Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

This is one of those thunk yourself on the forehead recipes where you think to yourself, now WHY didn't I think of that?  Pretzels?  Cinnamon?  Sweet? Salty?  Yes please, and thank you.  I ran into this one on the Baking Junkie blog, and then ran right out and bought a bag of pretzels.  I think she used the bigger twists - I went for the smaller ones, both because they were on sale and because I thought they might slow me down a little in terms of the number of them that I would eat when I was done.  (Not.)

As for the cinnamon, there is only one cinnamon in life for me, and that is this one:

If you haven't yet, you have to order yourself some Penzey's Cinnamon at least once in your lifetime.  It is the cinnamon to end all cinnamons.  It has ruined all other cinnamon for me, forever and ever.  

Anyway.  This recipe calls for mixing up some cinnamon with some sugar and some vegetable oil and stirring that around with a bag of pretzel twists.  You then bake them for about 30 minutes and then try and restrain yourself from burning your mouth by eating one the second they come out of the oven.   For the 15 minutes that I have been writing this post, the usually-non-snack-eating Southern husband has quietly been in and out of the kitchen twice to grab another handful.  The Stealth Snack Grabbing Seal Of Approval...it's all I need to know that I have a hit on my hands!

A new twist on pretzels...how great is that??

(Sorry, I'm unable to restrain myself from bad puns.)

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels, from Baking Junkie

1 (16 oz) bag pretzel twists
⅔ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

2. Pour pretzels into a roasting pan. In a medium sized bowl mix together vegetable oil, cinnamon and sugar. 

3. Pour over pretzels and stir to coat. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, removing twice to stir.

4. Cool and serve!

Click here for printable recipe

Butternut Cider Bisque

Okay, so this is one of my blog posts that has a long involved back-story, and since there is nobody here to tell me to cut to the chase except for the dog (who can't talk) and the Southern husband (who is WAY too smart to say anything of this nature) I'm going to go ahead and tell it.  Take comfort in the fact that it will be broken up with some entertaining pictures.  At least I think they are entertaining.

So to start at the beginning, a while back I was invited to take a series of pictures of chefs from restaurants in our area.  For a food groupie like me, this was a fabulous assignment, and I met a bunch of terrifically talented people this way (and got to sample some rocking good food along the way.)  Here's the first chef I photographed for this project:

Chef Chris Calcagno.  I know, it was a hard assignment, but someone had to do it.

Anyway.

Part of the assignment was to photograph each chef holding a copy of their favorite cookbook, which worked out to be double bonus points for me, because what better recommendation can a cookbook have then to be a chef's favorite?  So of course, I followed the directions and asked Chef Calcagno to please bring a copy of his favorite cookbook to be photographed with.  He selected THE NEW RED LION INN COOKBOOK.

Now on this particular shoot the Southern husband was helping me.  Which he is great at, and which has the added benefit of me being able to order him around and not get any back-talk.  Anyway, he was browsing through this book while I was doing the rest of the shoot, and he must have liked what he saw because lo and behold, I came home to find my very own copy sitting on my desk a couple of weeks later.  (Which made me feel a little tiny bit guilty about the whole ordering-around thing.)

I promise there is a point to all of this and here it is: this fabulous butternut soup is taken from this great cookbook.  It's a thick, delicious soup that involves cooking up chopped onion, carrots, celery, fresh thyme and a whole lot of butternut squash in a mixture of chicken broth and cider, and then pureeing the whole thing.  When you have it all nice and smooth and pureed, the recipe gives you the choice of thinning it down with either more broth, more cider or heavy cream.  I had about 1/4 cup of heavy cream in my fridge and it seemed like destiny to  me, but honestly, it would have been pretty much close to perfect even without that.  I swirled a teeny bit of cinnamon on the top and got this:

But I couldn't leave well enough alone.  No, I knew in my heart of hearts that there was one more thing that could push this soup over the edge to true greatness.

Yep.  Popcorn.  (Red Lion Inn people, if you are out there, I hope I didn't just horrify you.)  But it brought just the right amount of salty crunch to this sweet and scrumptious soup.  I put the popcorn in a bowl right there on the table and we scattered it on top as we ate...the popcorn will sink pretty quickly as it absorbs the soup, but trust me when I say this is a GOOD thing.

I will be quiet now and give you the recipe already.

