Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I figure I have between now and November 30th to use up the ridiculous amount of pumpkin I've got.  Pumpkin is for fall, and December 1st marks the definite shift to "Christmas season."  Pumpkins aren't for Christmas.  

This season we've had everything from pumpkin scones to pumpkin bars to pumpkin cookies.  I've even made my own pumpkin pie seasoning.  This recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls found its way into my Pinterest feed, where it was promptly pinned and made.  

Yu-um.  They were so scrumptious I made more of the dough, but froze it after I cut it into slices.  On Thanksgiving morning when we have lots of family here, I'll put them in my biggest rectangular baking pan, let them rise that last time, bake them, and slather them with frosting.  Way faster than starting them from scratch  I'm smart that way.  

Especially because starting them from scratch, for me, meant grabbing a pumpkin off of my front porch.  Instead of the baking method, I scooped out the seeds and cut the pumpkin into wedges where I boiled it until it was soft.

When I say from scratch, I really mean it!  The pumpkin gets mixed with a yeast-water mixture, scalded milk, egg, sugar and some butter.

Expected dry ingredients - flour, salt and spices - are mixed in and the dough is kneaded for about five minutes by the fabulous KitchenAid.

Long story made short: it rises, gets punched down, then rolled out to about a 15 x 10 rectangle.  A lot of butter is poured all over it.  

Then a lot of sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice is sprinkled over the top.

You know these naughty ingredients are why the cinnamon rolls taste so good.

Here's a tip for you.  You could cut the roll into pieces with a knife, but it will squish down the rolls.  Instead, grab up some dental floss.  Then do this.

Fun, right?  My kids are forever finding interesting uses for dental floss.  I impressed them with this one.

(FYI, I put the second batch into the freezer at this point).  

If you're baking them, not freezing them, let them rise a second time, give them a turn in the oven, and this happens.

Right?  Cinnamon rolls.  Pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  I pretended I was a school lunch lady and served them with chili at supper time.  They made terrific breakfast food before school the next morning.

Since I didn't alter the recipe I used for the rolls or the frosting, I'm going to share the links to them below.  I would have used the maple cream cheese frosting the pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe called for, but we have a cream-cheese-hater here.  The brown sugar frosting was super, though, and I'd recommend it!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Brown Sugar Icing

Baked Long Johns

I'm not sure why every week day when my alarm goes off a little before 6, I long for three more hours of sleep.  To sleep in until 9....SUCH a luxury.  Which is why, on the weekends, it's a puzzle that I'm up by 7 making coffee.  Not that coffee is a bad thing to get out of bed for, but I could enjoy it just as much a few hours later.

This morning it was dark and rainy, and it struck me that it was a perfect occasion for donuts.  Typically the kids will sweet talk their daddy into making a run to town to the local convenience store on a weekend morning, where he'll pick up a dozen.  

Yes.  It's sad that our donuts come from a convenience store.  I know.  But the kids don't.  It's normal for them.  

It's also normal for them to have a mom that makes donuts that are baked, not fried.  I'm a total buzz kill.

Since these are made with a yeast dough, they do require two rises and some rolling. 

Thus at my house, they will never be made on a school day.  Tehya was practically pacing the kitchen by the time I put them in the oven.

Fortunately they do bake up quickly.  I was a little worried that they would taste like little bread loaves, because they looked like little bread loaves and obviously they weren't fried.

The maple frosting, though, sent them right into long john territory.

I was tempted to fill them.  When I splurge on a donut, I definitely go for the filled long john.  (Not the gross custard kind, but the fluffy whipped kind).  However, I didn't think Tehya would make it a moment longer. 

Even without the deep fat fryer, and even without the filling, they got a five star rating from the taste testers.  I'm guessing we'll have to make them again!

Baked Long Johns
Adapted from this recipe for maple bars  

For the donuts
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup scalded milk
4 T sugar, divided
3 T shortening
1 tsp salt
1 packet (2.25 tsp) yeast
1/4 cup very warm water

For the frosting
3 T butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 T milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp Mapleine (extract similar to vanilla)

In a saucepan, heat 3/4 cup milk to 180 degrees and remove from stovetop.  Add shortening and 3 T sugar.  Whisk until combined.  Allow to cool slightly.  In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of very warm (not hot) water with yeast and 1 T sugar.  Whisk and allow the yeast to activate until it becomes foamy (about 5 minutes).  In a bowl or mixer, combine the flour and cinnamon until the cinnamon is well distributed in the flour.  Add the milk mixture and stir to cool down the milk.  Whisk the egg into the yeast water, and then add to the flour mixture.  Mix until well combined, then knead for about 5 minutes.  Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise for 1 hour.

