Monkey Bread

This morning I made one of the easiest "breads", Monkey Bread! I bought a value pack of Grands buttermilk biscuits from Giant for this recipe and used walnuts in it too. The value pack is four 7.5-ounce cans of biscuits (40 smaller biscuits) that are bundled together rather than two 16.3 cans of biscuits. This pack had the Monkey Bread recipe on the package and the ingredient quantities varied a little from the recipe below. The recipe was 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter and it said to bake it for 40-45 minutes, which would have been way too long. 28 minutes was perfect, so I am glad I looked at both recipes! Using the smaller cans does require more cutting since there are more biscuits so if you are in a hurry I would get the larger cans. I was not so I didn't mind! Other than that the two are pretty much the same. This is a great, simple recipe to make when you want a warm breakfast treat on a cold winter day!

Grands!®  Monkey Bread

½ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans (16.3 ounces each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

½ cup chopped walnuts, if desired

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In a large storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag with sugar and cinnamon to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts among the biscuit pieces.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Makes 12 servings.

Buttermilk biscuits

Cut biscuits into quarters & coat with cinnamon & sugar

Place coated biscuits & walnuts in a greased bundt pan

Pour butter/brown sugar mixture over coated biscuits & chopped walnuts

Bake for 28-30 minutes

Cool in pan for 10 minutes

Turn upside down onto a serving plate & enjoy!

Photos by JoJo

Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

Tonight I made my last batch of Christmas cookies! I asked my friend Chas a while ago what kind of cookies she liked so I could send her some in Afghanistan, and she said chocolate, so I decided to make some double chocolate chip cookies for her. My grandma makes these every year so I knew the recipe would be good. I only made one recipe, which made plenty of cookies. I used a small cookie scoop to measure the dough. They were very easy to make and tasted delicious.

Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

1 1/3 cups Crisco

3 cups brown sugar

2 Tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa

1½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (optional)

2 cups chocolate chips

Beat crisco, sugar, water and vanilla. Add eggs, beat until well blended. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoons on baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake. Remove right after baking. Cool and store in freezer or eat them.

Makes about 8 dozen cookies.

Crisco, sugar, water and vanilla

Eggs added

Rest of dry ingredients added

Chocolate chips added

Drop by teaspoons on baking sheet

Bake 7-9 minutes

Photos by JoJo

Andes Crème De Menthe Cookies

My older sister Maria used to make Andes mint cookies for Christmas. I made them for the first time this year. They were pretty easy to make. I have found the Andes Mint baking chips at Target and Walmart. I used a small cookie scoop and overfilled it a little to make all the cookies the same size. These have a strong mint taste from the Andes Mint baking chips, so if you like mint, you will love them!

Andes Crème De Menthe Cookies

½ cup salted butter, softened

¾ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 package (10-ounce) Andes Baking Chips

2 2/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and eggs until mixed.  Stir in Andes Baking Chips and then flour.  Chill for approximately 1 hour in refrigerator.  Measure out approximately 1 ounce of dough – form ball and slightly flatten.  Raise oven rack one level above middle and bake on non-stick baking pans.

Bake at 350º for approximately 8-10 minutes.  Cool on pans for 2 minutes before removing.

Makes about 3½ dozen cookies.

Note: If you cannot find Andes Baking Chips, purchase Andes Mints and chop in chopper.

Butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and eggs

Add mint baking chips

Add flour

Roll into balls

Slightly flatten

Right out of the oven

Photos by JoJo

Hearty Italian Sausage Soup

A few weeks ago my sister Maria made a Hearty Italian Sausage Soup that was really good. She got the recipe from the back of the Saltine's box. I've been sick the past few days and wanted to make soup tonight, so I made this recipe. It's very easy and doesn't take much time to put together. I didn't have rotini pasta, so I used orecchiette instead. I made a double recipe and put a pound of pasta in which was a little too much (it would have been fine if I added a little more chicken broth). This is a great recipe to make when you don't have much time to put dinner together and want something warm and filling!

Hearty Italian Sausage Soup

Recipe Courtesy Kraft Foods

1 pound ground Italian Sausage

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

2 cans (14-ounces each) 25% Less Sodium Chicken Broth

1 soup can water

1 can (15-ounce) cannellini beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5-ounce) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 cup rotini pasta, uncooked

1½ cups baby spinach

½ cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

PREMIUM Saltine crackers

Cook sausage, onions and garlic in oil in large saucepan for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta; cook 8 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat.

Stir in spinach; cover. Let stand 5 minutes. Top with cheese.

Serve with Saltine crackers.

Makes 10 servings.

Photos by JoJo

Pumpkin Roll

Last year we had a new dessert at our Thanksgiving feast - a Pumpkin Roll that my mom made. This year I tried it out. I made two pumpkin rolls, and there was only half of one leftover (thankfully, so we could enjoy it a day or two longer!). This was easier to make than I thought it would be. My mom helped me out a little with getting the wax paper off the cakes and rolled them up. The only thing I will do different next time is chop the walnuts finer, as they were a little big. Other than that, this is a great dessert that is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

I don't have photos from when I made the cake, but this blog has some great step-by-step directions.

Libby’s® Pumpkin Roll 

                                                                   

CAKE

¼ cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

FILLING

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

6 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

FOR CAKE:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 15” x 10” jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar. Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel so the cake will not stick when rolling it up.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes). Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Unroll cake after it has cooled

Prepare cream cheese filling

Spread filling over cake

Re-roll cake

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top

Photos by JoJo