Sour Cream Waffles

These are THE BEST waffles I've ever made.  I will never go back to using Bisquick or Krusteaz pancake mix for waffles.


SOUR CREAM WAFFLES


What you need:


1 3/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
waffle iron


How you do it:


Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; make a well in the center and set aside.  Whisk together butter, milk, sour cream, and eggs; pour into well.  (Don't worry if the butter sets again ... and don't mix it too much.  The butter and sour cream should look like little clumps in the mixture.)  Whisk just until wet; do not over mix.  Pour a scant 1/4 cup of batter onto bottom of waffle iron and close.  Cook until no steam escapes, about 3 minutes.


(The waffles in the photo have peanut butter syrup on them.  Just heat in the microwave 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 cup maple syrup.  Yummy, but I still prefer buttermilk syrup.)

Banana Bread

My favorite banana bread recipe, with a tweak from my sister.

BANANA BREAD

What you need:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup bananas, smashed
1/3 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup water
cinnamon-sugar

How you do it:
Mix together sugar and butter.  Stir in eggs until blended.  Add banans and water and beat for 30 seconds.  Mix in rest of ingredients until moistened.  Grease loaf pan with shortening, sprinkle pan with cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat sides and bottom of pan.  Pour batter into pan, sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar and lightly press.  Bake at 350° for 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes, loosen sides, remove from pan and serve.

Chicken Rolls

One of my family's favorites!  I usually serve these with rice and a gravy, the gravy I change just about every time.  Use crescent rolls found in the cans at the store, or my favorite is my dinner roll recipe.

CHICKEN ROLLS

What you need:
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 pkg. cream cheese, chive and onion variety, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
crescent roll dough
2-3 Tbsp. butter, melted
bread crumbs

How you do it:
Combine shredded chicken, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup softened butter in a bowl.  Roll out crescent roll dough.  Place a small amount of chicken-cream cheese mixture at the large end of the roll and roll up.  Dip rolls in 2-3 tablespoons melted butter, then coat in bread crumbs.  Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper, even better!), bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.

How I do:
I use my dinner roll recipe, let it rise first in a bowl for 1 hour, and then roll out my dough.  Then, I use the mouth of a wide-mouthed glass and cut out circles.  I place a about 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture in the center of the circle and cover it with another dough circle.  Then, I take a fork and press the fork tines into the edges of the circles, dip the "pillow" in the butter, and then coat it in the bread crumbs.  I stick them in the oven and bake them for about 16 minutes.  Again, I serve mine with rice and gravy.  Usually my gravy is just one can of cream of chicken soup, one can of cream of mushroom soup, and 1 cup chicken broth.  But, I have used one can cream of chicken soup and 1 cup sour cream, or 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.

How you freeze them:
Par bake the rolls (bake them for about 10 minutes).  Place cooked rolls on a cookie sheet and flash freeze for about 20 minutes.  Place rolls in a Ziploc bag and freeze.  When ready to eat, take rolls directly out of freezer and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes.

Monster Pancakes

When I was younger, a lady in my neighborhood held a summer cooking class for some of the neighborhood children.  I didn't attend it, but my older brother did and this was one of the recipes he brought home.  These are really "German" pancakes, but because of the way the batter "grows," we always called them Monster Pancakes.

MONSTER PANCAKES

What you need:
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
dash of salt
4 Tbsp butter

Beat all ingredients together, except butter, in a blender.  Melt butter in dripper pan (I place mine in my 9x13 dish and then put it in the over while it is preheating).  Pour in egg mixture.  Bake at 400° for 25 minutes.  DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR WHILE BAKING.  When finished baking, let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

My family used to eat this with powdered sugar on top and maple syrup.  And, recently we tried it with fresh raspberries and whipped cream, which was also really yummy.