After the dough has at least doubled, flour a countertop and roll the dough until it is about an inch thick.  Attempt to roll in a rectangle that is much longer than it is tall.  With a knife or straight edged bar cutter, cut the dough into 16 - 18 long john-shaped pieces.  Place on two greased cookie sheets and allow the dough to rise again for about 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 425.  Bake the donuts for 7-8 minutes, until it just begins to brown.  

While the donuts are baking, begin on the frosting.  In a small saucepan, bring butter, milk and brown sugar to a boil.  Boil for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat and add the Mapleine, then the powdered sugar.  Beat vigorously until the frosting is smooth.

Allow the baked donuts to cool until they are not too hot to handle.  Then frost and serve warm.  Or cold.  We had positive reviews both ways!  
 

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Last year was my first venture into making jam.  The initial batch was a total flop and I almost gave up.  I have the terrible personality trait that if I can't be good at something, I don't want to try.  Thankfully, after some good advice from a friend, I tried a different method that used pectin and the second batch turned out fabulously.  If I do say so myself.  If you're a new jam maker, forget trying to make it without any additives at all and just get Certo liquid pectin.  Just do it.  Then follow the recipe inside to the letter.

This year's jam was not without its trials.  

Oh, it started out beautifully.  I chopped up a bunch of strawberries.  I wish I could say I used homegrown strawberries, but I can't.  I started a strawberry patch this year, but it's not established enough to produce a lot of fruit so I just grabbed several cartons from the grocery store. 

We do have rhubarb, though.  I gathered rhubarb from our little patch, and chopped that up too.  Did you know that not all rhubarb is red?  It's not.  

If you're a health nut like me, you're going to be appalled at the amount of sugar that goes into jam.  There are different types of Certo for low-sugar, but not where I live.  So I went with the full-on, diabetes-inducing, sugar jam.  Yum.  

This, though, was the point where my jam making took a nosedive.  What's supposed to happen is that you bring your jam to a full boil, then add the Certo, then boil for one minute longer.  Mine came to a full boil alright....but unfortunately I wasn't standing right next to it and it boiled over.  Everywhere.

You don't even want to know how long it took me to get that off the glass top, off the counter, off the floor and all the cupboards between.  Thankfully only the stove was burned, and not the jam--which was the issue last year when I tried to make it without pectin.

  A super sticky pot does not prevent you from ladling out this sugar-luciousness into jars.

And what you end up with in the end?  Heaven.

Though I admit I could eat this out of the jar, I really love it swirled in plain yogurt or slathered on an English muffin.  Try it.  Grab some fruit, some Certo liquid pectin, and a whooooollllle lot of pure cane sugar, and make some.  Don't walk away from the pot, and you'll enjoy it all winter long!
 

Egg Bake

I have a problem.  Not with egg bake.  Egg bake is good.  It is easy.  Your family will like it.

This is my problem.

And I can definitely answer the question of which came first.  It was the chicken.  Chickens.  Of which, we seem to be accumulating strange and diverse species of.   

This spring we got three different batches.

And we still have the ones from last year.   

And the year before.  Help me.
  

One weekend I found chicks in my bathtub.  And we're still married.

 

I blame it on this boy, who wants to show chickens for 4-H.  Who can resist his brown eyes?  His dad can't, that's who.  His dad keeps caving in.  That's why we have more than 16 dozen eggs in our refrigerator. 

What's a girl to do?  She makes egg bake.  And angel food cake.  And meringue.  She sells them.  She gives away eggs to elderly neighbors, and folks dropping by to pick up their children.  She sends them with family members.  And she shares her recipes with you.  If you want to make egg bake, feel free to come on over and take a dozen to get you started.

 You might double this recipe, though, because it only calls for six.  And some milk.

 Salt.  Peppers.  Ground mustard.  Weird, right?  Ground mustard.

Whisk it all up but good.

Add croutons.  You could use old bread, but croutons seem less....old?  I don't know.  The thought of baking with stale bread just kind of grosses me out.  (Do not tell me croutons are old bread.  K?  They come from a store, so they have to be approved by the FDA, and the FDA would never approve old bread.  Don't remind me of "pink slime".)

You can make this meatless, or you can use crumbled bacon, ham or sausage.  Whatever floats your boat.

