Bread Twists

This recipe is another from my sister's friend's blog. I'll just give you the blog: cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com. She has tons of recipes that I love to share with people. These bread twists are delicious and super easy! Just make sure you have a couple of hours to let it rise and then cook. The actual preparation is super easy, though. If you have kids, this recipe wouldn't be too hard. You'd put the ingredients together and still be able to entertain your kids. They might even want to help, especially rolling the dough out. Well, here it is!

Bread Twists

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon yeast

Let these three ingredients sit for 5 minutes, then add:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Mix until smooth, then let raise for 10 minutes. Roll out dough into a large square on a floured surface. Brush with melted butter mixed with garlic and then sprinkle with salt. Fold in half and cut into 1-inch strips. Twist and place on a cooking sheet. Let sit for 15-20 minutes to raise. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately after baking, brush with more garlic butter and sprinkle with salt and Parmesan cheese.

Frosted Apple Squares

So, I had these apples for a while, and I wanted to cook with them, but didn't know what I wanted to cook. So, I googled apple recipes, and found this one. I'm not the biggest fan of cooked apples, but WOW!!! This was awesome! I just finished them a little while ago, and I've already had three! So, if you need to get rid of some apples, this is a good way to do that.

Frosted Apple Squares

Dough:
3 3/4 - 4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup butter/margarine
4 egg yolks

Apple Filling:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
3 medium apples, cored, peeled, and sliced

Powdered Sugar Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Filling: In a suacepan, combine water, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in slightly beaten egg yolk and apples. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick (about five minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

Dough: In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk, and butter until very warm. Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Add egg yolks and 1/2 cup flour. Beat 2 minutes on high. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Divide dough in half. Spread half of the dough over ungreased 15 x 10-inch baking pan. Spread apple filling over dough. Roll remaining dough to cover filling. Seal and wait until doubled in size (about 45 minutes). Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until evenly golden. Drizzle with glaze. Let cool in pan; cut into squares.

Powdered Sugar Glaze: combine powdered sugar and milk. Stir until smooth.

Taco Salad

The other day, my family had a Christmas party. We had to bring pot-luck, and my sister asked if I would bring a salad. My usual salad is Suit Yourself Tuna Salad from the Pillsbury cookbook, (I might post this another time). But I am not the biggest fan of tuna, so I decided to do something else. Then I thought of a taco salad. I sort of made it up as I went. So, here is what I did.
Taco Salad

Brown 1 lb ground beef. Drain. Stir in 1 packet of taco seasoning and 1 cup water. Simmer 10 minutes.

Wash lettuce and cut into bite-sized pieces. (I just estimated how much lettuce I would need. It ended up being a little less than half a head.)

Grate cheese. (Do however much is desired. Around a cup is a good estimate, but you can do more or less if desired.)

Choose toppings: tomatoes, olives, corn, etc.

Put ingredients together.

Crush about 1/4 - 1/2 bag of tortilla chips. Stir in salad

Top with ranch dressing or sour cream.

So pretty much, it's like making a taco, but stirring everything together instead of putting it in a shell. It has the nutritional value to be an entire meal, or just a side-dish, depending on what you put in it, and how big you want your quantities to be.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I got this recipe from the same website as the cinnamon roll pancakes. Like I said, I LOVE my sister's friend's blog! There are so many yummy recipes! So, you're probably thinking that blondies are so old fashioned and outdated. Well, I promise that if you make these, you will not be disappointed. I mean, snickerdoodle is my favorite type of cookie, and I didn't think that it could get any better than that. Well, I was wrong. This tastes like snickerdoodles, but so much softer and more moist! I must say that it is one of my favorites. (I have lots of favorites because I'm a sweet-tooth.) So, get out your baking gear and go!

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup cinnamon chips, *optional

Topping:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, or milk works fine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease pan with nonstick spray.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cream of tartar, and salt.
In separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer (3-5 minutes). Mix in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Keep beating until mixture is smooth.
Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Add cinnamon chips if using. The batter will be thick. Spread it evenly into the prepared pan. Spray your hands with cooking spray and use them to pat the mixture down evenly. *I usually just use a rubber scraper to smooth the batter.
Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly on top of batter.
Bake 25-30 minutes. Let pan cool completely.
If you're adding the glaze, whisk the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and drizzle onto the bars in a decorative fashion. Let glaze set then use a large, sharp knife to cut into bars.
*I don't usually make the glaze, so it is optional.

Finished product.

I hope you enjoy these little treasures as much as I do! If you do, you'll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen!

Spritz Cookies

For my birthday, last month, my mother-in-law gave me a cookie press. Yesterday, I used it for the first time. I get a little apprehensive trying things out for the first time, but once I found my bravery and finally tried it, I really liked this little thing. It's so nice not to have to roll the cookie dough in my hands. My hands stayed clean the entire time of putting cookies on the sheet! Plus, they look super cute! If you have a cookie press, my advice is to use it, and use it a LOT! So, some very common cookies to make with a cookie press are spritz cookies. They are perfect for Christmas because a lot of the little designs you can do are Christmas related. I made them to take to Achievement Days today. I'm sure the cute girls will love them, and be reminded of what time of year it is. I got this particular recipe from my Pillsbury cookbook.

Spritz Cookies

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In large bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and egg; beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt; mix well.
Fit cookie press with desired template. Fill cookie press; press dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 5-7 minutes or until edges are firm but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

Fresh from the oven.

Using the cookie press. It's super easy!

Finished product.

Happy baking!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Maple Butter Icing

My sister's friend has a blog that I love to look at. She has had many recipes that I absolutely LOVE!!! This particular recipe was one of the first I tried out from her blog, and I immediately fell in love. I added some peaches to top it off, and it was divine. I'm sure you could add other types of fruit if you wanted, but these pancakes are delightful by themselves as well. So, here is the recipe. I can't really post a good picture of them for you, because I am terrible at getting pancakes shaped perfectly, but they look just like pancakes with a yummy syrup on top.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

1 1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Whisk well. In a separate bowl beat eggs, milk, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla. Stir in dry mixture.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium/low heat. Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto griddle. Brown on both sides.

Maple Butter Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
dash salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup *I use regular pancake syrup, and it works out well
1/4 cup milk, more if needed

Stir all ingredients together. Serve poured over pancakes.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! Indulge yourself and your family, and have breakfast for dinner!