Monkey Bread

When I was little my  mother used Bridgeford Rolls from the supermarket freezer section to make small buttery rolls nicknamed ‘Monkey Bread’.  To this day those rolls are a staple at our Thanksgiving dinner every year.  They take all afternoon and are essentially just rolls cut in half, dipped in melted butter and left to rise throughout the afternoon, but they are delicious.  Simply put: there are never any leftovers.

The Bridgeford Rolls however no longer have that simple roll on their packaging and have since replaced their original “Monkey Bread'” recipe with a Monkey Bread that is of the more traditional kind, rolls dipped in butter, rolled in cinnamon and sugar and combined in one fashion or another with butterscotch pudding.  I have tried the Bridgeford Monkey Bread but was unimpressed when all the hard work led to a sweet roll that I thought was lacking in some fundamental way.

But then a couple of weeks ago I came across a recipe that called for refrigerated biscuit dough in place of frozen rolls.  I was instantly interested, and at my next grocery excursion picked up several types and brands of biscuit dough.  You see, we don’t generally do refrigerated biscuits around here and I was unsure which to go with when presented with so many options at the local market.  I went with both the store brand original and the Pillsbury Buttermilk for variety.  Then I came home and experimented six times over the next two weeks.  I learned that with this bread, that simple was synonymous with unsurpassable.  I also, no surprise here, gained three pounds.  But now I have perfected them.  No need to thank me.  Just try them for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

This recipe is scrumptious but it also comes together in as little as 30 minutes from start to finish, which makes it even better.  To save your forearms from scrubbing duty turn the bread out onto aluminum foil immediately after baking and rinse your pan.

Monkey Bread

Ingredients

2 pkgs. refrigerated biscuit dough

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans.

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Spray 9 inch round cake pan.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in a gallon size Ziploc bag.
2. Open packages or biscuits and quarter them.
3. Taking about 8-10 of them at a time, drop them into the cinnamon mixture and shake vigorously to coat.  Drop them in greased pan.  Repeat until all of the biscuit dough is coated.
4. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
5. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the brown sugar.  Bring to a boil and pour over the rolls.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Turn onto aluminum foil and enjoy.

Oatmeal Pancakes

I have been experimenting with several different pancakes recipes lately.  I thought of doing a week of pancakes but that is too much even for a pancake fan like myself.  I am just so excited with myself for finally being able to make pancakes, for the longest time I just avoided them.  I am still the world’s worst pancake flipper, but at least they taste good.

I wanted to get these posted for National Pancake day, but then I got confused as to when exactly National Pancake Day occurred.  Then I got busy, extremely busy, and either misplaced several days of my week or rushed through them so quickly I have no recollection of them.  So here I am, a week later, finally sharing this delicious recipe.  It only makes about 8 pancakes so if you have children or significant others who might want any, you may want to double the recipe.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp canola oil

1 egg

Directions

1. Mix flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in food processor until smooth.  Add buttermilk, vanilla, oil and egg.
2. Heat griddle to 350*.  Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter onto griddle for each pancake.  Flip when pancakes start to have air bubbles around edges and cook on opposite side for another minute or two.

Nutty Pancakes

In January, probably when we were snowed in, I made a Nut and Grain Pancake reminiscent of the delicious ones the folks at IHOP make.  Since then I have made these pancakes no less than six times.  I prefer them to any box pancake I’ve ever had but I’ve also been testing out buttermilk pancakes and I keep coming back to these.  They don’t seem to keep as well in the fridge as your run of the mill buttermilk batter but my kids love them so much that we never have any leftovers.

I have altered them a tad since first making them to include three types of nuts and Canola Oil in lieu of vegetable oil.  I also have designated several two-cup Ziploc containers for storing the different ground up nuts and oatmeal so that these are an even quicker breakfast to throw together for the kids.  Don’t let the list of ingredients deter you, these really do go together quickly and make for a hearty and delicious breakfast. 

Nutty pancakes

ingredients

3/4 cup ground Oatmeal

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups fat free buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ground almonds

2 tablespoons ground pecans

2 tablespoons ground walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat griddle to medium (roughly 350*) and spray with a cooking spray such as Pam or Baker’s Joy.  Spray between each batch of pancakes.
2. Grind outs in food processor thoroughly.
3. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl.
4. With an electric mixer combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg and sugar. Stir in dry ingredients followed by ground nuts.
5. Ladle 1/4 cup batter onto griddle and cook approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Note: You can use any combination of nuts but I wouldn’t add more than 6 tablespoons as it will dry out the batter too much making these pancakes dry and crumbly.

Orange Rolls

Ever since I was a young girl I have been a Pillsbury Orange Roll fanatic. No kidding, I can finish off an entire package of those rolls by myself and the strange thing is I don’t even like oranges or orange juice. Now that we have children who also love orange rolls, one package is just not enough. That fact coupled with several snow days and a gift of Hale Oranges from my grandmother had my curiosity peaked, and I spent last Saturday night looking up Orange Rolls.

