Oat Bread

Brandon thought he'd try his hand at making some bread this week. He likes small, easy, and oatmeal, so this loaf was perfect. He completely made it in the bread machine and it turned out wonderful. We will certainly make this loaf again.

Ingredients

3/4 c. and 1 Tbs. and 1 t. water

1 Tbs. and 1 t. margarine

3/4 t. salt

2 c. flour

1/3 c. rolled oats

1 Tbs. and 1 t. brown sugar

1 t. active dry yeast

Directions

1. Put ingredients in bread machine in the order listed.
2. Set machine to white bread, light crust.  If your bread machine cooks bread too long even on light crust, remove bread from machine 5-10 minutes early.
3. Enjoy!

Makes a single 1 lb loaf of bread.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

A friend of mine is allergic to gluten. This is not an allergy that I have run across that often, but I've heard of it. I thought I should try to make a treat that everyone could enjoy. I found this recipe and thought it looked really interesting. It also didn't require some weird flour or other ingredients that I wouldn't want extra of in my pantry, so why not try them?

They turned out really good, I thought. I guess I don't know how they compare to other gluten free products, but they are good. They have a very fine crumb and are quite delicate. The chocolate coating kind-of helps keep them together and give them a little structure. I don't know that you would know that they were gluten free, without being told, but they don't have the same texture as a "normal" cookie.

I should also note that Candiquick is a candy coating, like almond bark.  I buy it at Target and also use it for many things like Oreo balls or dipping pretzels.  If it is too thick, mix in a little vegetable oil to thin.

Ingredients

1 lb vanilla Candiquik

1lb chocolate Candiquik

2 1/2 c. peanut butter (I used smooth, but I think it could be good with crunchy to add some peanut chunks to the cookies)

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking soda

2 eggs

6 oz. flaked coconut, toasted (optional)

Directions

1. Melt vanilla Candiquik according to package instructions
2. Mix in peanut butter, vanilla, baking soda, eggs and coconut if using.
3. Form into small balls 1/2 to 1 inch balls. I used my 2 t. cookie scoop
4. Place balls in refrigerator or freezer until cold.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
6. Let them cool on the cookie sheets.
7. When cool, melt chocolate Candiquik and spread with a knife on top of cookies.
8. Once they are dry, enjoy!

Makes 5-6 dozen cookies

White Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Okay, so I've had peanut butter mixed with frosting in the past, and thought, this is good, what could you put it on. My thought was chocolate cake, but my Aunt told me that you put it on white cake, so I thought we'd try.

So simple, it's a normal white box cake and store bought frosting mixed with peanut butter, but it was good. The frosting was a little hard to spread. if I had microwaved it just a smidgen, it would have looked a little prettier.

Ingredients

1 white cake mix, made according to the box

1 tub white frosting

Peanut Butter, I didn't measure, quite a bit though

Directions

1. Mix frosting with peanut butter until it tastes good. It will also thicken up and become hard to stir.
2. Frost cake
3. Enjoy!

Peanut Blossoms

What could possibly be better than peanut butter cookies with chocolate, not much! I've never made this kind of cookies before, but have always enjoyed eating them at Christmas. Brandon prefers the chocolate stars instead of the kisses, but I couldn't find the stars at the store, so we had to settle.

Ingredients

1/2 c. margarine

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 c. flour

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 Tbs. of milk

Chocolate Star Candies or Hershey Kisses

Directions

1. Cream together butter, brown sugar, egg, peanut butter, vanilla and milk.
2. Add flour, salt and baking soda, mix completely.
3. Roll into small balls, then roll in sugar.
4. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 5-7 minutes.  When cookies start to crack, press in one Star or Kiss.  Return to oven for approximately one minute. 

Makes approximately 6 dozen.

Breakfast Rolls

So, Brandon and I were talking about my quest to find a good cinnamon roll recipe. He told me that he really prefers these breakfast rolls that I make and had pretty much forgotten about. Normally, I make these with frozen dinner roll dough from the grocery store, but being my year of baking, I made the dough.

Thanks to Brandon for getting up before me, these were baked and ready to go when I got out of the shower. Nothing says, "Happy Anniversary" more than a super yummy breakfast already made!

As you can see, it turns into this wonderful ring of pull apart rolls with drippy caramel all over. So yummy! Perhaps Brandon is right, maybe I don't need to find the perfect cinnamon roll recipe.

Instructions

Dough

1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. warm milk

1 egg

1/3 c. softened butter

1/3 c. white sugar

1 t. salt

3 3/4 c. flour

1 (.25 oz) pkg breadmachine yeast

Breakfast Rolls

1 (3 5/8 oz) pkg of cook and serve butterscotch pudding

1/2 c.  butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Place all dough ingredients in bread machine and run on dough cycle.
2. Take dough out of bread machine and divide in half.  Keep dividing the pieces in half until you have 32 little rolls.  (If using frozen rolls, use a pkg of 24)
3. Dip rolls in butterscotch pudding powder and place in a well greased bundt pan.  Pour remaining butterscotch pudding powder over the rolls.
4. Melt butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if using).  Cook until sugar is deissolved and it is bubbling, ~1.5 min in the microwave.  Stir well and pour over rolls.
5. Cover with greased foil and place in fridge overnight.  (If using frozen, leave out on counter top overnight)
6. Cook at 350 uncovered for 20 minutes, then cover with foil for remaining 15-20 minutes.  Make sure rolls towards center are fully cooked.
7. Let stand 5 minutes, then invert on serving dish.

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

A friend of mine sent me a recipe for cinnamon rolls. When I was at the grocery store, I was sure that recipe used a cake mix. I was wrong, so I decided I should find a recipe for cake mix cinnamon rolls to use the cake mix I bought. Here's what I cam up with.



They turned out pretty really well. They were so easy. They tasted good.  My husband didn't even realize they had cake mix in them.  He also took them into work, and they all disappeared (perhaps that isn't the best measuring stick).  However, in my year of baking bread type goods, I think I'll keep looking for the perfect cinnamon roll.

Ingredients

Dough

5 c. flour

1 (18 oz) yellow cake mix

2 (1/4 oz) packages bread machine yeast

2 1/2 c. warm water

Filling

1/4 c. melted butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. ground cinnamon

raisins (optional)

Directions  

1. In mixing bowl, combine 4 c. flour, dry cake mix, yeast and warm water until smooth.
2. Add enough reaming flour to form a soft dough
3. Change to dough hook, and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
4. Place in greased bowl, turn once to grease all sides of dough.  Cover and let rise until doubled, ~1hr
5. Punch dough down.  Divide dough into half, and let rest covered for 10 minutes.
6. Roll each portion into a 12x16 rectangle.
7. Brush with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and raisins
8. Roll dough up, starting with long side.
9. Cut each roll into 12 slices.  Place cut side down in 2 greased 9x13 pans.  Flatten them a little bit with your hands so the middles don't puff up.
10. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, 30-60 minutes.
11. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
12. Cool for 20 minutes, and then frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting.

Makes 24 cinnamon rolls