Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

One of the things I had on my 35 Before 35 list was to make The Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls. I enlisted the help of my little sister to help. Here are the pics of our progress throughout the process. I kid you not when I say that within ten minutes of frosting the first pan, it was empty!

Here is the first step of making the dough and letting it rise. This was the hardest part because I am not a patient person.

We then rolled out half the dough to assemble with the gooey filling!

After we filled it with butter, cinnamon and sugar, we rolled into a log for slicing. 

(*Notice the excess in the lower right corner of the picture that oozed out. That's when we knew they were going to be yummy!)

We used cake pans and placed 6 to 7 rolls in each, letting them rise an additional 20 minutes before baking.

While they bakes, we mixed up the yummy maple icing.

(*I want to make again and try a basic cream cheese icing.)

Baking in the oven and then still hot waiting for icing!

Finished product! They were so yummy. I'm definitely making these for Christmas gifts this year for our church staff and school staff.

**Don't want to make a large batch of these? Here is the small batch version (12 rolls) posted over at Kitchen Image.

Blueberry Banana Bread (or Muffins)

It's been a long time since I've posted a new recipe. Life has been extremely busy and I have not spent time in the kitchen baking or trying new recipes. I was able to sneak in a little time to make blueberry banana muffins. I followed the recipe from Cooks.com for the bread, but used the batter for muffins instead. They were so yummy!

Blueberry Banana Bread Recipe

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

2 lg. ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 325°F degrees.Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add mashed bananas.

Measure flour, reserving 2 tablespoons of flour to coat blueberries.

Stir baking soda and salt into flour, mixing well. Fold into banana mixture. Stir in vanilla.

Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, then fold into batter. Stir in chopped nuts.

Transfer batter to loaf pans or to muffin tins.

Bake about 50 minutes. (** I baked the muffins about 22 minutes)

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping

I know it's not the fall, but I've had this recipe for awhile and had a can of pumpkin I needed to use so I thought I would give this one a try! When I was a little girl my dad, sister and I also fought over the middle piece of bread when my mom made banana bread, zucchini bread or apple bread. We loved to cut out the middle and put butter on it while it was still warm. Making this bread reminded me of those times, except now I don't have to share the middle of the bread with anybody! : )

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. pecan halves

1 c. vegetable oil (canola or sunflower)

3 c. sugar

4 large eggs

1 (15 oz.) can of pure pumpkin

1 c. water

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

Topping:

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. toasted pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans or 36 standard-size muffin cups with butter or cooking spray.

Arrange pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 7-9 minutes, until golden brown. Reserve 1/2 cup of the toasted pecans for the topping.

Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl; add in eggs, pumpkin and water. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.

Stir in the flour, baking soda, spices and salt; gently stir in 1 cup of the pecan pieces.

Pour half the batter into each loaf pan. *For muffins, fill muffin pans almost to the top with batter).

Topping: Stir the sugar, butter, cinnamon and the reserved 1/2 cup of pecan pieces in a bowl. Sprinkle the topping liberally over the loaves or the muffins before baking.

Bake the loaves for 1 hour, or until a pick comes out clean. Bake the muffins for 30-35 minutes.

Cool and enjoy! It is so moist and yummy, and the streusel topping completes this bread. Definitely save this one for a football tailgate in the fall or Thanksgiving.

Easy Ham and Cheese Croissants

I hope you all had a great weekend celebrating with your families. I don't know about you, but I ate entirely too much. This is a quick, easy recipe for dinner or you can use for brunch.

Ingredients:

slices of ham

shredded cheese

can of crescent rolls

Preheat oven to package directions. Unroll crescent rolls and tear into individual triangles. Place ham and cheese on individual triangles.

Roll into crescent roll shape leaving the end of the roll on the bottom to secure ingredients inside.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Bread (but not homemade...)

I needed to make blueberry bread the other night and I need it quick! I would normally cook it from scratch, but didn't have the time so I used a boxed blueberry muffin mix and it turned out great! Here are some photos from start to finish!

(I am in LOVE with my new Racheal Ray bakeware! Cooked evenly and so easy to clean.)

(Don't hold the dirty oven against me! I haven't had time to clean it.. but it is on my to-do list!)

Mmmmmm... So good!

P.S. Have you checked out all the FUN giveaways on my personal blog -

Some Days You Gotta Dance?

If not, head over there now! The first one ends on Monday, July 19th!