Sunday, September 26, 2010

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

This is one of my favorite recipes for cinnamon rolls. They are easy to make and the apple filling in them is just delicious. The recipe comes from the cookbook "Best-Loved Recipes of all Time." This book is filled with lots of easy delicious recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

5 to 5 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 envelopes of yeast (1 envelope is about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
1/4 c butter or margarine
3 large eggs
Apple filling (See below)
Cinnamon-sugar topping (See below)

In a large bowl (I just used the bowl from my Kitchen Aid), put 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk and butter until very warm. Gradually add to dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping the sides. Add eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half and roll each into rectangles. Spread apple filling evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly and pinch seams to seal. Cut each roll into equal pieces, it's really up to you how big or small you want to make them, I believe I got about 11 rolls out of each rectangle. Place, cut sides up, in greased 9 inch round pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 min. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar topping and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Enjoy!!

Apple Filling:
2 large cooking apples (I usually use about 4 granny smith apples), chopped
2 tbsp flour
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter or margarine

Combine the above ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly until thick. Stir in
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. You can let it cool, but I usually don't wait, I just use the filling as soon as I roll out the dough.

Cinnamon-sugar Topping:
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Stir well



Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The BEST Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

I found this recipe the other day and decided to make it. I made a few changes to the original recipe and added them in below. Clint is a huge philly fan, and he said that this was in his top two favorites! That made me feel pretty good. He wouldn't shut up about them and had to tell everyone how amazing they were. I'd have to agree, I was full at half and continued to eat, it was way too good!

For 2 sandwiches you will need:

1/2 pound of roast beef sliced from the deli
1/2 package of fresh sliced mushrooms
1 small to medium onion
Approx. 1 Tbs. Soy Sauce
Approx. ½ Tbs. Brown Sugar
White Sugar (Just Sprinkle a light coat)
Green chili’s, enough to liking
Pepperoncini Peppers or Jalapeño Peppers, enough to liking
1 ½ inch slice of cream cheese (or more if you’d like)
4 slices of Swiss cheese
Steak sliced rolls (these look like sub sandwich bread)

Heat griddle to 400 degrees (these sandwiches work best with a griddle but you could make one at a time in a frying pan). While griddle is heating up cut up onions into straws no more then about 1 1/2 inch pieces. Spray griddle with cooking spray or use vegetable oil. Put onions and mushrooms on griddle and use a spatula to move onions and mushrooms so they don't burn. Wait until the onions are almost translucent and add soy sauce, brown sugar and white sugar, just sprinkle on some white sugar to coat lightly. Add in cream cheese in and let melt. Then add green chili’s and roast beef slices. It is easiest if you pull the roast beef slices apart into chunks before cooking. The roast beef doesn't need to be cooked so just wait until it turns a deeper brown then the pinkish color that it has. Mix it together with the onions and mushrooms and separate it into two equal rows. Place two slices of Swiss cheese on each sandwich and then put the steak roll on top like a tee pee. Hold the top like a hot dog bun and put a spatula under it. Gently turn over sandwich by trying to keep as much as you can inside the sandwich as you turn it. Anything left over scoop up and stuff inside. It doesn't have to be perfect. Then put whatever condiments you like on it, like Mayonnaise, tomatoes slices, red or green peppers and lettuce. (We just used mayo)