Andrea's Chocolate Chip Muffins

While visiting Southern California during spring break, we visited overnight with Aaron's Sister Andrea.  She is an AMAZING baker.  She always has something delicious for us to try, and these muffins are no exception.  She made them for a take-a-long snack for us when we went to Disneyland, and our girls loved them!

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix together brown sugar, butter and egg until fluffy.  Add flour, salt, baking soda, and milk.  mix just until combined (don't overmix).  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spoon into paper lined cupcake pans and sprinkle each muffin with additional chocolate chips, if desired.  Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Yield:  12-18 muffins, depending on size. 

Classic Waffles

Aaron and I have been really into making things from scratch around here lately. So we have been making waffles from scratch. I love them a lot. It took the kids a couple tries to really get used to them after we switched from that boxed stuff, but now they love it too!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons White sugar
2 eggs - separated
2 cups milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. preheat waffle iron to desired temperature.

2. In a bowl, separate the eggs. In the bowl with the yolks add all your ingredients and mix well. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add to the batter and fold in.

3. Ladle the batter into your waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately.



source: www.allrecipes.com

Mile High Biscuits

This morning we wanted to make Biscuits and Gravy for our Saturday breakfast.  Usually, we just break out the Bisquick and make our biscuits.  It works fine, but Heather had found this recipe online this week and wanted to try it.  We are SO glad we did!  They are incredibly flaky, tender, and SO much better than from any mix we have ever tried!  Enjoy!

3 cups flour (can use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour if desired)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk (you can also substitute 'homemade' buttermilk- 3/4 cup milk + 2 Tablespoons lemon juice- which is what we did.  They still turn out amazing).  Feel free to also use our tip using buttermilk powder!
1 egg
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 425 Degrees.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and butter until crumbly.  Mix in buttermilk, egg, and just enough water to make a workable dough  Mix the dough until it is just barely combined (DON'T OVERMIX!)  Roll the dough to 1 inch thickness on a floured cutting board.  Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter (or circle cookie cutter, or round glass)  Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet, touching one another, and bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 12-15 biscuits, depending on size and thickness.

TIPS FOR AWESOME BISCUITS:

1. ONLY hand mix your dough!  Don't bother with your fancy Bosch or Kitchen-Aid mixer on this recipe.  Go old school.  If you use your mixer, your dough will become too dry.
2. Don't over mix!  The best way to mix the dough is with a pastry blender or two knives, cutting the dough back and forth.  This method takes a bit longer, but will ensure the perfect biscuit.  You want little pieces of butter throughout your dough.  This is the secret to light and flaky biscuits!
3. Keep your dough fairly thick (1 to 1-1/2 inches).  A tall and thick biscuit is much better than a thin and hard one.  Keeping it thick will ensure a soft, chewy, delicious biscuit. 

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

We love with a capital L-O-V-E the Alfredo sauce at Olive Garden! It is just so addicting. So we decided it was high time we search for a similar recipe. What we found was the actual recipe straight from Olive Garden! We couldn't believe it! So we made it, then we made it again, and so on and so forth. It was delish! Clearly we can't make this all the time, but if we could afford the calories we would probably have this a lot! We've had it with homemade bread sticks and we've had it over pasta. Either way, you are going to love it!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup imported Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup imported Romano cheese, grated
6 egg yolks from fresh jumbo eggs (I only ever have large eggs so that is what I use)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Procedures:

• Heat milk and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan until it begins to simmer. Turn off heat. Slowly whip in cheese, then remove from heat.
• Place egg yolks in a separate bowl and slowly whip in a portion of the hot milk and cream mixture. Slowly add egg yolk mixture back into remaining cream mixture. Place back on very low heat and continually stir until simmering. Take sauce off heat so it thickens (This will increase temperature of egg yolks, known as tempering).
• Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve over your favorite pasta.

source: http://www.olivegarden.com/Recipes/Sauces/Alfredo-Sauce/

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Krista Lyons, a colleague of mine in the MBA program at Boise State University, shared her AMAZING bread recipe with me.  This moist, decadent lemon bread studded with blueberries is drizzled with a quick homemade syrup at the end which gives it a little extra lemony "punch."  She would often make this batter into muffins and bring them to our late-night accounting study groups.  You may need to double this recipe because I guarantee you'll devour the first loaf in no time.  This recipe is DELICIOUS!  Thanks, Krista, for sharing!!!

BREAD:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Grated Zest of 1 medium lemon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh blueberries* (I would actually increase this to about 1/3 cup - delicious!)


LEMON SYRUP:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Grated Zest of 1 medium Lemon

Preheat oven to 350, and spray a loaf pan (could use mini loaf pans or muffin tins also - adjust bake time accordingly) with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bown, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fluffy.  Add the lemon zest and buttermilk, beating until smooth.  On low speed, blend in the dry ingredients until just combined, careful not to overmix.  Gently fold in the blueberries with a spoon until just mixed.

