Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits 

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/2 C. pancake syrup (any brand you like, I used Mrs. Buttersworth)

1/3 C. packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 C. chopped pecans, optional

1/4 C. chopped almonds, optional

Instructions:

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired). Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring. Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

** I ended up using 1 1/2 tubes of the Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits (1 tube didn't seem like enough) and baked it for about 30 minutes. It needed a bit longer to bake since I used more.

Mini Cakes DIY

To make the cakes:
Step 1. Remove paper from the empty can and clean it. Grease and flour the inside of the can. To bake fill can a little over half full with batter. I baked these at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes but my oven is not consistent so make sure you check them by dipping in a toothpick until it comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely before removing.

Step 2.  After you remove the cakes use a bread knife and cut off the rounded top. Then cut the cakes into little layers. Be very careful to cut them flat and even.

Step 3. To frost pipe a thick line of frosting around the very edge of the cake. Then with a wet knife smooth over the frosting to make it consistent and go all the way to the edge. Gently place the next layer on top and repeat until you are finished. Pipe the top of the cake with frosting and smooth with a wet knife.

Weeknight Easy Rolls

No kneading, no rise time

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 40 minutes
Makes 12 rolls

• 1 package active dry yeast (1/4 ounce, 2-1/4 teaspoons)
• 2 cups warm water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 4 cups bread flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
• 2 tablespoons (yes, tablespoons) baking powder
• 2 teaspoons table salt
• Chopped fresh herbs such as chives, sage or rosemary, optional

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease the cups of a muffin tray with standard-size cups. Stir together the yeast and water, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil and egg. Separately, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture a cup at a time until just mixed, adding a portion of the yeast-water mixture between additions.

Stir in herbs, if using. With two soup spoons, one to scoop and the other to scrape, fill the muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes. Best served hot but keep two to three days.

Creamy Roasted Eggplant Linguine Recipe

  

 

(serves 2)

1 large Globe eggplant
120g linguine or pasta of your choice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
2 anchovies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 roma tomato, seeds & core removed, diced
1/2 cup cream
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper
grated roman cheese for garnish (optional)

First things first you will need to roast your eggplant. The easiest way to do this over a gas burner if you are lucky enough to have one. A little advice, though? Line the bottom of your stove with aluminum foil for an easy cleanup and turn your hood fan on! Turn the eggplant until charred on all sides. Alternatively this can be done on a barbecue or under the broiler. Remove to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.

Allow to cool and steam for at least 10 minutes. Remove and discard the skin and root end. Roughly chop into a small dice, this should basically just turn into pulp, if it isn’t very tender then you probably didn’t roast it enough. If there is any excess juice reserve it with the eggplant.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add a heaping tablespoon of salt and add your pasta. Meanwhile, in a small skillet add the tablespoon of oil, the chili flakes, anchovies and whole garlic cloves. bring the oil to medium low or until you see gently bubbles around the garlic and chili, stir regularly. Cook for 3 minutes when bubbling. Add the chopped eggplant and any juices and bring the heat up to medium. Cook for another 3 minutes, stirring often. Drain pasta when ready and reserve.

Remove garlic if desired. Add cream and bring to a simmer, simmer for 1 minute. Turn heat back to low and toss in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Add parsley and pasta and toss in a big bowl. Serve grated cheese on the side.

S'mores Monkey Bread

This bread literally melts in your mouth when served warm. It's light, soft, and so delish. Hope you all like it!! Enjoy :)

Graham Cracker Bread
     1/2 cup warm water
     1/4 cup packed brown sugar
     1 packet fast rise yeast
     1 cup graham cracker crumbs
     3 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
     1 tsp. baking powder
     1/2 tsp. baking soda
     1/2 cup butter
     1/3 cup milk
     2 eggs
     1 tsp. salt

Marshmallow Caramel
     6 Tbsp. butter
     1/4 cup sugar
     3/4 cup heavy cream
     2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
     1 tsp. vanilla
     2 cups miniature marshmallows

Assembly
     1 cup graham cracker crumbs
     1/4 cup butter, melted
     1 cup miniature marshmallows
     1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
     2 (1.55 oz.) Hershey's milk chocolate candy bars

In a small bowl, combine warm water and brown sugar. Stir together until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add yeast and stir until dissolved.

Let sit for 10 minutes until surface of mixture becomes foamy.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, add 1 sleeve of graham crackers.

Pulse until graham crackers are very fine.

In a medium bowl, add 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, 3 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix together well. Set aside.

Add butter and milk to a small microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute, or until butter is melted. Let cool slightly. Add to a large mixing bowl with eggs and salt. Mix well.

Add yeast mixture and flour mixture.

Beat until just combined.

