Da Cinnamon Roll

my one and only recipe i'll ever use again for cinnamon rolls!

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until crumble.

Stir in buttermilk to form a soft dough. Roll out dough on a lightly floured into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

Spread some butter

Sprinkle some brown sugar, cinnamon and a little nutmeg.

Roll up the rectangle, with a sharp knife slice into pieces however thickness you want. 

bake at 350 or 375 until golden brown, about 15-20 mins.

Best Banana Bread

this is a keeper for sure! :♥)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

4 bananas, finely crushed

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and crushed bananas. Combine well.

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla. Pour into greased and floured or parchment lined loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Keeps well, refrigerated.

Homemade whole wheat Cheese Crackers

man i love love pinterest, there are so many great things on there, including awesome simple delish recipes, like these cheddar crackers! Cheesy with a little kick! :♥) 

1 1/2 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese

4 tbsp unsalted butter, soften and diced

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (you can use white)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350˚

Place everything except the milk in a food processor. Pulse the processor, 5 seconds at a time, for about 5 or 6 times, until the dough is in coarse crumbs. Add the milk and process until the dough gathers together in a ball.

Roll the dough out on a floured board with a rolling pin that has been floured until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Place the crackers at least ¼ inch apart on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown.  Place the baking sheet on a rack and let the crackers cool completely. Eat! Or store in a covered container to eat within a day or two.

Beavertails!

Ever since I had my first Beavertail topped with apple pie filling, I have been wanting to see if I can make it myself! What I made was so finger licking good, soft and crispy with a sweet cinnamon crust, like the brand name! In this batch I had to use bananas instead of eggs, they act like a great binding agent which is what an egg does. You will get a hint of banana but OMG.. bet its better than eggs! :♥)

1/2 cup warm water

5 tsp dry yeast 

1 pinch sugar

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup sugar

 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs or 2 small ripen bananas(mashed,no lumps)

1/3 cup oil

4 1/4-5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast, warm water with pinch of sugar, allow to stand for a couple of minutes. In another bowl, stir together sugar, milk, vanilla, eggs or bananas, oil, salt then add to the yeast, blend. Add in 4 cups of flour and knead 5-8 minutes by hand or with a dough hook, adding flour as needed to form a firm yet soft, smooth, elastic dough. 

Place dough in a greased bowl and let rise about 30 minutes. Gently deflate and knead for 30 seconds and then pinch off a golf ball size and stretch into a beaver like tail shape, thinning them out and enlarging them as you go like a pizza.  

In a deep fryer about 375 temp, fry the dough, turning only once until the undersides are golden brown or a little darker.


 Toss the tails in some cinnamon and sugar to lightly dust the dough!

Serve warm! You can try different toppings like jam or apple pie filling or chocolate or whip cream, fruits and nuts for added yumminess! 

Here is the site http://www.beavertailsinc.com/ to get ideas from!

Ciabatta Bread

This is a rustic rectangle like bread with big, airy holes in it and a crisp crust surrounding its soft interior. It requires a preparation of a starter which has to rise overnight. The remaining ingredients are then mixed with the starter and then rise for several more hours. This is my first time making it! Here is where I found the recipe! :♥)

For Starter (Biga)

1/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1 cup water, at body temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

~For starter, mix yeast and water to dissolve. Mix in flour by hand and stir just until blended (no lumps). Mixture will be very wet and sticky. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. One cup of this mixture will be needed for the bread.

over 12 hours later

For Bread
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
3 tablespoons 2% milk, at room temperature
2/3 cup water, at body temperature
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt cornmeal, for baking 

~Stir yeast and milk and mix in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add yeast, water, oil, starter and mix with the paddle until blended (or dough can be mixed by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon).

~Switch to the dough hook and add flour and salt in, kneading on low speed for 2 minutes, then increasing to next speed up, kneading for 3 minutes. Slap the dough with your hand in the bowl, until it feels stretchy and springs back. Place dough into an oiled bowl, cover bowl with plastic and set in a draft-free, warm area to rise for about 60 minutes. The dough should have lots of big air bubbles visible when ready. 

not alot of airy bubbles but there are some there!

~Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll up into a cylinder (like you would for a loaf or bread), but then stretch and pull the flexible dough into a rectangle about 20 inches by 8 inches. Cut dough in half (so that each piece is about 10-x-4-inches) and place each on 2 parchment-lined baking trays sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover loaves gently with a slightly damp tea towel and let rise another 90 minutes.

I made buns from mine :)

Raising again, I was too impatient and only did 45mins

~Preheat oven to 425 F and place a baking tray upside down in oven to heat. Remove hot tray from oven, and slide parchment with bread onto hot tray and return to oven quickly. Spray tops of loaves with a little water, close oven quickly and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, spraying again with water after 10 minutes.

These were used for hamburgers! I didnt know how big they would get, so I could have made 8-10 buns instead of 6! Not bad for my first time but I think I'll follow the rising times of the recipe and not be so impatient. This recipe is sooo good, a keeper for sure! :♥)

Multigrain Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Finally a cool day where I can get my bread making done! Made raisin cinnamon for the first time! :♥)

I make all my bread by hand, no machine and this is my personal recipe that I love to use! I always triple it so I can make 3 loaves at a time. When I do that, sometimes I use 6 cups multigrain and 6 cups whole wheat flour.  I just added the cinnamon and raisins to one of the loaves for something different!

1 1/2 warm water

1 tsp sugar

 Mix together

add in 2 tsp olive oil

sprinkle 2 tsp quick rise bread yeast and sit for 10 minutes.

add in 2 cups multigrain flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour with 1/2 tsp salt

knead, knead and knead some more (40-60 or read this article)

proof rise proof (1 hour)

knead knead

use the width of bread loaf pan, spread flat like a pizza but not thin, sprinkle with a lot cinnamon, raisins. Roll like you would cinnamon buns, shaping to the size of the bread pan.

proof rise bake 350 for 35 minutes

Best Banana Bread ..ever!

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

1/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter 

3/4 cup brown sugar 

2 large eggs, beaten 

2 1/3 cups mashed very overripe bananas 

1 cup walnuts

 Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease 9 x 5 loaf pan or use parchment paper!

 In large bowl, combine flour, walnuts, soda and salt. In separate bowl, cream together butter, vanilla and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. 

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.