Sticky Buns

These are SUPER easy and amazing! These were a lazy saturday morning Pinterest find.

 

2 cans refrigerated biscuits

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1/2 c. pancake syrup

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 c. chopped pecans

 

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside.  in another bowl combine sugar, nuts and cinnamon.  Spoon half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle half the nut mixture on top of that.  Next add the biscuits, I generally have 3 or 4 biscuits left over - instead of squishing them in I just cut them in fourths and put them in a small bread pan and layer it like the fluted pan.  You want the biscuits to overlap and form a ring.  Top the biscuits with the remaining nut mixture and syrup mixture.  I like to lift some of the rings up as I'm doing this to get the nuts down in between the biscuits.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Cool in the pan for 1-2 minutes and then invert onto a serving platter.

 

These are pretty enough for a holiday breakfast - the cherries make me think of

Christmas or any old Saturday will do. 

Orange Scented Cake Balls

Make a batch of vanilla cake ball.  Basic cake ball instructions found here. 

Once the balls have been rolled out and chilled in the freezer, it's time to dip them. 

Melt down some white chocolate or white chocolate bark and add 2-3 drops of Wild Orange essential oil.  Mix well.  After dipping I added some orange zest to the top of each cake ball.

For a more pronounced orange flavor I would add a couple drops of the oil to the cake batter while preparing and some orange zest.  This can also be done with a chocolate cake, but I would make sure to add extra orange since the chocolate is a stronger flavor.

Pie Pops - How to

• Pie Dough

• Filling
• Craft sticks or Lollipop Sticks
• 1 egg white, beaten
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar, if desired for drizzle
• 2 to 3 teaspoons milk, if desired for drizzle
• 3 inch round cutter**

Step 1: The dough
For premade dough dust counter with flour and unroll, for homemade dough make sure you roll it out thin.
Step 2: The filling
Make or buy your favorite pie filling.

Step 3: Roll, cut and fill

Using a 3 inch round cutter**, cut out 16 rounds (8 rounds per crust). Place 8 rounds on ungreased cookie sheet. Spoon a 1-2 teaspoons filling evenly onto each round to within 1/2 inch of edge. Place 1 craft stick or lollipop stick in filling of each.

Step 4: Top off the Pops

Flatten remaining rounds to 4 inches in diameter. Brush underside of each round with egg white; place over filling. Press edges together; seal with fork. Cut small slit on top of each. Brush tops with egg white; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar, dividing evenly among pops.

Step 5: Bake

Bake at 400°F for 10 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool 10 minutes before serving. Do not handle by the stick until completely cool and the filling has had time to set.

Step 6: Drizzle (Optional)

Mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth, adding milk until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over pops and let stand until set, about 30 minutes.

**Instead of 3 inch circles you can cut them into heart shapes or smaller circles, etc.

Pumpkin Oreos

This is an easy and cute idea for parties or as a small gift or thank-you.

You will need:

Lollipop Sticks

Orange Candy Melts

Oreo Cookies

Black Candy Melts (Optional)

Green Fondant (Optional)

Pretzels (Optional)

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Then open up the oreos and using a little of the melted orange attach the stick to the inside of the Oreo and close back up.  I put these in the freezer to set for about 5 minutes - I found it was easiest to work in batches.  While some were in the freezer I was adding sticks to others in preparation of sticking them in the freezer.  If you want to have "stems" on your pumpkins you will need to break apart a few pretzels and have them ready to go in a bowl.

2. Melt the orange wafers in a small deep bowl or a cup.  Take the set-up Oreo on a stick and dip it in the orange, all the way up to the stick, make sure to cover it all and then tap off any excess.  Place the Oreo on the parchment paper cookie sheet - if you are adding stems do it now while the chocolate is still wet.  Repeat.  Set aside to firm up/dry - you can put in the freezer to speed up this process.

3. If adding leaves, roll out prepared green fondant and cut out a leaf shape/ tear drop shape and then squeeze it around the stem to attach.

4. Once set feel free to add scary faces, words or any other design you fancy with black melted wafers of black royal icing.

All wrapped up and ready to go.

Happy Halloween.

Cranberry Apple Pie

I have wanted to try this pie for a long time and finally got it done.  It did not disappoint.  Super yummy.  It will be on the yearly rotation for sure.  I love the tartness of the cranberries, it's such a nice balance to the sweet.

Cranberry Apple Pie
Recipe from A Bountiful Kitchen


Filling:
6-7 apples any type, peeled, cored and sliced (I used large granny smith apples and it only took 4 or 5 to fill my pie plate)
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, washed
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon almond extract (I also added 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
dash salt

I used my crust recipe found Here.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Flour a surface and rolling pin. Mold half of the dough into a ball. Roll out from center to about 1/8 inch thickness. Fold dough in half. Lift onto a 9" pie plate. Open and shape to pan. Roll out the other half of dough, and set aside.

Place apples in large bowl and mix with cranberries. Add rest of filling ingredients and mix well. Fill bottom crust with apple cranberry mixture. Place other half of rolled out dough on top of filling in pie plate. Crimp edges. Make slits on top of pie for steam to escape. (I used a mini cookie cutter for the heart shapes) Brush with egg wash if desired (**I brush my crusts with milk, see picture below), sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Place pie onto cookie sheet (important, this usually bubbles over a bit. Bake for about 60 minutes. Cover loosely with foil if pie is getting too brown. Continue baking for about 10-15 minutes or until pie is bubbly and golden. Total baking time is usually 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I added a maple cream sauce as a garnish.

Super Easy Home-made OREOs

2 boxes Devil's Food cake mix

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup butter crisco

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, either use a Kitchen-Aid or a tough spoon and mix it by hand (it is really thick, it is not hand mixer friendly). Once mixed roll dough into small balls, just bigger than a bouncy ball, you can make them smaller if you'd like - it's really up to you. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Once the cookies are cool add cream cheese frosting to the underside of one cookie and sandwich together. Cream cheese frosting can be bought or home-made.

For Valentine's Day I added some colored sugar to the edges of some, dyed some frosting red and cut hearts out of others. Let your creativity have some fun.

Sugar Cookies

(the photo is my kids Santa Cookies)

1 c. butter flavor crisco

2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

5 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla (you can do 1 tsp. vanilla if you don't like lemon)

1/2 tsp. lemon juice (optional, if you add more vanilla)

5 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

4 1/2 - 5 1/2 c. flour (add just enough to make batter stiff, don't add to much or the cookies will be dry)

Cream together sugar and shortening, once mixed add sour cream and then the eggs. Once incorporated add vanilla and lemon. Mix in baking powder and salt. Then add flour 1 cup at a time, the key is to get the dough to the "not too sticky" stage. I stop adding flour when I can touch the dough and have very little/no dough stick to my finger. The amount of flour is adjustable, I add more/less flour depending on altitude and temperature.

If you have time to chill this dough you can add less flour. Chilling is optional - you can mix these up and immediately roll them out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes depending on pan color and oven.

Sweet Cheese Ball

2 packages of cream cheese, softened
1 package of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup powdered sugar
1 can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup finely crushed pecans
1/2 package of mini chocolate chips
Graham cracker stix

In a medium bowl, mix together the first four ingredients. Freeze overnight.
After removing from freezer, mold mixture into a ball shape.
Mix the pecans and chocolate chips together. Roll ball in mixture. Serve cheese ball with grahams.