Cinnamon Rolls Anyone?

This morning I decided to make a breakfast item from my Harry Potter (HP) Cook book for my family on the last day of the year. Flipping through the pages a recipe caught my eye. This is it! I decided to make cinnamon rolls for this special day. Well, little did I know that it would take 4 HOURS to make them! Oi!  But trust me friends, It is worth it.

This is something to prepare the night before and then just pop them in the oven in the morning. Our "breakfast" was finally ready at 1!

Grocery List:

Active Dry Yeast
Sugar
Brown sugar
Powder Sugar
Flour
Salt
Cinnamon

Butter milk
Heavy Cream
Butter
Cream Cheese
Eggs
Vanilla



Ingredients for Dough:

1/4 C. Warm water
1 packet of Active Dry Yeast
1 tbs granulated sugar
2/3 C. Butter Milk (or Whole milk)
4 tbs. butter
3 C. All purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/3 C. granulated sugar.

alright friends this gets slightly complicated, but I will try and do my best to not make it so!

1.In the mixing bowl whisk together the Flour and salt.
2. In a small bowl/cup combine water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix and set aside until puffy
3. Heat the Milk and butter in a small sauce pan.
4. Using a separate bowl whisk the Eggs and the remanding sugar.
5. Add milk mixture to Egg mixture. Whisk together.
6. In the mixing bowl, mix the Yeast and Egg mixtures to the flour.

I kneaded mine by hand. It seemed a little too sticky for my mixture. Knead for 10 minutes ( I'll admit I only did 5 minutes...) Placed needed dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat  and then cover with plastic wrap. Set aside and let rise for ......... 1 1/2 - 2 HOURS! I only did 1 1/2. I can't wait that long!

After the dough has doubled in size, turn out on to a lightly floured surface (pretty important since the dough is so sticky). Roll out dough to approx. 16" X 12".

Cinnamon Filling

1. Combine 1/4 C. Brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of Cinnamon ( I did 1 1/2 tablespoons.).
2. 1 tablespoon melted butter.

On rolled out dough, brush melted butter evenly. Next take the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and spread over the dough.

Roll up the dough into a log shape.

The best way to cut the roll is with dental floss, but I didn't have any, so I just used a really really sharp knife. Be careful and not to apply a lot of pressure when cutting. If you are using dental floss, slide the floss under the log, then bring up both side of floss to the middle, cross over like your going to tie a knot, and keep pulling until cut has been achieved.

Cutting my roll I just cut the log in half, then cut it into quarters. You can get 8-12 cinnamon rolls depending on how big you want them!

Place rolls in a 9" X 13" pan. I used a Demarle round mold for mine. Once in the pan, they Roll should have a little room, but not a lot. Cover. Leave them to rise for another 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Awesome huh?!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Rotate pan half way through cooking.

Icing

1 C. shifted powered sugar
4 Ounces. room temp. Cream Cheese
1 tbs. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. Vanilla ( I did a whole tsp.)

It's best to use a mixer/beater for the icing. It mixes it easily and smoothly.

Once the Rolls are out of the oven, put icing on them, and enjoy!

Cheesy Potato Soup

Okay I lied. I'll post this recipe since I told my friends I would give it to them ;)

SUPER Easy to make! It takes about 30 minutes, makes about 8 servings. I like to freeze the remanding amount for days when I don't want to cook :)

Ingredients:

1 lb of Bacon
1 Onion diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
9 potatoes, cubed ( I don't peel my potatoes, but you can if you want )
4 cups of Chicken stock
3 tbls of butter
1/4 C. flour
1 cup of butter milk (heavy cream works too)
3 tsp. (or so) of Basil
1 tsp Pepper
Salt to taste ( I don't put in salt because of the Chicken Stock has enough in it for taste)
Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in the oven until crispy (or not, whatever you prefer. Just make sure it's cooked thoroughly), and then chop into small pieces.
2. Saute Onion and Garlic over Medium heat. Using bacon grease makes it more delish, but I used olive oil. Once done, set aside
3. In a big pot add the cubed potatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock (the chicken stock should cover the potatoes.) I put just enough in to barely cover the Potatoes. Cover and Bring to boil. Once boiling reduce heat and simmer. Add Onion and Garlic mixture to pot.
4. Mix flour, basil and pepper in a bowl.
5. In a separate pan (I use the one I used to cook the onion and garlic) melt 3 Tbls of butter. Once melted, add the flour mixture little by little. Stir constantly
6. Whisk in Butter milk (or Heavy cream). Stir constantly, bring to boil.
7. Add cream mixture to simmering Potatoes and onion mixture. Stir.
8. once potatoes are done, remove from heat.

When serving top with Bacon and Cheese. This part you can add as much or as little as you want. :)

A little about this bloggy blog

So this next year I have decided to take part in a 52 week cooking challenge. Each week there is a theme to inspire you to cook, and to be creative with food. I will post all my recipes and pictures of food here.

Why?

Well I'm a stay at home mom who loves to cook, but also hates it. I feel uninspired and most of the time just clueless on what to cook. I hate cooking the same thing every week. I am always looking for new recipes to make and try out.

Now I know there will be times when I post nothing, and other times I will post a shit ton. It's just part of life!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Blogging of food starts Jan. 1st 2013! LET'S DO THIS!!