Butternut Cider Bisque, adapted from the New Red Lion Inn Cookbook

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups apple cider
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional but great)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cinnamon sugar for garnish
• Popcorn for garnish (also optional and also great)

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat and saute onions, carrot and celery for about 5 minutes.  Add squash and thyme and saute, stirring, for another two minutes.

2. Add stock and cider and simmer until squash until very soft, about 30 minutes.  Remove from heat.

3. Puree with immersion blender or in blender until smooth.  Return soup to pot and add cream if using, and salt and pepper to taste.  Reheat over low heat.

4. Serve, garnished with cinnamon sugar.  Put popcorn on table for diners to add as desired.

Click here for printable recipe 

Coconut Beef Stew

These are a few of my favorite things:

1. Beef Stew
2. Coconut

(Does two count as a few? I can never remember.)

Anyway, imagine this.  You get a hankering for a nice, hot, comforting beef stew with all the wonderful ingredients: chunks of beef, pieces of carrot and potato, etc.  But instead of the usual beef broth or wine that you usually make beef stew with...you use coconut milk.  And you throw in a few spices that are usually not found in beef stew, like coconut and cumin.  And when the stew is done, all tender and with a hint of coconut taste after simmering for hours in the coconut milk, you sprinkle it with a little shredded coconut just for good measure.  Then you ladle it out into bowls and take your first bite, and you are transported into a land that is a confusingly wonderful mixture of tropical comfort food.  I promise you, this is one beef stew that you are going to remember lovingly for a good long time.

Which all goes to show you, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

Sorry.  Any excuse to put a puppy picture up.

Anyway...coconut beef stew.  Try it!

Coconut Beef Stew

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 14oz can coconut milk
• 2 pounds beef chuck steak, cut into cubes
• 4 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 cups carrots, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. Heat oven to 350.  Put oil in Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot over medium heat.  Cook onions for 5 minutes or until soft.  Add garlic and spices  and stir for one minute.  Stir in tomato paste and then coconut milk.  Bring to a boil and add beef.

2. Cover and transfer to oven,  Cook for 1 hour,  then remove from oven and add potatoes and carrots.  Cover and cook for an additional hour and 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle each serving with flaked coconut and parsley and serve.

Click here for printable recipe

Cinnascones!

If there are two baked goods I love over all others, they are cinnamon rolls and scones.  And if there is one food-related ritual I love over all others, it is afternoon tea.  And so when I came across a cookbook that took all these heavenly things and mixed them all up together...well, let's just say that I was one happy girl.

Alice's Tea Cup is both a wonderful tearoom in New York City and now a cookbook packed with things like this:

Banana Nutella Cake
Apple-Cinnamon Butternut Squash Soup
The Red Queen's Pink and White Chessboard Cookies

But the recipe that had me at hello was the one called Cinnascones, and yes, they are exactly what you hope and dream they are.  A sweet buttermilk scone dough that is rolled out, spread with a cinnamon paste, rolled up, sliced, baked and then drizzled with a light frosting.  Is your mind blown yet?

This is a recipe that you will want your handy Silpat for, or a nice piece of parchment paper for the rolling out part, because the dough is a little bit sticky, but if you roll it out on one of those you can lift it up and guide the dough around as you start the rolling up part.  Aside from that, the only tricky part is going to be keeping them in your kitchen for more than 5 minutes after they come out of the oven.

Now my only problem is deciding if I am going to make the Peppermint Stick Scones or the Peanut Butter and Jelly Scones next.  Or the Bacon Cheddar Scones.  Or the Banana Butterscotch Scones....

Cinnascones, from Alice's Tea Cup

• 3 1/2 cups flour 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 10 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (and more as needed to adjust dough consistency for rolling)
• 3/4 teaspoons almond or vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 400.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. Work butter into dry mixture using your hands until thoroughly incorporated and mixture is the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.  Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk and extract.  Mix with your hands until combined, kneading about seven times.  Add buttermilk as needed until the dough combines into a rolling consistency.

3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, ideally a Silpat or parchment paper.  Using a floured rolling pin, roll into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.

4. Make the cinnamon paste by combining remaining butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves.  Smear over the entire surface of the dough.

5. Starting at one long side, roll the dough tightly to make a long cylinder.  Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into 1 inch thick disks.  Lay the disks on their side, two inches apart, on a non-stick baking pan.  Press them with the palm of your hand to flatten them to 1/2 inch thick.

6. Using a pastry brush,. brush the tops liberally with heavy cream.  Reduce oven temp to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.  Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes.

