Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
■1 quart Whole Milk
■1 cup Vegetable Oil
■1 cup Sugar
■2 packages Active Dry Yeast
■8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
■1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
■1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
■ Melted Butter
■2 cups Sugar
■Lots and Lots of cinnamon
Preparation Instructions
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

I frosted mine with the most tasty and unusual frosting.I will post this recipe soon along with the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted.

adapted from: The Pioneer Woman

10 Things I can't live without in my kitchen!

10 best ingredients in my kitchen
There is always some products that you use every time you cook and bake in your kitchen. Some gadgets that you cannot live without, some essential things that you absolutely adore.
Here are the best 10 ingredients, products that I use all the time and almost everyday. Without them, I would be nothing in a kitchen.

1. Sea salt. This is the only salt
that i use for cooking. Coarse and fine, both
2. Cinnamon.It goes well with almost every sweet treat.
3. Herbes de Provence. A french dried mix of herbs that is amazingly fragrant and versatile.
4. Extra virgin olive oil. That is the only oil that i use all the time.
5. Heavy cream. For finishing the soups, the sauces, the pastas, the salads.
6. Cheeses. All kinds. I use the leftover scraps of cheeses in soups, on a pizza. I never throw away cheese.
7. Vanilla Sugar.I make this by adding vanilly beans to granulated suger.
8. Parmesan cheese. As a garnish on salads, pastas, soups, as well as in cubes for an easy tapas.
9. Ice cream. It is always an indispensable to make a last minute dessert.
10. Butter.Butter.Butter! Do i have to say more ...

Criss Cross Apple Crowns.

Prep time: 25 minutes. Bake time: 25-30 minutes.

These treats are delicious any time of day. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream for a great at home dessert, serve for a light breakfast and send the kids off to school with one of these.

Ingredients:
4 Small Granny Smith Apples
1/2 Cup walnut halves, chopped
1/2 Cup raisins
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 Package (17.3 oz.) Grand-size flaky or buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)
1 Package (10.2 oz.) Grand-size flaky or buttermilk biscuits (5 biscuits)
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
Ice cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Peel, core and slice apples using Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer; cut apple slices into wedges using Apple Wedger. Chop walnuts using Food Chopper. Place apples, walnuts, raisins, flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in Classic Batter Bowl; mix well. Microwave apple mixture on High 3 minutes or until hot; mix well.
2. Separate 12 biscuits. (Discard remaining biscuit or set aside for another use.) Using lightly floured Bakers Roller, roll each biscuit into a 5-inch circle. Combine remaining sugar and remaining cinnamon in Small Batter Bowl. Place 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture in Flour/Sugar Shaker; sprinkle evenly over biscuits. Using Medium Scoop, divide apple mixture evenly onto center of each biscuit.
3. Gather up edges over filling, pinching lightly to seal. Place butter in Small Micro-Cooker; microwave on High 20 seconds or until melted. Holding filled biscuits at the sealed end, dip each biscuit into butter, then into remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture in batter bowl.
4. Place biscuits, seam side down, into Stoneware Muffin Pan. Cut an "X" pattern through the top of each biscuit. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan. Serve with ice cream if desired. Yield: 12 servings. To make mini crisscross apple crowns, use the Small Scoop instead of the Medium Scoop and fill half with the apple filling. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.