Orange Bow Knots

What a beautiful morning this morning was here in San Antonio! It was cold and the sun was shining brightly through the trees. We are settling nicely into our new home and really enjoying being here. I made these rolls this morning and they were delicious. So easy to make as well. Instead of making my own dough I used Pillsbury bread sticks. This step made this a really easy recipe!  These would be excellent to make during the holidays for friends and family!

Ingredients:

Pillsbury bread sticks (1 can makes 12)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Open your can of bread sticks and divide into 12 equal parts. Pull each of your dough sections to make them long enough to wrap into a bow/knot.
Bake for 13 minutes or until golden.

Directions for icing:

In a small mixing bowl stir together your powdered sugar, orange juice, and zest. Gradually add your orange juice until you like the consistency of the icing. I only used 2 tablespoons because I liked my icing thicker. Brush it onto your warm rolls. Yum!

Enjoy!!

Apple Turnovers with Cream Cheese Icing

Hello Friends! I hope that everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and is enjoying this beautiful holiday season. My life has been a bit crazy lately. The weekend immediately following Thanksgiving we moved from Austin to San Antonio Tx. It has been an eventful couple of weeks and I apologize for not sending you all things Glorious. ;) My mind has been consumed with the move and I've put cooking and crafting on the back burner. We are finally feeling a bit settle into our new home though so I'm hoping that I will be back in the kitchen this weekend. We are missing our friends and family a lot but will hopefully get to see them often. San Antonio isn't but a couple of hours away.

Today I am sharing with you a simple and delicious apple pastry. My family loves apple, but you could fill it with pumpkin, cherries, pears, peaches.... whatever your little heart desires. ;) To get this recipe head on over to Memories by the Mile where I did a guest post last week.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Deanna

Cherry Twists

 

  I made these twists for my family last weekend. We had a busy Saturday morning planned and I needed something that we could make and eat on the run. With four kids we had baseball games, theater rehearsal, and a birthday party all by 10 am. Ha!! So, I made the dough the night before to cut making it on Saturday morning in half. When I opened the fridge the dough had risen so much that it was coming over the sides of my large bowl. I really loved how they turned out though. The dough is really good and I plan to use this dough recipe for other recipes. It rose and baked nicely. I hope you enjoy it too! :)

Dough:
4 cups all purpose flour
2-2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Active Dry Yeast
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Filling:
1 can of cherry pie filling

Frosting:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk



Directions:

In a large mixing bowl or Kitchen Aid combine 2 cups all purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. In a small saucepan heat milk and butter until 120 F.  The butter should just be completely melted. Gradually add the liquid to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add eggs and beat the mixture for 3 minutes on medium speed.  Add the remaining 2 cups of all purpose flour and mix until incorporated.  Then 1/2 cup at a time add enough of the remaining bread flour to make a soft dough.  Knead on low (2) for 4 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Grease a large glass or plastic bowl with shortening form the dough into a ball, cover with a cloth and allow to rise for 1 hour.


Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.  Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll 1 of the dough pieces into a 12" square.

Spread about 1/2 of the filling over half of the dough, leaving a 1/2" border around it's perimeter.

Fold the top half of the square down over the filling and press the edges to seal.  Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut into 1" strips.

Twist the strips and place on a baking sheet that is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined with parchment paper.  Repeat with the other piece of dough.  Cover and let the twists rise until double.  About an hour.

Meanwhile Preheat oven to 350 F.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.

To make frosting; combine confectioner's sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add milk gradually until frosting reaches a spreading consistency. Spread over warm (but not hot) cinnamon rolls.

Source for the dough: A Handful of Everything
Source for the frosting: All Recipes

Almond Bear Claws

 

  I love making something special or different on the weekends for breakfast. Daily I receive emails from allrecipes.com. I few weeks ago I got this recipe and knew that I had to try it soon. These danishes look like they were really hard to prepare because they look so fancy, but they aren't hard at all. You can even make the filling ahead of time and buy already prepared pasty dough (which I totally did) so it's a no brainer on your relaxing Saturday morning. :) The almond flavor is delicious but I would also like to try different fillings as well. Maybe a chocolate, cherry, apple....  The possibilities seem endless.  Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup almond paste
2 3/4 cups ground almonds
1/2 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs whites
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons amaretto liqueur
3 pounds puff pastry (I used Pepperidge Farm)
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, for garnish
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat almond paste with an electric mixer to break it apart. Add the almonds, sugar, and salt; continue to mix until the almond paste is no longer lumpy. Stir in the butter, egg whites, almond extract and amaretto liqueur on high speed until its as fluffy as you can get it. Set aside.

Using half of the dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle that is about 8 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges of the dough. Cut the dough in half lengthwise to make two 4 inch wide strips.

Fill a pastry bag halfway with the almond filling and pipe a stripe of filling down the center of each strip. (I used a sandwich bag instead of a pastry bag and it works just the same)

Whisk together the egg and water. Brush onto one edge of each strip. Fold each strip over the filling and press gently to seal it. Brush each piece with egg wash and sprinkle sliced almonds over the top. Cut into 3 to 4 inch pieces, then cut 1/2 inch slits into the sealed edge to make the "claws". Place the bear claws at least two inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate and repeat with the second half of the dough.

 

Bake in the preheated oven until almonds are toasted and pastry is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

Source: All Recipes

Cream Cheese Danish

 

I have been wanting to make a cream cheese danish for quite some time and the recipe for this one has been sitting on my breakfast Pinterest board for a while now. I am always intimidated when it comes to making my own dough. I don't have a lot of experience with it, and always find it much easier to just buy it in the can and just roll it out. :) This recipe, however, was very easy to make. I didn't even use my mixer and did it all by hand. I made it the night before and was so excited to roll it out the next day. One of my boys woke up in the middle of the night and after I checked on him I went to the fridge and checked on my dough to see if it was rising. It was like Christmas!! ha! :) Is it rising yet???? After reading this recipe I hope that you find it easy as well and it doesn't sit on your Pinerest board as long as it sat on mine before you make it.

Have a great weekend!!


Ingredients:

Dough:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

Heat the butter and milk until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes to activate and then mix in egg yolks.
Blend in the cooled milk mixture and then sift in the flour, sugar and salt.
With dough hook, mix on medium speed until dough is soft and pliable.
Place dough in a large bowl that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for about 8 hours. It will rise in the refrigerator.

After dough has been refrigerated, remove and place on parchment paper. Roll out into a rectangular shape and 15 inches long and 8-9 inches wide.

Meanwhile, soften cream cheese and mix together until smooth with powdered sugar and milk.

Pour cream cheese mixture down the middle of the dough and spread out to two ends.
 Use kitchen sheers to cut strips in dough and braid in criss-cross fashion.

 

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 18-25 minutes. This will vary depending on the type of baking sheet you are using.

 

Source: All She Cooks

French Crepes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
Sift together flour, sugar, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter. Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes before cooking your first crepe.
Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter into the pan, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate the pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
Fill with strawberries, bananas, blueberries, peaches, chocolate, apples, or whatever sounds good. :)