cinnabon!

A while ago, I found a recipe for "Clone of a Cinnabon" and thought about it for months. I don't know why. To be honest, I have never had a Cinnabon in my life. Not that they don't smell amazing when I pass by the store in the mall or anything... I just never have given in.

Well, because this was my first time making cinnamon rolls from scratch, I waited until I had some back-up. Two weeks ago, an old family friend of Andrew's, Alexa, came to visit. I love Alexa... probably because we are so crazy similar in our likes and dislikes. Very strangely alike. We are going to open a bakery someday... you just wait and see!

Here's the recipe... I honestly can't tell you if they are truly the clone of a Cinnabon... but I can honestly tell you that they were super crazy good!

Start with dough. We discovered the butter works better when you let it get really soft... almost melted. Cold butter = bad idea.

let rise. roll it out. spread with butter. spread with cinnamon & sugar!

roll up, slice into pieces, and place in a greased baking pan. YUMMMMM!

Bake...

And slather with cream cheese icing!

Enjoy while warm with a lot of milk!

We did change a few things... we just used regular dry active yeast and let it rise in a warm oven after kneading. We didn't use a bread maker (I don't own one), and they tasted wonderful! 

white chocolate raspberry cheesecake

We are very blessed to be members (very recent! YAY!) of an amazing church. It's so awesome to be loved, challenged, and accepted by the church... and our small group in particular. Anyway, last weekend, we went to our small group leader's house (he's also the Pastor of Education) for a dinner party. I brought dessert... this white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that is INSANELY good.

Believe it or not, this was my first solo attempt at cheesecake. I haven't even participated in making a cheesecake in probably ten years. I remember making them with my mom... well, actually, she made them. I remember being banished from the kitchen. I grew up in a really old house and she didn't want us kids jumping in the kitchen and cracking the cheesecake.

I guess I've always had the idea that cheesecake is VERY hard to make and is very finicky. That may be true for some cheesecakes, but this one was very easy. When I put it in the oven after following the recipe, I let my shoulders relax and exhaled... I had done it. But then during the two hour wait, I was plagued by the thought that it would fall, crack, or my springform pan would spontaneously combust. Not kidding. I'm a bit of a worry-wart.

I only made a few changes to the original recipe: I doubled the crust mixture (reflected in recipe below) and  I used a good quality seedless raspberry jam, so I didn't have to go through the step of making my own raspberry filling. I saw that someone had recommended this in a comment on the original recipe... so smart. It saved at least 30 minutes and it didn't change the delicious-ness :)

Ignore the raspberries. Didn't use them! 

does anything bad ever start with an Oreo crust? Debatable. 

Melt the white chocolate in a 'double boiler' (aka a glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water)

Yum. It was so delicious... and because it's so rich, it can serve a lot of people!

I baked it in a springform pan wrapped in foil (so water can't get in) and then put into a big Pyrex with about 1 inch of water. This helps the cheesecake stay moist and not crack.

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, 4 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.
4. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan. Serve with remaining raspberry sauce.

broiled blood oranges

Aren't these babies beautiful?

and look at the inside:

Blood oranges are a variety of orange (hello, captain obvious), but they have a pigment that other oranges don't which gives them that purpley color. (Bonus: the specific pigment fights free radicals!)

They taste more intense... less sweet, almost like berries.

Anyways, try one. They're so yummy and also beautiful!

I've been hearing about broiling citrus for a little while now, so I decided blood oranges would be perfect to try.

I melted about a tablespoon of butter and then mixed in enough sugar to make a paste. I sprinkled some cardamom and cinnamon in there and then spread it on top of the orange halves.

I put the broiler on (I used the low setting) and put those babies on a cookie sheet and slid them in.

Wait five minutes... and ta-da. YUM. The sugar caramelized....

Next, I want to try putting the paste on the segments instead of halves. Such a fun and yummy dessert.

Chai Latte Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I saw a picture of some cupcakes that were decorated like they came from Starbucks on Pinterest and an idea was born!:

compliments of this blog :)

My dear friend, Meg, and I have a thing for Starbucks chai lattes. She's a teacher too (she's my mentor!) so we adore those early mornings when an icy chai can help us get through :)

She's also VERY pregnant right now, so I wanted to make these for her baby shower. Unfortunately, I noticed them too late and a cake was already ordered. So... I made them for my kiddos!

I've mentioned before that everytime my students spell out the word compliment (they get each letter by getting praised in the hallway or doing a great job at specials), I bake for them. I've got several kiddos who don't LOVE chocolate... so I've tried to be considerate of them and not make everything chocolate... although I want to. I badly want to.

I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website and was a little skeptical.  I am SO glad I made them though... my kids thought they were AMAZING. They earn one sticker a day for good behavior; I had several kiddos offer up 20 stickers for one more. That means they were crazy good; my kids are greedy sticker-getters.

