Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Do you want to wake up to amazing cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning?  Me too!!  Do you want to wake up 3 hours before everyone else in order to make that happen?  Me either!! 

These rolls are perfect!  Wolverine is in remission from his Cinnabon Addiction and these have helped him stay on the wagon. I think I only make them twice a year (once each for Ze-Ra and Wolverine's birthday) but they are so easy I could make them every weekend and not think twice.  

I know the recipe looks really long, but I tried to provide pretty clear directions...clear as mud anyway.  You should definitely give these a try - and if you do, let me know what you think!!  I'd love to hear it! 

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

What's In It:
Dough:
4 lrg egg yolks, room temp
1 lrg whole egg, room temp
1/4 c sugar
6 T melted butter
3/4 c buttermilk*, room temp
4 c all purpose flour
2 1/4 t instant dry yeast (1 package)
1 1/4 t salt
1 T oil
Filling**:
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 T cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 T butter, melted
Icing:
3oz cream cheese
3 T milk
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

What To Do With It:
Whisk egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk.  Add approximately half of the flour with the yeast and salt.  Continue whisking until combined.  Remove the whisk attachment and replace with the dough hook.  Add remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes.  Dough should be soft and moist but not sticky.  Add more flour if necessary.  Knead on low 5 more minutes.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold over on itself a few times.  Oil the mixing bowl with the oil.  Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and allow to sit until double in volume, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.  Set aside until ready to use.

Butter a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side facing you.  Roll into an 18x12" rectangle.  Brush dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2" border on the edge furthest from you.  Sprinkle filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4" border on the edge furthest from you.  Gently Press the filling down into the dough.

Beginning at the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder.  Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down.  If necessary, very gently squeeze the cylinder to create an even thickness.

Using a very sharp knife, cut the cylinder into 1 1/2" rolls, this will yield 12 rolls.  I do not measure the thickness of my rolls.  I just cut the cylinder in half, then each half in half, then each quarter into thirds.  I now have 4 sections of 3 pieces and that's 12...wow math is great! :)

Arrange rolls (place end pieces cut side down) in baking dish.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Prepare Icing by whisking the cream cheese until smooth and then adding vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk. I make this the day I make the rolls and store in the fridge.

When ready to bake: Remove the icing from the fridge, remove the lid, and place on stove or other warm area.  Remove the rolls from the refrigerator, remove plastic wrap, and place in the oven (the oven is off).  Fill a shallow pan about 2/3 full with boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls.  Close the oven door and allow the rolls to rise until they look slightly puffy - approximately 30 minutes.  Remove both pans from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake rolls until golden brown, usually about 30 minutes.

Allow rolls to cool just slightly and then drizzle with icing.

*I make my own buttermilk and just take 1 T of lemon juice per 1 scant c of milk.  Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes and then use just as you would buttermilk.

**If you'd like to adjust the filling ingredients, I have done so and it has not affected the outcome.  I've changed the sugar volume, I've added nuts, etc.  Make them your own!

I hate it when the recipe is photo heavy, so here's a list of the photos below:

 After rising

 Rolled Out

 With Filling

Rolled Up

 Sliced

Pretty! 

I don't have a photo of them baked - we got so excited...we ate them all for Ze-Ra's birthday breakfast when we were in Atlanta. I'm making them Christmas morning, so I'll have a picture then....but if you make them before then, send me a pic and I'll put it up! 

Foaming Hand Soap

You know how a certain company (or two) makes the foaming hand soap?  I don't know about you, but I LOVE that stuff! I love seeing the bubbles and I know it is 100% in my head, but I feel like it gets my hands cleaner.  :)

But WOW that stuff is expensive!  I mean I can get a 3 pack at Sam's for $7, but with as often as people wash their hands in this house, that goes quick!  Also, I constantly worry about all the chemicals that are assaulting my family, particularly the little members, and if you look at the ingredient list, it is a little scary.   So, what do I do?

