Cinnamon Rolls

I have a love/hate relationship with cinnamon rolls. I love the taste, but hate how quickly they lose their soft ooey gooeyness. If I leave them out overnight often they are already on the stale side. So I  was quite delighted when I tried this recipe and they stayed super soft and delicious even when left on the counter overnight!

This is a fairly large recipe but I like to bake them in smaller pans and freeze them, that way I can take out just small amounts for the family.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffins is one of those really quick treats to make. I love that it requires no electric gadget to make and is in the oven in a matter of minutes! Plus it can be a great quick breakfast in the morning.


Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
3/4 - 1 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients and the chocolate chips. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!
Tina

Watermelon & Rollkuchen

Imagine my delight when I spotted a big box of Texas watermelon at the grocery store! Of course my dinner plans changed...

We grew up having this and still have this often during the summer months. It's such a nice refreshing meal to have on a hot summer day! The rollkuchen are fried and served fresh with the watermelon.


Rollkuchen

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
flour

Mix dough, adding flour until you have a nice soft dough that is not too sticky. Knead until smooth. On a well floured counter top roll the dough into a thin rectangle. How thin you roll it is about personal preference, the thicker the dough the softer the rollkuchen. I like to roll it to about 1/8" thick. Using a pizza cutter cut the rolled out dough in 2x5" pieces and also cut a 1" slit in the middle of each piece. Fry like you would for doughnuts. You can either fry them flat or you can take on end and weave it through the slit once to give your rollkuchen the look that you see in the photo.

Enjoy!
Tina

Beans & Fried Bread

Are you on a diet? Should you be on a diet? (you don't have to answer that!) Should I be on a diet? (I plead the fifth, lol) If you you answered yes to any of these questions, walk away. Yes, walk away because once you've tried fried bread you will forever be spoiled.

Growing up one of the staples in our home as with a lot of Mennonite homes was pinto beans, cooked on the stove top but made sort of like baked beans. My dad could live off of this meal, served with bread, tortillas, or fried bread. It was served on a weekly basis in our home and I also prepare this quite often, but serving it with the fried bread is considered a treat.

What is fried bread? Fried bread! And like most foods, once you've tried your bread fried, you'll always want it...

Once again like all other Mennonite recipes, everyone prepares them a little differently. And I don't even know whether all Mennonites are familiar with this or whether it's regional to Mexico or Belize, but try them and judge for yourselves! I've only given rough measurements as most often these are just made by sight or taste, adjusting as you need to.


Pinto Beans:

2 cups raw pinto beans, washed
6 cups water

Let this gently boil in a larger pot until beans are completely tender, the fresher the dried beans are the less time it takes. It can take anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours and you will most likely need to add more water, I like these beans quite juicy so I use quite a bit of water. Once tender add the following:

1/2 cup oil or bacon drippings
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup canned salsa (adjust to personal taste)
1 tsp brown sugar

Let this gently boil until the broth thickens, usually about 15-25 minutes.

Again this is just how I make them, some add the salsa, some don't. I find the brown sugar helps to thicken the broth and the salsa just gives it a nice flavour. Adding some caramelized onions is also really good. You may need to add just a little bit more oil, you'll have to eye it. We usually serve this with cooked rice, just mix it together.

Now for the bread, you can use whatever white bread recipe you have on hand or you can use mine. I usually make just a small batch of this stuff, not a full bread recipe.

White Bread:

1 cup warm water
1 scant tbsp yeast

Let this sit for 5 minutes, then add:

1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp salt salt
2 tsp sugar
approx. 4 cups white flour

Knead until you have a nice elastic dough, cover and let this rise for a while. I try to let it rise for 30-60 minutes, but if you're pressed for time you could use it right away.

Cut dough into small golf ball sized pieces and flatten with the palm of your hand on a greased counter top. Fry in hot oil just like you would for doughnuts. Now it's your choice if you want to salt the bread as it comes out, it's just like for fries, better if you do and healthier if you don't!

Enjoy!
Tina

Maple Rolls

My family had been asking or should I say hinting for some cinnamon rolls for a week already but I saw this recipe for Maple rolls and figured they might come close to what they were craving and it gave me something new to try.

I have had rolls similar to these before but they still didn't quite taste like what I remembered, they were good and I will make them again but I'll still search for the others ones that were unbeatable in taste!

Maple Rolls

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 heaping tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
approx. 4 1/2 cups flour

Mix dough, stirring in flour until it pulls from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading and adding flour until you have a nice soft dough but not too sticky. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, punch down and let rise for another hour. (I was running low on time so I only let them rise for another 30 minutes the second time around)

Roll dough into a rectangular piece. Mix 1/4 cup softened margarine and 1 tbsp maple extract, spread this over the dough. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups brown sugar over top. Roll up jelly roll style and slice into 1" slices. Let these rise for 30 minutes, the bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden. When cool, drizzle with the icing and sprinkle pecans over top.

Icing:
1 cup cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/8 cup sugar
1 heaping tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil until thickened. Stir in 1 1/2 cups icing sugar. Spoon over the cooled Maple Rolls.

Enjoy!
Tina

Cinnamon Rolls

Well after smelling someone else baking cinnamon rolls and after reading about someone else baking cinnamon rolls on Facebook I decided that perhaps I should make them as well, lol. And my kids were eager to test taste them for me. A quick search on All Recipes resulted in these, with a few minor changes. The original recipe said to make the dough in your bread maker, but I did it the traditional way. I also added the caramel sauce which makes these more of an ooey gooey type cinnamon roll.