Spoon batter into prepared pan(s), smoothing the top.  Bake for about 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean.

While bread is baking, stir sugar and lemon juice together in small bowl until sugar is dissolved, then set aside.  When the bread is done, immediately turn out onto a large piece of foil, or onto a cooling rack with wax paper or foil underneath.  With a toothpick, pierce the top of the bread in several places.  Re-stir the lemon syrup mixture and then slowly drizzle over warm bread.  Sprinkle the top with the grated zest, and let cool completely before slicing.


*To help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the loaf, dust them with a bit of flour before adding to batter.


Yield:  1 loaf

Banana Nut Bread



This recipe comes from my Grandma Bock. This is certainly an "old-school" recipe, but it is totally worth it!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Shortening
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 2/3 cups Sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/4 cups Bananas, Mashed
2/3 cups Buttermilk
2 Eggs
2/3 cups Nuts, Chopped

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes in paper lined or cooking sprayed pans.

Garlic Bread Seasoning

So, how many times have you caught yourself buying expensive garlic bread seasonings in the store? (It's OK, you can raise your hand, nobody's watching!) We found another great "our best bites" find for this stuff from ingredients you likely already have on hand, and we pledged will NEVER buy it again! We just shake it together in a jar and keep it in the fridge, and use it ALL the time. It'll keep for 3 months refrigerated. (You also use it for the pizza sauce recipe in the previous post).

1/2 cup powdered Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons parsley

Shake ingredients together in an airtight container and store in fridge. THAT'S IT! :-)

Overnight Caramel Sticky Buns

So, Heather is out of town for a few days, and I have the girls. I wanted to make something fun for breakfast instead of their Lame-o cereal and toast, and I wanted to make something more interesting than the same old pancakes, waffles, or french toast. So, I opened our trusty "Our Best Bites" cookbook, and these rolls jumped out. (I have seen several variations of this recipe before, but i've never really attempted to make them). The best part about this is that they are TOTALLY dad-friendly! 10 minutes to throw together the night before? Seriously? Oh man, they were good. Lilly devoured like half the pan, which is saying something, because that girl is PICKY! (She and Molly even did a little happy dance for me around the table singing a "dad's sticky buns are the best!" song). Enjoy!

18 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls
1 (4.6 ounce size) box cook-and-serve pudding mix in either butterscotch or vanilla flavor
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, optional
1/3 cup melted butter

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place the frozen rolls evenly around pan. Sprinkle dry pudding mix, brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the top of rolls. Sprinkle with pecans, if desired. Pour melted butter evenly over everything. Cover with a clean dry towel and leave at room temperature overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350. Bake the rolls for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes and then invert onto a serving platter.

Our Favorite Dinner Rolls

So, this Thanksgiving, we made these rolls from "Our Best Bites." AMAZING. We made two dozen for Thanksgiving day. There were twelve of us. There was hardly enough, since some of us ate three of them. (Good thing some of us shared!!!) So, I had to make another batch (2 dozen) the next morning to go with Thanksgiving leftovers. Again, literally 30 seconds, and they were all gone. So, in the space of two days, between 12 people we ate 4 dozen rolls. Slightly disgusting, but not surprising!! We hope you love them too!!!

2 Cups Whole Milk*
1/2 Cup PLUS 1 Tablespoon sugar, divided
1/3 cup butter
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 packages (4-1/2 teaspoons) active dry or bread machine yeast
2/3 cup warm (105-115 degrees F) Water
8-9 Cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 Beaten Eggs

Combine Milk, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts into salty-sweet perfection.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. To hurry things up a bit, you can place the saucepan in a bowl of ice cubes. You want to make sure this mixture isn't too hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast.

While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tablespoon sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn't bubbled, you'll need to repeat this step with new yeast.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and cooled milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes. Add beaten eggs.

Stir in as much of the remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft - it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will stick to your finger when you touch it. Don't worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they're so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Lightly flour work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half. Spray two 9x13 inch glass pans with nonstick cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. A pizza cutter works well because it cuts right through the dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like Play-Doh. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan. Use a kitchen scale if you want to ensure that the rolls are exactly the same.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

When done, remove from oven. Brush with melted butter. Or, better yet, just grab a stick of cold butter from the fridge, and rub it over the top of each roll. Make sure you grab one now and eat it while its still hot! This is your reward for making the best dinner rolls EVER!

24 Rolls.

Source: Our Best Bites

*TIP - The fat in whole milk is absolutely essential to the lightness and flavor of these rolls. If you're in a pinch, 2% works ok, but try to stay away from 1% or skim. If you're going to put all the work into these rolls, you want to make sure they taste amazing!