7. Make the frosting by combining confectioner's sugar, milk and remaining extract.  Whisk until smooth.  Using a pastry bag or a spoon, drizzle over scones.  Serve warm with a nice cup of tea.

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Slow Cooker Soup

Okay, so 'tis the season!  And by that, I mean Pumpkin Season:  Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, and let's not forget Pumpkin Pie Cookie Bars, one of my first and best posts on this little blog.  But out of all of these, there's nothing quite like a warm, thick, delicious pumpkin soup, made from an actual pumpkin.

Now if I am being perfectly honest, that is one of those little decorative pumpkins from our local farmer's market, but he was just so dang photogenic that I had to take his picture.  He's not what you want for this scrumptious soup...for the soup you want a sugar pumpkin, which are actually not that hard to find in your garden-variety supermarket at this time of year.  Pick out a nice medium-sized one.

The next trick is to get someone else to cut up that pumpkin into nice little chunks.  I have a handsome Southern husband that I draft for this sort of stuff - it's definitely the hardest part of the whole recipe.   You cut the stem off as you would if you were carving it into a jack-o-lantern, and scoop out those seeds.  You'll want to save them to make toasted pumpkin seeds, which make the perfect garnish for this soup once you are ready to serve it.  Once your sugar pumpkin is hollowed out, then you need to chop it into smallish chunks - two inches or so - making sure you slice or peel the outside skin off. 

Once you have a nice pile of peeled and chopped sugar pumpkin, it's all downhill from here.  You give the pumpkin a quick saute with some chopped onion just to get the outside brown and then pile that pumpkin into your handy slow cooker, and pour in enough chicken broth to cover it up.  Toss in a little cheesecloth bag of spices and go find something else to do for five hours or so.

Back to those pumpkin seeds - at some point while your soup is cooking away, take those pumpkin seeds and toast them up...the very best recipe I have found is the one from Elise at Simply Recipes.  Don't skimp on the salt - it will seem like a lot but I promise it's not.  Here's the link:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Fast forward five hours: your pumpkin is nice and soft.  Now ideally you have one of those hand-held immersion blenders - if you do, just lower it right into the slow cooker and blend away until the soup is smooth and creamy.  (Make sure you take out the bag of herbs first.)  If you don't, just ladle the pumpkin and broth into your handy regular blender - I KNOW you have one of those - and blend away.  Stir in a little cream, ladle it into bowls and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.  And some pumpkin seeds.  Voila - it's pumpkin soup time!!

Pumpkin Slow Cooker Soup, from allrecipes.com

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium sugar pumpkin, seeded, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock, or more as needed
• 1 sprig each fresh rosemary, thyme and sage
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Cinnamon for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pumpkin and onion and saute until lightly browned (you may have to do this in batches).

2. Transfer to slow cooker and pour in enough chicken broth to cover the pumpkin. Tie all the herbs and spices into a piece of cheesecloth and add to slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for four hours.

3. After four hours, remove herbs and puree the soup with a blender.  Stir in heavy cream.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with cinnamon and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Click here for printable recipe.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

I have been bad. I have been very, very bad.

I took a roll of those refrigerated cinnamon rolls - the one that pops open when you pull the paper off the roll. I unrolled each of the uncooked cinnamon rolls into a long cinnamon roll dough strip. I took a strip of bacon, laid it on top of the dough, rolled it back up, and baked it until the rolls and the bacon were all cooked together. I frosted them with the white sugar frosting that comes with the cinnamon roll dough.

And I ate one. The Southern husband ate one. (Well, three, if we are being completely accurate.) The teenager ate one. The dog ate the last bite of mine (she was sitting at my feet whimpering and looking at me with those EYES of hers).

And it was GOOD. Oh man, was it good.

I found this recipe while doing one of my favorite things to do on the computer, which is Googling the word 'bacon." Because you never know...and sure enough, I came across this site called Bacon Today. They have bacon recipes, bacon products, bacon songs, bacon videos...they are very serious about their bacon. And amid all that stuff was this recipe for bacon cinnamon rolls. I was a goner from the first second I saw it...it was really only a matter of time.

A couple of notes on this one. I used the bacon straight out of the package, and after 15 minutes in the oven the rolls were nice and brown, and the bacon was cooked but not crispy. Which is fine - in our house we all happen to like our bacon on the chewy side. If you like your bacon well-done, you might want to nuke it for a couple of minutes before rolling it up into the dough. Second, don't worry if your cinnamon roll dough doesn't unroll perfectly. Mine came apart here and there, but just mush it back together and you will be just fine.

