Snickerdoodle Blondies

I have a thing for blondies.  It's recently acquired.  I don't think I had ever eaten a blondie before I tried this recipe.  Now, I'm hooked.  I've pinned so many blondie recipes, it's ridiculous.  I've made 3 batches of blondies in the last week alone.  So, get ready for lots of blondie posts! 

These blondies are my favorite of all the blondie recipes I've made so far.  I've made them several times for events and always get rave reviews.  I think every time I've made them, at least one person has asked for the recipe.  They are the perfect amount of cinamony deliciousness.  They are dense and very sweet, but the cinnamon cuts the sweetness so that it's not overpowering.  I love cinnamon flavored desserts in the fall and winter months, so I doubt I'll make these ones again until next fall, but they'll definitely be part of the fall/winter rotation.  They can be served as a dessert, but I also think they would make a great addition to a nice brunch.

These bars are very moist and keep well for about a week if stored in an airtight container.

Adapted from: Recipe Girl

What you need:
2 2/3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 heaping teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Salt
2 cups Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature 
2 Eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract 
10 oz Cinnamon Chips

For the topping:
2 tbsp White Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg

What you  do:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray. 

2.  In a medium sized bowl, stir together Flour, Baking Powder, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cream of Tartar, and Salt.  Set to the side. 

3.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Don't skimp on time here.  I let my Kitchenaid mixer cream the butter and brown sugar for about 5 minutes. 

4.  To the large bowl add the eggs, one at a time. 

5.  To the large bowl ad the vanilla.  Mix until smooth. 

6.  Mix the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients. 

7.  Stir in the cinnamon chips.  (The batter will be very thick.  Stirring in the chips requires some work, but make sure you mix them in well.)

8. Transfer the dough to the 9 x 13 pan and use your hands to pat the dough down flat and evenly.

9.  Combine the Sugar, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg for the topping.  Sprinkle evenly on top of the dough.

10.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the surface of the blondies spring back when touched.  (I undercook mine by about a minute, just because I prefer the texture that way). 

11.  Let the blondies cool completely before cutting. 

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I had another Christmas gathering this past week.  Yes, I realize we are well into January.  And, yes, I did say a Christmas gathering.  What can I say?  I'm a lucky lady with lots of people to share holidays with. . . which can result in awkwardly timed holiday celebrations.  


Anyhoo, I was in charge of bringing a dessert.  But, I was in the middle of my $4 a Day Challenge, so my options were limited.  I headed over to my Pinterest account and browsed through my Recipe Board for a recipe that I had the ingredients for in my cabinets.  This was the winner. 


I followed the recipe exactly and it came out fabulously!  There were some leftovers from the party, so I heated those up for breakfast once or twice.  Why?  Why not?  


Cake for breakfast?  Yes, please.  


And, it really did taste just like a cinnamon roll, so it was practically breakfast anyway. 


Source:  Chef in Training


Here's what you need for the cake:
3 cups Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Sugar
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups Milk
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Butter, melted


Here's what you need for the cake topping:
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp Cinnamon


Here's what you do to make the cake:
1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with nonstick spray.  Set aside. 


2.  Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. 


3.  Slowly stir in the melted butter. 


4.  Pour into the baking dish.  


5.  Set aside. 


6.  Mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon for the topping.  Mix until well combined and creamy.


7.  Drop evenly over the cake batter in the pan by tablespoonfuls.  


8.  Use a knife to swirl the cinnamon topping into the cake batter. 


9.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 


10.  While the cake is baking make the glaze as directed below. 


11.  After removing the cake from the oven, let it cool slightly.  Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake. 




Here's what you need for the glaze:
2 cups Powdered Sugar
5 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

Here's what you do to make the glaze:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk. 

Although this taste great cold, I preferred it served warm. 

Enjoy!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies -- Day 10: Red Hot Pinwheel Cookies

These are fun to eat and to look at.  Those are my favorite kind of cookie.  I was surprised by the flavor of the cookies when they came out of the oven.  Red Hots have a pretty powerful flavor, so I expected the cookies to  taste predominantly like a Red Hot.  The cookie dough tasted predominantly like a Red Hot before it went into the oven, but by the time it came out of the oven, the flavor was much more well balanced.  They ended up just having a pleasant cinnamon flavor.  


