Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

The recipe you've been looking for! So, my non-gluten-free friends actually like these better than the regular ones I make! They did hit the spot! The texture is not a typical yeast bread texture, it's really hard to describe, but it seems to be that way with all the GF breads. I don't think I will ever enjoy GF as much as I enjoy yeast breads, but this is a close 2nd and an excellent substitute.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

wet:

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon yeast

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

dry:

3/4 cup corn starch

1/2 cup millet flour

1/4 cup brown rice flour (omit if you live in a dry climate)

1/4 cup potato starch

2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

make a "ball" of dough.

Directions:

Mix together wet ingredients, then mix dry ingredients in a different bowl and add to the wet ingredients, mixing and adding more brown rice flour if necessary, in order to make a "ball" of dough. Loosely cover and allow to sit in a warm area for 2-3 hours and let rise. Flour a large piece of parchment paper, place dough on flour, sprinkle with more flour and top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about 1/4" thick. Remove the top piece of parchment paper.

Filling:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Spread the butter onto the rolled out dough

1 cup organic sugar

1/8 cup molasses

Mix together and then add:

place dough on flour,
sprinkle with more flour

3 tablespoons saigon cinnamon

Directions:

Mix the sugar, molasses and cinnamon together and sprinkle/spread over the butter. Roll up Jelly-roll style, using the parchment paper to help roll it up. Cut into 8 equal pieces and place in greased 9" x 13" baking dish. Let rise 1-2 more hours in a warm area (You can bake them now, they don't rise a great deal- the timing is very flexible.) and then bake approximately 20 minutes at 400˚.

Frost while warm.

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup (4 ouches) cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

sprinkle with more flour and top with
another piece of parchment paper

pinch of salt

Directions:

Blend thoroughly and spread over cinnamon rolls.

Roll out to about 1/4" thick. Remove
the top piece of parchment paper.

Spread the butter onto the
rolled out dough

Mix the sugar, molasses and cinnamon
together and sprinkle/spread over the butter

using the parchment paper to
help roll it up

Cut into 8 equal pieces

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

I love Muffins for breakfast with scrambled eggs and a glass of milk, or for lunch with fruit and cheese. They don't last too long at our house though if they are made in the middle of the day... too many people like to snack on them (ok, mainly Brian...) lol!

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
2 1/2 c. soft wheat flour
1/4 c. honey
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. milk
1/4 c. melted butter or ghee
1 egg
1/2 c raisins

Mix thoroughly and pour into greased or papered muffin tins. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 12 muffins

Pizza Rolls

I apoligize in advance: I don't have a "recipe." This is one that I wing it, I know that will bother some of you but here's what I do:

Pizza Rolls
1 recipe basic roll dough
Pepperoni
5 c. shredded cheddar cheese (approximately)
Artichoke hearts
(This would also be good with: onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, etc.)

This works best if you split the dough in half and roll out each half separately, which is what I normally do- but didn't this time and it was alot harder to manage.
Roll the dough into a rectangle, place pepperoni pieces on, followed by cheese and separated artichoke hearts.
Roll up like a cinnamon roll and cut into equal slices (full recipe makes 24).
Place in greased muffin tins, let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350˚ for about 30 minutes- until slightly brown on top.


A picture to show you the approximate amount of pepperoni I used. This counter is 21" x 25".


Naomi only pigs out on cheese when I'm cooking.


And she only eats artichoke hearts when I'm cooking... See my torn up kitchen? I'm getting used to it.


I cut the rolled dough into 4 equal portions, then marked out 6 on each piece before cutting.


If you just work with 1/2 of the dough at a time these look alot prettier. Though after they are cooked, they all look the same.


And the finished product!

Amish Friendship Bread

My Mother-in-law gave me a starter for this last year sometime and it is SO good-- not the best in health, but very tasty. (Must be the pregnancy- I've been making more "junk food").
I found a recipe for the starter on allrecipes.com:

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

And I didn't share any starter with friends this time- I just baked a bunch of bread and froze some loaves. I have tried making pancakes with the starter- but I'm not really a fan of sourdough pancakes, and that's what they were like.
At the end of the 10 days you end up with 5 cups of starter.
Anyway- here's the recipe for Bread:

Amish Friendship Bread

1 c. starter
1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
2 t. cinnamon 
Pour into two greased loaf pans. (If you use stone ware pans- line the bottom with parchment paper.)  You can sprinkle some extra cinnamon and sugar on top.  Bake 325 degrees for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Homemade Pizza

Could there be anything better?? My mouth waters just looking at the picture. MMMM!
And for those of you who think the broccoli would be weird- just try it! One time we invited friends over for dinner and I slipped up and mentioned broccoli and pizza in the same sentence- (I try not to do that), so they were concerned. When they took their first bite the look of surprise could not be hidden-- the lady said: "Wow, this is actually good." Then they admitted that when they heard there was going to be broccoli on the pizza they had plans to go home and eat "real" food. Hence the reason they brought such a large dessert when they came... they thought they would be starving and unable to eat our "healthy" food. Sheesh- some people! :-) LOL- don't worry Teresa- I still love you.

