Have the Cake: Cinnamon Rolls

This month's challenge for Have the Cake is Cinnamon Rolls. I LOVE cinnamon rolls! I wanted to participate this month but did not want to mess with yeast. I made the Paula Deen ones before and they were awesome but take time. I found this one on Mommy's Kitchen's site. The recipe can be found here.

These were delicious! My son and his friend loved them. Best of all, they do not take long to make since they are made with crescent rolls.

Mine did not come out minis like Tina's did. I guess I didn't roll them tight enough. No worries...I put them into regular size muffin tins and they worked out great. I will definitely make these again and again! Loved them!

the filling

ready for oven

fresh out of oven

Copy Cat Club: The Original Home Baked Girl Scout Cookie

I am my granddaughter, Samantha's, Girl Scout leader. My daughter, Kelly, is the co-leader. I was her Girl Scout leader. I am thoroughly enjoying my second time around with a troop. Our troop consists of 7 Daisies in Kindergarten and 1st grade. The girls are wonderful as are the moms.

As you know, it's Girl Scout cookie time again. One of my mom's is our cookie mom, along with my daughter helping her. We pick up the cookies this Monday and start selling on Thursday. So, support your local Girl Scouts and buy cookies!

I found this recipe on line for the original home-baked Girl Scout cookie. Originally, the girls baked cookies and then sold them door-to-door. The following recipe was given to Girl Scouts in 1922 and sold for about 25 cents per dozen. The whole story can be found here on the Girl Scout website.

This past meeting we discussed the upcoming cookie sales and talked about the types of cookies, the cost and a goal for the troop. The girls do not quite understand setting a goal and they wanted to sell like 5 or 6 boxes for their goal. Anyway....we set a goal of 1,000 boxes. Wish us luck.

While the moms were signing up for booths and discussing the finer points of the cookies sales, I brought the scouts into the kitchen and had them make the original cookie recipe. The girls love to bake! This is also an entry for the Copy Cat Club.

I originally printed this from allrecipes.com. Then, just now I looked at the History of Girl Scouts and see the allrecipes version did not tell you to refrigerate for an hour before trying to cut out. So, instead of cutting out the cookies, we scooped onto the cookie sheet. Worked out well, the girls liked using the scooper!

The Original Home-Baked Girl Scout Cookie

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake at 350° for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

Makes about 36 cookies.

My cookie mom's daughter, Ally.

Foodie Fanatics: Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake

It was my week to choose the Paula Deen recipe. I chose Chili Chicken Stew which was from her January/February 2009 issue. It can be found here. This is what it looks like:

But.....after running around on Sunday putting Christmas decorations away from my home and my parents, plus the temperature getting into the upper 70's, stew just did not sound good at all. So, I opted to make a dessert to eat while watching the Denver/Steeler game. Go Broncs!

I stuck to the Paula Deen chef and made her Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake. Yummy! It was made with a box white cake which made the recipe easy. The hardest part was pureeing the strawberries! I added a little more strawberry to the icing.

The recipe can be found on the Food Network site here. You won't be sorry!

Foodie Fanatics: "Cake" Ice-Cream Cones

This recipe for the Foodie Fanatics was chosen by Michele at Makin' Cakin' Weekends. We are still baking from Paula Deen. My daughter and I made these yesterday before dinner to have to munch on during the night. They are super easy to make. You can make with any flavor cake mix. I was originally going to do funfetti, but had a bad egg and made chocolate instead.

Everyone seemed to enjoy them. My four year old grandson kept asking were the ice cream was! He knew they were cake, but they were in the cones. Silly boy!

The recipe can be found here on the Food Network Site. I recommend making these especially for a kids party! The flavor possibilities are endless.

Sorry the pic is fuzzy, we were outside enjoying a fire in our 60 degree weather!

My grandson with the frosting on his nose!

Copy Cat Club: Sonic Root Beer Freeze

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's Eve. We did. My daughter and her family came over. My 15 year old son had six friends over. (five spent the night) We grilled out burgers, ate a lot, played the Wii, toasted with champagne, laughed alot. We also decided to have these Root Beer Freezes after dinner. This is one of the recipes for the Copy Cat Club.

They were very delicious. Most of the kids had the root beer (A&W, of course, since my first job as a teen was waitressing at an A&W Restaurant in Ohio). One had Coke, I tried strawberry soda and my daughter had Cherry Coke. All came out very good. These are definitely to make again. Kelly actually made these for us, but I was going to do these during the week.

I found the recipe on Copy Kat. There are some yummy looking stuff there. The recipe is super simple. Two ingredients! I would recommend trying different sodas.

Sonic Root Beer Freeze

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup root beer

Directions:

Place both ingredients into a blender, and mix for about 30 seconds on puree.

How easy is that!!!

My grandkids finishing off my freeze.

The root beer and ice cream in the blender

Kelly's Cherry Coke Freeze

My strawberry soda freeze

Copy Cat: Cracker Barrel Baked Macaroni & Cheese

A while back I had seen there was a copy cat cooking club. I wanted to join, but when I went to, the postings had stopped. I'm really hoping that Tia of Buttercream Barbie will start it back up. Cross your fingers. I'm trying to stay away from the clubs that are strictly baking. Not good for the blood sugar! Anyway, I had emailed Tia and she said that she may start this club back up. Therefore, I found a recipe to make to let her know that I want it started up! (sounded like a spoiled child!)

The recipe was Cracker Barrel's Baked Macaroni and Cheese and can be found here. This site, www.recipesecrets.net, seems to have fantastic looking recipes. This macaroni and cheese was super good. Ooey goodness! I will definitely make again. It was not hard to make at all. You must try it!

Foodie Fanatics: Chocolate Malted Milkshakes

I'm a little late on posting this recipe for Foodie Fanatics. With the holidays, I just have not had the time, or desire, to sit at the computer at home. I hope everyone had a happy holiday. Ours was very nice, but hectic. I really enjoyed having my daughter and family here for the holidays without having her leaving.

The week before Christmas, the recipe for Foodie Fanatics was Paula Deen's Chocolate Malted Milkshakes which was Kelly's choice (What's Cooking Kelly). Man, were they scrumptious! Very easy to make. Kelly and I made these one evening with the kids. Kelly actually did all the work...I only smashed the malted milk balls to sprinkle on top (which were left over from Halloween!).

I highly recommend trying this milkshake. You will not be disappointed! The recipe can be found HERE.

It's not the best picture, but you get the idea of it's yumminess!