Recipes & Cooking

I have to admit, one of my few talents is cooking.  I owe much of what I know to being exposed to down-home Pennsylvania depression era style cooking by my great aunts and grandmother as a child, a hardcore Italian step father as a teenager, and outdoorsy in laws as a young adult.  Food is one of the ways I am able to express myself and show my family how much I love them.  Here, I will share instructions, recipes, tricks, and failures from my culinary adventures.

Rarely, do I ever follow a recipe when cooking (baking is another story).  I usually follow a basic guideline for the type of food I am making, and "tweak" it according to what sounds good to me, so please feel free to change anything to your liking.


Grandma Esther's Cinnamon Rolls:

Frozen (or homemade) Bread dough that has risen (as much or as little as you need, I usually do 2 loaves for our family of 6)
Brown sugar
Butter (room temperature)
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  In a cake pan, liberally sprinkle lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, and about a stick worth of butter (this will make an amazing caramel sauce that will become the top of the rolls).

Roll out the bread dough onto a floured surface into a rectangle, to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

Rub the entire surface of the dough with butter, then sprinkle very liberally with more brown sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Roll the dough lengthwise to form a long log.

Slice the log into about 1 inch thick slices and place in the prepared pan and cover with a kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for about an hour (longer for "breadier" rolls, sometimes I prepare them on Saturday night, allow them to rise overnight then bake them for breakfast Sunday morning before church).

Put into 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until top is just slightly brown, caramel is bubbling, and rolls have a "hollow thump" when you tap them.

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, then turn pan upside down onto wax paper or a platter (there will be some gooey caramel spillage, so be prepared for that).

Rolls will pull apart and won't last very long.