I use my Basic Roll Dough and add about 1 cup whole wheat flour.
Grease 2 large (approximately 15" round) pans, sprinkle with corn meal and roll the dough right onto the pan. I made these rectangle for quite a few years- so don't let that stop you!
Pizza Sauce:
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
mix and spread on rolled out dough.

Put on your favorite toppings- ours are:
Pepperoni
Finely chopped broccoli
sliced mushrooms
diced bell pepper
diced onion
(as a warning- shredded carrots add too much juice and the dough doesn't get done)
Top with a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese, grated.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Till cheese is completely melted and both cheese and crust are starting to brown.


Cost:
Pepperoni: $2.50
Cheese: $4.
Tomato sauce: $.35
Broccoli: $1.
Pepper: $.50
Mushrooms: $.50
Meal Total: $8.85
or $4.42 per large pizza

Chicken Burgers

These are really good.

Chicken Burgers
4 chicken breast, cooked and diced
1/2 med onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp. sugar
dash of cayenne pepper
dash of white pepper
3 T. soy sauce
4 eggs, beaten

Put everything in a food processor, when completely mixed, form into patties and fry in olive oil about 5 minutes each side.
(I actually don't have a food processor, so used my blender and it took extra time because I could only put about 1/2 c. diced chicken in at a time. Then had to mix everything together in a bowl. Canned chicken would work just as well without having to blend or process it- similar to tuna.)


I used my Italian Bread recipe for the buns, but made a smaller batch:

Rachel's Hamburger Buns
2 c. warm water
2 T sugar
2 T yeast
1/4 c. dry milk
1/2 T salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. whole wheat flour
4-5 c. white flour

Mix water, sugar and yeast and let set for 10 minutes until the yeast is foamy. Add the rest of ingredients until you get to the flour then as the mixer is going add the flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer. Let it knead (mix) for 10 minutes. Flour the counter where you plan to shape the loaves.
I put the whole batch of dough on the counter and flattened it a little- so it was about 1 inch thick. Then took a pizza cutter and cut a 1 1/2" strip off the end, then cut that into about six 1 1/2" squares. Each square: squish down to 1/2 inch thick, it should be about 2 to 3 inches square. Take all corners and squish together, turn the "loaf" so the seam is on the underside and place on baking sheet (these did best on stoneware). Let rise till doubled, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve with Mayo, lettuce and tomatoes.

Cost:
Turkey: $5.
Eggs:$.60
Lettuce: $.75
Tomato: $1.35
Buns: $.60
Chips: $2.5 (natural w/ sea salt)
Meal Total: $10.80
This didn't really cost me this much, as I was given farm fresh eggs (thanks to my mom!) and some chicken from someone and this will also cheaper in the summer when we have our garden lettuce and tomatoes.
But I really only spent $5.20
And we had 2 extra adults joining us for dinner last night, so it fed quite a few.

The Perfect Loaf

So, on my quest of the perfect loaf of bread, I have wanted to see first hand the difference between bread that was mixed, kneaded and baked and bread that was allowed to knead, rise, knead and risen again.
I tried it with French Bread this week:


On the Left:
Mixed, kneaded, rose, baked.
On the Right:
Mixed, kneaded, rose, kneaded, rose, kneaded, rose, baked.

It might be a little hard to see, but the one that was allowed to rise several times had a finer texture and felt a little softer. The air pockets inside the loaf were smaller.

Poppy Seed Muffins

I can't remember where I got this recipe, I've had it for such a long time. These come really close to the big muffins you can buy at Costco. MMM!

Poppy Seed Muffins
3 c. white flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
2 TB poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. oil (can sub applesauce)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

Mix all ingredients, fill greased or lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing.
Makes: 24 muffins

French Bread and Spaghetti

I made French Bread last night-- for the first time. Brian loves French Bread but I've always thought it would take all day to make it, so I've put it off for a long time. But I finally decided to try it last night, and I am so pleased with how it came out- it was delicious!
I used a recipe from allrecipes.com: French Bread

I only added 5 cups of flour and skipped the first rise, as I normally do. Just because I started it around 4pm and wanted it to be done in time for dinner.
The crust was perfect. It was a little heartier than store-bought, but it was wonderful.

