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Cinnamon Roll Cake

Bottom Layer:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, melted

Top Layer:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Mix 3 cups flour, milk, white sugar, eggs, baking powder, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and salt together in a large bowl until well-combined.

Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan.

Beat 1 cup softened butter, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon together in a large bowl until smooth.

Drop by spoonfuls over the batter in the baking pan.

Swirl the top layer into the bottom layer with a knife to create a marble effect.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out nearly clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Mix confectioners' sugar, milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake.

Mom's Surefire Pie Crust

2c flour
1 t salt
1/8 c sugar
2/3 c shortening or lard
5-7 T cold water

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening using a pastry cutter until pieces are pea-sized. Add water until dough holds together.  Roll out in silicon pie round to 1/8”. 

Dutch Oven Pot Roast (from Lodge Cast Iron)

Haven't tried this yet, but I'm intrigued.

1 beef chuck roast, boneless (3-4 lbs.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt 
1 teaspoon pepper
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
4 celery stalks, cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 ¼ cups beef broth
2 cups red wine (Merlot or Cabernet)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
Parsley, garnish
 

Preheat oven to 325°.

Pat roast dry and season well with salt and pepper. 

Heat dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and sear beef for 3-4 minutes per side, until the entire roast is deeply browned, then remove from dutch oven and set aside.

Lower heat to medium-low and add onion and salt. Sauté the onion until it’s translucent and beginning to caramelize, 5-7 minutes. Add minced garlic and continue to cook 1 minute, stirring often. 

Deglaze with red wine, scrape up the fond from the bottom of the dutch oven, and bring to a simmer for 2-3 minutes. Now, stir in tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and brown sugar.

Set the beef back atop the bed of onions and add the carrots and celery around the roast. Pour in beef broth until the roast is halfway covered, then add rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves. 

Set the lid on the dutch oven and transfer to the oven. Braise for 3-3.5 hours, or until the meat is tender and easily pulls apart with a fork. 

Remove roast from the dutch oven, discard bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme sprigs. Bring contents of the dutch oven to a simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter. 

Slice or shred the beef and top with braising liquid. 

Garnish with parsley. 

Seasoned Mom 3-Ingredient Biscuits

Super fast and easy! 

2 cups self-rising flour
¼ cup very cold butter, cut into pats, plus additional for brushing
⅔ – ¾ cup very cold buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch round pan with a light coat of cooking spray and set aside.

Place flour in a large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or forks to work the butter into the flour until the lumps are about the size of large peas. Alternatively, you can freeze the butter and use the large holes on a box grater to grate the butter into the flour. Then use your hands to make sure that the flour pieces are coated with flour.

Add ⅔ cup of buttermilk to the flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until a soft dough forms. It should hold together when pressed, but shouldn't be too wet. Add small amounts of additional buttermilk slowly, as needed, until dough is SLIGHTLY sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 1 minute (folding the dough back over on itself), adding flour to the counter and your hands, as necessary, to prevent sticking.

Pat the dough to ¾-inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the individual biscuits. Firmly press the cutter down into the dough, but do not twist. (Twisting the biscuit cutter seals off the edges of the biscuits and they therefore will not rise as high.)

Roll out the dough once or twice more to use up the remaining dough scraps.

Arrange the biscuits in the prepared pan. At this point, the dough will be a bit warmer from working with it, so I like to place the pan of biscuits in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill again.

Just before you put the biscuits in the oven, brush the tops with melted butter.

Bake for 14 -15 minutes, or until the biscuits are a light golden brown on top. Brush the tops of the biscuits with additional melted butter when they come out of the oven; serve warm.

SugarSpunRun Biscuits

(Recommended by Matt S.) 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold
¾ cup whole milk or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.

Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).

Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable. 

Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.

Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 ¾" round biscuit cutter with flour. 

Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.

Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet. 

Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.

Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.

If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.

Twice-Baked Duchess Potatoes (Southern Living)

9 large russet potatoes
3/4 c butter
1 T garlic
1/2 c milk
3-1/2 oz grated parmesan
5-1/2 t salt
1/1 t pepper
6 egg yolks
2 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Place forked potatoes directly on oven rack and bake until fork tender (about 1 hour).  Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle but still hot (about 15 minutes). 

While potatoes cool, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until dissolved. Stir in milk and cook until just warm (about 30 seconds). Remove from heat but keep warm. 

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out cooked potatoes into a large bowl, leaving about 1/8-inch flesh in the skin. Reserve 12 skins, discard the rest (or use for potato skin appetizers). 

Whisk or mash potatoes until smooth with no lumps (1-2 minutes). Stir milk mixture, cheese, salt and pepper into potatoes. Using a whisk, beat  egg yolks vigorously into potato mixture one at a time, scraping bowl sides as needed. 

Brush outsides of potato skins with olive oil; place on a large rimmed baking sheet. Working in batches, transfer potato mixture into a pastry bag with a large star tip and pipe into skins in decorative patterns. 

Bake at 425 until browned on top, about 25 minutes. Garnish with pepper, parsley and sea salt. 

Southern Cracklin' Pork Roast with Lemony Herb Sauce (Southern Living)

1 8–10 lb prok belly with skin
2 T olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion
8 c chopped fresh collard greens
1 T fennel
4 T plus 1 t salt
1 c chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c minced garlic
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
4 t lemon zest
1 T pepper

Place pork skin side down on a work surface. Score in a cross-hatch pattern about 1 inch deep and 2 inches wide. Starting with short side, roll in a tight spiral cut a shallow line the length of the roll to show where it overlaps (you will keep all skin on the short side of that line. Unroll and turn skin side up. using the shallow line as a guide, remove skin from all meat that will be inside the roll. Score remaining meat in a cross-hatch pattern about 1/4-inch deep and 1 inch wide. Turn skin pork side down and set aside. 

