Cinnamon Roll Pancakes May Just Be the Best Thing Ever

When I was a kid, Sunday morning meant pancakes or waffles. It was the one day a week that my dad would be off so it was the only time my family was all together for breakfast. Now that my dad is retired, pancakes are not always limited to Sundays and sometimes I give him a break and do the honors of cooking up the delicious treats myself. So on that not, let me introduce you to what may be the most wonderful thing ever-- cinnamon roll pancakes.

Holy mother of cupcakes! That looks amazing!

What you need:

For the batter:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cream cheese glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare pancake batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in milk, oil, and egg just until the batter is moistened.

In another medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip bag and set aside. You'll want it to set until it becomes the consistency of toothpaste.

In medium microwave bowl, melt butter and cream cheese. Gross looking, right? Whisk together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Alternatively, use a nonstick electric griddle. Scoop about 3/4 batter onto the skillet. Snip the corner of the filling bag and squeeze a spiral of filling over the batter. As you can see, my filling was not quite set enough and ran... A lot.

When bubbles begin to appear on the surface of the pancake, flip carefully with a thin metal spatula and cook until browned on the underside. When done, transfer to a baking sheet or plate and keep warm in the oven.

 

When ready to serve, just spoon some glaze over the top and enjoy! And believe me, you will enjoy these, The soft and fluffy in the center, but the runny filling makes the edges delightfully crisp.

I found that serving a little bit of bacon with these is a good idea. These are dense, sweet pancakes and they come off as a little too rich if you don't have the salty bacon for contrast.

Good luck and happy baking!

Rosie

Source: Recipe Girl

Martha Stewart's Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Like I do almost every year, I made a resolution to get healthy. However, that gets pretty tough when you like to bake as much as I do. So when I find recipes that are both tasty and lower calorie it really just makes my day. 

Iced oatmeal applesauce cookies. Oh yum. I can get behind that. My dad bought me the Martha Stewart Cookies book for Christmas. I was so happy that I could finally replace the many photocopies I had made from the local library's copy of the book. I love these cookies. Not only do they taste delicious, but the oats and the use of applesauce make them a much lighter treat than your average dessert. Unfortunately, my icing came out too thin somehow so mine didn't look nearly as pretty as Martha's but they still tasted wonderful!

What you need:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup chunky applesauce
1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup golden raisins (I left these out because raisins-- ew)
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugars on low speed until combined.

Add egg and applesauce, mixing until well blended (about 2/3 minutes).

Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix in raisins.

Using an ice cream scoop (1 1/2 inch) or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing two inches apart. Bake cookies until golden and just set, about 13-15 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool completely. Make sure there's parchment paper under the racks.

Make your icing. Whisk together confectioner's sugar, syrup and 3 tablespoons of water. Drizzle over cookies and let set.

I'm not positive as to why my frosting came out too thin. I'm guessing I accidentally shorted it on powdered sugar. Even if it didn't turn out thick and pretty, it still gave these cookies a nice sweet taste.

The maple frosting along with the texture makes these cookies a winner. I don't know that I would choose these over a warm chocolate chip cookie, but these certainly make a nice, healthier alternative.

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: Martha Stewart's Cookies (it's on her site here)

An Oreo/ Chocolate Chip/ Brownie Concoction that Will Stop Your Heart

When I first stumbled across this recipe online, I just knew I was going to have to make these. I had seen the oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-coookies that had gone viral online, but the addition of the brownies just took them to another level. These things are no joke. They're dangerously good but so rich and decadent that my boyfriend and I took to calling them "diabeetus bars".

What you need:
1 batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough
1 package Double-Stuff Oreos
1 13x9 brownie mix
1/4 cup hot fudge

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and line with parchment paper. Whip up your cookie dough. Don't use store bought dough as you need to reduce the flour a bit. I'll put the original recipe at the end of this post.

Spread the cookie dough along the bottom of the pan.

Make a layer of oreos across the top of the cookie dough.

Prepare the brownie batter according to directions on the box but add in 1/4 cup hot fudge into the batter. Pour over the oreos and cookie dough. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 15-25 minutes. Bars are done when toothpick inserted in brownies comes out clean.

 Oh man. These are just so good. They're rich enough, but a topping of ice cream makes these perfect.

Need a cookie dough recipe? Here's the one from the original post and it's perfect!

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 oz pkg) chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt then slowly add to cream mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Good luck and happy baking!

Source:Kevin & Amanda

Butterscotch Marble Cake and a Few Changes

I hope everyone is having a great New Year! With the changing of the year, I also decided to make some changes to my blog. It's only a few minor things, but I hope to constantly improve this and to make it more interesting to the reader. These changes include:
1. No more ingredient pictures. They're kind of a waste because no one really needs them.
2. I've given up on the Grandma Rose's cookbook. Why? To be honest, I haven't really been a fan of most of the recipes I've tried. It's not really worth making them if I don't like them, right?
3. Finally, I"m going to attempt to integrate some new things through the year. I'm hoping I can wrangle some guest posts and the like.

Now on to the cake!

What you need:

1 package white cake mix
1 package 4 serving instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 cup water
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate flavored syrup
2 oz sweet baking chocolate, cut up
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon hot water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch fluted tube pan. In a large mixing bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the sides often.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups of batter to another bowl; stir in chocolate flavored syrup.

Pour light batter into the pan. Spoon chocolate batter over top. Using a knife, gently cut through the batters to marble.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the icing, melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and hot water. If needed, stir in additional hot water to get to a drizzling consistency.

Yum yum! I simple adore semi-homemade recipes. They're quick and easy and, best of all, delicious! This cake is nice, fluffy treat and is simply splendid with a cup of milk. I hope you enjoy it.

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: Better Homes and Gardens