Maple Cinnamon Rolls

Maple Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

I do love sweets and these Maple Cinnamon Rolls are a perfect fit. After Fran and I had our children we started a  family tradition of having cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning. Even now that our kids have grown up and have their own families we still carry on that tradition.

Every year we buy Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls and pop them in the oven on Christmas morning. All these years I've never tried to make my own cinnamon rolls from scratch before. Yesterday I decided to practice and give it a try.

As you can see from the picture my practice run at this was a huge success. These maple cinnamon rolls are melt in your mouth delicious. After making these there will be no more store bought cinnamon rolls for me, not that Pillsbury doesn't make a delicious cinnamon, roll I'm now hooked on homemade.

I made these in three stages the dough, filling, and the icing following is how I managed all of this.

The Dough:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon honey

I mixed the warm water and yeast in my you guessed my KitchenAid mixing bowl. Next in a small pan combined the milk and butter, bring this to a boil and remove it from the heat to cool.

While the milk and butter cooled I beat the two eggs in a small bowl and added the salt and honey to the warm water and yeast. Now add the milk to the water and yeast, and then add the sugar.

I began to add the flour one cup at a time while the mixer was on low speed. After the dough is formed, knead it on a floured surface a few times and put back in bowl cover it and let rise. While the dough was rising I mixed my filling in another bowl.

The Filling:

1/2 cup butter melted (To be brushed on the dough)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
Raisins or chopped nuts (Optional)

Mix the two sugars and cinnamon in the bowl and reserve the butter to brush on the dough later. Roll out the dough to about 16 inches by 10 inches and brush it with the melted butter. I didn't use all of the melted butter so you may have some left over.

I covered the dough with the filling saving a little for the top of rolls after I sliced them. Roll the dough into a log pinch the ends together then carefully cut one-inch slices.

I prepared a 13" x 9" glass baking dish by brushing the bottom with melted butter and sprinkling it with sugar. Place the rolls into the baking dish close together I got 16 rolls in the baking dish.

Cover the baking dish and them rise for about 30 minutes. Now sprinkle the remaining filling on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on the middle rack.

Maple Cinnamon Roll Icing

4 tablespoons softened or melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Maple extract or Vanilla (I used Maple)
5 tablespoons milk (room temperature)

Whisk or mix together until combined and it looks like a glaze.  After they come out of the oven let them cool just a bit and then spoon on the icing.

You can make these ahead of time after you slice them you freeze these delightful cinnamon rolls and have them whenever you want. These are great for breakfast or anytime treat.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

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Pillsbury Best All Purpose Flour, 5 lb.Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast, 3 pk, 0.75 oz PacketDomino Sugar, Granulated, 4LB CanisterNature Nate's 100% Pure, Raw and Unfiltered Honey, 32 OunceDomino Premium Pure Cane Light Brown Sugar, 1 lbSimply Organic Ground Cinnamon, 2.08 OunceSun Maid Natural California Raisins, 4.5-Pounds PackageFISHER Chef’s Naturals Chopped Walnuts, 32 Ounce

Fresh Tomato Spinach Pizza

I'm always in the mood for pizza, especially if I'm making my own. There is just something special about making pizza with fresh ingredients. This is an easy fresh spinach pizza recipe.

Get my fresh dough recipe from my older post here: How to Make Homemade Pizza. This recipe yields me about three smaller pizzas or two large ones.

So I whipped up the batch of dough in my KitchenAid stand mixer and was waiting for it to rise. Fran knew we had some fresh tomato, baby spinach, fresh mozzarella, and feta cheese in the refrigerator. We always like to experiment with fresh ingredients, and pizza is so versatile that way you can use just about anything you want.

Here is what we used and how we made this fresh spinach pizza. The amount will depend on your taste. We really didn't measure anything we just added these fresh ingredients as we went along.

Easy Homemade Pizza Recipe:

• Roll out the dough in your pizza pan and brush it will olive oil
• Next, add fresh sliced tomatoes, enough to cover the  dough
• Layer on some fresh feta cheese
• Now add some fresh baby spinach all over the top
• Add some sliced mozzarella
• Sprinkle fresh basil and some Italian seasoning
• Season to your taste with garlic, salt, and pepper.

Our pizza ready to go in the oven

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees and baked this on the middle rack for 16 minutes. Then moved the pizza to the bottom rack for another 3 minutes just to make sure the bottom was golden brown.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

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Oatmeal Craisin Muffins

I must be in the muffin making mode this month, with my last post-Muffin Tin Apple Pie and now with these Oatmeal Craisin Muffins.

I like a good muffin and these are certainly great for breakfast. Oh! who I'm I kidding I like muffins any time of the day or night. The fall weather seems to put me in the right mood for baking, so I decided to try something different. I used Craisins but you could use raisins, chocolate chips, blueberries or any fruit you desire.

I started off by using the basic ingredients from my Quick Cheddar Cheese Muffins with a few changes of course.