There were not as many recipes as I would have thought but I did find a recipe with stellar ratings and went for it. Many sweet rolls take so much time due to prep work and rising that I altered this recipe to include the first rising the night before and then let the second rising happen over night in the fridge.

The result? A seriously surprising sweet for Sunday morning’s breakfast. The recipe said you would get 30 rolls but I barely got 24.

I made three different icings for the rolls. One was the original icing called for in the recipe which I did not care for at all and I scrapped it after making it but before covering the rolls with it. It tasted of nothing but butter. The second icing was a confectioner’s sugar, milk and freshly squeezed orange juice icing which is what we had on the first batch that morning for breakfast. However, I whipped up an even simpler confectioner’s sugar and milk icing for the second batch that I found just as pleasing. Where as the rolls themselves were a total success I think I may keep looking for an icing that really completes these rolls. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Orange Rolls

(borrowed from MizzNess from this wonderful site here)

Ingredients

(for rolls)

1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp Rapidrise Yeast)

1/4 cup water (~110*)

1 cup warm milk (~110*)

1/4 cup shortening

1 tsp salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

~3 3/4 cup all purpose flour

(for filling)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

2 tablespoons orange zest

(glaze)

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

4 tsp milk

2 tsp orange juice

directions

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in small bowl for about 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine milk, shortening, sugar, salt and egg. Add yeast.
3. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough and knead on floured surface for 8-10 minutes or with a dough hook in an electric mixer.
4. Grease a large bowl and place dough inside turning to cover dough with oil.
5. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down and divide in half. Roll each half out on a floured surface to 15x10 or there abouts.
7. Mix filling until smooth and spread evenly on each rectangle.
8. Roll up starting with long end and cut each into 12 rolls. Place rolls into 2 greased pans. Cover and let rise until doubled about 45 minutes or cover and refrigerate overnight. If refrigerating overnight take out the next morning long enough to take the chill off the dough.
9. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Mix glaze ingredients and spread over warm rolls.

Note : Remove these rolls from the pan almost immediately as they can stick to your pan and make clean-up more trouble than the rolls themselves.

I went to be anxious about waking up the next morning and eating these rolls. I’m crazy like that.

Banana Crumb Muffins

I am finding that what makes a good muffin a great muffin is the topping. And I am finding that the same basic five ingredients or so makes a wonderful topping. These muffins are good, but the topping makes these muffins…well, disappear.

I was going to freeze some of these muffins but they just didn’t make it long enough for the freezer test.

Banana Crumb Muffin

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

3 bananas ripe and mashed

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

Topping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1-2 tbsp. butter, softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with paper liners.
2. In large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk and set aside.
3. In separate bowl, mix bananas, sugars, oil, egg and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
4. In small bowl combine topping ingredients, cutting butter into dry ingredients until a crumble forms. Spoon batter into tins and sprinkle with crumb topping.
5. Bake in preheated oven 18-20 minutes. Cool on wire rack and enjoy.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

For years I have eaten Cinnamon Toast for breakfast and besides a Powdered Donut I’m not sure there is anything quicker to put together for breakfast. Before my last pregnancy I was eating four slices of Cinnamon Toast every morning for breakfast. I just love it.

Now I am trying to be a little healthier, I now enjoy one Cinnamon English Muffin on occasion. However, this week it’s all about muffins so I thought what the heck, why not attempt a muffin that channels one of my favorite things to have for breakfast?

I did in fact find several recipes, surprisingly enough, for cinnamon toast muffins. I combined two of them, making a few changes to make them a little more flavorful and hopefully a tad bit healthier. I think the result was rather successful and they were a big-BIG-hit with my taste testers, my two year old twins.

But then again, who can resist anything dipped in butter and rolled around in cinnamon and sugar?

Cinnamon sugar muffins

Ingredients:

(for muffins)

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup buttermilk (fat free)

1/3 cup applesauce

1 egg

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tbsp maple syrup

(for topping)

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup white sugar

4 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. In medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside. In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, applesauce, egg, sugar and maple syrup. Add dry mixture until combined being careful not to overmix.
3. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes. While muffins are baking melt butter in microwave or on stovetop over medium-low heat. Set aside to cool in a dish suitable for dipping muffin tops in. Mix cinnamon and sugar.
4. When muffins are done immediately remove from muffin pan and dip in melted butter. Roll muffin tops in cinnamon sugar topping and enjoy!

I enjoyed them so much that I dipped half eaten ones in the leftover cinnamon sugar. I might have a problem.

I was not looking forward to these muffins. Not that I was dreading them, I just wasn’t expecting great things from them. I was baking them because I recognize them as a popular choice for muffins, Martha White and Pillsbury have instant bran muffin mixes available and I just felt that I should give bran a try.

It was a huge surprise to me when as soon as they were cool enough to come out of the muffin pan I gobbled three of them up without the ability to stop myself or understand the trance I was under. I think it was the walnut pieces but I can’t be certain. However, I now understand why bran is a popular muffin choice. They are hearty and nutritious but also pack a surprisingly rewarding taste.