Dr. Bronners! I LOVE this stuff!  I bought a liter of it a month and a half ago for $15 and I use it for so many things and I have still only used about 1/3 of the bottle. :)

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

What's In It:
1/2 T Dr. Bronners (use your favorite scent)
Water
Empty Foaming Soap Container

What To Do With It:
Fill soap dispenser with water (leave some head space for the pump to be reinserted).  Add soap.  Replace pump and shake.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Is your corn bread getting a little "ho-hum"?  Give it a little kick in the pants with this super easy recipe from Hispanic Kitchen!  You can use any cornbread recipe or box mix that you'd like, but I'll give you our recipe in case you need one.

We ate this with venison chili on Early Christmas.  Not your traditional Christmas meal I know, but man was it GOOD!  Te-Man ate 2 slices :)

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

What's In It:
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c chopped pickled jalapenos
1/2 c chopped sweet red pepper*
1 ear of sweet corn (approx 1 c)
1 cornbread recipe or mix, prepared

What To Do With It:
Mix all above ingredients. Bake according to recipe directions.

*If you want it extra spicy, you could leave out the red pepper and use an entire cup of jalapenos

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread

What's In It:
1/4 c crisco or lard
1 c yellow corn meal
1 c all purpose flour
2 T sugar
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg, beaten

What To Do With It:
Place crisco in a large cast iron skillet (I use my 10 or 12").  Place the skillet into the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees F.  While the crisco is melting, combine all dry ingredients in a large metal bowl.  
Once crisco is melted, tilt pan carefully to coat the bottom and then pour melted oil into bowl containing dry ingredients.  Add in milk and egg.  Stir to combine.  Pour back into the hot skillet.

Bake 18-25 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

Where does your food come from?

I have always been an advocate for animal and environmental rights.  I feel that it is our responsibility as human beings to take care of every single thing, living and non-living, on this planet.  It's almost like the line from spider-man - with great power comes great responsibility.

I woke up 9 years ago and I had the sudden realization that I had disagreed with the way animals are raised for meat consumption in this country for years and I had spoken out about it to my friends, family, etc...but I felt powerless to really do anything.  So, I had done nothing.  I was eating that very meat every day.  I was a hypocrite.

From that moment on, I have never eaten another bite of meat that I didn't know where it was raised, how it was raised, and where it was slaughtered.

Yes, I partially do it for my own health.  The likelihood of me, or my family, eating unnecessary hormones, antibiotics, etc is very low.  But for me, it's about the animals.  Yes, I love meat - but I don't love it so much that I am willing to eat it from animals that have been treated in ways that I can not even write about without crying.  Makes me sick.

What do we eat when we go out?  Well, we eat fish or we eat meatless meals.  Does that severely limit our options? Yes, but no more than a vegetarian.

How do we afford it?  Yes, it is quite a bit more expensive than just getting meat from the grocery store, but that's okay because we try to eat more fruits and vegetables anyway, so this just makes sure that the meat isn't always the star of the show.  And, it is awesome knowing that the money we do spend, goes to small local farmers.  In fact, we hand them the money in person.  That feels great!

Feel free to stop here, or you can continue reading the article that prompted this soap-box rant of mine.

Warning....this link contains disturbing material...but maybe that's what people need to make them wake up to what's going on with their food supply.  Do you think this is the only farm where this is happening?  Do you think they'll stop so long as people are buying their meat?  When people start caring about the animals instead of getting meat for $0.99/lb, maybe something will change.

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/12/smithfield_pigs_121510.html#.UNC7qzxTnUM.facebook

Joan's Crumble Apple Pie

Super Mom is outta this world - I guess if she wasn't she wouldn't be called Super Mom....but I just wanted to verify that you guys understand the insane level of her awesomeness. :)

She has been making this pie since before I was born and I can tell you there has not been a single pie eater that has gone away unhappy.  :)

Eat it warm, eat it cold, eat it with whipped cream, eat it with ice cream, eat it plain, you could even eat it with cheese.  You will not be disappointed.

