Cinnamon Rolls

Hey everyone!

This post is rather straight-forward. Most of you know and probably love cinnamon rolls, the cousins of my absolute favorite, sticky buns. But how many of you make them yourselves? They're so easy it's hard to pay for one or want a store-bought one after you make them yourself a few times!! So it's not a specific recipe, more a technique, so here goes!

The BF rolling up the cinnamon rolls.

The BF and I made two sizes- smaller ones for me...

And jumbo ones for him!

The cream cheese icing comes together fast- butter, cream cheese, vanilla, 10x sugar, and a pinch of salt!

And here are the finished rolls! You can tell we couldn't wait to eat one before we took the picture even :)

I just use the same recipe for the dough as I do for my sticky buns- recipe here.
Then roll out your dough, fill with butter, cinnamon, and sugar to your taste, roll up, and slice to whatever size you prefer. Let rise overnight in the fridge or for 30-45 minutes in a warm room. Bake at 375 F in a plain buttered pan (probably a 9x13 for the whole batch, depending on roll size) for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.
Make whatever kind of icing you like best, and top your rolls- and enjoy! We made cream cheese frosting, but you can use plain, or the BF even used some leftover icing from making White Russian Cupcakes. Make it how you like it!

Then gobble your cinnamon rolls up like the deliciousness they are- for breakfast, or anytime!

Savor it!
love, rue

Coffee Cake Muffins

Hi everybody-

These are pretty darn yummy. I don't often have sour cream on hand, but I happened to so I seized the opportunity to bake these. I love having them in muffin/cupcake form instead of a whole cake because it's easier to portion out and control what you're eating (especially if you live alone!)- that in mind, use whatever pan/pans are suitable for your occasion. Let me just show you-

Here are all of your ingredients- not complicated at all!

Mix together your topping ingredients- butter, sugar, nuts.

Here's your topping all made- set aside until you're done with the batter.

Mix sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.

Add in your dry ingredients, mix well.

And add in the sour cream alternately, mixing well.

Your finished batter and topping- simple!

Here's the muffins half-done - half of the batter is in the bottom of the papers, and then I put half of the topping on.

And here are the muffins with the rest of the batter and topping done and ready for the oven!

 

Coffee Cake Muffins
-3 tablespoons butter, softened/melted
-1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I used walnuts)
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup white sugar
-1/4 cup vegetable/canola oil
-1/4 cup applesauce
-3 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-2 cups flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 cup sour cream
Mix butter, nuts, and brown sugar together. Set aside.
Beat the white sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
Add in 1/2 of the dry ingredients, mix well. Add 1/2 of the sour cream, mix well. Then mix in the second halves of each.
Layer 1/2 the batter, then 1/2 the topping, then the other 1/2 batter, then the last 1/2 of topping in whatever kind of greased (or paper lined) pan you are using (I made muffins- works great!).
Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes for muffins, about 50 minutes for a bundt pan.

Your finished coffee cafe muffins- delish, and an easy snack to take anywhere!

Savor it!
love, rue

Zucchini Muffins/Bread

Hey everyone!

Today is a super simple recipe for delish Zucchini bread or muffins. These are easy to make and great to have on hand for a healthy and filling snack. You can hardly tell the zucchini is there at all! Let's get going.

Add your first six ingredients to a mixing bowl.

And mix well.

Add in all of the dry ingredients.

And mix well!

I made mine into muffins- it helps to grease the papers if you are using them.

Zucchini Muffins/Bread
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup milk
-1/2 cup oil (I substitute applesauce for half)
-1 cup sugar (I use 2/3 cup to make them healthier)
-2 cups shredded zucchini
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-3 cups flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
-1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Mix eggs, milk, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla well in a mixing bowl. Add in the dry ingredients and stir well. Stir in walnuts if you are using them.
Put batter into greased muffin tins or two loaf pans (or a combo thereof!).
Bake at 350 F for 18-22 minutes for muffins, 40-50 minutes for loaves- test with a toothpick, when it comes out clean, they are done.

Here are the finished muffins- just lightly browned and perfect!

Savor it!
love, rue

Blueberry Cake with Lemon Glaze

Hey there!

This cake is super yummy, and super easy- just what I look for in my recipes! We used fresh blueberries because they are plentiful at the farmer's market right now, but frozen would probably work just fine. Let's get started!

Your wet and dry ingredients, and blueberries.

Stir up everything into your dough, then pour in the berries.

Fold in the berries carefully, so as not to pop them!

Pour your mixture into a greased loaf pan.

Your cake just out of the oven- beautiful!

Make your lemon glaze and pour over- I didn't sift my sugar, which is why it is a little lumpy- just as tasty though!