I've always strayed away from pinwheel cookies because they intimidated me.  I thought they'd require to much effort to get a pretty pinwheel.  I was surprised at how simple this was.  If you're feeling really festive, you could color the white part of the dough green for a very Christmasy cookie.  Clearly, I wasn't feeling so festive the day I made these.  Or, I was still out of green food coloring . . .  Anyway, these cookies take a lot more work than a lot of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies I've already posted, but they're worth it. 


Source:  Good Housekeeping


Here's what you need:
2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Cinnamon Red Hot Candies
3/4 cup Butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Red Food Coloring


Here's what you do:
1.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

2.  In a food processor, grand candies until finely ground.  Set aside. 


3.  Beat butter and sugar until creamy. 


4.  Add egg and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture. 


5.  Gradually add flour mixture until blended. 


6.  Divide the dough in half, keeping half in this bowl and putting the other half in another bowl. 


7.  In one bowl, added red hots and food coloring to color to desired shade of red.  Mix well. 


8.  Cut 4 pieces of waxed paper to the sme size (ideally about 17 inches by 12 inches). 


9.  Place one sheet of waxed paper on the counter.  Place the cinnamon cookie dough on that piece of paper.  Place another sheet of waxed paper on top of the dough.  Using your hands, roll the dough out to approximately 15 inch by 10 inch rectangle.  Repeat with the white dough and remaining waxed paper. 


10.  Refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

11. Remove dough from refrigerator and remove the top sheet of waxed paper from each dough.  Place white dough on counter with the long edge facing you.  Invert the red dough and place it on top of the white dough.  Starting on the long side facing you, roll the dough tightly together in a jelly-roll style. 


12.  When dough is fully rolled, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least one hour (I kept mine in the freezer overnight). 


13.  Preheat oven to 325. 


14.  Remove log from freezer and slice into cookies. 


15.  Place cookies onto cookie sheet and bake for about 13 minutes. 


Enjoy!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies -- Day 4: Soft Snickerdoodles

I've always thought that all Snickerdoodles were created equally.  I've never really been a huge fan of Snickerdoodles, although I make them every year.  They're always a bit too hard for me.  I like a soft, chewy cookie.  So, when I decided to do the 12 days of Christmas Cookies, I knew I wanted to include some traditional Christmas cookies.   So, I went on the hunt to find a Snickerdoodle recipe that makes soft, chewy Snickerdoodles.  I found one.  And, it makes some pretty delicious cookies. 

My mom helped me make these cookies (or she made these cookies while I made others, whatever), which was lots of fun!  It's been a long time since we baked Christmas cookies together.  

Source: Food.com

Here's what you need:

• 1 cup Butter
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2 large Eggs
• 2 3/4 cups Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 3 tablespoons Sugar
• 3 teaspoons Cinnamon

Here's what you do:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2.  Mix the butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

3.  Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

4.  Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

5.  Chill dough for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.

6.  While the dough is chilling in the fridge, also chill an ungreased cookie sheet for the same amount of time. 

     Hint:  We didn't have enough room in the fridge to fit a cookie sheet, so 

      we just sat ours outside while the dough was chilling. 

7.  While the dough is chilling, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

8.  Roll one inch balls of dough in cinnamon and sugar mixture. 

9.  Bake for about 10 minutes. 

10.  Remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a cooling rack immediately upon removing them from the oven. 

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Buns




 If you're from the Kansas City area, you know about Stroud's.  If you're not from Kansas City, Stroud's is a restaurant here that makes some really good down home cooking food.  They're pretty well known for their fried chicken and their cinnamon buns.  The cinnamon buns are unlike anything else I've ever had.  They are light and fluffy and are covered in cinnamon and sugar -- there's no icing involved with these cinnamon buns.  Since I love their cinnamon buns so much, I decided to give making them a shot.  I googled recipes and found surprisingly few copy cat recipes.  I chose one of the few contenders and although the result was far from a Stroud's cinnamon bun, they were quite delicious.  This recipe results in a heavier bread than Stroud's cinnamon buns, which I think makes the biggest different.  These do require a bit of work and quite a bit of time, but, in the end, they're pretty worth it.