And yes, Meg did get one :) And she loved it.

Ingredients:

• 1 box french vanilla cake mix and all the ingredients listed on the back of the box (eggs, water, oil)
• 3 tablespoons chai latte mix (I have a big canister from Trader Joe's)
• Extra nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom if you like it spicy!

Frosting:

• 1 can buttercream icing
• cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom to mix in.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Line your cupcake pan with liners or spray with cooking spray.
• Make the cake mix as directed, mixing in the chai mix with the batter.
• Pour into liners (2/3 full!) and then put into oven for time on back of box.
• Let cool and then mix frosting up. Ice them however you want :)
• I did frost some with a pastry bag and tip, but I frosted several with just a knife. A lot of my kids wanted the less-iced ones, surprisingly.

best brownies ever... continued :)

I'm at that stage in my life where it seems ALL of my friends either are pregnant, have just had a baby, or they really want to have a baby. While I do love babies, I'm enjoying being able to give the child back to their mama at the end of a few minutes ;)

Anyways, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine had a beautiful baby boy, David, and I brought her & her husband dinner and these brownies. Both her and her husband agreed they were the best brownies ever... so yummy. So I had to make them again for her... and I decided to actually document it.

The best part is that you mix everything together in ONE pot and then pour it into a baking pan and GO. Love it.

Step one: melt the butter!

Step two: Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Step three: Pour into pan. I chopped up some left over Christmas candy and threw that in. Just for kicks :) I used Snickers, Baby Ruth... and some Butterfingers.

And the icing is a snap to put together. Melt the butter a little bit in the microwave and then mix everything else in. YUMMO.

Ingredients:

Brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1//2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Frosting:

• 3 tbsp. butter (a little melty)
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour into greased pan. 
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center.
4. While the brownies are baking, combine all frosting ingredients and pour over brownies after they've cooled about 10 minutes (still warm!)

one of my better ideas

Another thing we do when we go to Grandma's is go to farm markets... Since I was little (long before AJ came along), she would take us to local orchards or farms to buy produce and other goods. I love that. I can't wait to do that with my kiddos.

My grandma lives in south-central PA right on the border of Maryland. I swear they have the BEST peaches and apples there. AMAZING. 

There are also lots of little farm markets around her house... she lives in an amazing little chunk of America... anyway, sorry... off my platform. I find all these amazing things at these markets: every-flavor gummy you can imagine (PARADISE.), apple cider donuts, snack mixes, homemade honeys and jams, and random stuff like ice cream sandwich cookies?

cover that in Nutella, and I'll take it!

This is one of the best ideas ever:

carmelita bars

I think I've mentioned before that there are several blogs I check daily for yummy ideas, and Brown Eyed Baker is definitely one. A few weeks ago, she posted this recipe for oatmeal carmelita bars... Doesn't that sound DELISH?

I had to make them. I actually had to make a double batch.

The doubled recipe means: 4 cups flour, 3 cups brown sugar, and 4 cups of oats... Imagine me stuffing that in my KitchenAid mixer, praying it doesn't explode. It didn't... just got a little messy ;) My mixer's a champ.

butter and sugar making friends :)

more flour! Yikes!

here's where we got REALLY messy... add the oatmeal and hope for the best :)

They were SO good. I'm not going to post the recipe, because you can go directly to her site... but here's the final push for you to try these:

How can you resist? 

I brought these to several gatherings, and they were a hit every time. So many different flavors... such a good combination :)

pecan pie bars

Pecan pie is my husband's favorite dessert (close tie with pineapple upside down cake... which I have yet to master)... and this recipe for pecan pie bars is heavenly!

Sandy's Pecan Pie Bars
Makes 12 bars

• Butter-flavored cooking spray
• 24 pecan shortbread cookies (such as Pecan Sandies)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, divided use
• 1¼ cups packed dark brown sugar
• ⅓ cup light-colored ("white") corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 2 cups pecans, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preliminaries: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Make cookie base: Pulse cookies in food processor until crumbs. Cut 1 stick (½ cup) butter into pieces, and pulse with crumbs until together they form a mass. Lightly pat mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake 15 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack. Leave oven on.

Make the topping: In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ½ cup butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and whipping cream. Cook and stir over medium heat, until boiling. Let boil 1 minute, and remove from heat. Stir in pecans and vanilla.

Final baking: Pour pecan mixture over the cooled base. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until bubbling.

Presentation: Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars, and serve.

Source: Adapted from "Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Desserts 2," (SLSH Enterprises Inc., 2008).

coconut macaroons

Coconut macaroons are SO easy. And... with my experience... really impress people. It's kind of funny. I can spend hours (literally.) on a recipe and people won't really comment on it... and then I spend like 10 minutes whipping up (haha!) coconut macaroons and people swoon. WHAT?!

This is the recipe I used:

Mix all of the dry ingredients together... I just used a spoon. Don't maul it. 