I think that is all I have to say about this one.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls, adapted from Bacon Today

• 1 package refrigerated cinnamon rolls (the kind in the tube)
• 8 slices bacon (and if you like your bacon well done, cook it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes)

1. Preheat over to 400.

2. Separate rolls and unroll into long strips. Lay one slice of bacon on top of each strip and roll back up, pressing the dough together as needed. Place on greased cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 15 minutes or until rolls are browned and bacon is cooked.

4. Spread frosting from dough package on top of rolls while still hot.

5. Stand back out of the way. These babies are best right out of the oven!

Snickerdoodles

I have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for snickerdoodles, because aside from the fact that they have the best cookie name ever, they also remind me of my free-wheeling college days.

Go Hoyas!!

Excuse me. Yes, I realize they are already out of the tournament. It's an involuntary reaction.

Anyway, when I was a sophomore I got an on-campus apartment with three of my good friends, and with that apartment came the very first stove any of us had ever had. We cooked up some alarming meals on that stove. Fun, but alarming. Anyway, there was one of us (you know who you are!) who periodically would have the overwhelming need to bake cookies. Not to eat them, just to bake them, sometimes at interesting hours of the day and night, and she always made the same kind: Snickerdoodles. Not sure why, but we weren't arguing. The apartment was always full of us girls and whomever our boyfriends of the moment were, and the cookies never lasted long.

So every once in a while, lo these many years later, I get the overwhelming desire to make snickerdoodles, and it always zaps me right back to those days of fun and friends and having to wait on line for hours for a clothes dryer. Cookie memories, they're the best.

SNICKERDOODLES

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes and cool on racks.

Click here for printable recipe

Butternut Chai Soup

I fell head over heels in love with chai tea several years ago when my friend S took me by the hand, led me into Starbucks, bought me a chai tea latte, put it in my hands and said, "Trust me." Ever since then I have been a complete sucker for anything with the word "chai" in the title. And so when I ran across this recipe for butternut soup cooked with chai spices...well, they had me at hello. When you think about it, it is kind of genius...butternut is a close cousin to pumpkin, chai spices include a lot of the sweet and spicy flavors you find in pumpkin pie...so it kind of was a match made in heaven.

And to (literally) top it all off, the recipe also calls for a quick and wonderful topping that you make by stirring together a little creme fraiche, a little apple cider and a little cinnamon. Creme fraiche is usually in whatever part of your supermarket where they keep the refrigerated fancy things, but if you have trouble finding it, sour cream will work for this too. You drizzle a little bit on the top of your soup just before serving it, and if you want to get super elegant you can take the tip of a knife and swirl it gently through the creme to make a little design. It's kind of like Spin Art (remember that, all you children of the 70's?).

Anyway, I found this delicious little recipe at the Whole Foods website. Whole Foods used to be my supermarket of choice before Fairway moved to town, and then I heartlessly deserted them without so much as a backwards glance. But I still do love their website, which has a load of creative and healthy recipes. And if you don't have a Fairway near you, Whole Foods is definitely the next best thing.

So there you go, butternut chai soup. If anyone comes across a recipe for chai pizza, call me.

BUTTERNUT CHAI SOUP

• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup chopped white onion
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3 cups (1-inch cubes) butternut squash
• 3/4 cup chopped fennel
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. First, make the apple cream: combine crème fraîche, apple cider and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to combine.

2. For the soup, melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 6 minutes. Stir in cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cardamom. Cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.

3. Stir in butternut squash, fennel, chicken stock and apple cider. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until the butternut squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Take from heat and let cool.

4. Blend the soup in small batches until a smooth purée is obtained. Return to pot and stir in milk and salt. Bring soup to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more spice if desired.

5. Serve soup with a generous drizzle of apple cream.

Cinnamon Butter Muffins

I can't believe that after all the shopping/wrapping/baking/generaL racing around that Christmas is actually OVER. So in order to stretch it out just a little bit longer, let me tell you about one of our Christmas morning traditions...along with a suggestion for one of yours.