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir often, cooking until translucent (about 3 minutes). Add collard greens, fennel, and 1 t salt; cook stirring often until just wilted (about 2 minutes). remove from heat, let cool uncovered (about 10 minutes). 

With skin side down, sprinkle pork belly evenly with parsley, garlic, rosemary, lemon, and pepper; the collard greens mixture; and the remaining 4 T salt. pat the mixture into the meat. Starting with the shorter, skin-removed side, re-roll into a tight spiral (skin should cover exterior but not be covered anywhere. Tie at 1-inch intervals with kitchen twine. Place in a roasting pan with a rack and chill 12 hours. 

Preheat oven to 275. Bake until thickest portion of pork registers 160 degrees (4-6 hours). Remove from oven and increase heat to 500 degrees. Bake until skin is cripy and deeply browned (about 25 minutes); basting with drippings during the last 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 30 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife and discard twine.  Serve with Lemony Herb Sauce, parsley, and lemon wedges. 

Lemony Herb Sauce

3 c chopped fresh parsley 
1-1/2 t salt
3/4 t grated garlic
1 t lemon zest
6 T lemon juice
1/2 t black pepper
3/4 c olive oil

Stir together all ingredients except oil, add that last. Serve immediately at room temperature.  

 

French Silk Chocolate Pie

This is pretty easy, but it makes a lot of dishes for cleanup. 

Crust

• 24 Oreos
• ¼ cup butter

Chocolate Filling

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar divided
• 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate baking bars, chopped small
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 teaspoon salt

Whipped Cream Topping

• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• ⅓ cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish: mini chocolate chips or peeled Hershey bar

INSTRUCTIONS

1: Make the crust: 

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• In a food processor, process Oreos and butter until it becomes a fine-grained/sandy texture.
• Press Oreos into a 9-inch pie dish and then bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

2: Make the filling: 

• In a heat proof bowl* whisk together the eggs and ½ cup granulated sugar. (4 eggs, ½ cup granulated sugar).
• Place bowl over sauce pan of simmering water on medium-low heat- making sure the bottom of the bowl DOES NOT come into contact with simmering water. If you think it will touch just remove some of the water- but be careful because it’s hot and can burn you.
• Whisk the eggs continuously for about 9-11 minutes until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. You want the temperature to reach 160°F.* If you don’t stir continuously you will scramble the eggs and will have to start over.
• Once it reaches temperature remove from heat and stir in the chocolate and vanilla. Once chocolate is stirred in completely, allow to sit and cool for another 10-15 minutes. If your chocolate doesn’t melt all the way simply place the boil back over the double boiler and stir until melted- then remove from heat and allow to cool (8oz semi-sweet chocolate bar chopped small, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract).
• While the mixture is cooling, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, with the whisk attachment, whisk the heavy cream on medium high speed until stiff peaks form, should take ~3-5 minutes. Refrigerate until step 8. (1 cup heavy cream)
• In a clean bowl, for a stand mixer or hand mixer works, beat the butter, remaining sugar, and salt until fully combined. Mixture should be light and fluffy. * About 2-4 minutes. (1 cup unsalted butter*, ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt)
• Add in the cooled chocolate mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Scraping down the sides occasionally.
• Fold in the whipped cream by hand until combined and there are no white streaks. Folding in keeps the air in the mixture and adds volume to the filling.
• Pour the filing into the cookie crust in a nice smooth layer and refrigerate until set- about 4-6 hours, or overnight. You want the pie to be chilled, set, and thickened before serving

3: Make topping (make same day as serving the pie)

• For the whipped cream topping simply add the heavy cream to the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip on medium high until trails appear in the cream. Then add powdered sugar and vanilla and then whip again until soft peaks form. (1 cup heavy whipping cream, ⅓ cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla). Layer on the whipped cream and garnish as preferred.

WeCookiers Sugar Cookies

Without the blather: 

 

Ingredients

2 sticks (1/2 pound) of real butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 egg, room temp
1 ½ c granulated sugar (vanilla sugar is nice if you're feeling wealthy)
1 ½ tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp butter emulsion
1 tsp salt
3 c flour

This makes roughly 20 three-inch cookies or 3 dozen regular size.

1.       Cream butter and cream cheese together until it looks fluffy and light yellow, about 2 minutes.

2.       Add egg, granulated sugar, and emulsions. Mix just until incorporated.

3.       Add the salt and flour. Mix only until the flour is mixed in. Over-mixing could cause tough cookies due to the egg.

4.       Spatula it out onto plastic wrap on a table. Form a nice ball. Flatten the ball out to a rectangle or disk shape about an inch high (or less).

5.       Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. I double the plastic wrap if the dough will be in the fridge for more than a couple of days. Place it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes (I do overnight).

6.        When chilled, sift out some flour on your workstation or use wax paper. Place dough on the flour (or between sheets of parchment paper) and roll out. I choose to cut them at ¼” thickness. 

7.       Cut out the shapes and place them on (new) parchment-lined baking sheets.

8.       Place sheets in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. 

9.       Preheat the oven to 350⁰.

10.   When cookies are frozen, pull them out of the freezer and place them immediately into the oven (yes, frozen). Bake for 13 minutes or until lightly browned, watching carefully.

 

 

 

 

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 pkg vanilla pudding mix
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups plus 1 c chocolate chips

Set out butter and eggs at least one hour in advance.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Stir in 2 c chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Do NOT overbake. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes and sprinkle remaining 1 c of chips on top of cookies upon removing from oven. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.