Honey Wheat Bread

It's taken me years to find a wheat bread recipe that I love. I initially found this one on AllRecipes. It was a bread machine recipe, and since I don't have a bread machine I altered the order of the mixing and added rise time to the recipe. I also added some special ingredients to help the dough to produce a fabulous bread texture. This bread is amazing! Especially if you want some wonderful sweet bread as a side to your dinner. (If you don't want it very sweet, just scale down how much honey you add.)

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

What you need:

1 1/8 cups water (120-130°)
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. dry milk powder
1 1/2 Tbsp. shortening
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
4 tsp. wheat gluten (optional, but definitely recommended)
1 tbsp. dough enhancer (optional, but definitely recommended)

How you do it:

(If using a bread machine, add ingredients in order listed [adding wheat gluten and dough enhancer with the flour], turn on wheat cycle and let the machine do its job!)

In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients. In mixer, pour water, add shortening and honey. Turn mixer to speed 1 and mix together. Mix all dry ingredients together, then add to wet ingredients one cup at a time. Knead for 8 minutes (add additional time if mulitiplying recipe to make more than one loaf). Place in greased bowl, turn to coat; cover and let rise until double (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Punch down and shape. Place in greased loaf pan; cover, and let rise until double (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes.

Step-by-Step Hints:

You're probably wondering what these ingredients are. They are gold for wheat bread. The dough enhancer gives your bread/dough a nice smooth texture. The vital wheat gluten adds nutrition and helps the dough to rise. Gluten holds the gas in the dough which makes it rise. Wheat bread does not rise as well as white bread because white bread flour has a higher amount of protein with a strong gluten so it rises to double in about an hour. Since I typically grind my own wheat, I need to add the wheat gluten to help the bread rise a little bit better than without it. And, finally, the dry milk powder aids in making the bread softer.

Here's a little trick I've learned for my wheat bread: grind the wheat right before making the bread. The wheat flour will be warm after having been ground, which helps the yeast. This is the grinder my mom got for me for a birthday once. Love you, Mom!

Here's what my dough looks like after it's risen and it's ready to shape. Be patient! It takes a long time to rise, make sure to give your dough the time it needs.
Here's another tip: don't add too much flour, just enough to make the dough clean off the sides of the bowl. Then, start the kneading. Once you've started kneading, don't add any more flour.

Yummy, yummy bread! This smells fabulous ... and it's always too hard to wait to cut into this stuff! Enjoy!

Sugar Doughnut Muffins

I found this recipe here a while ago and just made them. These muffins are YUMMY! Next time I'll try rolling them in cinnamon-sugar or glazing them. They would be great with a little jelly in the middle too. Really, the possibilities are endless! My little boy was the first to try them and they were a winner!

SUGAR DOUGHNUT MUFFINS

What you need:

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

How you do it:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease muffin tin with cooking spray (I used my mini muffin tin). In a large bowl, beat together 3/4 cup sugar and egg until light in color. In a small bowl blend together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a measuring cup mix together oil, milk, and vanilla. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and stir together to combine. Make a well in the mixture and pour in milk/oil mixture. Stir until wet and blended thoroughly (may be a little lumpy). Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. (Again, I used 24 mini muffin cups and loved this size.) Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. While muffins are baking, melt butter. When muffins are finished baking, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter and remove from pan to roll in 1/3 cup sugar. Cool on a wire rack. (Or eat them right away like we did!)

My Boschy Adventures: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Okay, so I've been using my Boschy to make a lot of stuff. The most I've done is wheat bread ... I'm determined to find a good wheat bread recipe. But, I've also made white bread, rolls, pretzels (twice), and most recently Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread (Muffins).

I posted this recipe on my old blog, but I haven't been able to import all my old recipes here. So, I'm posting it again! I LOVE these muffins! I like to make them as mini muffins because they are perfect size for a snack (and less messy than cutting the bread). This recipe makes almost 100 mini muffins, about 50 regular-sized muffins, 8 mini bread loaves, or 3 regular-sized bread loaves. You'll have to adjust the baking time according to which pan you use. I don't usually make this recipe into regular-sized muffins, but I will tell you that I bake the mini muffins for 18 minutes each batch (I only have one 24-cup pan), and the mini loaves for about 45 minutes. Just about every time a friend of mine watches my children for me, I take a bag of these muffins for a snack (and a thank you). And, I don't think I've ever had a friend not ask for the recipe. So, I thought I'd spare all of you the chore of watching my children and just give you the recipe!

