Posted on December 17th, 2007 in
Christmas Time,
Good Eats,
In the kitchen
I’ve spent most of the last few days up to my eyeballs in flour, sugar, and various other things associated with cooking. My kitchen spent the weekend covered in a fine layer of flour, cinnamon, and powdered sugar. I honestly believe that between Thursday and Sunday I used every single baking utensil (mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, etc) in my kitchen at least once and many of them multiple times. My Kitchenaid stand mixer is probably very grateful that it has been able to hang out in its cabinet all day long today.
On Thursday I embarked on a new kitchen adventure when I decided to try making homemade cinnamon rolls. I found a recipe at The Pioneer Woman Cooks a while back and have been planning to make them as part of the Christmas cooking. My original intention was to make enough to give as gifts but thought I should make enough to for us to try them out before I inflicted them on our unsuspecting friends. Let me just tell you, these things were amazing!
It took about three hours total (work and rise time) and made a huge mess, but when Matt, my cinnamon-roll-critic in residence, said how good they were I knew it was worth it. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, my unsuspecting friends will have to wait until another time to try them. The original recipe yields about 70 cinnamon rolls; I made 1/4 of the recipe and had 18 rolls, a pan-full perfect for weekend breakfasts.
These rolls are melt-in-your-mouth, slap-your-momma (figuratively, of course) good! They are not, by any means, low in calories, but, come on, it is Christmas time.
Here we are on batch number 5 – or is it 6…I’ve already lost count – of Chex mix. In the event that you are planning to make this at any point in your life, let me give you a couple of things to keep in mind:
1. There are directions on the box (usually) for cooking in the microwave. They fail to address the fact that if you cook it in a plastic bowl you will probably be eating plastic in addition to the Chex. Lesson learned last year when it burned a hole in the bottom of my Tupperware bowl.
2. Honey roasted peanuts sound like a great addition – just be sure you add them after the mix is removed from the oven. Baking honey roasted peanuts for an hour (even at low heat) causes the sugar to burn. Burnt honey roasted peanuts are not the flavor you’re going for.
3. This stuff is addictive. Thus the 4 (or 5) batches consumed over the last week or so by three people (one of whom is under three feet tall). Also the reason I can only make it during the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years.
Hope your enjoying your Christmas goodies as much as we are!
Last night Matt and I were in charge of dessert for our Life Group meeting, so we pulled out one of our all-time favorite fall cake recipes. It had been a couple of years since we made this particular cake, and I had forgotten just how wonderful it is. Enjoy for dessert, as a yummy breakfast treat with your coffee, or just as a tasty snack.
Ingredients:
5 apples (smallish) – peeled, cored, and sliced thin (we usually cut them into thin bite-size chunks)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
4 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
2. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer (or in stand mixer) for 15 minutes on high speed. Add oil and blend in.
4. Add flour mixture and mix well. Add vanilla and blend. Fold apples and nuts into batter.
5. Pour batter into prepared 9×13 inch pan.
6. In small bowl, combine 4 teaspoons white sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over cake prior to baking.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
I originally printed this recipe from allrecipes.com several years ago.