 Cheese too, of course.

It all goes into a pan or casserole dish.  That depends on how long you have to cook it, and how big you want the pieces.  If you put it in a 9 x 13 pan, everyone will get big square pieces and it will cook faster.  If you put it into a round casserole or 8 x 8 dish, everyone will get deep thick smaller pieces, and it takes longer to bake all the way through.

 About 45 minutes in my deep round casserole, and it's ready to go.

All the cheese and egg and bread and sausage meld into perfect brunch food.  Or breakfast-for-supper, if you have an appetite like my children.

They find it particularly good with applesauce--one of the few types of 'fruit' they will eat.  If you have eggs in excess, or just feel like breakfast-for-supper now too, give it a try.  It's good.

 
Egg Bake
A Hoey family recipe that appears regularly for holiday brunches.

6 eggs
2 c. milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1 5 oz package croutons
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb. cooked ground sausage, or meat of your choice

Preheat oven to 400.  In a bowl, combine eggs, milk and spices.  Whisk until well blended.  Stir in croutons, cheese and meat.  Pour into a greased baking dish.  The baking time will vary depending on the size of dish you use.  An 8 x 8 baking dish will take between 35 and 45 minutes.  A 9 x 13 baking dish will take a shorter amount of time.  Bake until the eggs are set.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes.  Enjoy!

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Weekday mornings, when my alarm goes off at 6 am, I fantasize about sleeping until 9.  My bed never feels so comfortable as it does early in the morning.  Why is it, then, on weekends I'm out of bed by 7 because I just can't sleep any more?  I think it's because I don't want to waste a minute of free time.  I also think it's because I've got a good case of guilty mom syndrome.  Each weekday morning when our children sit bleary-eyed at the bar in the kitchen, Eli asks me for eggs.  And I look at him in exasperation because...for real?  I have no time to make him eggs, which is what I tell him every weekday morning.  So on the weekend, I feel like I need to make up those mornings of cold cereal or peanut butter toast with something a little more special.

This morning, that was snickerdoodle muffins.  Cinnamon and sugar and melted butter....the kitchen smells amazing when these are baking, and I don't have to call anyone twice to eat them.  And while they can't be called health food, they contain healthy ingredients like yogurt (dairy) and eggs (protein), and cinnamon, which I've read has major health benefits.  I'm justifying a little here, but whatever.

If you're strategic you can mix this up in one dish, which is always a plus.  I have a large glass measuring 'cup' that can be put in the microwave to soften the butter, and then everything else can go in it.  I love one-dish dishes.

I also love Reynolds jumbo baking cups.  They rock.  They're sturdier than paper liners, and they peel off without taking half the muffin.  (I did not receive an endorsement from Reynolds to say that, but they could offer me one.  I'm their biggest fan.)  Tip: ensure your liner doesn't peel off half your muffin by spraying the liners.  Don't skip that step.

These bake up fast, in about 18 minutes.  When they're still piping hot, the tops get slathered (or brushed, or however you roll) with butter, then liberally sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  To make them cool a little faster so your family can actually hold them without burning themselves, take them out of the muffin tin and sit them on a cooking rack for a few minutes.

    

  
Our Izaak, who usually asks me to butter or peanut butter his toast on weekday mornings, sweetly asks me if I'll butter up his muffins so he can dash out to a 4-H meeting.  I can't resist his brown eyes, though I know his future wife is going to hate me for babying him like that.  I mean, really, the kid is 13 and can butter his own muffin.

Our Eli?  He devours his muffin, and then asked me for some eggs.  I guess I know what we're doing for lunch. 

 

Snickerdoodle Muffins
Adapted from the Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking, 1993

Muffins:
1/3 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c nonfat plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 T cinnamon
1 3/4 c bread flour

Topping:
2-3 T butter
3 T sugar
1 t cinnamon  

Heat oven to 350.  In a glass bowl, soften the butter in the microwave.  Whisk in the sugar until the butter and sugar are well combined.  Mix in the yogurt, eggs and vanilla, stirring vigorously between each addition.  Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Then add the flour and combine with a spatula just until the flour is incorporated with the rest of the batter.  Don't overmix.  

Place liners in muffin tins, and spray the liners with nonstick cooking spray.  Fill each muffin liner about 1/2 full with batter.  Place in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden and look done.  Remove from oven.  While muffins are still very hot, brush the tops with butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Remove the muffins from the tin and allow to cool a bit on cooling racks.  Enjoy!