With it we had Spaghetti and Broccoli
Pasta $.34
Hamburger meat $2.
Sauce (Classico Caramelized onion and roasted garlic) $1.
Bread $.50
Broccoli $1.
Meal total: $4.84
(or w/ venison: $3.68)

Strawberry Shortcake

I had planned to make biscuits for breakfast this morning, and I realized I had some strawberries in the freezer and Strawberry Shortcake actually has less sugar than pancakes with syrup- so why not?!

Strawberry Shortcake
5 c. frozen strawberries
1/4 c. sugar
Put frozen strawberries in pan with lid and heat on medium heat. Mash with a potato masher a few times to break them up. When thawed out, stir in sugar.
Split Drop Biscuits in half, pour some strawberry sauce on, top it with the rest of the biscuit and some more strawberries.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

People know me for these cookies. ;-) I've been making them for years and they have always been a big hit whenever we take them to a get together.
This time I made them with some peanut butter chips and a handful of M&M's that we had left. Normally I make them with chocolate, but really they are good with any kind of chip you want. This is a big batch, but I freeze what doesn't fit in the cookie jar, so we have them handy.

Rachel's Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 c. white sugar
2 c. shorting
6 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. cream of tartar
7 c. flour
1 pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips

Cream sugar, shorting, eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and then mix everything thoroughly.
Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes.
I like mine slightly underdone, so they are a little gooey on the inside, to do so, take them out just before the top browns.

Oatmeal-Cranberry Squares

Since Jesse doesn't like oatmeal, I am always trying to find ways to cook it so that he likes it. So we had these for breakfast. They reminded me of a newton. It didn't make a difference though-- they were "tolerable" and he did eat 2- but apparently it's "still oatmeal" oh well- the rest of us enjoyed them!!
I got this recipe off the Martha Stewart website Here is her recipe, but I did change it a little- so this is my version:


Oatmeal-Cranberry Squares
4 cups rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
--Mix thoroughly--
2 cups craisins
1/2 c. water

In sauce pan, bring crasins and water to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Put in food processor of blender until it is only slightly chunky.
Spread 1/2 of the oat mixture in greased 9x13 baking dish, spread cranberry mixture on the evenly, then top with the rest of the oatmeal mixture.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Basic Muffins

For breakfast I made apricot muffins-- just the basic recipe and then put one dried apricot into the batter in each muffin cup before baking it. I think this is my favorite. But this recipe is so versatile, you can do anything with it. I try to double the batch in hopes to have extra for freezing for another breakfast-- but everyone eats so much, I think there were 5 muffins left this morning-- and I made 24!!

Muffins
2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
up to 1 1/2 c. additions

Mix thoroughly and pour into greased or papered muffin tins. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 12 muffins

Ideas:

Flour- white, whole wheat, or substitute 1 c. oatmeal, cornmeal, rye, cereal, or cooked oatmeal, rice or cornmeal and decrease liquid to 1/2 c.

Sugar- use between 2 Tb and 1/2 c. sugar, brown sugar, molasses or honey (with the last 2 decrease milk to 3/4 c.)

Baking Powder- if using whole or cooked grains increase to 3 ts. if youing buttermilk or sour milk, decrease to 1 tsp. and add 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Milk-Regular milk, reconstituted milk (powdered milk mixed with water), buttermilk or sour milk, fruit juice

Oil-1/4 oil of any kind or 4 Tb melted butter or margarine. Or use peanut butter or applesauce.

Egg-if out of egg, you can use a spoonful of mayonaise

Additions-Nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, craisins, coconut, blueberries, chopped apple, shredded zucchini, shredded carot, pumpkin, applesauce, cooked sweet potato, mashed banana, mashed cooked carrots. (when using wet additions decrease the milk a bit- example: grated zucchini is really moist, you could just replace the milk with the zucchini or just keep the milk to 1/2 c.)

Spices-When I put in apple, I also add 1 tsp. cinnamon, you can use whatever you think will compliment your additions- ginger, nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.

"Surprise muffins" fill cups 1/2 full with batter, put in a tsp of jam or jelly and then fill the cups the rest of the way with batter.

Bierrocks

My mom made these while we were growing up- I have always loved them. This dough makes alot, so you can use the leftover dough for cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls for another time.

Bierrocks
Filling
1 lb. ground meat
1 small cabbage, chopped
1 TB garlic salt

Brown meat, add chopped cabbage and garlic salt. Add a little water so that the cabbage steams a bit.