Breadsticks

This is a fantastic breadstick recipe. It is easy to make it is always turns out fantastic!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degrees F.) water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon active dry or bread machine yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

3-4 1/2 cups flour, divided

Directions:

1. In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly

2. Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 1 1/2 cups- 2 1/2 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

3. Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in bowl. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

4. Remove from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll dough into a rectangle 18-inches long and 9-inches wide and cut into 12 strips with pizza cutter.

5. Roll out a piece of dough into a snake and drape it over your forefinger and twist the dough. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly.

6. Cover the pan with a clean cloth and allow the dough to rise for another 30 minutes. When there's about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. When the dough is done rising, bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Rub some melted butter on top and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning or with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.

source: Our Best Bites

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinnamon rolls, and while Heather does too, we dislike the mess that they make, and the endless cycles of kneading, rising, etc. It can be really time consuming and labor intensive. Well, we discovered that all that is easier when you let your bread machine do the work! All you do is roll out the finished dough, let rise once, and bake!

DOUGH:

1 egg, room temperature, PLUS enough lukewarm water to equal 1 cup

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp. salt

3-1/2 cups bread flour

2 tsp. active dry yeast

FILLING:

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

GLAZE:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

For dough, place all ingredients in bread machine pan. Select dough cycle. Set loaf size for 1-1/2 pounds (if using a variable loaf size bread machine). Push start. Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing. If too sticky, add a teaspoon or so of flour. If too dry, add a teaspoon or so of water.

When cycle is complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12-inch by 6-inch rectangle and brush with butter. Combine remaining filling ingredients and sprinkle over butter. Roll up tightly, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seam to seal and cut roll into 1-inch slices.

Place slices onto a greased baking pan, about 1/2 inch apart and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool sightly. Mix glaze ingredients together and drizzle over rolls while still warm.

Breadsticks

These are delicious bread sticks. They are soft, warm and buttery. Nothing is better than butter, as Paula Deen would say! We had these at our friends house. I love bread! We decided that we needed to get off of our little dessert kick that we have been on lately, and post some other recipes. So we hope that this is a sign of things to come!! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. Yeast
2 Tbsp. Sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cube butter
garlic salt
Parmesan cheese
parsley flakes (optional)

Directions:

Mix together the warm water, yeast and sugar. Then add the flour and salt. Mix together and let rise for 1/2 hour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Place one stick of butter on a cookie sheet pan. Place in heating oven to melt.

Put some flour on a board and roll out dough. Cut into bread sticks and dip them in the butter and arrange on the cookie sheet.

Sprinkle the tops with garlic salt, Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. Put as much garlic as you would like.

Let raise for 15 minutes.

Bake for 20 minutes or until light brown.

• Tips: Grated Parmesan in a bottle is better than fresh shredded parmesan on these, but shredded will work just as well.
• It is OK to omit the parsley flakes. I think they would taste just as good without it.
• The more garlic salt you use, the more intense your garlic flavor will be.

source: Jennifer Holman via her sister Sarah Feil

Creme Brulee French Toast

We love having guests and friends visit us on the weekends. However, Saturday morning breakfast can be a challenge. You want to maximize visiting time and minimize time in the kitchen while still having a delicious breakfast. This is a great recipe because it is put together the night before and all you do is pop it in the oven when you get up! This french toast bakes in the oven and melts in your mouth.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1 loaf Texas Toast bread (extra-thick slices)
5 eggs
1-1/2 cups half and half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 recipe syrup butter (below)

In a small saucepan, stir and melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until smooth. Pour mixture onto a large, greased jelly roll pan (cookie sheet pan-18x13x1 inch). Spread to cover surface. Place 12 slices Texas toast bread in a single layer to cover pan. Mix together eggs, cream, salt, and vanilla. Spoon mixture over each piece of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Next morning, bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and serve. If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to bottom of the pan.) Serve with syrup butter. 12 slices french toast.


Syrup Butter:
1-1/2 cups butter
3 cups maple syrup

Melt together and serve over toast.


Source: The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

This awesome quick bread fills the kitchen with spicy holiday scents while it bakes. SO yummy! It also freezes well.

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 - 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 - 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease (or use cooking spray) two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and eggs. beat until smooth. add water and pumpkin and beat until blended.
In a medium bowl, combine ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, flour, soda, salt and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all dry ingredients are moistened (do not over mix). Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pans. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaves.



Source: allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Those of you who know me I am a fan of ALL things pumpkin. Heather, not so much. I appreciate the fact that she lets me go crazy with the pumpkin stuff in the fall, even though they're not her favorite. These muffins are so moist and flavorful, and they are perfect for fall and Halloween class parties. You can also substitute mini chocolate chips and make them into mini-muffins for a bite-size treat. They are especially tasty when served warm right out of the oven!

4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins or line with paper muffin cups. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, and mix in the sugar, pumpkin, and oil. In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Blend carefully into the egg and pumpkin mixture just until moistened. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Transfer to muffin pans, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans and cool on a wire rack.