Then you stir in the wet ingredients... again, just stir. Don't mix it like a crazy lady.

And everything is so happy together!

Grab a tablespoon and scoop onto a greased cookie sheet. They can be close together, because they really don't spread at all.

Bake for 18-20 minutes in a 325 degree oven... until the bottoms of the cookies are getting golden!

And then...if you want to get really fancy, melt some chocolate and drizzle!

Yes, I ate one right after drizzling. Judge not.

They are SO easy and SO good.

best brownies ever..

I think I've mentioned before my husband does not like chocolate. So... that pretty much messes me all up. I love chocolate. I made these brownies a few nights ago on a whim... and (drum roll, please!) my husband LOVED them... like ate more than half the pan LOVED. Make themmmmmmm!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-brownies/detail.aspx

Spritz!

I made the first batch of Christmas cookies the other day... and they were SPRITZ. They freeze very well, so they're put away now... These are my mama's favorite, so I'm trying to save them for her!

Mainly because they freeze well... and because I love my cookie press.

I have a Williams-Sonoma press I got as a wedding present, and I LOVE it. The recipe inside the box is very easy to follow and I haven't had any problems with the press working when I've used this recipe. The dough does need to be room temperature... I usually set out my butter and eggs a few hours before starting.

pretty little snowflakes.

Christmas trees :)

Recipe:

• 16 tbsp. butter (2 sticks!)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 cups sifted AP flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make sure everything's at room temperature!
2. In your mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed for about two minutes, until light and fluffy. 
3. Add egg, vanilla, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed, about one minute. 
4. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour. Beat ONLY one minute, just until blended. 
5. Fill your cookie press with the dough. Follow the instructions in the box to press them onto an ungreased sheet.
6. Bake 11-12 minutes until light golden brown. Put the entire baking sheet on a cooling rack for five minutes. Then transfer your cookies to another cooling rack. Decorate as you wish :)

cinnamon sugar popcorn

I have become a wee bit obsessed with making popcorn. It's my new favorite snack.

I found a recipe the other day for cinnamon sugar popcorn and had to try it quickly! It did not go as well as planned.

The recipe went well... for a while.

You start off by melting some butter and then stir the sugar in (I also added a tiny bit of vanilla). After it's dissolved, you put the corn kernels in and wait for them to pop.

At this point in the recipe, my kitchen smelled amazing. The sugar and the butter mixed with a teeny bit of vanilla... YUMMMM.

Here's the problem: I think I had the stove temperature too low as the popcorn didn't start popping for a good 10 minutes. That results in: burned sugar.

The non-burned pieces were pretty stinkin' good, though!

 I'll try again shortly and let you know how it goes :)

caramel cake with chocolate frosting

A week or so ago, I found a caramel cake mix at the grocery store. CARAMEL? I have never seen a caramel cake mix before! I was intrigued, thus I obviously had to buy it!

It's been sitting in my pantry for a while now... and I've been racking my brain to figure out what to do with it... thinking of flavor combinations.

Two or three days ago, I gave up. I googled it. And I found this beauty. I read the reviews and adjusted accordingly and OH. MY. WORD. And bonus! It was crazy easy to put together. And I may have eaten quite a few spoonfuls of the caramel cake dough... it was so delicious.

Here's the dough patted into a 13"x9" pan. The dough is really thick!

While that was baking, I found a recipe for chocolate frosting. I whipped it up (literally, haha) and WOW.

Beat the butter... and then you'll mix in your milk and sifted cocoa/sugar mixture. YUM. Add the very end, you mix in one teaspoon of vanilla. 

I thought you might need a close up of the icing. 

And then... putting two amazing things together:

So yummy. It was one of those things where I gave AJ a bite, and we just stood there making 'ooh' and 'ahh'  noises for a few minutes. I am going to buy another caramel cake mix SOON! You should too!

P.S. Is it care-a-mel or car-a-mel?

Here's the recipe for the caramel cake:

• 1 package caramel cake mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup (firmly packed!) brown sugar
• 6 tbsp. butter or margarine
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 13x9 pan.

Step 2: Combine EVERYTHING but the chocolate chips and mix it all together for a few minutes (until it's blended together) and then stir in the chocolate chips. IT IS REALLY THICK and it's supposed to be like that. Spread into the greased pan.

Step 3: Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center. Mine took 24 minutes. 

And the icing:

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
• 6 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons milk (the recipe called for evaporated milk, but I'm not going to open up a can of that and not finish it, so I used skim milk... and it was still AMAZING)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Step 1: In a medium-sized bowl, sift the sugar and cocoa together.

Step 2: Cream the butter in your mixer until it's smooth. Alternate adding the sugar/cocoa and the milk until everything is added. Mix it up well!

Step 3: Add the vanilla and continue frosting until it's whipped up nicely. 

Step 4: Try it to make sure it's okay :)