I found this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats and decided to try it while we were on our Thanksgiving trip. We tripled the recipe and made some with the caramel bits and others without. I actually liked them without the caramel bits better.

While this recipe is easier than making the dough from scratch, it took a bit to roll the dough out. It was well worth the efforts.

Shortcut Cinnamon Roll

Ingredients:

16oz frozen bread loaf
1/4 cup melted butter, cooled
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup caramel bits
1-1/2oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 Tablespoon butter, softened to room temperature
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 teaspoons milk (or more or less)

Directions:

Thaw bread dough using the refrigerator method indicated on the package (I let mine thaw in the fridge overnight.) Let dough come to room temperature for 25 minutes then lightly flour a clean, dry surface and roll dough into a 12×8″ rectangle. Combine sugars and cinnamon together in a small bowl, then spread melted butter over bread dough, and then sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture on top. Sprinkle on caramel bits (if using) then roll dough into a log, pinch seams to close, trim ends off, and then cut into 8 equal slices.
Spray a 9″ round baking pan very well with nonstick spray then arrange slices inside. Cover with a tea towel sprayed with nonstick spray then let rise until doubled in size, 30-45 minutes, in a warm place (I placed the pan in a warm oven.) Preheat oven to 350* then place baking pan on a baking sheet and then bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until smooth then slowly mix in powdered sugar. Add vanilla then beat to combine. Add milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time until frosting reaches spreadable consistency. May need up to 2 teaspoons milk. Spread frosting on warm caramel cinnamon rolls then serve immediately.  Makes 8 rolls.

Cindy

My dad requested lemon scones, so I made these for him the other day. These were so yummy. We all agreed that they could have been a bit more lemony, so I modified the recipe a little.

When I kneaded the dough, I ended up needing to use a lot of flour- the dough was much stickier than I was expecting. So don’t be afraid to very generously flour the surface that you will be working the dough on, and definitely have more flour set aside in case you need it for your hands and the knife that you cut the dough with.

The glaze from this recipe is super good, and there’s a lot of it for only eight scones- yay for that!

Lemon Scones

Scones:

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 cup half & half

1 egg yolk, beaten slightly

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons half & half

Preheat oven 400*. Grease a baking sheet and set aside (I used parchment paper, and sprayed the paper, just in case).

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest and toss mixture with your hands.

Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the half & half, the egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon juice and use a fork to blend the liquid within the well. Then use a wooden spoon to combine all the ingredients, just until the dough holds together.

Scrape the dough onto a (generously) floured surface and then, using floured hands, knead dough gently three or four times to form a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc about 3/4-inch thick, then cut into 8 wedges. Transfer to a baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4-inch between them. Brush the tops lightly with half & half.

Bake the scones until golden brown, about 13-15 minutes. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

While the scones continue to cool, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients and whisk them until smooth. If necessary, use water to thin the glaze, mixing in a 1/2 teaspoon at a time. When the scones are cooled, drizzle each one generously with glaze.

Jordan

That’s what a friend said when he tasted one of these blueberry muffins! Wow! I love it when people are enthusiastic about my cooking.

On a whim I decided to make these muffins and I’m so glad I did. I had about two cups of fresh blueberries left in a container and I wasn’t sure how long they would last. I needed to either freeze them or use them up in the next few days. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and after a couple minor modifications we were enjoying these yummy muffins.

I have been going to quite a few garage sales lately, looking for household items for Alex’s new place and dorm room stuff for Travis. I found a mini fridge for $10 not too long ago, yay! At one of the many sales, I found a muffin tin that makes HUGE muffins.

Even though I doubled the original recipe, I still only ended up with 8 giant muffins. I had a lot of extra leftover topping, which completely made these muffins. I ended up using the last of the topping on some zucchini nut muffins that I made a few days later, they were delicious too – but not as good as these blueberry muffins! I made a second batch of these muffins and put them into regular sized muffin tins and it made 18 muffins.

We used the leftover crumble topping on French toast and I have also been sprinkling it on my oatmeal. Too good to toss!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

Place vegetable oil into a 2 cup measuring cup, add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

Mix this with flour mixture.

Zest a lemon over the mixing bowl and then fold in blueberries.

The dough will be very sticky. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

Crumb Topping: Mix together sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for the larger muffins or 15 to 20 minutes for the smaller ones. Just keep checking to be sure that they don’t over cook. Makes approximately 18 regular sized muffins and 8 giant muffins.

These pictures don’t do the size of these muffins justice- they truly are massive!

Best Blueberry Muffins
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
Approximately 2 tsp of lemon zest
2 cups fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping
You probably could get by with only making a half batch of topping – but why?
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, cubed
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 2 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Zest a lemon over the mixing bowl and then fold in blueberries. The dough will be very sticky? Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

Crumb Topping: Mix together sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for the larger muffins or 15 to 20 minutes for the smaller ones. Just keep checking to be sure that they don’t over cook. Makes approximately 18 regular sized muffins and 8 giant muffins.

Cindy