Here is what I used to make Oatmeal Craisin Muffins:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup butter (5 tablespoons) softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup of white sugar (Plus a little more to sprinkle on top later)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups Quaker Oats (Quick Oats or Old Fashioned)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray Craisins

Here is how I made my best oatmeal muffins:

In a large mixing bowl, I combined the flour, baking powder, butter, salt, and sugar. Using my KitchenAid Stand Mixer I turned it on low speed using the flat beater bar and let these combine.

In another bowl, I whisked together the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey. Add this to the dry ingredients, and then add the oats, milk, and craisins. Continue on low speed until you have a nice batter as you see in the picture below.

Spoon this batter into greased muffin tins almost to the top. I sprinkled about a teaspoon of sugar on top of each one. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes on the middle rack.

Ready for the oven

Out of the oven

This recipe yielded 18 oatmeal craisin muffins, they are moist inside with a nice firm sugar coating on top. Serve these for breakfast or anytime for a snack, you might even call this oatmeal muffin recipe healthy.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Muffin Tin Apple Pie

The nights are starting to get cooler and perfect for our family campfires. We had our usual fire on Friday night and I had some apple pie filling left over from our Mountain Pies. It wasn't enough to make a whole pie but I didn't want to waste it, so I made these muffin tin apple pies.

I had this idea to make some mini apple pies and decided to use muffin tins. Also, I wanted to use a different pie crust, I follow Connie Murray @Happybellyfoodie.com.

Back in May of this year, Connie posted this recipe, Butter Crust Chicken Pot Pie. Ever since I read this post I've wanted to try her pie crust recipe so here was my opportunity.

When you read Connie's recipe you'll see that she made the crust in a food processor using chilled butter. I used a  KitchenAid stand mixer so I thought it best to have the butter at room temperature.

Other than that I followed her instructions perfectly and what a wonderful crust this makes, you can get this recipe by clicking the above link for her Chicken Pot Pie, and enjoy so many more of her amazing recipes.

Here is how I made these muffin tin apple pies: 

After rolling the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick I used a glass top with a 3 1/2 inch diameter to cut perfect circles.

Norpro Wood Pastry/Pizza Roller

To roll out my dough I use this handy Norpro Pastry/Pizza dough roller. I think this handy tool gives you much more control than using a rolling pin.

I've used one of these for many years and it really makes rolling out your pastry and pizza dough an easy task.

Then I greased a muffin tin and carefully pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides.

I filled these with my apple mixture, oh and by the way I added 1 tablespoon of sugar and sprinkled some cinnamon into the apples while I made the pie crust. Then I cut tops for these using a 2 1/2 inch glass top and pressed them together. Adding a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on top, then cut two slices on the top of each one as a vent.

These baked at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until the crust was golden brown. They came out of the muffin tins very easily and cooled on a wire rack.

Connie's pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky and melts in your mouth, Thank You, Connie.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Buttery Garlic Rolls

Easy Garlic Rolls

Today in Western New York the temperature was 85 degrees with high humidity, but that didn't stop me from turning on the oven to make these easy garlic rolls.

My grandmother made something similar to this every time she made pizza she would make these wonderful garlic knots. I decided to change it up a bit and make it simple, just butter, garlic, and some parmesan cheese.

Here is what I used for the dough:

1 cup lukewarm water plus 2 tablespoons
1 package dry yeast
1-1/2 tablespoon butter (softened)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour

I decided to use butter for this dough instead of oil or shortening, so I didn't add any salt. I added the water, yeast, butter, and sugar in my KitchenAid mixing bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes to let the yeast begin to bubble.

Then added the flour and turned the mixer on low speed. I started out with just one cup of water but the dough wasn't coming together so I added two more tablespoons of water. Then finished mixing the dough by hand on a floured surface,

I covered the dough and let it rise for a little over an hour

 Now I have to tell you this funny story that my cousin told me a couple of weeks ago.

 My mother was baking a cake and she called my aunt and said: "Christy do you have any minus" my aunt replied: "Helen what are you talking about" my mother said: "this recipe calls for 2 cups of water minus 2 tablespoons, and I don't have any minus" Oh! you had to know my mother and aunt, I just couldn't stop laughing.

Okay back to the garlic rolls, Here is what I used for the rolls:

4 cloves fresh garlic chopped fine
3 tablespoons butter melted
Garlic Powder
Parmesan Cheese

I spread the dough on 11x17 greased cookie sheet, brushed the butter on top, spread the garlic, and then sprinkled some garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

I rolled this into a log and cut 1/2 inch pieces

I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, brushed some more butter on top and sprinkled some more Parmesan cheese. Bake these for 15 minutes until golden brown.

They came out nice and crispy with a buttery flavor and garlic in every bite. These make a great addition to your favorite pasta or just as a snack dipped in marinara sauce.

These are a perfect fit for garlic bread dinner rolls

As always thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy!!

Pillsbury Best All Purpose Flour, 5 lb.Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast, 3 pk, 0.75 oz PacketDomino Sugar, Granulated, 4LB CanisterChef'n GarlicZoom Garlic Chopper (X-Large)