Chewy Pretzel Bites- (ht)

Note: if using active dry yeast, increase the yeast to 1 tablespoon. Proof the yeast in the warm water and sugar (let it bubble and foam – maybe about 5 minutes) before adding it to the flour and salt. *Makes about 2 dozen pretzel bites Dough: 2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast 1 cup (8 ounces) very warm water Topping: 1/2 cup (4 ounces) warm water 2 tablespoons baking soda Coarse salt (optional) 3 tablespoons butter, melted In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix to just combine. Add the water and mix well, adding more flour, as needed, a bit at a time to form a soft, smooth dough that clears the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it is soft, smooth and quite slack. The goal is to get a really soft dough that isn’t overly sticky. Lightly flour the dough and place it in a plastic bag; close the bag, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest for 30 minutes or up to 60 minutes. Preheat your oven to 500°F. Don’t be afraid of the high heat! This is what will help those pretzels to brown up perfectly and stay soft on the inside. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper or lightly greasing them. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into about four strips of equal length. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, combine the 1/2 cup warm water and the baking soda in a liquid measuring cup (deep enough to dip the pretzel bites into). Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved. Sometimes I have a hard time getting the baking soda completely dissolved, so I just lightly stir up the mixture right before adding each pretzel. Cut each strip of dough into about 6-8 pieces, about 1 to 1 ½ inches in width. You don’t have to be completely exact, just eyeball it. Dip each pretzel bite in the baking soda solution (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Bake the pretzels for 7-8 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Bake one sheet at a time – it won’t hurt the other pretzels to chill out for a little longer. Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave on low heat. Recipe From mel's kitchen cafe

Honey Wheat Pizza Crust- (ht)

1 t yeast (I use active dry)

1 3/4 C water

2 C white flour

2 C wheat flour

1 t salt

1/3 C olive oil

1 T honey

Pour the yeast over the top of your warm water. Don't stir Pour your wheat flour and your white flour into your stand mixer. Add the salt and stir it around a bit. Pour the oil into the flour. Let your mixer combine it all up, nice and pasty like. Add your honey. Add the water and yeast mixture. Mix it all until it is combined. No need to let it knead for a long period of time. Just get it mixed up well. Cover it with some plastic wrap and let it rise for at least 2 hours. You can also put it in the fridge if you aren't planning on using it until later that day. You can actually leave it in the fridge for several days and it will just get better with age. Divide the dough in half. Pour some olive oil onto a pizza stone, or any other kind of baking sheet. A stone is not required. Let the dough hang out there for about 5 minutes. Then stretch the dough out to the edges of the pan. 7. Cover with sauce and pizza toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutest, or until the cheese is bubbly and the underside of the crust is golden brown. (Yes, this hot temperature is correct. Your crust will love it. You will love it. Your kids will love it.)

Recipe From Jamie Cooks It Up

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls- (ht)

For Dough:
1/3 cup milk or soymilk
2 Tbs butter
½ cup canned pumpkin or mashed cooked pumpkin
2 Tbs granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour

For Filling:
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbs melted butter

For Icing:
¼ cup (4 Tbsp.) butter
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbs milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
dash of salt
½ to ¾ cup sifted powdered sugar

Directions

Prepare rolls: In a small saucepan, heat milk and 2 Tbsp. butter just until warm (120 – 130°) and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly.

In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar and salt. Add milk mixture and beat with an electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg and yeast. In a separate mixing bowl, combine flours. Add half of flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed for 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft). Turn into lightly greased bowl, then grease surface of dough lightly. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy to handle. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 12×10-inch rectangle.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Brush surface of dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jelly-roll style. Pinch seam to seal. With a sharp serrated knife, gently cut roll into twelve 1-inch slices. Place rolls cut-side-up in greased 9-inch-square baking pan. (At this point the rolls can be covered and refrigerated overnight if necessary).

Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake rolls about 20 minutes, or until golden. Remove from pan to waxed paper-lined wire rack. Cool 10 to 15 minutes.

While rolls are cooling, prepare icing: In small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cool over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and cool mixture slightly. Stir in vanilla, salt and powdered sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add more powdered sugar for desired consistency.

Drizzle icing over warm rolls.

Recipe from Love and Olive Oil

Pizza Muffins

Filling Ingredients:
3/4 cups chopped pepperoni
1/2 cup chopped ham
10 oz can mushrooms, drained and chopped (optional)
1 green or red pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 cup shredded marble cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp dried chillies

Dough Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder

Method:
Stir together all filling ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and oil. Pour this over filling and stir well.
Combine flour and baking powder and add to mixture. Stir to blend well.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin tins.
Bake 20-25 minutes @375º or until lightly browned. Serve hot or cold.
Store in fridge or freezer. Yields 1 dozen muffins.

Review: These were okay, a little bland but if you dipped them in ranch or something they tasted pretty good. I think all they would need is a little salt and stuff to spice it up a bit.

Recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 2/3 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp. mace
(may substitute pumpkin pie spice for individual spices)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter - melted
1/2 cup sliced almonds
6 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Put almonds on a baking sheet or pie pan and bake about 5 min., just until lightly browned. Grease 12 cup muffin pan or line with muffin papers. Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Break eggs into another bowl. Add pumpkin and butter to eggs and whisk until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and almonds. Pour over dry ingredients and fold in just until moistened. Do not over mix. Scoop into tins and bake 20-25 minutes. Do not over-bake. Test with toothpick. They should still seem a little underdone when removed from the oven.

Review: I love fall time and being able to make pumpkin everything! These were really good and fallish. They were better when they cooled off rather than hot out of the oven though.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
2.In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.
3.Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

Review: Best banana bread ever! I couldn't believe how good this stuff was and it was really easy to make. The only thing I did differently was that I put a whole teaspoon of salt. This is my new favorite bread.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Italian Bread Bowls

1 ½ Tbsp. yeast
2 ½ c. warm water
2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
7 c. flour
2 Tbsp. cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

**Yields: 6 bread bowls

In the bowl of an electric mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed.

Knead dough for about 6 minutes with and electric mixer or by hand, adding a little more flour if necessary. Lightly spray a large bowl with Pam. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

Punch dough down, and divide into 6 equal portions. Shape each portion into a nice, smooth, round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

Review: These bread bowl are okay, not my favorite but they served their purpose.

Recipe from Cooking a la Mode

Cinnamon Cresent Twists- (ht)

1 package (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Glaze:

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons hot water
Separate crescent roll dough into four rectangles; press seams to seal.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon; spread over two rectangles. Top with remaining two rectangles.
Starting from a long side, cut each rectangle into three strips (I use my pizza cutter to do this). Twist each strip several times; seal ends together.
Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Immediately remove to wire racks. Combine glaze ingredients; brush over warm twists.

Recipe from Real Mom Kitchen

Apple Streusel Muffins- (ht)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 dashes of nutmeg
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped apples
1 1/2 cups grated apples
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan (I use the reusable muffin liners)

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. It will be a light tan color

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in grated apples followed by apple chunks, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. This ends up an extremely thick batter, but the extra grated apples which releases moisture into the muffins as the muffin cooks

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan

Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack

Gingerbread Cupcakes- (ht)

1 box spice cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk

Mix together cake mix, eggs, molasses, oil and milk.
Pour into paper liners and fill 3/4 full. (I did 18 cupcakes)
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
Cool completely before frosting

Recipe from Real Mom Kitchen