Monkey Bread

It's funny... When I think of monkey bread, it brings me back to high school with friends at Wendy's and yet it also brings me back to my Grandma's kitchen.

Today, I'm sharing my Grandma's recipe. It's more of a dinner roll recipe and less of a dessert. I was thinking about making her rolls for dinner but didn't want all the work and the great big batch, so I was thinking about another roll recipe that was a little easier. Thumbing through her cookbook I found the recipe for Monkey Bread and knew this was the perfect compliment to our dinner.

Monkey Bread (click here for print-friendly version)
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBSP salt
1TBSP yeast
2 eggs slightly beaten
2TBSP oil
1 cube margarine (1/2 cup)
About 5-6 cups flour

Add sugar, salt and yeast to warm water. Let sit about 10 minutes or until nice and bubbly. Stir, add oil, beaten eggs, and 3 cups of flour and mix well. Let sit about 10 minutes. Add rest of flour mixing with spoon, kneading until satiny. Cover and let rise. (about 1 hour)

Roll out dough about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut in 3” circles. Melt margarine and add half to bundt pan. Stand circles in bundt pan like a pinwheel. Pour rest of margarine on top of circle. Let rise to top of pan. ( about 20-30 minutes, I turn the oven on to preheat and set the pan on top of the stove so it's nice and warm and rises faster!)

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes

Happy Baking!

I started cleaning and ended up baking

How many times do you start on project and end up doing another? I seem to find myself doing this much more often than I'd like. Today, I started out cleaning my laundry area and bedroom. Somehow it got about halfway done -- I slammed my finger in the washing maching lid and that HURT. Anyway, I sat down and the next thing I know a friend is facebooking about her baking and I discover a MADE post about braided bread. Then I'm baking. I made chocolate zucchini bread and the braided bread. You can read MADE's post and get the recipe... we'll just say it was easy and really good! Especially the cinnamon loaf! We will have to make this recipe again.

For the chocolate zucchini bread I used my dad's recipe, with a few modifications.

In a mixing bowl, combine the following:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup oil (or 1 cup oil and skip the applesauce)
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla

Sift dry ingredients and add to above:
2 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Then stir in the following:
2 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I like pecans)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Place mixture in 2 greased loaf pans.
Bake 350 for 1 hour

The Secret to a Good Cheesecake is ....

....lots of work, patience, cream cheese, eggs and lots of calories.
So, Try my simpler still incredibly delicious solution!

Grandma's Cheesecake Pie
1. Beat 4oz of cream cheese (half of a package)  and 3/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, whip 1 cup (or half a pint) of whipping cream until it forms soft peaks
3. Fold the two bowls together with 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Want to know how to use it?
- Fits an 8x8 pan, 8" pie plate or 12 cupcakes
- Try a graham cracker, oreo, pretzels or vanilla wafer crust
- Put sprinkles on it.
- Stir in some berries
- Drizzle chocolate or caramel on top. 
- Put it in the freezer for a frozen taste.
- Put some food coloring in for the holiday--

I made a batch in a cupcake pan. I had some heart print cupcake liners, that I put a whole Oreo in the bottom. I added a little red sprinkles on top so we had some for Valentines Days!



Try this topping: Berry Glaze Topping
mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup (4TBSP) of cornstarch in a pan. Puree 1 cup of berries and 1/2 cup of water.  Add water to make 1 2/3 cups. Stir on medium heat until it thickens and boils, add 2 cups of berries