Dough
4 c. warm water
2 TB honey
2 TB. yeast
Mix and let set for 10 min.
Then add:
1 TB salt
5 c. whole wheat flour
5-8 c. white flour

As the mixer is going add the flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer. Let it knead (mix) for 10 minutes. Pour some oil on the counter where you plan to shape the dough. Split dough into 2 sections, roll out to 1/4 inch thick, in a square shape. Use a pizza cutter to cut into squares, typically about 3" x 3", spoon some filling onto small squares and pull over a corner, so it takes on the shape of a triangle. Press the dough together with fingers to make a seam around the edges. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. The bottoms should be a golden brown. Butter the tops- eat like a sandwich.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. oil
2 eggs
1 c. milk
2 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 large apple cut in wedges

Mix all together, pour into greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Push apple wedges into batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

Pepperoni Bake

Brian has been home this week, which has been really nice. I took the boys to piano lessons yesterday and he stayed home and made dinner-- it was great coming home to a good smell. This is one of the kid's favorites.

Pepperoni Bake

3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 jar (appox. 13 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 lb shredded Cheddar cheese
25 slices pepperoni sausage
salt and pepper to taste
onion powder to taste
garlic powder to taste



Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook and drain noodles.
In a 9x13 inch baking dish combine cooked macaroni, 3/4 of the cheese, pepperoni, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Top with the rest of the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Swedish Raisin Rye Bread

My mom's side of the family is Swedish and one year my mom made this bread for Thanks-giving or Christmas and we all loved it- she has made it each holiday ever since and to me, it's just not a holiday without it! Serve with butter to spread on it.

Swedish Raisin Rye
1/4 c molasses
1 T. yeast
3 c water
1 c wheat flour
mix and let set 10 minutes.

Add:
1 tsp. salt
2 c. rye flour
3-4 c wheat- or more till dough no longer sticks to side of mixer.
Mix 10 minutes-- in the last 4 minutes put in 2 c. raisins.
Form into 3 round loaves and place in greased pie pans.
Let rise till doubled, then bake 30-40 minutes. (knock on bread to hear a hollow sound- then it's done)

Chili Chicken Roll ups

This is the most amazing dinner I make. Everyone of of us absolutely LOVES it! The smell of fresh bread and the cream cheese and green chilies... Oh my goodness. The taste is incredible- completely lives up to the smell!

Chicken Chili Roll Ups


Ingredients:
1 Basic Roll Recipe

1 pk cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 4 oz can green chilies
a dash or two tabasco/red pepper sauce
2 c. diced chicken

Directions:
Make the Basic Roll Recipe. Roll out into a large rectangle, as if making cinnamon rolls. Mix the remaining ingredients together (with a mixer is easiest, but not necessary). Spread chicken/cheese mixture onto the rectangle of dough and then roll up and cut- just like you would cinnamon rolls.
Place onto a cookie sheet, with enough rooms so the sides do not stick together.
Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes.

Excellent served with salad or fresh cut veggies.

Cinnamon Rolls

I love the smell of cinnamon rolls baking!
We have cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. I will make them the night before and put them in the fridge, then bake them Christmas morning.
I put craisins in these.
I use this roll recipe for alot of things- dinner rolls, pizza dough, etc. It's a good basic recipe. I've used it so many times, I have it memorized. I normally only put in one cup of wheat flour in this recipe-

Quick Rolls

1 1/2 c. warm water
3 T and 1 tsp. sugar
2 T yeast
1 egg
1/2 c. dry milk
2 T butter
1 tsp. salt
4 to 5 c. flour

Mix all together in a mixer with a dough hook, adding enough flour so that the dough no longer sticks to the sides of bowl. Let knead for 5 to 10 min. Roll out into desired shape.

For cinnamon rolls:
Roll dough into large rectangle on a floured surface
Put on in even layers:

Butter
Sugar
Molasses (I think this makes them more caramelized on the bottoms, but you could skip molasses by just using brown sugar)
Cinnamon
Raisins (craisins or diced apples work nice as well)

Roll dough up like a snake (Jelly roll style) and cut in 1 1/2" sections. Place in greased glass baking dish (9"x13" or similar) let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 min- tops should be lightly browned.

Frosting-
2 c. powdered sugar
3 to 5 T. milk (use enough milk to get the consistency of honey)
Dribble over cinnamon rolls, after they have cooled for at least 30 min. If you put the frosting on while the rolls are still really hot it will just melt into the cracks and not be very noticeable.
These are good without frosting as well.

Sweet Potato Pie

I decided to make a sweet potato pie with some of the extra sweet potatoes-- after all, how much of it can Naomi eat, anyway??
I thought it would be alot like pumpkin pie, but it's a bit different. It has more ginger and nutmeg too, so that adds a different flavor to it. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It came out good, I did have to bake it longer than it called for. Brian and the boys really liked it-- and so did Naomi!

Sweet Potato Pie II

Oh- and yes, we will be eating this for breakfast tomorrow! :-)