Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Chris whipped these babies up from scratch and I must say he did an awesome job!

Ingredients:

5 to 5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups sugar 2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Powdered Sugar Glaze, optional

Directions:
In bowl, combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk, and 1/2 cup butter until very warm (120 to 1300F); butter does not need to melt. Stir into flour mixture. Stir in eggs and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes. *Roll dough to 22 x 10-inch rectangle. Melt remaining butter; brush on dough. Evenly sprinkle with remaining sugar, cinnamon, and dates. Beginning at long end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll into 15 pieces. Place, cut sides up, in greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 60 minutes. Bake at 375oF for 30 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; let cool on wire rack. Brush with Powdered Sugar Glaze, if desired. Powdered Sugar Glaze: In small bowl, combine 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted, and 1 to 3 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth. *To Shape as Hearts: Divide dough in half. Roll each to 12 x 10-inch rectangle. Melt remaining butter; brush on dough. Evenly sprinkle rectangles with remaining sugar, cinnamon, and dates. Beginning at long ends, roll up tightly as for jelly rolls. Pinch seams to seal; place rolls seam sides down. Mark each roll into 16 equal pieces. Starting with first mark, slice every other mark 3/4 of the way through dough. Slice remaining marks all the way through dough to make 8 rolls from each piece. Spread apart the 2 halves of each roll. Gently flatten with hand; pinch and shape to resemble hearts. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise as directed. If needed, carefully reshape each roll to heart shape. Bake at 375oF for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Remove to wire racks. Brush on Honey Glaze (recipe follows) while warm. Brush again before serving.Honey Glaze: In small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup butter. Cook over low heat until butter melts and mixture is blended, stirring frequently.

Its all about the M&Ms

For my first food blog I decided to resurrect an old favorite from our time in Holland. This is something I made for the boys time to time while we were there. I made them monster size, using a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie. They were a big hit at the Regional International School Bake Sale.

When we were in Holland it took quite the effort to track down all the ingredients. I would ride my bike over to the flour mill and buy some "Bio Blomen Wit" (Organic White Flour) because it was the only way to get a normal white flour that would work in items like cookies and cakes. The flour you would find in the grocery store just didn't cut it. The picture at the left is a picture of the Collse Watermolen where I would buy my flour in Eindhoven.

Then, I would pick up some M&Ms and shortening from the American Store in Antwerp when Caroline and I made the 1 hour drive once a month or so. Once my dad brought M&Ms and shortening over from the U.S. when he visited. I always made sure to get enough ingredients to make a few batches and of course, they were gone in a heartbeat! These are definitely the best homemade M&M cookies I've ever had!

Recipe:

1 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups M&M candies

Instructions:

Blend shortening, brown sugar, sugar and eggs until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix. Fold in 1 and 1/2 cup of M&Ms. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto your cookie sheet. You may only be able to bake 6 at a time because of the size of these suckers. Take the last 1/2 cup of M&Ms and press several into the top of each cookie. bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. You want them very lightly tanned, not browned.