Yield: Approx. 30 regular size muffins, 70-80 mini muffins.

Source: allrecipes.com

Fun Halloween Idea: Black Widow Bread with Spider Eggs

This bread makes an awesome buffet centerpiece for any Halloween gathering! You can use it to make your own sandwiches with trays of cold cuts and cheese, or just serve it alongside whatever your main course is. We made it for a murder mystery dinner which our friends hosted a few weeks ago. It looked awesome on the table!

4 (1 pound) loaves frozen whole-wheat or white bread dough, thawed
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons black poppy seeds or black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

The Head:

Divide one loaf in half. Knead half on a floured board to make a smooth ball. Set aside while forming the body and legs.

The Body:

Knead remaining half-loaf with one whole loaf into a smooth ball.

Center body and head on a greased baking sheet. Gently flatten head to make it 3 inches wide. Flatten body to make it 5 inches wide. Body and head should touch.

The Legs:

On a floured board, divide one loaf into 8 equal pieces. Roll each portion into an 8-inch log. Place ends of logs under head and body about 2 inches apart (two on each side of the head and two on each side of the body). Curve them to resemble spider legs. Make sure dough stays at least 2 inches from pan edge.

Spider Eggs:

Divide remaining loaf into 8 equal pieces. Shape each portion into a smooth ball. Place slightly apart on a separate greased baking sheet.

Let dough rise in a warm place until puffy, 20 to 30 minutes. Brush dough with beaten egg; sprinkle spider with black poppy seeds or black sesame seeds, and spider eggs with sesame seeds. Bake at 350 until bread is a rich golden color beneath seeds and a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean (20 to 25 minutes for spider eggs, 40 t0 45 minutes for spider). Serve warm or cool on racks. If not serving immediately, wrap well. Can be made ahead and frozen. Serves 10 to 12.


Source: The Essential Mormon Cookbook

Stuffed Rolls

My parents have made these tasty rolls for many, many large family get togethers and special occasions. I always remember eating them on New Year's Eve, and other times when my parents would host youth get-togethers when my Dad was Bishop of our LDS ward. This recipe makes a LOT of rolls, so it's easy to serve to large groups. You can easily halve or quarter the recipe to feed smaller crowds, or even double the recipe for REALLY big groups!

4 pounds medium cheddar cheese, finely shredded
2 pounds ground ham (or bologna)
4 onions, finely chopped
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 cups mayonnaise
tabasco to taste
60-75 unsliced french rolls

Combine all ingredients except rolls in a very large bowl. Slice off the ends of french rolls and use the end of a wooden spoon or your finger to poke a hole in the soft insides of rolls. Stuff each poked roll lightly with filling. Wrap each roll in a sheet of wax paper and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Makes 60-75 rolls.

Navajo Style Fry Bread (for Navajo Tacos)

This recipe may be used in place of conventional taco shells for "Navajo Tacos" (topped with taco meat, beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc.), or served warm sprinkled with powdered sugar or honey.

3 to 4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Cooking oil or Lard

Mix dry ingredients with warm milk until well blended. Place in an oiled bowl and allow to rest at least 30 minutes. When dough has rested, divide into 10 to 12 pieces. Roll out or pat pieces into rough circles on lightly floured surface. Cut a small slit or hole in the center of each circle. Heat oil or lard in either a cast iron dutch oven or skillet until oil is hot. Drop one or two pieces of dough in hot oil, cooking until golden brown (about 2 minutes per side.) Drain well on paper towels. Keep warm in 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

Orange Pull-Apart Rolls

This recipe is from Rikki Emory, whose son Toby I attended college with and grew up with in Santa Barbara. She made a bunch of pans of these rolls for a ward dinner one time. They are really good! I made these for my college roommates a few years back, and between the 5 of us we devoured the whole pan in a minute flat!

3 cans refrigerated biscuits - regular size (not "grands")
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of one orange
Juice of half an orange

Open cans of biscuits and place them vertically on edge in a greased bundt pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and heat until bubbly and sugar is dissolved. Pour evenly over biscuits in pan. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 and bake for 10 minutes longer. Turn out rolls onto plate or platter with a rim to avoid spilling sauce.

NOTE: If using a dark coated pan, reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees for each baking cycle.

Source: Rikki Emory

Buttery Crescents

This is a really great crescent roll recipe. It is one of the best that I have made and eaten. I am excited to make them for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

2 packages (1/4 ounces each) active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 1/2 to 7 cups all purpose flour, divided
additional melted butter or margarine, optional

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add eggs, butter, sugar, salt and 4 cups flour; beat until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and divide in thirds. Roll each portion into a 12-inch circle, cut each circle into 12 wedges. Roll up wedges from the wide end and place with pointed end down on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with butter if desired.

Yield: 3 dozen