Easy Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Easter morning but knew that I would be spending most of the day in the kitchen so I wanted an easy recipe that didn't involve making dough. I had seen some posts on Pinterest and combined a couple of ideas and made these cinnamon rolls! They came together in minutes and were so good!

I will be making them more often!

1 can of buttermilk canned biscuits (Mine had 8 in them)

Some butter to spread

Cinnamon

Brown Sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

5-6 Tablespoons Heavy Cream

Make sure your counter or work surface is clean. Open the canned biscuits and lay them out. Roll each one out just a little bit. Spread some butter onto each roll. Sprinkle with cinnamon and then brown sugar-no measurements here, just whatever you feel like. Roll each biscuit up and cut into 3 equal portions. Place the 3 portions in a buttered muffin tin. Cook according to package directions.

While the rolls are baking, make the drizzle. Combine the powdered sugar and heavy cream in a bowl and whisk until smooth. If drizzle is too thick, add more cream. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar.

When the rolls are done baking, let them cool for just a minute and then cover them with the drizzle and enjoy!

Buttermilk Waffles

Once a weekend I try and cook a big homemade breakfast for my family. In the past, to speed things up, I have always used mixes, but I never get the fluffy, perfect pancake or waffle. Until I found this recipe in Everday Food Magazine. These are the perfect, fluffy waffle!!! And I even got to bust out my Belgian Waffle maker that my cute husband bought me for Christmas!

It was nice to make the batter from scratch, but did take a few minutes to measure everything out. And when I'm hungry, I hate waiting for food. So to speed things up for me, I have taken all of the dry ingredients for this waffle recipe and put them in a Ziploc bag with the remaining wet ingredients and instructions written on it! So my big weekend breakfast will be ready in minutes!

Buttermilk Waffles

2 cups flour (spooned and leveled out)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

Vegetable oil for waffle iron (Or use a cooking spay)

Waffle Toppings

Preheat oven to 275 degrees, set a rack on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter and eggs. Add flour mixture and mix just until batter is combined. Heat waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions, brush with oil or spray with cooking spray. Pour batter onto iron, leaving 1/2 inch border on all sides. Close iron, cook until waffles are golden brown and crisp, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to rack in oven to keep warm, repeat with remaining batter. Serve waffles with toppings!

Orange Rolls and A Secret

I have a secret...I am afraid to eat oranges! There was an incident when I was about 12 years old where an orange was thrown up on me and I haven't had one since! It's sad, I know but I just have that image and smell stuck in my head and I can't eat them. I saw these orange rolls on THIS blog and figured since just the peel was in them I could eat them and I am so glad that I made them! I made them for desert even though they seem more of a breakfasty item! They were warm, orangey, gooey and wonderful!

EASY BUTTERFLAKE ORANGE ROLLS

12 Rhodes Texas Rolls, thawed but still cold
zest from 1 large orange
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions:

Cut each Texas roll into 5 equal pieces. Flatten each piece slightly. In a small bowl, combine orange zest and sugar. Dip both sides of each roll piece into butter and then orange sugar mixture. Stack five pieces together and place, on their sides, in a well sprayed muffin cup. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and place on cooling rack. Combine icing ingredients and mix well. Brush over rolls while still warm.

*** I made 14 rolls and needed to double the butter and cinnamon sugar ingredients!

The Perfect Cinnamon Roll

I'm a sucker for a good pastry and I'm pretty sure that cinnamon rolls are my favorite! My mom used to make us cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings before church when I was growing up so that might be why I like them so much.

This year I was asked to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and I thought, no problem. Except that I had never them from scratch before, I usually just pop the tube open and cook them in the toaster oven. But I really wanted to make them from scratch so I found a great recipe. The day before Christmas I made the dough. It didn't rise. So I tried the same recipe again, and it didn't rise. I was getting mad at this point so I pulled out every cookbook I own and looked for another recipe. I couldn't really find one that I liked. That is until I pulled out my Kitchen Aid mixer booklet. I found some recipes in the back of the booklet and decided to try the Basic Sweet Dough recipe. Well it worked! The rest of the recipe is a combination of other recipes that I liked and I think that together, the 3 recipes make the perfect cinnamon rolls!

They are well worth the work and the wait!

Dough:

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 packages active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

3 eggs, at room temp.

5 1/2-6 1/2 cups flour

Place milk, sugar, salt and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in warm water in warm mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture, eggs and 5 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix 2 minutes. Continuing on Speed 2 add remaining flour (I only use another 1/2 cup) and mix 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 another 2 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover. Let rise in warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size.

While the dough rises go ahead and make filling and the cream cheese frosting.

Filling:

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

Combine in small bowl.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese

2 tablespoons milk

3 cups powdered sugar

Using your paddle attachment, cream all ingredients together until smooth. Place in fridge until ready to frost cinnamon rolls.

When dough has doubled size, place on floured surface. Roll dough to a 10X24 inch rectangle. Spread 1/2 stick softened butter over the dough then coat with the filling mixture. Roll dough tightly from long side to form 24 inch roll, pinching seam together. Cut into 24 slices, 1 inch each. Place 12 rolls each in two greased 13x9 inch pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and then frost. Serve warm or when ready to eat nuke each cinnamon roll in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

Homemade Frozen Waffles

I love waffles on the weekends, but hate getting up to make them. I have to admit that my hubby has had more Eggos than homemade. So I decided to make a batch of homemade waffles and freeze them. That way, I can sleep in yet still eat homemade waffles! I got the recipe from
Solid Gold Cooking. After you cook the waffles, let them cool completely and then put in freezer bags. To reheat them, place them in your toaster oven and enjoy waffles!


3 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour (wheat or white)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Beat whites until light and fluffy and soft peaks form. Combine wet ingredients. Combine dry ingredients, then combine with wet. VERY GENTLY fold in whites. Cook on hot waffle iron.

Biscuits N Gravy

Biscuits N Gravy is my husband's favorite breakfast of all time! When we first got married I had never tasted or heard of Biscuits N Gravy, so I had to call my mother-in-law and have her tell me how to make them. When she told me how to make the gravy, she told me to use 3 T. butter and 3 T. margarine so I have always made it that way, talk about clogging your arteries! My sister-in-law was asking me how to make them one day and I told her, but my mother-in-law stopped me and told me to only use butter or margarine. So for the past 3 years, I have been making the gravy wrong, but it's so good I won't stop! I try to make these as often as I can for my hubby, which is only about once a month, I guess I need to do better! I am also a slacker and am usually not "in the mood" or patient enough to make the biscuits from scratch, my good friend the Doughboy steps in to help. But if you want to, you can make THESE biscuits, thanks to my other friend Martha!

Now for the gravy:
(Makes about 3 cups)

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
3 Tablespoons Flour
Salt and Pepper (I use alot)
2 1/2 cups milk

Melt butter, flour, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Then add the milk. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. serve over biscuits.

Oh and if you have leftovers, you can feed them to your dog!