One a penny, Two a penny, Hot Cross Buns

It's not Easter time but we wanted a warm comfort food that would help us to celebrate the Sabbath by reminding us of the Savior and His sacrifice. It also helped us to remember through the olfactory senses since the rolls smelled so wonderful with the cinnamon and raisins as they were baking. I'm glad I can enjoy the blessings of smell and taste with good food.

Our senses really do play a remarkable role in helping us to remember experiences in our lives. I am thankful for all my senses from hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing, touching and to the intangible senses (some suggest these as equilibrium and intuition-helping us to stay in balance and our natural moral anchor) that help me to feel the love of both my Heavenly Father and others. Do your senses help you to feel balance and joy in the world and the people around you?

Hot Cross Buns

Soak 3/4 cup raisins in 1 cup boiling water with 1 tsp vanilla. Let sit until ready to mix into dough. Combine and heat to 120-130 degrees F: 1 cup milk and 4 TBSP butter. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 scant TBSP yeast (1 small pkg.) and 5 cups of flour and mix well, kneading to combine. Drain raisins, discarding vanilla water and add raisins to dough, kneading until dough is smooth and elastic. (About 5-10 minutes or just let the bread machine knead it for you-adding the raisins near the end of the mix cycle.) Allow to double in size in a covered bowl (about 1 hour). Punch down dough and divide into 18 pieces. Roll into balls and place in two 9-inch round greased baking pans or two 9-inch square greased baking pans. Cut a cross into the top of each roll and cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until doubled. Beat together an egg wash of 2 Tbsp water and 1 egg yolk and lightly brush on top of rolls after they have risen. Bake at 375 F degrees for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown on all the tips of the rolls. Remove from pans and let cool. When cool, top with orange icing.

For orange icing: combine 4 tsp. orange juice with 1/4-1/2 tsp grated orange peel (juice and peel from 1 orange) and add in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Fill cross marks on rolls with icing using a frosting bag or ziploc bag with corner snipped off. Makes 18 rolls.

Pies, Pies, Pies

Although there is dispute about the origin of pie (some say the Egyptians started pie while the Greeks started pie pastry), these flaky delights can be filled with either savory or sweet fillings (sometimes both-as with mincemeat!) We engaged in some pie making of our own and made two Caramel Pecan Pies and a Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie. Thanks to the Taste of Home magazines for the recipes. Thanks also to Linda Stradley from the What’s Cooking America website for the historical information.

Carmel Pecan Pie:

37 caramels (used Kraft caramels)
¼ cup water
¼ cup butter, cut into small chunks

Melt above ingredients in a small pan over low heat, stirring constantly and watch closely so mixture doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and let cool a bit while doing the next step.

3 eggs
¾ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Beat above ingredients until smooth then add to the caramel mixture.

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

Add to the mixture and stir well. Pour mixture into:
1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (9 inches) Top the filling with pecan halves if desires and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate leftovers.

The pies were both good and we finished off the pecan pies the next day. (The one on the left had a gluten free crust and the one in the center was a frozen pie crust. The Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie had an oreo cookie crust.)

Rolls from Pampered Chef

I'm use to making rolls from scratch but we made rolls from a mix tonight.

We received a box of Pizza Crust & Roll Mix from Pampered Chef when we bought a small basket of goodies from the school fundraiser.

The rolls on the left were topped with melted butter, Salad Supreme Seasoning, and Parmesan cheese before the final rise.

For a mix they were quite palatable but my family doesn't want me to stop making homemade rolls & they didn't wolf these down like homemade.

Another advantage to the McCormick site is that you can check the freshness of your spices.

Mmmmm......pancakes.......

How many of us will still be recording our thoughts through words, pictures and sounds when the next leap year comes along? Will world and/or personal events interrupt our Internet foraging and blogging? Hopefully we'll still be learning, sharing and enriching ourselves and others for many years to come.

So today I want to share one of our favorite comfort foods-the pancake. The dry mix stores well, making it easy to whip together a batch of pancakes for a quick treat anytime.

Basic Pancake Mix

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 TBSP. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder (a little less for high altitude)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ¼-1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (optional but yummy)
2 TBSP. vegetable oil (or melted butter-also yummy)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients and whisk until mixed but still a little lumpy. Make a test pancake first-batter should be not too clumpy and not too smooth & runny-somewhere in between.).

Heat frying pan to medium (a sprinkle of water should skitter) (use a little oil or butter if not using a non-stick pan) and when hot, pour in anywhere from about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pancake batter depending upon size wanted for finished product. When the pancake starts to bubble on the top and is golden brown on the bottom, flip and cook until the other side is also golden brown. Continue cooking until batter is gone. Cooked pancakes can be frozen and reheated if desired but won't taste as good as fresh made pancakes.

Add a little more milk or flour to make thicker or thinner pancakes.

Dry mix will store for several months in a cool, dry place. (Be sure to label before you store!)