cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

2 packages yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons), dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water
6 tablespoons shortening (Crisco)
1 cup granulated sugar
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (you might need more if the dough is sticky, up to 9-10 cups)
2 cups hot water
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon salt
Softened butter
Brown sugar
Raisins
Cinnamon
For the frosting:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Add yeast to cup of lukewarm water and sprinkle in a little sugar. Set aside for about five minutes.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add shortening, sugar, and salt to hot water and beat for 30 seconds, using the beater blade. Let cool to lukewarm temperature. Stir in 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture and mix until well combined. Mix in the beaten eggs.
3. Gradually stir in the remaining flour and mix with the dough hook for about 2 minutes. Remove dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured counter. Knead by hand, add a little flour if the dough is still sticky. Knead until dough feels satiny and smooth.
4. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. After the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and divide it in half. With a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough into a rectangular shape. Spread dough evenly with softened butter. Sprinkle dough with brown sugar, raisins, and cinnamon. Make sure you use LOTS of brown sugar...you can omit the raisins, but my family loves them, and sprinkle on loads of cinnamon.
5. Roll up dough into one long roll. Cut rolls, using a piece of dental floss or thread, about two inches thick. Place rolls in greased 9X13 baking pans. Now follow the exact same steps with the other half of the dough.
6. Let the rolls rise until double in bulk. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until brown-only about 5-7 more minutes.
7. Make the frosting. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Frost the cooled cinnamon rolls generously!
Note-my dad never measures the butter, brown sugar, raisins, and cinnamon, but a good estimate is 4 tablespoons softened butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup raisins, and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon. Divide these ingredients between the two halves of dough. My dad is always very generous with the ingredients!

If you like these cinnamon rolls, you might also like:

Eggs Benedict

Have you seen the show runaway bride? Julia Roberts..she talks about not knowing what kind of eggs she likes. Scrambled, boiled, fried, eggs benedict, etc. I have tried several types of eggs but never eggs benedict. I am kind of ashamed I had never had this delish breakfast dish. We liked this sauce but we prefer a little less lime juice.

2 english muffins
4 eggs
4 slices canadian bacon

Sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
4 egg yolks
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp heavy cream
salt & pepper

Poach eggs. Heat bacon.

Sauce:
Melt butter. In bowl, beat egg yolk. Add lime, whip cream, and salt & pepper. Add melted butter, slowly. Place back in pot. Heat on low stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Toast muffins. Serve toast with bacon, egg, and sauce.

Cinnamon-Sugar Old Fashion Donut Muffins

Ingredients in Muffins:

1 & 3/4 Cups Flour
1 & 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/3 Cup Oil
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Milk
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
1/4 Cup Butter, Melted (4 tablespoons)
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Let’s get started!

Preheat your oven to 350°.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Then in a separate bowl mix together the sugar, oil, eggs and milk.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients just until combined.
Then spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray and pour the batter in equal parts.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. It depends on your oven. Mine tends to cook things fast and I took them out at 15 minutes.

They come out smelling warm and cinnamon-y. They are however still “naked” and need a nice coating of butter and cinnamon-sugar.

Melt the butter in a bowl, then mix the cinnamon sugar in a separate bowl. Using a butter knife, loosen up the warm muffins and pop them out of the muffin pan. Then complete their goodness by rolling them around in the butter and then rolling them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Perfection! I’m glad I made 12 of these muffins because my husband and son really enjoyed them as well. Enjoy!

The Very Best Waffles

This recipe is from bunsinmyoven.com. We love these waffles. They are nice and crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. We watch a lot of food network in our house. We happened to be watching a show that they were making waffles. I can't recall which cook it was (maybe bobby flay or some popular chef) but he made his very similar to these. (I may have got a little giddy inside to know that I make waffles like a famous chef)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon. baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat the oven to 200°F and heat up the waffle iron.
Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Measure the buttermilk, milk, and vegetable oil in a measuring cup and stir in the egg yolk. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg white almost to soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until the peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in the vanilla.
Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white onto the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula until just incorporated.
Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (My Belgian waffle maker takes 2 1/2 ice cream scoops of batter, but your mileage may vary) and cook until the waffle is crisp and brown.
Set the waffle directly on the oven rack to keep it warm and crisp. Repeat with the remaining batter, holding the waffles in the oven (don't stack them). When all the waffles are cooked, serve immediately.

Danielle's Pancakes

My neighbor from Idaho gave this recipe to me. We really liked it. I don't add all the milk cuz it makes them to thin. You may want to play with it a bit and figure out what works for you.

2/3 c. flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 c. milk
2 Tbsp melted butter

Stir until everything is just combined. Cook on your griddle til golden brown.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

McKenna has to take breakfast to school or eat there. It's a weird thing to me but whatever. I get that kids need to eat breakfast and that some kids eat school breakfast. McKenna's class eats breakfast all together. I am always trying to find things for her to take. She doesn't care for most of the stuff they fix for breakfast and I'm too cheap to pay for it.

1 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp sour cream
2 eggs
1 stick butter, softened
3 ripe bananas
3/4 c. chocolate chips

Mix everything together just until moist. Pour in greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 12 min.

*I made mine into mini muffins. Baked for about 8 min.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is another pintrest one. I also made these mini and cooked for 7 min.