Slightly adapted from: Chow Hound

Here's what you need:
1 Cup Warm Milk
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Warm Water
1 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
About 5 Cups Bread Flour

2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1 Cup Sugar
Melted butter

Here's what you do: 

1.  Mix warm water and yeast with about 1 Tbsp of sugar in small bowl.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl mix the milk, butter, salt, sugar, egg.

3.  Add the yeast mixture to the ingredients in the large bowl.  Mix well. 

4.  Add the flour to the mixture, one cup at a time.  Stir well between each addition of flour.  Eventually you may have to mix with your hands.  Keep adding flour until the dough is firm, dry and bounces back when poked.   

5.  Put the dough into a greased bowl and cover with towel.  Place bowl in a warm place (I put mine in the laundry room).  Let the dough rise until it doubles in size. 

6.  Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, deflating it.  

7.  Let the dough rise until it doubles in size again. 

8.  While the dough is rising the second time, combine the cinnamon with one cup sugar.  Set aside until the dough is done rising.  (Feel free to manipulate the amounts of cinnamon and sugar to suit your taste.) 

9.  After the dough has doubled in size the second time, cut it into 12 roll shaped pieces (or however many you want, depending on the size of cinnamon buns you would like to have).

10.  Submerge each dough roll in melted butter and then immediately coat with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.   Place in greased 9 x 12 baking dish.

11.  Once all the rolls are placed in the baking dish, cover the rolls with a towel and allow them to double in size one more time.

12.  After the rolls have doubled in size, place them in the oven to bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. 

I have some ideas to make these more like Stroud's cinnamon buns, so I'm going to keep trying on that.  But, in the meantime, Enjoy!

Cinnamon Puffs

This recipe was supposed to be made for my book club meeting.  Of course I have try everything I make before I take it anywhere to share.  Just in case, you know?  What if something looks great, but tastes terrible? 

Well, I had one bite of one of these Cinnamon Puffs, and I was hooked.  Seriously, I decided these were too good to share (sorry book clubbers!).  I kept all of them for myself.  And I ate them all by myself.  Don't judge.  Try this recipe and you'll see.  I limited myself to one puff per day so I could stretch out the amazing oooey gooeyness for as long as possible. 

The marshmallow melts inside the puff and leaves a lovely little syrupy delight, making the puffs nice and moist.  The croissant is flaky and buttery.  And, who doesn't love cinnamon and sugar?  On everything?  That's not just me, right?  I could probably rave about these for hours and hours, but I imagine you all want me to get down to business.  So here you are:

Slightly adapted from:  The Girl Who Ate Everything

Here's what I used:

1 (8 ounce) Package refrigerated Crescent Rolls, Butter flavored

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoon ground Cinnamon

8 large Marshmallows (not campfire sized, though)

1/4 Cup Butter, melted


Here's what I did:

1. Preheated the oven to 375 degrees and sprayed a muffin tin with cooking spray.

2.  I opened the can of crescent rolls and separated the rolls into triangles (just pull them apart - they should be perforated).

3. I combined the cinnamon and sugar in a cereal bowl and set it aside.

4.  I melted the butter in another cereal bowl.

5.  I submerged each marshmallow in the butter and then rolled it around in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. 

6.  After coating each marshmallow in cinnamon and sugar, I placed it in the center of a crescent roll triangle.

7.  I pulled the crescent roll dough triangles up around each marshmallow, sealing the edges of the roll around the marshmallow to keep the marshmallow in.  I call this a crescent roll package.

8.  I dipped the top 1/2 of each crescent roll package in the melted butter and then rolled each package around in the cinnamon and sugar.

9.  I placed each package in a separate muffin cup in my muffin pan, with the cinnamon and sugar side up.

10.  I baked these for about 13 minutes. 

These are great eaten warm, but don't eat them too quickly after you remove them from your oven because you'll burn your mouth.  And face.  Don't ask how I know that. 

After they had cooled completely, I'd warm each one in the microwave for about 15 seconds before eating them.  These go great with a small glass of milk.

Enjoy!