Cinnamon Rolls
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 small pkg vanilla pudding mix
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, room temperature
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour (if using regular flour add 1 tsp bkg powder)

Filling
1/4 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup pecans, optional

Sprinkle the yeast in the warm water and let this sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and knead while adding the flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. (I put the bowl in the oven with the light on) Roll dough into roughly a 17x10" rectangle and spread dough with the butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of the butter. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 16 pieces, place in a 9x13 cake pan on top of the caramel sauce. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350F until done. Drizzle with icing of your choice.


Caramel Sauce
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp milk or cream
Melt together in a small saucepan and pour into the 9x13 cake pan while dough is rising. Once rolls are finished baking I like to drop the rolls upside down on a clean tea towel so the sauce oozes in the rolls.

Enjoy!
Tina

Apple Pie Muffins

This is another recipe from one of my Church cookbooks. I've had this book for years and only recently noticed this recipe and just had to try it. It has quickly become one of my favorite go to recipes, especially since we almost always have two apples laying around that no one wants to eat, lol.

Apple Pie Muffins

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup milk plus 1 tsp vinegar)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups chopped apples (I leave the peel on)

In large bowl combine the flour, sugar, soda and salt. Whisk together the milk, butter and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients, sprinkle with the chopped apples. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon into large greased cups (or use liners). Sprinkle with topping.

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

3-4 tbsp melted butter

In a bowl stir together the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Drizzle with butter, mix until you have a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle this on the muffins and bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes or until tops are firm. Makes 16 muffins.

Enjoy!

Tina

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Once you've made your own hamburger buns you will never want to go back to the mushy bought ones. I rarely make hamburgers now if I don't have these one hand. This recipe actually called them torta buns (some of you will know what tortas are) but I figured they would probably be just as good for hamburgers, and I was right.

Hamburger Buns

2 tbsp traditional yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil (I use canola)

1/2 cup sugar

7 cups flour

Corn Flour for the tops

Let yeast rise in the warm for a few minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients and knead in the flour. Let rise for 3/4 hour, punch down and let rise for another 45 minutes. Shape them into buns and flatten with the palm of your hand. Brush the tops with a beaten egg and sprinkle the corn flour on top. I then spread the flour with my hand so that there is even coverage on the bun, you only want a thin layer of the corn flour. Let rise for 1 hour and bake at 350 F until golden.

Recipe makes about 2 dozen hamburger buns but this will vary of course to your size preference. If I remember correctly each bun has about 150 calories each.

Tina

English Muffins

What better way to start the day then with homemade english muffins and jam. Or making your own bacon n egger instead of the greasy fast food versions. Delicious! I got this recipe from All Recipes and making english muffins is a lot easier then you think, really. This was my first tiime making these and they turned out really well, but like a lot of people I won't be happy until I've tested a few recipes just to make sure that this is the right one. I only made half the recipe but I'll give you the full version, I did find that I didn't need as much flour as the recipe states so you'll have to adjust yours too probably.
English Muffins
1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dry active yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup melted shortening
6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water, let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of the flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with a biscuit cutter, or whatever you have on hand, you'll want about a 3-4 inch circle. Sprinkle wax paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise for 1/2 hour.

Heat griddle to 300F. Cook muffins on the griddle for about 10 minutes on each side. To use split and toast.

Thanks for stopping by!
Tina

Applesauce Nut Bread

I love to look at other blogs and see all the yummy things I want to create. I found this recipe on Baking Bites. It lookes so scrumptious I knew I had to try it. I actually had all the ingredients on hand, which is a rare commodity. Well almost all the ingredients, I was short 1/2 cup of applesauce and I didn't have freshly ground cumin. I made do with what I had and it still tasted good. I could of probably baked it a little less then the hour that I had it in for. Next time.

Applesauce Nut Bread

6 tbsp butter, room temperature ( I used margarine)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts

coarse sugar, for topping

No need to preheat the oven, just lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the applesauce.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

By hand, or with a mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into applesauce mixture.

Stir in toasted nuts and pour into prepared pan.

Top with coarse sugar, if desired.

Place pan in a cold oven and turn oven on to 350F.

Bake for 80-90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top of the loaf is browned.

Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf.

Enjoy,

Erna

The Search

I have spent many years trying to find the perfect homemade whole wheat bread recipe. I have friends that can make such tasty buns but whenever I tried the recipe, they were a complete flop. So for a while I gave up and started making white bread, which is something I could make no problem.

But then one day a good friend of mine told me to give her recipe a try and I haven't looked back since. They turn out super everytime I make them. The recipe that she gave me didn't include 7 grain cereal or coarse whole wheat flour but I love bread that has that "rustic" look so I add that. The kind that just begs for fresh jam or butter. Mmmm.

Whole Wheat Buns

3 1/2 cups warm water

3 tbsp traditional yeast (yes you read that right)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

2 eggs

2 cups coarse whole wheat flour or 7 grain cereal

Let the yeast turn active in the warm water (takes about 5 minutes), add oil, sugar, salt, eggs and mix well. Stir in 2 cups of the coarse flour. Now start stirring in regular whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time. Keep adding whole wheat flour until dough starts to pull from the sides and is ready for kneading. After this I use white flour while I'm kneading it. I have never really kept track of how much flour I use all together. I just keep kneading in enough flour until I have a fairly firm dough, I'm guessing it takes roughly 8 cups flour all together.

Cover and let rise for 1 hour, punch down and let rise for another hour. Shape into buns, let rise for one hour and bake at 350 F until brown. Makes about 48 buns, depending on your size preference.

Tina