On a lightly floured surface, knead 2 Tbsp. of all-purpose flour into dough. Knead until dough comes together and is equally consistent throughout. About 5 minutes (by hand). Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat entire surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

While bread is rising, make caramel by combining butter, sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, continuously stirring. Boil caramel until sugar has dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Turn heat down to low. Wait until caramel stops boiling. Add marshmallows.

Cook on low heat, continuously stirring, until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. Take off heat and let cool slightly before assembly.

Prepare to assemble by taking 1 sleeve of graham crackers and placing in a large zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, crush crackers into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and set aside.

After dough has risen, pour 2/3 cup marshmallow caramel into a greased 10-inch fluted pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup marshmallows and 1/4 cup chocolate chips over caramel. Set aside.

Punch down dough and shape into 40 balls (about 1-inch diameter). Place melted butter in a small bowl and retrieve graham cracker crumbs. Roll balls in butter, then roll in crumbs. Place 20 balls in the pan over caramel/marshmallow and chocolate chips.

Drizzle 1/4 cup marshmallow caramel over dough balls, and top with other half of marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Pour 1/2 cup caramel over marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Roll remaining balls in butter and crumbs and place over caramel in tubed pan. Sprinkle some of the left over crumbs to fill in any holes between the dough balls to cover exposed marshmallow or chocolate areas. Cover and set in a warm place to let rise for another 30 minutes.

Place fluted pan on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Cool bread in the pan until edges are touchable, about 3 minutes. Invert pan onto a serving plate. Do not remove pan until bread is just warm!! About another 5 minutes. (you don't want to take pan off while bread is still hot or else it will fall apart) Slowly remove pan and set bread aside.

In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave 2 Hershey's bars (broken up) for 30 seconds.

Stir chocolate until smooth. Pour melted chocolate into a small zip lock bag. When chocolate is cool enough to handle, clip the corner of the bag and pipe chocolate over monkey bread. Repeat the same process by putting leftover caramel into a zip lock bag and piping over chocolate/monkey bread. (You may have to warm up caramel just a little.) If there is left over caramel, serve on the side for dipping. Bread is best when warm.

Homemade Caramel Sauce

So to start it off, you have to have this caramel sauce. There are some things that you can get at the store, like the chocolate cake, you can totally substitute for a box mix. But the caramel sauce is one thing that makes the dish so it HAS!! to be homemade. Otherwise, it just won't turn out to it's full potential.

It's going to come out a little darker then regular caramel sauce. Don't panic! It's do to using brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. If you want you're caramel to come out a lighter shade of brown-orange then just substitute the brown sugar for white sugar, but the reason I use brown sugar is I find that it adds more flavor. Just trust me in this one. The only thing you need to be careful of is not burning it. Other then that, this is a synch to make. And it is amazing!!

Homemade Caramel Sauce
     1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
     2 tablespoons light corn syrup
     1 cup packed brown sugar
     1 cup heavy cream
     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan combine butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar.

Bring to a boil over medium heat until mixture reaches 260 to 270 degrees F, stirring consistently. Take off heat and slowly pour in heavy cream while continuously stirring. Put back onto burner over medium heat just until mixture boils. Boil for about 1 minute and take off heat.

Let cool for a minute or two and then stir in vanilla extract until well incorporated. Refrigerate leftovers in a sealed jar.

Sticky Pecan Upside-Down Baby Cakes

I used a regular cupcake pan for these. The recipe calls for a jumbo pan, but mine wasn't accessible. So if you decide to do this, you're gonna wanna put about 1 heaping tablespoon of the pecan caramel mix in the bottom of the cup, and then fill the cups 3/4 the way full of batter. This way your cakes will be smaller, but it will also make more of them.

Sticky Pecan-Upside Down Baby Cakes
     Nonstick spray for baking
     2/3 cup packed brown sugar
     1/2 cup butter
     1/3 cup honey
     1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
     1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
     2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
     1 teaspoon baking powder
     1/2 teaspoon baking soda
     1/2 teaspoon salt
     3 eggs
     2 cups granulated sugar
     1 cup vegetable oil
     1 8-ounce carton sour cream
     2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat twelve 3 1/2-inch (jumbo) muffin cups with spray for baking; set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, and honey.

Cook and stir over medium heat about 2 minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat.

Stir in pecans and finely shredded orange peel.

Set aside.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl combine eggs and granulated sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 3 minutes or until mixture is thick and lemon-colored.

Add oil, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally.

Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed until combined.

Place 2 tablespoons of the pecan mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup.

Scoop a heaping 1/3 cup batter into each cup. Place muffin cups on a large foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on wire racks for 5 minutes. Using a knife or narrow metal spatula, loosen edges of cakes from sides of cups. Invert cakes onto racks. Spoon any pecan mixture remaining in muffin cups onto cakes. Serve warm or cool completely. Makes 12 jumbo cakes.