Cinnamon Rolls

These are a Christmas morning and first day of school tradition! I don't even remember how long ago it started, but it's one of the few traditions the kids actually remember, haha!

Amy’s Cinnamon Rolls (makes 30-32)

1 ½ c scalded milk

1 c mashed potatoes (can be instant or leftover)

½ c butter or margarine

¾ c white sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp yeast

1 c warm water

1 tsp white sugar

7 ½ c flour (divided)

2 beaten eggs

Scald milk in small saucepan and set aside to cool slightly.  Make potatoes or warm leftovers.  In a small bowl or measuring cup, dissolve yeast in warm water and 1 tsp sugar and set aside to rise  Put warm potatoes, butter, ¾ c sugar and salt in mixing bowl or electric mixer. Pour warm milk over other ingredients in mixing bowl and mix well.  Add 2 cups of flour to the mixing bowl and combine. Add 2 eggs and yeast mixture.  Add 4 ½ c more flour, until batter becomes stiff.  If you are using a hand mixer, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining 1 cup of flour for 8-10 minutes.  If you are using a kitchenaid or other counter mixer, add the extra cup of flour slowly and mix on low for 8 minutes.  The dough should still be a bit sticky, but not a sloppy mess.  Add up to another ½ cup of flour if necessary. Do not make it stiff like bread dough or the rolls will come out dry. Dump into a greased bowl and turn once to grease surface of the dough.  Cover and let rise until double, 1-1 ½ hours.

Punch down dough, then turn out on a floured surface.  Divide dough in half and put one half back into the bowl.  Press dough out into a rectangle with your fingertips,  about 16x14 inches. Spread with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon (and raisins or nuts as desired).  Roll up on the long side.  Cut roll into 15-16 pieces and place in a greased pan about an inch apart. Cover again and let rise another hour.  Repeat these steps with the other half of dough.

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350, or until golden brown.  Frost when still warm.

Frosting: Melt and brown  6 tbsp butter in a saucepan.  Remove from heat and add 3 c powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 2-3 tbsp milk or orange juice to reach desired consistency. Spread on warm rolls.

Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies

For teacher appreciation week we gave all the staff a message in a bottle with these attached.  Yummy and easy.  The recipe comes from http://www.mamamiss.com/2012/07/31/eats-sand-dollar-cinnamon-sugar-cookies/

(All the notes in the recipe come from her.)

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (15 sec in the microwave & another 5 sec will get you there, if you don’t want to wait for butter to soften on its own – HA – it is like watching paint dry – it’s simply fascinating ;)

2 cups powdered sugar (mmm mmm mmm…can taste the sugary goodness already!)

2 eggs whole

2 eggs separated (yolks in one bowl/whites in another – c’mon it’s fun!)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pinches of kosher salt

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

cinnamon sugar (this gets sprinkled on top)

sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar; Mix until very creamy. (I may or may not have taken a lick after this step – HA! ;)
3. Add the 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks only (reserve the whites for later from the egg separation above); Beat until well combined.
4. Add vanilla and salt; Blend well.
5. Add flour and baking powder; Stir until the dough is very soft.
6. Form a ball with the dough; Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours (I left mine in the fridge overnight).
7. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thick on a floured surface and cut out 2 5/8” circles.(A mason jar lid is the perfect size.)
9. Brush the circles with the reserved egg whites.
10. Sprinkle each circle lightly with cinnamon sugar and press 5 almond slices into the center of each circle to make a sand dollar (like the pic above).
11. Bake at 350° F for 3 minutes.
12. After 3 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and press the almonds in again, making slight indentations in the circle.
13. Add more cinnamon at this point too, if need be, to adjust the overall coloring of the final cookie.
14. Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown, another 10 minutes (this time will vary depending on how thick you cut the circles, so just keep an eye on them around the 7 minute mark).
15. Remove from oven; Let rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes.
16. Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
17. Dig in!!!
18. Store in an airtight container to keep up to 5 days (Yeah right, these won’t last 5 minutes!)

Notes

Makes 4 dozen

Adapted from Delicious Inspiration

Shaylie's Strawberry Cheesecake

 

This recipe comes from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/222588/strawberry-cheesecake/
Shaylie requested strawberry cheesecake for her birthday this year, so I did a web search and found this one.  It was just as gorgeous as the picture shows and a winner for sure!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed and drained
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

Directions

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Place strawberries and cornstarch into a blender. Cover and puree until smooth. Pour strawberry sauce into a saucepan.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil and stir until sauce is thick and shiny, about 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving.
5. Beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually beat in condensed milk. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla extract, then beat in eggs on low speed until just combined. Pour half of cream cheese mixture over crust; drop half of reserved strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce; drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. Cut through top layer only with a knife to swirl strawberry sauce.
6. Bake in preheated oven until center is almost set, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Serve reserved strawberry sauce with cheesecake. If the sauce it too thick, stir in water.

