Lo and behold, I hit upon "it". What is "it", you ask? Well, apparently the smell of Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread baking in the oven is what "it" takes to lure my youngest son out of his bedroom.
He put down the X-box controller and emerged from his hibernation...in search of what smelled so good. He told me "It smells like Christmas! What are you baking?" He knows I only make cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Yes, the labor intensive cinnamon rolls that are worth the effort comes but once a year at our house. However, if you want to get the SMELL and the TASTE of cinnamon rolls ANY day of the week, then you MUST try this recipe.
It's another "cheater" recipe. Or as Sandra Lee would say, "Semi-Homemade" because it involves frozen bread dough.
Here you go.
Begin with 1 loaf of frozen bread dough, 1/3 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.
Spray or grease your bread loaf pan.
Let your bread sit out a bit. You want it partially thawed, but partially frozen, too. (Hhmmm, what is she talking about?) Well, when you can safely cut it into 24 thin slices without losing a finger or two, then you'll know it's thawed enough.
Ok, melt your butter in a saucepan on low. Don't burn it. You'll remember I don't use my microwave except for popcorn or occasionally reheating leftovers. If you want to use your microwave, go for it. Then you can email me and I'll tell you a tip on cleaning splatters of butter off of the inside of your microwave.
In a small bowl, stir together your cinnamon and sugar.
If you haven't already, cut your bread into four equal pieces. Then cut each piece into 6 slices. Now, dip each piece in butter first, coating both sides, and then the cinnamon-sugar, again coating both sides. Place in pan. You will do this with all 24 pieces of bread. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non stick spray and let rise.
Once assembled in the pan and completely risen your loaf should look like this.
Now, (this is hours later) you are ready to bake your bread. Place your loaf in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes. More depending on your oven. Remove from pan and let cool for a few minutes.
While it's cooling, prepare your glaze. You will need 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Melt the butter and then mix in the remaining ingredients until thoroughly smooth.
Turn your bread onto your serving dish, drizzle your glaze on it, and then grab a slice for yourself* before your family comes wandering in to devour it. Your finished product should look like this.
*I should have told you days ago that I'm a "pusher", not a "user". I make these delicious creations and force others to consume the calories. Others, like YOU. I'm luring you into the habit, the sweet tooth habit, don't tell your dentist about me.
Hope you enjoy this bit of Christmas morning on any day of the week recipe!
Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread
by The Hardscrabble Home
Bread Ingredients -
1 loaf of frozen bread dough
1/3 cup of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Glaze Ingredients -
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 T. milk
2 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan. Let your bread thaw enough that you can safely cut it into 24 equal thin slices. Melt your butter. Mix cinnamon with the sugar in a small bowl. Dip each slice into butter, then cinnamon-sugar, coating both sides with each. Re-assemble in your pan. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non stick spray. Let rise. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool for about five minutes and then place on serving plate.
Melt butter for glaze, mix in milk, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over your bread and serve. Keep leftovers* in an airtight container. (*AS IF there will be any leftovers, hahaha).
Enjoy!
Pin It
I gave my better half three dessert choices for tonight: Banana Cream Pie, Cream Puff Dessert or something with apples. He chose Banana Cream Pie. (I knew he would!) It has been awhile since I made him his favorite pie. It's been precisely 2 years, 2 months, and 8 days since I made him this pie. Don't feel too bad, though, Marie Callender has made him a few in the meantime. So, this morning I gathered up the ingredients...
One baked pie shell, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup cold milk, 1 pkg. (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding, 1 12 oz. cool whip, 3 medium bananas and a Dora doll. Don't forget Dora. She was placed in the picture by my helper Emily, who is four. Actually, I should just name this Emily's Banana Cream Pie, because she took over and made it herself, I just supervised.
We made this recipe super easy by using a frozen pie shell. You can use a homemade one if you choose. If it was my husband's birthday, I would use a homemade one. But, it's not. (He doesn't really take note of the crust either way, so he won't care.) Here is Emily poking the holes in the bottom of the crust before baking. (Look how fast her little hand is moving!)
Whisk sour cream and milk until blended. Add pudding mix, and whisk until pudding is dissolved. Look at Emily go! (Again, she is a FAST worker!) Next, stir in your cool whip, combining well.