One of our longest-standing Christmas morning traditions is cinnamon rolls baked after the initial round of present-tearing-open is over. I'm not talking homemade rolls like my mom makes...I'm talking the ones that come in the tube with the little cup of white sugar frosting at the end. I'm not sure how this started, but the time or two I have tried to deviate from the tube, there has been shock and sadness on the upturned faces gathered around my Christmas tree. So for me, it's Christmas morning with the Pillsbury Dough Boy...but maybe there is still hope for YOU?

If so, you might want to consider making these delectable cinnamon butter muffins. They are quick and easy and you probably have everything you need to make them somewhere in your kitchen...no last minute trips to the supermarket. Keep those holidays going...

CINNAMON BUTTER MUFFINS, adapted from The Frog Commissary Cookbook

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 muffin muffin tin.

2. Cream butter, shortening and sugar together. Beat in the eggs, salt and nutmeg.

3. Combine flour and baking powder. Stir in flour alternately with milk into the butter mixture until the everything is just combined.

4. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes.

5. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

6. When the muffins are done, cool for one minute and then turn out onto cooling rack.

7. Immerse each muffin briefly in melted butter and then roll in cinnamon sugar. You can either do this with the whole muffin or you can just do the top.

8. Make sure you eat the first one warm. It will make everything right with the world.

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Apple Walnut Stuffed French Toast

This recipe is the living breathing proof that you can find a good recipe pretty much anywhere you go if you just pay attention. I work in the heart of midtown Manhattan, and every morning instead of doing the healthy, responsible thing and walking from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to my office, I hop into a taxi. It's my one commuting indulgence -- I don't stop at Starbucks, I don't pick up a giant New York City bagel with cream cheese (although I WANT to. I really do.) But I do jump right into that cab every morning.

And those of you lucky to have taken a New York taxi lately know that they have installed these little television screens in the back of each one. They give you the weather (thank you!), a lot of ads (really??? I really have to listen to ads on my cab ride, too??) and every once in a while, a little news story that you are actually interested in. Last week it was a story about this wonderful-sounding restaurant called The Turning Point, located on the New Jersey shore. (Or as we native New-Jerseyites say, "down the shore.") The story focussed on their pumpkin-stuffed french toast, and it had me paying rapt attention in the back of my cab at 7am in the morning....which means, it looked like some rocking good french toast. So later that day I tracked down the recipe, which was a bit more complicated than anything I want to attempt on a weekday, but gave me the basis for a pretty delicious streamlined version. And you know me....breakfast for dinner is my idea of heaven. This particular recipe is like French Toast meets Pumpkin Pie, and when topped with a good dollop of whipped cream and cinnamon sugar....ahhhhhhhhhh.

So thanks, Annoying New York City Taxi TV! You finally paid off. Now please stop running all those ads for the new Jay Leno show and we'll be all set.

PUMPKIN APPLE WALNUT STUFFED FRENCH TOAST, adapted heavily from this version from The Turning Point.

Makes 2 servings.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsps vanilla

1 Tbs cream cheese

2 Tbs applesauce

1/8 cup chopped walnuts

4 slices sandwich bread

1. Combine all ingredients except bread, eggs and milk and mix thoroughly.

2. · Spread pumpkin mixture on bread and put bread slices together sandwich style.

3. Mix eggs and milk together in shallow bowl

4. Soak sandwiches on both sides in egg/mil mixture.

5. Heat frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat, grease with about 1 tablespoon of butter.

6. Cook sandwiches on griddle until both sides are lightly toasted.

7. Serve with maple syrup and fresh whipped cream. I like to shake cinnamon sugar on the top of mine.

Click here for printable recipe

Cinnamon Bun Bread

Now, I am a big fan of cinnamon rolls. Whenever I pass a Cinnabon, it's like the Cinnabon is a giant magnet and I am just a big old cinnamon-obsessed paper clip. It's just plain sad, the lack of self-control that I have. But when it comes to actually making cinnamon rolls myself, my recipe goes something like this:

"Hi Mom! How are you? Oh me? I'm fine. I was just sitting here thinking about those fabulous cinnamon rolls that you make...*sigh*...."

Bingo. Cinnamon rolls.

But sadly for me, sometimes Mom is actually out of town and not sitting by the phone waiting for me to call, which is why I was thrilled to find this recipe on Baking Bites. It has all the cinnamon-sweet flavor of those fabulous rolls -- but you make it in a regular 8x8 baking pan with none of the trials and tribulations of the yeast dough, and the rolling, and the rising, etc etc. The cinnamon filling gets swirled right into the dough so that when you cut into it, you get these amazing ribbons of cinnamon sugar goodness right through the center of the cake. (I know, the recipe says this is Cinnamon Bun Bread, and so that is what I am officially calling it, but honestly? It's cake. I'm just being straight with you here.)

