Cinnamon Rolls Not From A Tube

See? This is why I knew I shouldn't make real cinnamon rolls.

I always do cinnamon rolls from the tube.

I know!! what a cheater!!!

But it's fast and easy on a Sunday morning when we're hurrying to get to church, but it's also a treat we only get on Sundays.

Except, today, I didn't have any of the tubey ones. And, in addition to that, we didn't have to hurry. We only have one service, and it's the late one. And then I found a recipe for *quicker* cinnamon rolls. Non-yeast ones. And I figured - why not?

So what's the problem? The kids really liked them. Proclaimed them the best evah. But I don't have time to do this every Sunday! I knew I shouldn't have started!

So, anyway, shhhh, don't tell Smonky I'm making these from scratch. It'll ruin my box/mix/tube/cheater reputation.



I started with this recipe for Jiffy Cinnamon Rolls ... and only made a few slugmomodifications today. Besides doubling it. This is it, as modified and doubled.

Quicker Cinnamon Rolls

INGREDIENTS

* 4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 2 cups water

* 1/2 cup butter, softened (yes, more!)
* 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

* 1.5 cup confectioners' sugar
* 4 oz cream cheese
* 3 T. softened butter
* 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 1 tsp milk or water

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in 1/2 cup butter or margarine until crumbly. Make a well in center, and pour in water. Stir to form a soft dough, adding a bit more water if needed. Actually, this was a bit too soft and sticky, and I added another 1/2 cup of flour. I recommend adding the water slowly.

2. Turn dough out on lightly floured surface. Knead 8 to 10 times. Roll into rectangle about 1/3 inch thick and 18 inches long. Spread the cinnamon mixture over dough rectangle. Roll up as for jelly roll. Mark first, then cut into 24 slices (using that magic dental floss trick is great). Place cut side down on parchment paper on a jellyroll pan.

3. Bake in 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

4. to make icing, blend together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk or water until light and fluffy. Frost cinnamon rolls while warm

Lemon-Cranberry Muffins

Breakfast Today is brought to you by the Letter Mmmmm

Super_bugs reminded me that it's almost fresh cranberry season.

There's a cranberry bog in Southern Michigan that I believe, if i were to get my act together, I could visit, with the children, at harvest time. I may try that this year.

In any case, with cranberries on my mind and dried cranberries in my cupboard, I decided to make these for breakfast:

Lemon-Cranberry Muffins

I started with this recipe for Raspberry Lemon Muffins, and then slugmomodified it as follows:

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup plain fat free yogurt
* scant 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice ~ used juice from 1 lemon
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1-1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon baking powder
* scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (bottled, plus what I scraped off the real lemon before I got tired of the effort)
* 1 cup dried cranberries
* 1/2 cup water


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin tins, or line with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, eggs, lemon extract, dried cranberries, and lemon zest. Use an immersion blender to chop up cranberries into yogurt mixture. Stir in 1/2 cup water.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended. Gently stir in the frozen raspberries. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.

4. Bake for 17 to 22 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack.

Mmmmmmmm Glazed Ribs

Thanks to InTheory for the link to this recipe, which I then (as usual) slugmomodified. I've got about 6 more rib recipes to try out this summer, I'd better get busy!



Glazed Ribs:

The original recipe is an Alton Brown recipe: Who Loves Ya Baby-Back?

Here's (more or less) what I did. I didn't have some of the spices, and didn't want to make it too spicy for the kids, and just winged all the measurements. So this is a post-cooking guestimate:

1 slab pork back ribs

Dry Rub:
4 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
1 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Kroger knock-off Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon rubbed thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Braising Liquid:
1/2 cup cooking sherry wine
1 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. - Alton's recipe is at 250 for longer, but I was running out of time. So I cooked them at 300 for about 1.5 hours total

In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Place slab of baby back ribs on a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, shiny side down. Sprinkle each side generously with the dry rub. Pat the dry rub into the meat. Refrigerate the ribs for a minimum of 1 hour. (I really only refrigerated them for about 15 minutes, due to the time thing, again. I'm a cheater) In a microwavable container, combine all ingredients for the braising liquid. Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Place the ribs on a baking sheet. Open one end of the foil and pour halthe braising liquid into foil packet. Tilt the baking sheet in order to equally distribute the braising liquid. Braise the ribs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. (like I said, mine were only 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 and a half hours at a higher temp)

Open the end of the foil and pour braising liquid into a medium/small saucepot. At this point I wasn't sure if I would have enough glaze, so I made another batch, using apple juice instead of cooking sherry/wine. Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce by half or until of a thick syrup consistency. Mine did not get thick like syrup when reduced, so in the end I let it cool below boiling, added 1 T. brown sugar and about a half T. cornstarch, whisked it in, and brought it back to a boil to thicken. that worked pretty well.