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Yes, this is as good as it sounds!  This recipe comes from Laura Harris who found it at http://cookiesandcups.com/salted-caramel-popcorn/#_a5y_p=1602723

 

Makes about 16 cups of caramel corn

Ingredients

• ½ cup unpopped popcorn kernels (about 16 cups popped corn)
• 1 cup salted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ⅓ cup light corn syrup
• 1½ - 2 tsp kosher or sea salt, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
3. Pop popcorn kernels using air popper into a large bowl.
4. In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and 1 tsp salt together over medium heat. Bring to boil. Boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
5. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
6. Pour popcorn into lined pan, sprinkle remaining salt on top (1/2 tsp - 1 tsp depending on your personal taste preference) and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Allow popcorn to cool on a parchment lined counter.

Notes

You can add in 2 cups of nuts to the un-coated popcorn if desired! Coat with caramel as states!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Yes, there are ways to make this faster with a box or can of pie filling.

For me, it's worth it to make it from scratch!.

Makes 1 pie.

1 baked 9" pie shell

Filling

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 c water

1/2 t salt

1/2 c cornstarch

1/3 c water

4 egg yolks (beaten)

1/2 c lemon juice

3 T butter

1 t lemon zest (optional)

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/4 t salt

1/2 c sugar

Combine 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 c water and 1/2 t salt in a saucepan.  Heat to boiling.  Mix cornstarch and 1/3 c water to make a smooth paste.  Add to boiling mixture gradually.  Stirring constantly, cook until thick and clear.  Remove from heat.  Combine egg yolks and lemon juice.  Stir into thickened mixture.  Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles again.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and lemon zest.  Cover and cool to lukewarm.

For meringue:  Add salt to egg whites, beat on high until frothy.  Gradually add 1/2 c sugar, beating until glossy peaks are formed. 

Stir 2 rounded T of meringue into lukewarm filling.  Pour filling into cool pie crust.  Pile remaining meringue on top and spread lightly over the filling and to the edges of crust to seal.  Bake in a 325 oven about 15 mins or un til lightly browned on the meringue.  Cool at least one hour before cutting.

Pumpkin Pie

This is straight from the Libby's Pumpkin can.

It's still the one I like best and I make it every year for the holidays.

It makes 2 pies.

2 unbaked pie shells

1 ½ c sugar                  

1 t salt                  

2 t cinnamon              

1 t ground ginger

½ t ground cloves

4 eggs

1 29 oz can pumpkin

2 12 oz cans evaporated milk

In small bowl mix dry ingredients.  In large bowl, beat eggs, then add pumpkin & sugar/spice mixture.  Blend well.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.  Pour into shells.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool for two hours before serving.

* 3 ½ t pumpkin pie spice may be substituted for cinnamon, ginger & cloves.  Will alter taste slightly.

Pie Crust

This makes 1 9" pie crust

1 c flour                     

¼ t salt    

1/3 c shortening

¼ c cold water

1 T milk

Mix flour & salt.  Cut in shortening.  Lightly & quickly stir in water & milk.  Roll out or refrigerate.  For blind shell, bake at 425 for 10 minutes.

Ribbon Jello

Ribbon Jello joined our Thanksgiving table in about 2001.

We were invited to eat at the Birkinsha's house and this was part of their traditional food.

We've had it at Thanksgiving ever since.

Make this one the day before (or even two days) to free up time for yourself.

 

Ingredients

1 3oz box of 6 jellos

(we used lime, lemon, orange, strawberry, blackberry fusion, grape, but any six that coordinate by flavor and go light to dark will work)

2 cups sour cream

Water

Directions

Boil 1 cup water in a 2 cup measure.  Add 1^st box of jello (I always start with lime even though lemon is the lightest color to give a base) and stir well. 

Remove ½ cup of the mixed jello and place in a separate small bowl.

In original 2 cup measure, add ¼ cup water and pour into 9x13 pan.  It will barely cover the bottom.  Allow to set in the fridge until solid.  The first layer, since still warm, will take up to one hour.  Don’t rush it.

After placing jello in fridge, add 1/3 cup sour cream to the ½ cup warm jello in separate bowl and whisk until smooth.  Allow this to sit on the counter and cool while the 1^st layer chills.  (Don’t refrigerate or it will solidify.)  Pour over 1^st layer.

As soon as you pour the sour cream layer of one flavor, start the process with the next flavor and allow both next layers to sit on the counter to cool.  This way, you keep the flow going and never have it too hot.  If the jello is too warm, it will melt the layers and run the colors, ruining all your hard work.  Except for the first layer, I do about 30 minutes between each one.