So on those occasions when Mom is actually out there doing something besides making me her amazing cinnamon rolls and I have a cinnamon roll emergency, I have this recipe in my back pocket. What a relief.

CINNAMON BUN BREAD, adapted from Baking Bites

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling/Topping
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

1. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.

3. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture.

4. Mix until very smooth. Pour into prepared pan and let rest for 15 minutes.

5. While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly.

6. Sprinkle evenly on top of rested dough and press the mixture down into the dough with your fingertips (or swirl in with a spatula.)

7. Place pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350F. Bake for about 30 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top may still be bubbling.

8. Cool for at least 30 minutes before whisking the powdered sugar and milk together to form an icing and drizzling it onto the bread. Serve warm. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

Click here for printable recipe

Caramel Apple Cake

Apples, cinnamon, walnuts, cake, caramel glaze. That's all I have to say, right? I have you at those four items and hello? This recipe certainly had ME at hello. I found it in the Costco Connection magazine, which just goes to show you that Costco does, indeed, have everything that anyone could possibly want, including a fabulous recipe for a rich, tender, sweet apple cake that will make your whole kitchen smell like a happy autumn day.

I should warn you that like most things associated with Costco, this is not only wonderful but, well, LARGE. Which is not at all a bad thing in terms of making friends...I sent the generous Southern husband into work with a lot of it the next day, and he said it was a big hit. The cake part is lovely -- moist and sweet and packed with apples. But let's face it...the captivating part of this particular baby is the caramel glaze. When you are done with the cake and it has cooled a bit, you make the glaze (out of butter and sugar and cream -- are you panting yet?)...but wait, it gets better. Before you pour the glaze over the cake, you take a skewer and you poke holes all over the top of the cake, so that when you pour the glaze over it, not only does it coat the top of the cake, but it also sinks down into the middle of the cake via all those little holes.

I know, it's almost too much to think about without fainting.

So there you go, from me and my friends at Costco (who in case you missed it the last hundred times I have mentioned it, sell the BEST shrimp I have ever tasted in my life. And please don't get me started on their chocolate chip cookies.) Caramel Apple Cake. Go make some.

CARAMEL APPLE CAKE, from Costco Connection magazine

Cake:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Caramel Glaze:

4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a 13x9 inch pan.

2. Beat both sugars and oil in mixing bowl until well-blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Gradually add to sugar mixture until just blended. Stir in apples, nuts and vanilla and pour into pan.

4. Bake for 50-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan while making glaze.

5. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Stir in both sugars and salt and cook over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Add cream and boil for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.

6. Poke holes in cake with skewer. Pour on the glaze. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you like.

Click here for printable recipe.

Apple Dumplings, and the Winners Are...

Yes, those are what you think they are...the Pioneer Woman's famous apple dumplings...made with crescent rolls, apples, butter, sugar, and a nice dose of Mountain Dew. They are sinfully, outrageously, spectacularly good...no surprise since pretty much everything she makes falls into this same category.

As I hope you have heard at this point, you too can get your mitts on a wonderful collection of Pioneer Woman recipes, along with a good dose of her warm and hilarious writing and page after page of her gorgeous photographs in her new cookbook.

As you may have heard, I got my OWN mitts on three copies of this fab cookbook, and asked you guys to leave a comment on my Sesame Noodles post suggesting something for me to make and photograph. And as a result, I have tons of great suggestions...and three lucky winners! As a matter of fact, there were SO many wonderful comments that I had to enlist the helpful Southern husband to close his eyes and pick the winners. And they are...

Katie, who suggested lasagne. I can't believe I haven't done a lasagne yet. One lasagne coming up.

Leah, who suggested making something for the dog. Okay Leah, how much did the dog PAY you?? But seriously...what a fun idea! And I actually do have a dog biscuit recipe. It's at the very, very back of my stack of all the people recipes. I'll move it on up.

And finally, Jenny, who suggested that I try the Pastor Ryan's Carbonara on the Pioneer Woman site. Jenny, I made this tonight, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I've made a lot of carbonaras along the way, but this one is honestly, truly, amazingly better than any of those other ones in my past. I'll put it on the blog very soon...I did get a pretty sweet picture of it.

