Lionhouse Rolls

Oh boy. These could be the death of me! I made a batch for a family dinner and they were wiped CLEAN....not one to spare. I was actually really impressed at how easy they were! In fact, they are so easy I'm making them for our family reunion coming up this weekend. They are the perfect roll to make and then freeze - my kind of roll! So in case you were wondering...perfection.

2 T active-dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening (I used butter)
1 egg
2 1/2 t salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
5-6 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, (I use my Kitchenaid) combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes or until good and bubbly. Add sugar, shortening, salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add remaining flour gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) until a soft but not sticky dough is formed.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until it is smooth and satiny ( I actually don't knead the bread for as long as it says to...I never do and it turns out as perfect as ever.) Return dough to an oiled bowl and cover to let rise until doubled. (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours)

Separate dough into three portions. Roll out each portion into a circle and cut with a pizza cutter into 8 pie-shaped pieces (triangles) (or 12 pieces if you want smaller rolls - this is what I did). Roll up crescent-style and place on baking sheet. Cover with saran wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes - until nicely browned.

Makes 2-3 dozen rolls depending on the size you make the rolls.

*From the Lionhouse in Salt Lake City, but I actually got them from Sadies Kitchen.

Chocoflan

Normally you wouldn't see me sporting any sort of flan on my site because I'm definitely not a fan. But my cousin, Annie, made it for a party and it was TO DIE FOR!!! I'm serious! It's amazing. The flan topping isn't so much like flan...I would describe it more like a rich custard topping - more like a crem brule topping. Anyway, when you serve it you drizzle a little more caramel topping over the top and it seems like you're eating a decadent, expensive dessert. You MUST try this!!

1/4 cup caramel sauce

For the cake:
10 T butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
1 T vanilla


For garnish:
1/4 cup caramel sauce

Directions:
Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup caramel sauce and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)


For the cake:

Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.


For the flan:

In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.


Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.


Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour (I had to bake mine for about 1 hour 30 minutes), until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.


Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, jiggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining caramel from the pan onto the cake and serve!


*The batters may appear to mix when you pour them into the pan, but they completely separate while baking, with the flan ending up on the bottom when it's inverted. Traditionally, it is chilled 24 hours before serving, but personally I like eating it at room temperature.


*For the caramel topping, I just use caramel ice cream topping and it's delish!

*From the Food Network

Snickerdoodle. Blondies

I love snickerdoodles. I always have. But it seems like so much trouble to make them! You can't just whip them up in a second and that bugs me. So I found these. They are DELICIOUS!! It's a snickerdoodle in a bar. Dare I say they are better than the actual cookie?? You basically make the dough, put it in a pan and then douse it in cinnamon sugar. They were SO scrumptious that they left us all wishing I would have doubled the recipe...so that would be my only suggestion...DOUBLE IT!!! You will regret it if you don't!

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 cup flour
1 T sugar + 1 t ground cinnamon (I doubled this also...you want it good and covered in sugar:))

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil (I just sprayed it with cooking spray...they popped right out after I baked them.)

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in salt, egg and vanilla until well combined. Add in flour and stir until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Pour dough – it will be thick – into prepared baking dish and smooth it into an even layer.
Stir together remaining 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Sprinkle dough evenly with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until bars are set and the edges are just very lightly browned. Cool in the pan before slicing.

*From Baking Bites

Blueberry Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Talk about the ultimate summer dessert! This is refreshing, light and delicious. I had a huge container full of home-grown blueberries from our friend down the road and wanted to find a way to use them up. Lemon and blueberries just go so perfect together! And with the cream cheese frosting with just a hint of lemon finishes it off a wonderful, refreshing bang. I took it to a family party and everyone was raving about the moistness of the cake and merriment of flavors. It was gone as fast as I put it out. Try it and you won't regret it!

Cake:
2 cups plus 6 T cake flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup milk
2 t vanilla
2 t lemon rind
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs

Frosting:
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 t lemon rind
1 t vanilla
3 t lemon juice
1 t lemon rind for garnish

Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans (I just did this in a 9x13 pan and it worked out perfect.) If using cake pans, butter them, line with parchment paper and then dust with flour.

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Transfer 1 T of the flour mixture to a large bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat. Set aside.

Stir milk, vanilla and grated lemon rind in a small bowl. using a mixer, beat butter until light and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture is light and fluffy
Beat in eggs 1 at a time until well blended.

Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture in 3 additions each, until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes (about 35-40 minutes for a 9x13).

Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out on racks to cool completely (or just take it out and let cool completely in 9x13 pan).

Frosting Directions:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in lemon peal, lemon juice and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until just firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes.

You can either assemble a layered round cake or just frost your 9x13 pan. Garnish with remaining lemon rind. Enjoy the flavors of Summer!!!

*Adapted from food.com

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Found these on Lick the Bowl Good and almost DIED!!! They are SO awesome! I had a slew of kids over here one day and whipped these up in no time and they ate them ALL right down to the last crumb. My mom, Justin and I also enjoyed quite a few:) They are delicious and the perfect kid-size meal.

3/4 cup flour
3/4 t baking powder
1 T Italian seasoning
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1/2 cup pizza sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and Italian seasoning; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

NOTE: All my batter did not fit into the 24-mini muffin pan. So I made a full size muffin or 2 with the leftover batter. Some pans are larger than others so you may not have have an issue.

* From Lick the Bowl Good

Mexican Casserole

This is a gem I found in the Highland 23rd Ward Cookbook. Oh how I LOVE ward cookbooks!! This is such an awesome find. It can go as a full-on casserole or a base for other delicious dishes. Originally it says to top with Frito chips and cheese. You can leave it at that and just serve the casserole on it's own or you can make the basic casserole and eat it as burritos, use it for the filling in enchiladas, navajo tacos, or just a side dish. The possibilities are endless. I even used leftovers...plopped them in a smaller pan, topped it with cheese, threw it in the oven for about 15 minutes and had an instant dish for a potluck dinner. Love it and SO delicious!

1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 (14oz) can stewed Mexican tomatoes, diced with juice
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 medium onion, diced
1 (4oz) can chopped black olives
2 cups UNCOOKED white rice
1 packet taco seasoning
4 cups cubed, UNCOOKED chicken
1 (14.5oz) can chicken broth
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter cut into small pieces

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together green chilies, cheese, tomatoes, onion, olives and uncooked rice. Add taco seasoning, chicken and chicken broth. Stir until well combined. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle top evenly with cold butter pieces. Cover tightly with heavy duty tin foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Optional for Casserole:
Remove from oven, remove foil, sprinkle with Frito chips and 2 cups Mexican cheese. Don't cover. Return to oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy!

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

I was getting the 3rd degree around here for not making a chocolate dessert lately...so I knew this would do the trick! This cake is the definition of chocolate. If you are a chocoholic, you should look no further. This original cake recipe calls for a ganache topping, but I was feeling like I wanted a sweeter topping since the cake was so dense and dark. So I opted to top it with a hot fudge sauce. You can definitely just either make the ganache or buy a jar of hot fudge sauce from the store if you're in a time crunch...but I DEFINITELY recommend making this homemade hot fudge! This hot fudge has to be THE BEST I've ever had...no more jars for me - perfect on this cake and then we used the leftover for ice cream sundaes on 4th of July. Perfection.

For the cake:
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
20 T (2 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
5 eggs
4 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F. Grease the Bundt Cake Pan and dust with cocoa powder; tap out the excess.

To make the cake, in a bowl, combine the 1 cup cocoa powder and the 1 cup chocolate chips. Add the boiling water and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and blended. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 30 to 45 seconds. Reduce the speed to low, add the brown sugar and beat until blended. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated before adding more and stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream and beginning and ending with the flour, beating just until blended and no lumps of flour remain. Slowly pour in the chocolate-cocoa mixture and beat until no white streaks are visible, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter so the sides are about 1 inch higher than the center. (This made way more batter than could fit inside my bundt pan, so I made another small bread pan full of batter.)Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached to it, 60 to 65 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Let the cake cool completely, at least 1 hour.

Hot Fudge Sauce:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

3 cups sugar

1 (12oz) can evaporated milk

1 t vanilla

Combine butter, cocoa powder, sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, or until very thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Carefully pour hot mixture into a blender and blend for 2-4 minutes (to make thicker.)

Pour over cooled bundt cake letting it drizzle over the sides

Top with crushed candy bar of your choice (I always choose Symphony with Almonds and Toffee)

Enjoy!!!

*Cake recipe adapted from Lick the Bowl Good

*Hot Fudge recipe from allrecipes.com