I was talking to my sister the other day before I posted the cinnamon roll recipe, and we were laughing about the desire we both have to develop our own “best” recipes. Basically, if I want to make cookies, I want to know exactly what they will be like when I start. I want to know what I am going to get if I start out to bake bread. Cinnamon rolls had long been in that group for me, but a number of other recipes have joined in as “these are the ones I make” favorites.
Biscotti is a relative new comer in our family, but it has made its way to the top of the charts! Anyway, I have launched a campaign to share all these favorites with you as I make them. Don’t worry, there aren’t too many – it won’t take long.
Upcoming favorites include sandwich bread, baguettes, bagels, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and pitas. Afterwards or during, or whenever I feel like it there will be some non-baking recipes, but we will see when that happens, the dinner time rush being what it is and all! Continue reading ‘Biscotti Bidoddy’
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March 8, 2008 in
From Me.
Being out of town is most always refreshing. It’s great to see the familiar faces of folks who used to live in Moscow, as well as our friends who never lived in Moscow. We’ve been in Cary for a couple of days and it has been a blessing.
In fact, one of the ladies attending the conference here read Rachel’s fabulous post on sticky buns and whipped some up and gave us a pan of them to enjoy for breakfast tomorrow. Now that is what I call reaping the benefits!
The other blessing about being in the Eastern time zone is that I can’t get to sleep until about 1 a.m. because that is when it is bedtime in Idaho (10 p.m.). And tonight, being the night we set our clocks forward, we’ll be up until 2 a.m. no doubt. So we have the unusual opportunity to be night owls. A novel experience!
Have a great Lord’s Day!
P.S. When in a hurry, I have been known to totally skip letting the dough rise at all….because I had hungry kids staring at me. So I just rolled it out after a ten minute rest and assembled them. They still disappeared in short order, though they may not have been quite as big and gorgeous. Now I’m not recommending that as a general rule… just in emergency.
There really isn’t much more to say about these. They really are as good as they look. I am a big cinnamon roll fan, and always have been, even after fainting in the bathroom in 5th grade because that was all I had eaten for breakfast. But, through the years I have had some trouble with executing what I thought was the perfect cinnamon roll. Sometimes I think they are too greasy (I don’t like dark and oily undersides), sometimes too much work for too little results (anything that involves a saucepan for the filling), and I generally disapprove of cream cheese frosting. Yes, I hear all of you gasping, but really, I think that the light icing is way better here. Just try these out at home, and I think you will agree!
Cinnamon Triumph Rolls
Combine 3 c. warm water, 2/3 c. sugar, and 1 1/2 t. salt in the bowl of a kitchenaid. Add 2 Tbs. yeast and stir until dissolved. Add two beaten eggs, 2/3 c. shortening, 1 t. vanilla and stir. Add enough flour to make a soft dough (7-8 c.). Mix until smooth dough forms, and the dough pulls together. If it interests you, I never use the dough hook as the beater bar does great. Knead it a couple of times on a floured surface, and pull together into a beautiful pile of smooth dough. Put a little oil in a large bowl, and drop the dough in, smooshing it to lightly coat the dough in the oil, and turn it over. Cover with a tea towel, and let rise until doubled (I don’t time it, but my guess is somewhere around 40 minutes). Punch it down, and divide into two pieces. Roll each piece out into a rectangle about 12×16 inches. Smear with a light coating of soft butter(about 1/4 c. per roll), sprinkle with sugar (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/4 c. per roll), and then dust it up with cinnamon (not too thick, and not too thin). Do not even think about raisins. Roll up the rectangles, and pinch the seam shut. I use a bread knife, and cut each roll into twelve slices. Lay them on an ungreased jelly roll pan, and pat lightly to get a uniform height and spread them together a bit. Cover and let rise slightly while the oven pre-heats to 375 degrees. Pop them in the oven and bake for 20 -25 minutes, or until perfect. While they are still mildly warm, but not hot, drizzle with a thick mix of powdered sugar and milk. These freeze beautifully, making you everyone’s favorite mom on a Sunday morning.
Years ago while I was trudging along the sidewalk in crummy weather (melted snow, lots of standing water along the roads), a truck went sailing past me and completely doused me, head to toe, with cold, muddy water.
I remember that very helpless, cold, wet feeling. And I’m afraid at the moment I didn’t see the humor of it. Just imagine if it had been captured on film. We all would laugh! But I didn’t at the time.
But I did learn something that applies to the whole windshield wiper metaphor which someone brought up in a comment. What do we do when someone else covers our windshield with goop? I have a couple of ideas.
One is to move out of range. If I had kept my eye on that truck, I would have jumped the fence, anything to avoid getting soaked. I didn’t see it coming. Now here’s how you can apply this. Keep your eyes peeled. If someone is bitter and wants to pour out all her bitterness, you had better stay out of range. If you are too sympathetic, you may get infected with her bitterness. Pray for protection as she vents. Even if you are giving her good counsel and telling her to confess her own bitterness, you can still get some of it on you if you aren’t careful. Bitterness defiles many. Continue reading ‘More Gunk on the Windshield’
I’m pretty sure it is John Piper in Future Grace who uses the illustration of the muddy windshield, spattered with the mud of unbelief, and how we need a perspective adjustment to see straight. This is a helpful metaphor, because sin really muddies our understanding.
Once a little resentment, a little discontent, a little disappointment, or a little envy steals into our hearts and minds, nothing is in focus any more. The devil loves to fish in troubled waters, and the water can get pretty stirred up in a very short time.
Once a woman told me she was ready to leave her husband. When I asked her the obvious question of why? she said it was because he always left his socks on the floor. She needed a perspective adjustment.
If a woman is minding her own business, doing her work cheerfully, when along comes discontent disguised as friendly concern and splatters her clean windshield, she has to do something fast. Either she can deal with it immediately (turn on the wipers!) or she can let it sit. And discontent is never static. It grows. One discontent leads to another, and pretty soon the windshield is positively plastered with mud. No wonder you can’t see anything and you get a warped perspective on the road ahead. Continue reading ‘Windshields’
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