I wish I had a copy of this gorgeous cookbook for everyone who commented, and I will definitely be trying a lot of your great ideas...and doing more cookbook giveaways in the future, so keep visiting! Thanks for your comments, every one of them, and click here for more info on this rocking great cookbook:

THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS!

And try the apple dumpling recipe. You simply won't believe your tastebuds....

APPLE DUMPLINGS, from The Pioneer Woman

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
12 ounces Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Click here for printable recipe

Jam Cake

A litttle while ago I made these:

Jam Sugar Cookies

and this:

Crumb Cake

And the whole house was in a blissful stupor of sugar while those were sitting on the kitchen counter. And then -- sadness! -- they were gone. I did still have about half a jar of the most awesomely scrumptious jam on earth though.

And I started thinking -- what if the jam cookies and the crumb cake got married and had a baby?

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be THAT adorable, but it sure would taste good, right? Oh yes, right. This easy coffee cake not only has the amazing sour cherry jam in it, but also a swirl of apricot - mainly because that was what was lurking in the jam area of my fridge. You should fee free to experiment away with the jam of your choice. I made it early on a Sunday morning, and it is amazing what the aroma of baking jam cake can do in the way of getting teenagers out of their beds and dogs off of the couch. Not that dogs have any shot at jam cake. Kibble, anyone?

JAM CAKE, adapted from About.com

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 cup cherry jam

Topping:

1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender to make a fine crumbly mixture - or you can use a food processor.

2. Add egg and milk; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Spoon batter into a generously buttered 9-inch square pan. Spoon both jams over the batter, then swirl through the batter with a knife.

4. Mix topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle evenly over batter.

5. Bake at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes, until done. Cut into squares and serve while still warm.

Click here for printable recipe

Crumb Cake!

One of my favorite memories is going to the bakery after church with my dad. The one and only thing I ever wanted on Sunday morning after church was a big, thick chunk of crumb cake. You know the kind I mean: soft but slightly chewy cake on the bottom, which was nice but just a base for the real attraction - a dense layer of brown sugar crumbs, big round crumbs held together with a shiny vanilla sugar glaze. Oh, the sheer sugary heaven of it all. They would come home from the bakery in a waxed paper bag and there they would stay until you had finished all of your scrambled eggs. I did not especially like scrambled eggs back in those days (oh, but I do now!!), so getting to the end of my plate of eggs was especially sweet knowing that the crumb cake was just seconds away.

Now that I am all grown up I actually could drive to a bakery any time and get a square of this little piece of heaven, and I don't even have to eat any eggs first. But since you know I love a challenge, I decided to try and replicate it here in my own kitchen. And for something as critical as this, I had to go right to the top, which of course is Cook's Illustrated. They had a recipe for something they call New York Style Crumb Cake, which only needed a little adapting to become Northern New Jersey Style Crumb Cake. I'm calling it Crumb Cake for short. Dad, this one's for you.

CRUMB CAKE, adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 stick melted butter

1 3/4 cups cake flour

Cake:

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup buttermilk

Vanilla Glaze:

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1. Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 324. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

4. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Roll crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

5. Whisk confectioner's sugar and milk together and drizzle over warm cake. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting edges of parchment paper, and cut into squares.

Click here for printable recipe

Grandma's Cinnamon Buns

Full disclosure, I am purely the photographer when it comes to these cinnamon buns. Well, and the eater of WAY more of them than I should be. But they are the BEST cinnamon buns I have ever tasted, and believe me, I have taken every available opportunity to do exhaustive research on this topic, from Cinnabon on down the line.

So here's the background information on this. This weekend I got to do a nice long portrait session with my nephew Liam, aka The Most Beautiful Baby Boy On The Planet.

See what I mean? I could eat him up with a spoon.

Anyway, we knew this portrait project was going to take a good long time, because we ultimately we needed Baby Liam to fall asleep so that I could get some of those delicious angelic sleeping baby shots, and so his grandma offered to make lunch for everyone involved. And there were a lot of people involved. It takes a village to photograph such adorableness. So in she came with all the fixings for a great lunch...and a GIANT, and I do mean GIANT, pan of cinnamon rolls. Those of you who are lucky enough to know my mother know exactly what I mean. Those of you who don't...just imagine if Costco was a person and baked cinnamon rolls. That many. And they looked very lovely, but like basic cinnamon rolls. I was in the zone, photographing away, and grabbed a sandwich but thought, oh, I will have one of those later. Because a cinnamon roll is a cinnamon roll, right?