What You’ll Need:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. Salt

• 1 1/4 cups Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1.5 cups Nestle Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Milk
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup Canola Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

What You’ll Do:

• Stir the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
• Add the milk, eggs, sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chips, vanilla, and oil… and mix until moistened.
• Fill up muffin liners in muffin pan 3/4 full – almost full.
• Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a smidge more sugar. {yum!}
• Bake at 375 degrees for approx. 18 minutes, or until done.
• Recipe makes approximately 18 muffins.
• ENJOY!

Costco Muffins

I found this recipe on Pintrest. I made them as mini muffins and baked them for 7 min. Be sure to grease your pan each time if you aren't using a liner.

Biscuits (Low-iodine diet)

I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in August 2012. You can read more on the story here. Part of my treatment involved a low-iodine diet. Which is VERY HARD! I found this recipe and would eat the biscuits with jam (be sure it has no iodine)

2 c. flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (be sure to use non-iodized salt)

Mix together.

Add 1/3 c. oil
2/3 c. ice cold water

Mix until a ball is formed. Knead 8-10 times. Roll out between wax paper til 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter (or glass cup). Place on an ungreased sheet. Bake 10 min on 475.

*Thanks to my friend Danielle, we discovered kosher salt is non-iodized. I used it a lot while I was on my diet but I still tried to use it sparingly.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This recipe came from Chef in Training.

3 c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking pan with spray. Set aside.

In electric mixer add flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in melted butter. Pour into prepared pan.

For topping, in a large bowl mix 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy. Drop evenly over the batter by tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through cake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 min or toothpick done.

For glaze: In a medium bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temp.

Citrus Mini Cakes

From:Quick Cooking

1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) yellow cake mix
1 1/4 c. water
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 eggs
1/3 c. veg. oil
1/2 c. orange juice
Chopped almonds

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, water, eggs, and oil; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on med for 2 min .Fill well-greased mini muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min or until toothpick ready. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine sugar and juices until smooth. Cool cakes for 2 min. Remove from pan. Immediately dip cakes in glaze, coating well. Place top down on wire racks, sprinkle with almonds.

Caramel Nut Ring

From: Mom King

These are one of my favs! It's become tradition that we have these for breakfast on Christmas morning.

18 frozen dinner rolls
1 pkg butterscotch pudding-not instant
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped nuts, optional

Place frozen rolls in greased angel food cake pan. Sprinkle butterscotch pudding over the rolls then sprinkle the brown sugar on. Pour melted butter over all then add chopped nuts. Cover with foil. Let rise overnight on cupboard. Next morning, bake in 350 oven for 35-40 min. Let stand in pan for 5 min. Invert on plate. Serve.

Breakfast Casserole

From: Bonnie Rice

2 lb. bag frozen hashbrowns
6 eggs, beaten w/ 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2-2 c. chopped ham
3 c. grated cheese
1/2 lb grated hot pepper jack cheese

Mix together in a large bowl and put in TWO 9 x 13 glass pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

*I recommend glass pans because this casserole sticks in anything else.

Creamed Bacon & Eggs

From: Freda Caywood

Chop 6 hard boiled peeled eggs
Chop 1/2 lb bacon, fry and drain
Melt 4 Tbsp butter, or use bacon grease. Stir in 4 Tbsp flour. Add 2 cups milk. Stir everything together. Serve over toast or english muffins.

Scones

From: Mom King

These things are heavenly!!! We have them a lot when we go camping. We had them a lot at girls camp too. We used to have breakfast party type deals just so we could have scones. They are easy to make and heavenly. Top them with a little honey butter and makes them even beter.

1 qt warm buttermilk
2 Tbsp yeast
1/4 c. lukewarm water
2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
8 c. flour

Soften yeast in water and combine preceding ingredients with 4 c. flour until smooth, then mix in other 4 c. flour. Refrigerate overnight. Pull & shape dough, deep fry til golden.

Will keep in fridge for several days.

Cinnabons

From:Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade: Feb/Mar 2009

I thought I had this on here but I can't seem to find it. So if you see it twice that means you should really try them because they are heavenly!!!

1 (1 lb.) loaf frozen white bread, thawed in fridge
1 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. butter, soft & divided
5 Tbsp cream cheese, soft

Spray 2 (9 in.) round baking pans. On lightly floured surface roll dough to 7 x 15 in rectangle. In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon, set aside. Spread 1/2 c. butter over dough and sprinkle evenly w/ sugar mix, leave 1/2 in border on sides. Roll up jelly style. Cut into 16 slices and place in pans. Cover and let rise in warm place til double in size, about 1 hour, or over night. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 15 min or lightly browned. Meanwhile, in med. bowl, combine 1/2 c. butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla. Beat at med speed w/ electric mixer til fluffy. Top warm rolls with icing. Serve warm.

Eggs in Muffin Cups

From: Simple & Delicious: Jan/Feb 2009

12 thin slices deli roast beef
6 slices american cheese, quartered
12 eggs

Press one slice of beef onto bottom and up sides of each greased muffin cup, forming a shell. Arrange 2 pieces of cheese in each shell. Break one egg into each cup. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 min or til eggs are done.

*Be sure to cook the eggs completely (unless you like raw egg)
**You can also use ham instead of roast beef
***You can try different types of cheese too