Set the bowl of filling aside, as you slice your bananas into slices. Spread half of your filling into the bottom of your cooled crust. Arrange your sliced bananas over the filling. At this point, we decided to make the next layer of filling look pretty. So, we placed it in our pastry bag with a large star tip and went to town! That. Is. It. That's the last step. Here is our finished pie.
Emily's Banana Cream Pie
by The Hardscrabble Home
Ingredients -
One baked pie shell
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cold milk
1 pkg. (3.4
oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 12 oz. cool whip
3 medium bananas
A Dora doll
Bake pie shell according to instructions and let cool. Mix sour cream and milk together. Add instant pudding and stir until dissolved. Stir in cool whip, incorporating it well.
Slice your bananas into slices.
Layer half of your filling into cooled pie crust. Arrange banana slices on top. Pipe remaining filling using a pastry bag and a large star tip. OR, you can just spread the remaining filling on, it's your choice.
Chill and serve.
Pin It
Oh, YUM!! You are going to LOVE this recipe. It's not a quick fix it in twenty minutes recipe, there are some steps involved, but trust me, IT'S WORTH IT!
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
By The Hardscrabble Home
Your Ingredients
For the Crust:
20 chocolate wafer cookies (I used Keebler Dark Chocolate Fudge Stripe Cookies)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground coffee beans
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
For the Filling:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature
For the Glaze:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon light or dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil.
Let's start with the crust: If you are lucky enough to have a food processor, which I am not, you can process the chocolate cookies in it. I used my blender, it's good for more than making frozen margaritas! Anyway, make crumbs of your cookies and add in there the butter, sugar, coffee and salt. You want this to be pulsed to a fine consistency. Once you have accomplished that, evenly press the crust into your pan making sure to cover the bottom completely. Now, bake it for about 15 minutes or until it sets. Set it aside to cool.
Let's move onto the filling. In a large mixing bowl, use your mixer to blend the cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream
together until smooth. Scrape down the sides, as
needed. Add the eggs and mix until just incorporated.
On your stovetop, (you can use a double boiler) melt the chocolate. Once melted, fold the chocolate thoroughly into the cream cheese filling, mixing until it is smooth. Pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake until filling puffs slightly around the edges, but is still a teeny bit wobbly in
the center, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Now, it's time to make the glaze. (I told you there were some steps involved but when you taste these you will thank me.)
Melt the bittersweet chocolate with the butter and corn syrup on stove top. You can also use your microwave, but I'm not a big microwave girl unless it involves popcorn. Stir the ingredients together until smooth; lastly add the sour cream.
Spread glaze evenly over baked filling. Cool completely, then refrigerate.
Cut into small bars or squares. Serve chilled or room temperature.
These freeze well. Hahaha. As if you are going to have any leftover TO FREEZE.
There you have it! A worth the time it took you to make it triple chocolate cheesecake bar that will make you the envy of the neighborhood. If you share it, that is.
Pin It
The "surprise" is that it is not your typical monkey bread, well, that and hidden inside each delicious bubble of sweetness you will find cream cheese. That got your attention! Cream Cheese = GOOD!
Now, if you are like me, you probably only make Monkey Bread once, maybe twice, a year. If that's the case, then go the extra step, use the recipe below and make it worth the effort. There's no counting calories on the day you serve this!
Surprise Monkey Bread
by The Hardscrabble Home
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cubed
2 tubes (12 oz each) refrigerated flaky buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cut into 20 cubes
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I don't like walnuts, so I left the walnuts out as you can tell by the picture above.)
Directions
In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar and butter until sugar is dissolved; set aside.
Flatten
each biscuit into a 3-in. circle. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle
1/2 teaspoon in the center of each biscuit. Top with a cream cheese
cube. Fold dough over filling; pinch edges to seal tightly.
Sprinkle
1/2 cup walnuts into a 10-in. fluted tube pan coated with cooking
spray. Layer with half of the biscuits, cinnamon-sugar and butter
mixture and 1/2 cup walnuts.
Repeat layers.
Bake at 350°
for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately invert onto a
serving platter. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 1 loaf (12
servings).
Pin It