Not!!

These are incredible. Light, sweet, airy dough. Just the right amount of cinnamon swirled inside, especially at the center part of the roll. You know that part I'm talking about, right? Cinnamon roll nirvana? Yes, that part. And a light, sweet frosting on top of all of them. Later that day after everyone had gone home and I finally had one, I thanked my lucky stars that my mom always makes enough for leftovers. Because believe me, I am guarding the rest of these little gems like a hawk. I am thinking about charging admission for them.

Did we get the adorable sleeping baby picture, you are wondering?






And for something ALMOST as sweet but not quite, here is the recipe for his grandma's cinnamon rolls, adapted from a recipe by Tresa Jones.

CINNAMON ROLLS

Dough:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 stick butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 cups white flour (Grandma recommends King Arthur brand)

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons REALLY GOOD cinnamon. Grandma made a point of emphasizing this to me and I always do what she says.
• 1/2 stick butter, softened

Frosting:

• 1 pound bag powdered sugar
• 1/2 stick softened butter
• 4-6 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons double strength vanilla
• Pinch of nutmeg

1. Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in water in large bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.
2. Meanwhile, put milk and butter in microwavable dish and heat for 1 1/2 minutes.
3. Add eggs, sugar, salt, milk/butter and about 1/2 flour to yeast mixture and stir until smooth. Gradually add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until you get a firm soft dough. Reserve the final 1/2 cup of flour and place on surface of table. (Personally, I would place on a Silpat, if you have one.)
4. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. The dough should be soft but not stick to your hands. Add flour as needed.
5. Place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and let rise again for 30 minutes.
6. For filling, combine sugar and cinnamon. After last rising, place the dough on a floured surface and roll into a 30" a 15" rectangle.
7. Spread dough with softened butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
8. Starting with the long end, roll up the dough and pinch the edges together to form a long roll. Cut the roll into 24 pieces and place the pieces in a 17' x 12" pan.
9. Let rise until double, about an hour, then bake for 20-25 minutes at 375. Remove from oven and let cool.
10. While rolls cool, make frosting by creaming butter with half of the powdered sugar and vanilla. Gradually add milk and remaining sugar and blend well. Frost rolls while still a little warm.
11. Eat, and remember why we love our grandmas so much.

Print this!

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

Every once in a while I get a pancake craving, and interestingly it is usually at dinnertime. I am not a big breakfast eater (although I will never ever turn down poached eggs with corned beef hash at the local diner), but the whole concept of breakfast for dinner is appeals to the simple comfort food way that my brain is wired. I don't go for the whole "stuff in your pancakes" approach -- no blueberries or bananas or chocolate chips for me, thank you very much. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I know my dear friend Lynne enjoys a good blueberry pancake for lunch every now and again. But I do like experimenting with the basic pancake itself, and so I have recipes for sourdough pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, and of course there is the good old Bisquick variety. (ah, Bisquick. I heart you.) So when I saw this recipe in a recent edition of EVERYDAY FOOD I knew I had to give it a shot.

First of all, it features two of my favorite taste sensations: cinnamon and oatmeal. Good and good for you. Second, it calls for making the pancakes in nice little rounds - only 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake, which is SO much easier to deal with on the griddle and nicer on the plate as well. So we broke out the griddle and
gave it a try.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Is all I have to say.

Except for this: pancakes must always be anointed with Vermont maple syrup. None of this Canadian stuff, please. Vermont. If you happen to be running low on it, which never happens to me thanks to the fact that my Vermont relatives keep us happily supplied, here is a place you can get it.

Maple Syrup from Middletown Springs, Vermont

If I catch you with Mrs. Butterworth on your table...well, don't let me catch you. Anyway, here's how you make some great pancakes, and don't skimp on the maple syrup:

CINNAMON OAT PANCAKES

Makes 20 pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ONE cup of the oats. Pulse to coarsely grind oats.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, eggs and oil. Add flour mixture and remaining oats and whisk until moistened.

3. Heat nonstick skillet or griddle over medium. Oil skillet. Using 2-3 tablespoons batter per pancake, ladle batter onto skillet and cook 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 1-2 minutes until golden.

4. Serve with butter and Vermont maple syrup. From Vermont. The Green Mountain State.