Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze

One my favorite things my mom would make while I was growing up was cinnamon rolls. Soft and warm straight from the oven. Mmmm-mmm. While I don't think mine will ever measure up to hers (but can you ever cook better than your mother?) these are still pretty good.

The Details:

First, you make a basic roll dough. There's several different ones, but here's the one I use. This recipe makes enough for two pans, so if you just want one you can half the recipe.

1 1/4 c. milk

2 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) yeast

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

3 1/2 c. flour

Heat milk to 110 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit. (Any hotter will kill the yeast) Dissolve in yeast. Cream sugar, shortening, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg, and mix well. Add half the flour, then add the milk mixture. Mix until flour in moistened. Add rest of the flour by hand. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top, cover, and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch down and let sit a few minutes. Divide in half.

Now to make the cinnamon rolls! Note these directions are for only one pan - half of the previous recipe.

Glaze:

5 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 c brown sugar

Filling:

1 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour butter for glaze in 13"x9" pan and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roll out dough into rectangle roughly 9"x18". Brush with melted butter. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over dough. Roll dough up tightly, starting on long side. Pinch seams to seal. Cut rolled dough into 12 sections. (dental floss works great for this). Place in pan and let rise 30 minutes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Invert onto large platter (or a cookies sheet works well). Eat and enjoy!

If you've made the full batch of dough, and don't want to cook them all at once, you can always freeze them. To do this, first form your rolls as directed, but simply place them on a pan or cookie sheet and place in the freezer. When they are froze, put in bags and store in the freezer.

Frozen cinnamon rolls

To cook, fix your pan with the glaze, and place rolls in the pan. You can cook just like that, but they do better if you let them defrost and rise, which will take several hours.You can also store the rolls in the refrigerator overnight, let them rise the next morning, and bake!

Happy Cooking!!

Frozen Crescent Rolls

This recipes I got from allrecipes and followed pretty much to the letter. I did go ahead and double it so I would have more for later. Quite often I will make bread dough and freeze it for later. All you have to do is let it rise once, and then freeze it

Here's some I formed into rolls and placed on a cookie sheet all ready to place in the freezer. After they're good and froze, I'll take them out and bag them in freezer bags. Instead of freezing all the dough in the crescent roll shape though, I also put some in bags so I can make pigs-in-a-blanket later. I put them just like that in the freezer, and when I'm ready for them I'll let them defrost overnight in the refrigerator, take out and roll out.

Now all I have to do it take out a bag of rolls, let'em rise, and pop'em in the oven for dinner!

Happy Cooking!

Mike's Beef Tips

 I call them that because I catered them to my husband's taste. and they now seem to be his favorite dish. I love it because it's simple to make and you can change the flavor to whatever you like at the moment.

The Details:
I started by browning a pound and a half of stew meat in a large skillet. Next I added 2 cups of water and about 1 cup of Dale's sauce, 1/4 cup vinegar, a few tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, Lawrey's seasoning salt, pepper, and parsley. I let that simmer on medium low for 30 minutes. I then stir 3 heaping spoonfuls of flour in 1/2 cup of cold water and pour that in the skillet. Let that simmer for 15 more minutes minutes. While that's finishing up, I cooked up about 1 1/2 cups of minute rice. Serve it with the gravy and you're ready to go!

Obviously you could use sirloin tips, and real rice, but the stew meat's a lot cheaper and minute rice is easier.   And you can add whatever you want, or leave out stuff. A simple yet versatile dish.

Happy Cooking!