Brush the glaze onto the ribs. Place under the broiler just until the glaze caramelizes lightly. Slice each slab into 2 rib bone portions. Place the remaining hot glaze into a bowl and toss the rib portions in the glaze.

*I halved the whole recipe, so the rub ingredients listed are already halved. Alton says: If more rub is needed, it can be extended by any amount, as long as the ratio of 8:3:1:1 remains the same. I winged the ratio kind of loosely.

MadCityDad's Skillet Blueberry Cobbler

MadCityDad's Skillet Blueberry Cobbler
From MadCityDad on the Smack




ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries, divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest*
1 tablespoon lemon juice*
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg



1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt*
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract




Directions:
In a nonstick, ovenproof 10-inch skillet** (see note below) over medium heat, melt the butter. Add 2 cups of the blueberries with 1/4 cup of the sugar, stirring frequently until the mixture has the consistency of jam, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.



Add the remaining 2 cups of blueberries, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and nutmeg to the cooked berries and stir to combine. Make sure all of the whole berries are evenly coated.



In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Combine the melted butter, milk, and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients. Continue to mix until well combined, scraping down the sides once. There may still be some lumps. Drop the batter over the fruit in large spoonfuls starting in the middle and working out to the sides, leaving a 1-inch border of exposed fruit around the outside edge. It will seem like there is a shortage of batter, but it will expand while baking.

Baking instructions:
Cook over Indirect Medium heat (about 350°F) for 20 minutes. For even cooking, carefully rotate the pan 90 degrees, being careful because the fruit mixture will be bubbling up. Continue to bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the crust comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes more.

Place the skillet on a wire rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve while still warm or at room temperature and top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, or vanilla yogurt if desired.

* I did not remember to buy unsalted butter, so I used salted and omitted the salt
* I also had issues with my lemon zest. Next time I'll just use the bottled dried stuff or get a real zester gadget.

** An oven-safe skillet is NOT necessary for this! If you don't have one, make the blueberry goo in a skillet, then transfer to a nonstick or greased oven-safe pan. A 9" cake pan or 10" pie plate would work, or a square pan. Feel free to explore the world of pans in your cupboard. :-)

Makes 6 to 8 servings

If You Give a lVloose A Muffin ...

Friday Morning's Muffins are brought to you by the letter, um, lVl

These lVloose-inspired muffins are as buttery as overpriced fancy lipstick, but without the excessive cost. As shiny as lipgloss, but sweeter on the lips, and much nicer to kiss. If you're into kissing muffins, that is.



Lemon Butter Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons dried lemon peel + 2 tsp. real lemon extract (or 4 T. fresh lemon rind, freshly grated)
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups flour, unsifted
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt

glossy glaze:
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Grease 2 muffin tins well. Stir lemon juice, eggs and lemon rind into melted butter. In another bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt; make a well in the center. Stir in egg mixture and blend until well moistened. Pour into muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 24 muffins.

while muffins cook, whisk sugar and lemon juice together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer and whisk 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Brush glaze over tops of muffins while warm.

Notes: I reduced the salt to 1.5 tsp from 2 tsp and they were still a bit saltier than needed, so I reduced it more for this posting. Also ... the batter puffed right away. I'm sure it was some magic baking powder and lemon juice science. But they seem to have spent their puff a little too soon for the baking, they did not rise much beyond the initial puff, and some fell. So ... I'll have to ask my chemist father how to adjust that. But, despite those minor problems, these tasted great. The recipe was very similar to a pound cake recipe, only in quick-cooking muffin form, and with more liquid.

Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter Muffins

Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter Muffins



3 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp salt
2.5 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey (or agave nectar)
2 Tbs flax seed, ground (optional)
3 cups water or rice milk or milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (use a vegan brand of chocolate to make these vegan muffins)

mix dry ingredients, then blend in peanut butter until the mixture is a grainy texture

Mix honey and water and add, mix to blend, then stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into a nonstick-lined 9x13 pan

Bake 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees

Cut into 24 square muffins

you can also bake in muffin tins, reduce time to 18-25 minutes

Cinnamon Toast Cake

Careful, it's still kind of hot.



Modified from a Real Food Digest recipe

2 cups white whole wheat flour (substitute AP flour to unhealthify)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 T. cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 cup rice milk (or regular milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup applesauce (oil, to unhealthify)
1 Tbsp flax, ground + 2 T. water (or sub 1 egg)

~3 T. granulated sugar for topping
cinnamon for topping

preheat oven to 350 degress.
combine dry ingredients & wet ingredients separately. Mix together until well incorporated. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan (or use an excellent nonstick liner!) and sprinkle cinnamon and granulated sugar over the top.
Bake for ~25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

less healthified topping: instead of topping as above, use 2 T. butter. While cake is hot, poke all over with a toothpick or fork and rub butter over the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.