Joan's Crumble Apple Pie

What's In It:
9 or 10" Pie Crust
Filling:
2 1/2 lb apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c flour
Topping:
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 c butter

What To Do With It:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine filling ingredients and place into unbaked pie crust.
Cut butter into topping ingredients until crumbly.
Sprinkle topping over filling ingredients.
Bake for 60 minutes.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I saw these pancakes from Recipe Girl on Pinterest about a year or so ago and I have been eye-ing them ever since.  

On Saturday afternoon we decided that we were going to have Early Christmas on Sunday - well that didn't leave much time to plan what we were going to eat.  When I asked the Z-Squad what they wanted for Breakfast, they said pancakes....why do I even ask?  The always want pancakes. :)  

Well, even though we all LOVE the Cottage Cheese Pancakes, we wanted to mix it up and I thought - how perfect would these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes be for "Christmas" morning!  

I'd say these pancakes took me about 10 minutes longer than regular pancakes, but now that I've done it once, I'd say they'd only take about 5 minutes longer.  I'd be willing to sacrifice 5 minutes for some cinnamon rolls in the morning. :)

Te-Man Approved

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Cinnamon Filling
4 T butter, barely melted - not boiling
1/4 c brown sugar (heaping)
1/2 t cinnamon

Cream Cheese Glaze
4 T butter
2 oz cream cheese
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Pancakes
1 c all purpose flour (+ more if needed, I need an extra 1/2 c)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T oil (I used olive, but an use veg or canola also)

What To Do With It:
Prepare Cinnamon Filling - Stir together all ingredients and pour into a sturdy ziploc baggie.  Set aside.

Prepare Cream Cheese Glaze - Melt butter over low heat until completely melted.  Turn off heat and whisk in cream cheese until it is almost smooth.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Set aside.

Prepare Pancakes - Whisk together dry ingredients.  Add liquid ingredients and mix until combined.  Mine was not as thick as I'd like, so I added flour until it was my preferred consistency, that ended up being 1/2 c.

Cook Pancakes - Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and grease.  Using approximately 1/4 c scoop, add batter to the pan.  Pancake should spread to roughly a 4" circle, if necessary, use spoon to spread out pancake batter.  Grab the cinnamon filling bag and mix well by squishing the bag in your hand.  Be sure it is well mixed!

When pancake begins to form bubbles, snip the corner off of the baggie and starting in the center of each pancake, pipe the filling in a spiral.  Be sure to keep the outermost spiral at least 1/4" from the edge of the pancake.

When pancake is golden brown on the bottom, gently but quickly, flip the pancake.  Cook until the second side is golden as well.

Flip swirl side up onto a plate.  Wipe out pan and repeat as necessary.

Serve topped with Glaze.

Yields 8-9 pancakes.

These pancakes were so fluffy, light, and fantastic!  Even on days when I'm not feeling like it's a cinnamon roll pancake day, this is my new go-to pancake batter.  WOW!

Kale Pineapple Carrot Juice

What to do on those busy mornings when everyone is hungry but there is also so much to get done?  Get your juice on!

We've started juicing again recently and I feel the same way I do every time we pick it back up...why did we stop?!  It is so delicious and make you feel so great!

We normally try to have more vegetables and less fruit, but it was Christmas after all....and I thought that for Early Christmas first breakfast, a beautiful green smoothie was appropriate. :)

This makes enough for 3 glasses but if you have a baby sniping out of your glass, you might need to make more. :)

Kale Pineapple Carrot Juice

What's In It:
6 large kale leaves
1/2 medium pineapple
4 carrots
4 medium apples

What To Do With It:
Juice it baby! 

We've found that with the Kale, if you stack 3-4 leaves on top of each other, roll them into a tight tube long ways, then juice them on low, you'll get the most juice out.

I have some more pineapple in the fridge and I'm hoping for some cucumbers in this week's reclaimed produce so I can make some cucumber, pineapple, cilantro - that stuff is like an addiction for me! :) Fingers crossed! :)