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups sugar

1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin puree

1 cup veggie oil

2/3 cup water

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour three 1 lb. size coffee cans, or three 9x5-inch loaf pans. In a large bowl combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in dry ingredients, Fold in chips and nuts. Pour into cans/pans. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans/pans. (I actually immediately dump mine out and let them cool on the rack when I make mini muffins because I need the pan again.)

Making Bread

Okay, so my sister has been here visiting over the weekend and she decided she wanted to "help" me make bread so she could do it at her house. Little did I know that when she said "help" it really meant "you-make-the-bread-while-I-make-a-mini-movie!"

Anyway, she recorded me making bread and posted it on her blog. I figured that since the video was of me that I'd post the video on my blog too! So, here you go!

Ham & Cheddar Loaf

I was looking online for something new to make the other day and came across this recipe. It reminded me so much of Hot Pockets that I just had to try it. I can't wait to try all the variations; although, I think next time I'll make individual sizes. Oh, the recipe says that it has six servings of one slice each; which I thought wasn't enough to feed my family of six for dinner (based on the picture of how big their slices were), so I made two loaves. Totally only needed one, so I froze the other for another day! I also needed to make bread, so I just used my favorite white bread recipe* in place of the frozen bread dough.

HAM & CHEDDAR LOAF

1 lb. frozen bread dough, thawed
1 pkg. (9 oz.) ham slices
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
¼ cup Miracle Whip dressing
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated

Heat oven to 350°. Flatten dough on lightly floured surface with hands. Roll into 12x8-inch rectangle with rolling pin. (If dough is difficult to roll, cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling out.) Top with ham to within ½ inch of edges. Mix cheddar cheese and dressing; spread over ham.

Moisten edges of dough with water. Starting at one of the long sides, fold one-third of dough over filling; repeat with other long side. Pinch seams together to seal. Place seam-side down, on lightly greased baking sheet. Cut three diagonal slits in top of dough with kitchen shears. Brush with egg; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked mine for 35 minutes and it was too brown … I think 30 minutes is sufficient.) Cool 10 minutes before slicing.

*Here’s my favorite white bread recipe (anyone have a whole wheat bread recipe they LOVE?)

This is my favorite because it always turns out perfectly. Seriously, it does. I found it on a recipe card of my mom’s when I was typing up all her recipes (I promise, Mom, you’ll get them back soon). There was written on the card: Works every time. I thought that was a ridiculously arrogant statement, and was determined to prove it wrong. And, I can’t. This is THE PERFECT white bread recipe. I have made it by hand and in a mixer, and both times it has turned out fabulously.

It only takes about an hour and half to make this bread; and there’s very little kneading involved. If you use a mixer, you don’t really need to knead at all; if you make it by hand, you’ll probably have to knead just enough flour into the dough to make it soft and supple instead of sticky (once the dough starts to clean the flour off the counter, stop kneading).

I also love that this recipe is so easy to scale up and down according to how many loaves you want. I don’t like homemade bread that is 4 or more days old, so I usually make only 2 to 3 loaves at a time. But, because of the recipe, I’m able to make even just one loaf if I want, and it’s not hard to figure out the measurements for the ingredients. Seriously, if you’ve never made bread before, but have always wanted to … this is the recipe to get you going. It’s that easy! There weren’t any directions on my mom’s recipe card, so I made up my own and they’ve worked for me so far.

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Warm up your water in the microwave to the right temperature. (I usually test it with my pinky finger. If the water is close to burning my finger, then it’s just about right. Sometimes I check with a thermometer, just to be safe. But, if it feels super-duper hot, don’t pour it into your dry ingredients because you’ll kill the yeast. Also, if you've ever proofed your yeast before, you'll need the water to be hotter than the standard 105°-115° because the yeast is mixed in with the flour already.)