These are definitely being added to my muffin rotation. Quick, easy, delicious.

Bran Muffins

Prep time: 20 min

Bake time: 18-20 min

Yields: 1 dozen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups wheat bran (Kellogg’s All Bran Cereal)

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup applesauce

1 egg

2/3 cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup craisins

½ cup walnut pieces

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F . Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2.) Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.

3.) Beat together applesauce, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in craisins and walnuts; spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.

4.) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Note

You could use raisins, golden raisins, dates, pecans, or a variety of nuts or fresh or dried fruits to these muffins.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Sometimes I have an item I want to bake in my head but no recipe that meets that something. Does this ever happen to you? I decided that I would really like a coffee cake like muffin, heavy on the cinnamon and with a yummy streusel topping. So I glanced through cookbooks and searched the internet and just didn't find what I was truly after. Finally, I decided to use a sour cream coffee cake recipe as a base and work from there. The result was quite delicious. My two year old son put it quite simply after his first muffin, "More, more, more." That's exactly the way I was feeling.

I have frozen these and defrosted them overnight to wonderful results. I have also, because I am the Queen of Impatience, taken them straight from the freezer and just heated them wrapped in a paper towel with equally pleasing results. I have made another batch and just frozen them to have on hand when I am too lazy to make breakfast but want something more than cereal of a Fiber One bar.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

(muffins)

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup eggbeaters (or 2 large eggs)

1/2 cup light sour cream

1/2 cup fat free buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(topping)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pecans (fine pieces)

1/4 cup ground oatmeal

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line cups with baking liners.

2.) Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla; mix well.

3.) Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl; flours, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to cream mixture.

4.) Combine streusel topping in separate bowl, using pastry blender to cut butter into other ingredients.

5.) Put small dollop into each muffin tin, top with some of the streusel topping. Finish filling muffin tins with muffin batter.

6.) Bake in oven 18-20 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

To start off muffin week I felt as though I had to go with blueberry, the archetypal muffin, the tried and true, model muffin. Who doesn’t like a blueberry muffin? I mean, really, is there anyone alive and well whom doesn’t enjoy this moist and delicious palm sized bread?

If there is, I surely don’t want to know them.

I am only kidding. I would never judge a person for what they wouldn’t eat.

But I think it is safe to say, overall, that most people like a good blueberry muffin, right?

And this, this is more than a good blueberry muffin. It’s a great one. So there’ll be no problems then.

I went searching for a good blueberry muffin recipe last summer after I had myself an Elaine from Seinfeld moment and bought a muffin top pan. Of course the muffin top pan search was started the spring before that, after a winter long pregnancy induced obsession with Panera Bread Pumpkin Muffin Tops.

This muffin is very forgiving and flexible. I have made it as a mini muffin, as a large jumbo muffin, as regular muffins and thanks to my muffin top pan, as muffin tops. I have made it with applesauce, with canola oil, with vegetable oil. I have tried eggs and eggbeaters. I have added spices sometimes and taken away spices other times. And yet this muffin always turns out great.

Blueberry Muffins

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 to 25 min.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup applesauce (or Canola oil)

1 egg

1/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk if out)

1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2.) Combine flours, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place applesauce (or vegetable oil) into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3.) To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4.) Bake for 18-20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Note

Sift blueberries in flour so they don’t sink.

Nut and Grain Pancakes

I know this is a cookie blog but occasionally I want to try something new and it isn't going to fall into the cookie or bar genre but I am still going to want to share. Especially when that something new is absolutely delicious.

I don't do pancakes...usually. I am a waffle person. I can do waffles and I have them down to a science. But pancakes seem to baffle me. I am always making them too runny or too thick. They are either too done or runny or soft in the middle which makes me want to gag just a little. So I let my husband do pancakes and I do waffles.

That was until today. A few weeks ago after a 5k our family went to iHop and I choose pancakes when I usually go French Toast. The pancakes were Nut and Grain pancakes and they were so nutty and just wonderful. They had me wanting to go back to IHOP. Unfortunately, the service at the local IHOP is so bad that the pancakes weren't good enough to actually bring us back. But they did have me searching the internet for a recipe I could attempt here at home. I am proud to say that I found a few recipes I melded together and tried out this morning. They were possibly better than the IHOP because I got to eat them in my snowflake pajama pants and not even have to worry about how much to tip the waitress who we haven't seen since we ordered. I wasn't planning on posting them so I didn't take any photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it...they were pretty awesome.

So for tomorrow morning...

Nutty Pancakes.

3/4 cup Quaker oats (ground in food processor)

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup fat free buttermilk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tablespoons of ground walnuts and pecans

1. Heat griddle to medium high heat.

2. Combine ground oats, flour, soda, powder and salt.

3. In separate bowl combine buttermilk, oil, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar. Add flour mixture and nuts.

4. Pour 1/4 cup mix onto griddle and heat through on both sides.

5. Enjoy.

This made about 12 pancakes for me but depending on the size it could make more or less.