Blueberry Cake with Lemon Glaze
-1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
-2 ounces cream cheese, softened
-1 cup sugar
-1 egg
-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
-2/3 cup buttermilk
-2 cups fresh blueberries (or thawed frozen ones)
-2 cups flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating. Fold in blueberries.
Bake at 350 F for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool, then loosen the sides by running a knife along the sides of the pan, and turn out.
Glaze- a few teaspoons lemon juice and a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar, mix up with a fork, and drizzle on top!

Your delicious finished product- bursting with berries and flavor. Dig in!

Savor it!
love, rue

French Toast in a Mug

Hello everyone!

This one is a super easy breakfast you can throw together in a matter of minutes and end up with a warm mug full of maple syrupy goodness. Let's get started!

Here are your super easy ingredients- you probably have them all right now, minus the blueberry sauce!

On the left, your greased mug, bread, and blueberries; on the right, your egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.

This is the egg mixture poured over the bread and mashed down a little bit.

French Toast in a Mug
-1 large mug or two small mugs, greased
-1-2 slices bread, cubed
-1 egg
-2-4 tablespoons milk
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-sprinkle of cinnamon
-optional: blueberry sauce, fruit, etc.
Put bread in mug(s) with fruit if using. Mix together egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread and fruit if using. Microwave 1-2 minutes (start with 1 minute then add 15 second intervals, mine took 1 min 40 seconds). Serve in mug with syrup!

Finished! Top with some maple syrup and tuck in!

Savor it!
love, rue

English Muffin Pizzas

Hello dear readers-

I gotta say, I can't believe I haven't thought of this before. I've come across the thought a time or two but it never stuck in my mind and I never gave it a go before. But as I stood in front of the fridge trying to figure out some food that I really really needed to eat, it clicked. I have cheese, I have pestos (I prefer these to pizza sauce though certainly go for it), I have apple, salami, onion. And what do I have to put it on? Some english muffins I popped in the freezer a month or two back. I pulled one out, defrosted it briefly, topped it, and popped those babies in the toaster oven till browned on top and bubbly!

This is far more of a technique than a recipe- use whatever english muffins you want, whatever sauces, cheeses, veggies, etc.- get creative, you can put anything on here! It's especially fun to experiment with toppings on these because you get to make two at once (one on each half of the muffin), and they're small (so cute!).

I didn't take too many pictures, because so much of it was self-explanatory, and because I didn't think of it enough at the time (as I said, I was hungry!!). That said, let me show you what I made.

I know full well that this is a bad picture- it's hard to get a good one on foil! But these are the pizzas before I popped them in the toaster oven.

This is the pizza on the right above- basil pesto, mozzarella and parmesan, apple bits, chopped walnuts, and a drizzle of lime juice once pulled out of the oven.

On this one I used sun-dried-tomato pesto, mozzarella and parmesan, onions, and salami.

English Muffin Pizza
-english muffins
-pizza toppings
This is honestly as easy as it sounds and is much more a technique than a recipe. Split your english muffin in half and make each half into a mini-pizza- get creative with those toppings! Then stick the mini-pizzas in your toaster oven (or oven) for about 5 minutes- until browned on top.
Delicious and great as a snack or meal.

I'm not usually huge on taking pictures of food this close up, etc., but with this I felt that it helped to show just how close this was to real pizza- I was so fantastically surprised!

Savor it!
love, rue

Cranberry Walnut Bread

Hello!
This is a delicious cranberry walnut bread that my mom made, and it is completely fabulous. I'll show you the way through pictures!

Here's the basic recipe- feel free to alter amounts or types of add-ins! (And by the way, WW flour = whole wheat or white whole wheat flour)

Here's the dough mixed up and ready to rise overnight...

Here's the bread baking in a greased glass casserole dish- covered for the first part...

And uncovered for the second part.

Here's the bread just out of the oven- with the thermometer testing for 205 F.

Here's the finished bread...

And the bread sliced and beautiful. I hope you give this a try!

Savor it!
love, rue

Hot Pretzels

Hello! Today's post is primarily pictures from my mom. She made some delicious hot pretzels while I was at home, and I wanted to share the pictures and recipe with you.

Here's the dough in the mixer- see how it's clumped on there?

Here's the dough out of the mixer, ready to rise.

And the dough after rising- so much bigger!

Here's the turned out dough before shaping...

And the pretzels being boiled for about 30 seconds a side.

The pretzels after shaping and boiling.

And the pretzels just before baking- brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with salt!

And the finished pretzels! Bake at 450 until golden.

And here's the recipe! Just go by feel and enjoy.

Those are all the details I have for now, so go adventure in the land of soft pretzels! They're super easy, I promise!

Savor it!
love, rue