Old House Kitchen Christmas Favorites: Cinnamon Rolls

With a new baby in our midst we are trying to soak up as much cuddling time as we can so I thought it would be fun to share our family's favorite Christmas recipes!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 T. dry yeast
1 C. warm milk
1/3 C. white sugar
1/2 C. melted butter
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 C. flour
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball. Let rise until double in size. When ready, roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with filling.

Filling:
1/4 C. butter, softened
1 C. brown sugar
3 T. cinnamon

Spread butter on dough evenly. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over dough evenly. Roll dough up. Slice roll into 1 inch slices. Place on a greased pan. Let rise again until doubled. bake 10 min. at 400 degrees.

Icing:
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 oz. cream cheese
2 T. whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Beat until fluffy. When rolls are hot, spread lots of icing on them.

If baking in the morning make the dough, let rise, then make the rolls.  Instead of letting them rise again, just wrap them up and put in the fridge.  The next morning put them in the oven while it's preheating.  When the oven is preheated start the timer.   Makes a 9x13 pan...about 16-18 scrumptious rolls!    

 

Pie!

With a new baby in our midst we are trying to soak up as much cuddling time as we can so I thought it would be fun to share our family's favorite Christmas recipes!  Enjoy!

Pie Filling Recipes

Baking a pie is pretty easy, really. You have to have the right crust recipe (Sour Cream Pie Crust from Monday's post!) and a great filling. We have a cherry tree in our yard so cherry pie is easy to come by at our house. We package several quart bags for the freezer for cherry crisp, cherry pie, etc. We go blueberry picking each summer to stock our freezer with yummy local grown blueberries. We purchase peaches from a local Amish stand or if the prices at the grocer are really good, then we go there. Point being that making your own fruit pie filling is pretty easy and good for you, too!




Combine together the following ingredients for each kind of pie:

Apple Pie Filling = 6 cups apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced), 3/4 cup sugar, 1 T flour

Blueberry Pie Filling = 4 cups blueberries, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 T flour

Cherry Pie Filling = 4 cups cherries (tart and pitted), 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour

Peach Pie Filling = 6 cups peaches (peeled, pitted and thinly sliced), 3/4 cup sugar, 3 T flour


Equivalents:
Apples 1 medium = 1 cup sliced
Peaches 1 medium = 1/2 cup sliced

Samuel Thomas -- 2 weeks

This post isn't a recipe by any means, but equally scrumptious (in my opinion, anyway!).  My mom and I had fun snapping a few pictures the other day.  Enjoy!

 My dear friend Kelly made this lovely little pumpkin hat for him.

 Isn't he cute?!

I love this one!

Scrumptious, I tell ya!

Preparing for the Holidays: "Thanksgiving, Part 1"

A long time ago (not that long ago, but it seems that way for me) I did a series featuring the book Queen of the Castle.  I thought since baby is here (I'm scheduling these posts out) that I'd recap the holiday part of the book.  So every Wednesday you'll get some great tips on prepping your heart and home for the holidays.

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This week is simply titled "Thanksgiving, Part 1".   Lynn begins by sharing advice from Julia Child..."If you are not an old campaigner, do not plan more than one long or complicated recipe for a meal or you will wear yourself out and derive no pleasure from your efforts."  Great advice!  I posted my Thanksgiving menu plan (last year) HERE and it is definitely more simple than not.

Lynn shares a great reminder that "Thanksgiving is not a competition.  It's a time to gather with family we love and give thanks to our Father, who is the giver of all good gifts.  A Father who loves me no matter what -- even if I use store-bought pie crust."  (I don't use store-bought (I share my recipe HERE) but that doesn't mean you can't...whatever works for your family!  Remember I told you in the menu plan post that I'll probably make Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast?  That works for us...)

We're not hosting anyone in particular for Thanksgiving.  It'll be just my husband, my mom, our kiddos and myself.  Of course we always make room for any last minute guests.  We may have the kiddos' piano teacher over since he just lost his sister and I'm not sure he'll be going anywhere.  Be flexible...that's my point.  Either way get the china out a day or two before and make sure it's all clean and your serving bowls and relish trays are ready.  Our kiddos think it's fun that even though it's just the ten of us we still make it a special day.

Lynn shares three quick ideas to fancy up your table:

*Look for chocolate turkey lollipops or something else that's fun to place next to each person's silverware. 

*Hand your kids a packet of photograph "doubles", have them cut out the heads of the guests who are coming for dinner, then glue the heads onto cardboard to make holiday place cards.  If they're feeling especially silly (and if family members are silly enough to appreciate it), have them attach heads to bodies of people and animals cut from old magazines -- the wilder, the better. (From Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions)

*Try folding napkins.  Martha has three easy napkin folds HERE and a cute but more advanced turkey napkin fold HERE.  (We will be using fun paper ones that day, however.  I know my limits!  *smile*)

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"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks through Him to God the Father."  Colossians 3:17