Cinnamon Rolls and Testing

Today was a great day. Seriously. We're doing the government required testing so that we can continue to homeschool. Plus, our family consists of a fairly wide range of ages (6 - 13), so whoever is not testing at the moment gets to hang out quietly upstairs doing almost anything. They can watch TV (Leave It To Beaver!) and read and play with Legos and train tracks and (my personal favorite) write.

Which is what I did. I wrote. All Day. Can you believe it? All day. Doesn't that sound like a fantastic day? I think so. I also baked. Cinnamon rolls. The really good kind that are huge and gooey and nutty and homemade. Can't you just smell them?

So, baking is another thing that I love to do and it consumed about 5 hours of my day to make these cinnamon rolls (yeah, they're that good). Then they sat on the counter, filling the house with their rich smell for a good two hours.

Unfortunately, us humans weren't the only ones to smell them.

My mom and I were outside viewing tree forts when disaster struck. "You better come inside, quick!" said Will, one of my younger brothers. Someone said something about dogs and that's when I started despairing.

I entered the kitchen, only to find the expected. The plate of now-demolished cinnamon rolls was upside-down on the floor, half-eaten. I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. I did neither at the time, still trying to control my thoughts.

The really funny thing was, that the strongest reaction came from my dad, who was not happy that tomorrow morning's breakfast was destroyed in such a short time by someone other than himself.

The mutts did not get to everything though.

Imagine the scene: I come in to the room and stand for a moment, shocked. Eventually, I am able to pick up the plate and set it on the counter, then begin picking up the pieces off the floor. Once the floor is clean, I see the cinnamon roll pieces that are still stuck to the plate. I see no reason to waste good food, so I peel off the parts that touched the floor and the dog's mouth (not that I would have minded eating them, but people would have made a big deal out of it) and I share the salvageable bits with my mother and the brother that attempted to rescue them.

So that was it. My great day. I only have one last thing to say: they were good. :)

Preacher Cookies

Another lemonade stand, another sweet to cook. This time it’s cookies. Preacher cookies. The best preacher cookies ever.

This recipe came from my Granny who is southern through and through - especially in cooking (you should taste her green beans and potatoes!). They are delicious and I wouldn’t change a thing (like I did with my chango bars). To quote my brother, Richard, "I'm really tempted to just go in there and eat all of those cookies!" We decided he wouldn't go in the kitchen. :)

Here’s the recipe. It’s doubled, because you can’t make a single batch and expect them to last the day. The double batch doesn’t last long either, though.

Granny's Preacher Cookies  

4 cups sugar                2/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup butter                  6 cups oats

1 cup milk                     2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup cocoa (Hershey's is the best)

Mix sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in a large pot on medium heat. 

Bring to a boil. Keep stirring. Boil for 30 seconds.

Add peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Mix.

Turn off stove and spread out wax paper. Mix. Drop onto wax paper.

Let cool and harden. Peel off wax paper and store in fridge.

I really hope you like these, because I know my family does!

Enjoy!

Chango Bars

Chango Bars. Never heard of them? Well, I’ll explain.

Chango bars are a spanish dessert that’s kind of a mix between cake and brownies, but the only chocolate in them are the chocolate chips. They are really easy to make and are also a lot of fun.

So now for where I got the recipe.

I was in second grade and it was reading. The recipe was talked about in a story and the real thing was in the back of the book. Yes, it came from a text book. Our class made the the batter and sent it to the kitchen to cook (this was before I homeschooled and could do all that myself). We were dying to try them all day. Then, just before recess, we finally got to bite into the sweet treat (notice it was right before recess - there were some people who would benefit from running off the sugar before the next subject). Everybody loved them. We were allowed to write down the recipe and I immediately did so. The next time I made them was at home and I tweaked the recipe. I continued to tweak it until I had found a wonderful combination of ingredients that is always a crowd pleaser.

Now for the recipe:

Chango Bars

1 cup butter                    2 ⅓ cups flour

2 cups brown sugar       1 Tbs baking powder

½ cup applesauce         1 tsp salt

3 eggs                            2 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 in glass baking pan. Melt butter. While this is melting, cream brown sugar, applesauce, and eggs, then add the butter. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir into wet mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

I really like this recipe and hope you do too!

Loads of Cupcakes

I made 6 dozen white wedding cupcakes for a friend’s older sibling’s wedding reception. I tested them the week before (only making 3 dozen) and everybody loved them so much that I didn’t get to try any. I made extra this time in hopes of getting a taste before they disappear.

Here’s a pic. from the trial run (they were for a lemonade stand):

And so, this time I got a day off of schoolwork to work on dozens of cupcakes. It took me all morning just to get the unfrosted ones for the reception finished.

After that, I came home and made some more - complete with frosting this time.

Here’s the link to the recipe (it’s another blog) just in case you want to try making them.

http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/03/16/white-wedding-cake-cupcakes/

I only had 16.5 oz. of cake mix but it worked just fine. You may need to make a little extra frosting though.

Enjoy!