Add water and shortening. Stir together until you have a nice soft dough.

Place dough in a greased large bowl; turn to coat (or just turn, then flip the dough upside down). Cover, and place in a warm spot to rise. (I turn on my oven to 350° and set my bowl atop the range so the heat of the oven can keep my dough warm. This really helps out in winter.) Let rise until double, or about 30 minutes.

Divide your dough into desired number of loaves. Shape each loaf. I roll mine out into a rectangle just about the same width as my loaf pan. Then, I roll it away from me (starting at the short side) as I squeeze it together. Then, I pinch to seal the edges.

Place in lightly greased loaf pans. (You can let it rise again for 30 minutes, or just bake it. I usually just bake it.) Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Dinner Rolls

This week I thought I'd post my favorite roll recipe. I got this recipe from my friend, who also, incidentally, showed me how to shape the rolls the easy way. There's no kneading necessary, which makes these super easy. These rolls freeze really well too, so make a batch and freeze some for later!

DINNER ROLLS

2 Tbsp. yeast

1/2 cup warm (105º-115º) water

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 cups hot (120º-130º) water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter shortening

2 eggs

2 tsp. salt

7-8 cups flour

butter, melted

Mix together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 2 Tbsp. sugar. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to proof (get all fluffy). Whisk in large mixing bowl 2 cups hot water, 1/2 cup sugar, shortening, eggs, and salt. Add yeast mixture. Add flour one cup at a time. Let dough rise in greased bowl for one hour. Shape; bake at 350º for 16-22 minutes (I baked mine for 18 minutes). Brush with melted butter.

You could let the rolls rise for another hour after you shape them, but I was crunched for time and didn't let them rise again and they turned out just fine. It's just your personal preference.

Okay, here's how I shaped them. I put my left hand into an "OK" shape.

Then, I pinched off enough dough to make about a 1 1/2-inch ball. Instead of rolling the ball, I just put that dough atop the hole I made with my left hand, then pushed it through the hole with the pointer finger of my right hand, while slightly closing the hole. As the dough gets to the end, I pinched it shut and put the seam side down on the greased baking baking sheet. If you look in the top right-hand corner of the picture below, you can see the shaped rolls before they were baked. They look like little white domes. This method of shaping is so easy ... even my four-year-old can do it! (Although, the rolls he makes are quite a bit smaller.)

Rivka's Cinnamon Rolls

RIVKA'S CINNAMON ROLLS
2 cups milk
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. yeast
½ cup butter, softened
½ - 3/4 cup brown sugar (the darker the better)
2 - 3 tsp. cinnamon

Combine milk, 1/2 cup butter, and sugar; warm in microwave until butter is softened and parly melted. If it gets too hot it can kill the yeast when you add it, so you may have to let it cool a bit. Add salt, eggs, flour, and yeast. Mix together until ingredients are well combined. Do NOT knead this dough for any length of time. The dough will be sticky. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the dough in a warm area and let rise for one hour, or until it doubles in size. Meanwhile, prepare cinnamon filling: Mix together softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. When dough is double, punch down the dough and place it onto a well-floured surface. Flour the top of the dough and roll into a rectangle about ¼ to ½-inch thick. Spread with cinnamon filling. Get it all the way out to the edges. Starting at one long side, roll the dough into a log shape. Cut into fifteen rolls. Place rolls cut side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish (three across, five down). Let the rolls rise in the pan for another hour (or skip this step as Rivka does, which is what I did). Bake at 325º for 20-25 minutes, until the tops or the middle rolls are beginning to turn golden. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before glazing (or frosting in my case; recipes below).

Rivka's Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar¼ - ½ c. milk½ tsp. vanilla (or almond/lemon/maple extract)

Or, my preference:

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (3 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
1½ cups powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
dash of salt

Beat together all ingredients. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.