the pan and it came out perfectly!  I used to buy these from the bakery at the grocery store.  Let me tell you, homemade is far more most delicious!  It is one of my favorite cakes now!

Spud Soup and Biscuits

 I go on cooking quests...one of them being to find the perfect biscuit recipe.  I found one.  I got it from Lisa Rogerson, except it is no longer Rogerson, off hand I don't know what it is.  Lisa is one of the daughters of our dear friend Vickie Rogerson from Washington.  She had a book of name brand recipes, like these biscuits.  These are KFC biscuits.  They are most delicous. 
KFC Biscuits
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup buttermilk
Sift dry ingredients together.  Put in shortening and cut in.  Make a nest and pour in buttermilk, mix til just combined.  Dump out onto lightly floured table and knead 1 or 2 times, pat out to 1/2 inch thick and cut.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 12 minutes at 400 degrees.  Most delicious with butter and honey or jam!

Spud soup.  Most people probably call it potato soup, Kasey started calling this spud soup and it has stuck.  I don't have a 'real' recipe for this..so it is sort of never the same twice! 
Peel and cube some potatoes...another one of those 'I never measure' things.  Just do what your family will eat.  Cover with water and boil til tender.  Drain off about half the water, you can lightly mash them if you want and that will thicken it a bit.  Sometimes I do, this time I didnt.  Add cream..I love cream!  You can also use milk which is a less fattening, less rich soup.  I add about a quart or so.  If I don't have that much cream I use milk too, add a can of drained corn if you like.  Fry up a half package of bacon that you have diced and drain well.  Add that to the soup.  Season to your taste with salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder.  Sometimes I add chicken base.  If you want a thicker soup add instant potatoes a little at a time stirring affter each addition to get it as thick as you want.  This batch I didn't thicken at all...because I was too lazy to climb up on a chair and get the instant potatoes off the top shelf.  We like it thicker.  Enjoy!

Italian Sodas

What is more refreshing on a hot summers day than an Italian Soda?  Sure you can go down to the Java Java place and get one..but why not make them yourself?  I have always had a load of kids and so to buy everyone a drink is close to 20 bucks.  For much less we just make our own! 

First you need carbonated water...flavored syrups, crushed ice (aka bar ice), cream, that cool whip stuff in a can and sprinkles.
Fill your cup with crushed ice and pour in, oh good grief, I never measure, an inch or two of your flavored syrup.  Then pour in some cream, I love cream so I probably put in an inch or two of cream.  Then fill up your cup with carbonated water, squirt the cool whip stuff on top, put sprinkles on, add a straw and enjoy! 
These are my favorite taste testers!  In the back is Marlyee and Karlene, Lyndie, Kirk and Kailerai are in the front. 

A couple side notes....you can get the flavored syrups in the coffee section at the grocery store or Wal-Mart.  Also, if you are in Riverton and know Wendell Richardson you can order some from him too.  You get a bigger bottle and it costs about the same as the little one from Wal-Mart. 
Bar ice.  I enjoy crushed ice and the only place in town that I know of to get it is at the bar.  The old IGA liquer store...drive thru so you don't even have to go in!  2 bucks for a bag of crushed ice.  My secret is out now!!