Yeast Risen Sticky Buns

Here is another recipe of of this year's BH&G Holiday Baking and my second foray into yeasty bread products! I put these together the night before Favorites birthday so that I could get up early and stick them in the oven. They were time consuming but relatively simple to make and boy were they tasty! I wanted to give them room to grow as they cooked so I made them on a jellyroll pan. I think next time I might try cooking them in giant muffin tins because it seems like I lost a lot of filling to the pan. The only other thing I would pay attention to next time is that I think I may have kneaded too much or not allowed the dough enough time to rise either the first time, or before I baked them because even though they were scrumptious, the dough seemed a little tough.

Our Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls

4 1/2 to 5 c. all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 c. milk
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. golden raisins (optional)
1/2 c. chopped pecans

1. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour with the yeast. In a small saucepan combine milk, 1/3 c. butter, granulated sugar, and salt. Cook and stir until just warm (120 to 130 degrees) and butter is nearly melted. Add to flour mixture. Add eggs.
2. Beat with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon stir in as much remaining flour as you can.
3. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours).
4. Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 13X9X2 inch baking pan; set aside.
5. For filling: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, 1/4 c. flour, and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender cut in 1/2 c. of butter until crumbly.
6. Roll dough into an 18x12 inch rectangle. Sprinkle filling over dough. leaving 1 inch unfilled along a long side. Sprinkle with raisins and pecans. Starting from the filled long side, roll up rectangle. Pinch dough to seal seam. Cut into 12 slices. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
7. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise. If baking immediately, let rolls double in size, about 45 minutes. If baking later, chill for 2 to 24 hours and then let stand, uncovered, at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
8. Break any surface bubbles on rolls with a greased toothpick. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes pr until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Drizzle with powdered sugar icing if desired. Serve warm.
   

Nutmeg Softies

November is over and December is here! Yes, I know I'm a little late. Everything has been done a little late recently, like this blog post. I made these little cookies the weekend before Thanksgiving. Between work and holidays and Nanowrimo (which Favorite and I both finished BTW, though I will deny it if you ask to see my manuscript) I didn't have time to post, but I still made time for baking. These little guys were a heap of trouble, though, and a testament to why I never make cookies that don't come with a picture. These Nutmeg Softies came out of my BH&G Ultimate Cookie Book. The first thing that went wrong is that I did not preread the instructions, and there were no pictures so when I put together the dough and realized there was no brown sugar, no molasses, no ANYTHING brown and sweet and wonderful, I knew they were not going to be what I wanted. I thought a nutmeg softie would be like a cross between gingerbread and a sugar cookie but with the only spice being nutmeg, boy was I wrong. Next I realized too late that I added 1/2 tbs of baking soda instead of 1 tsp. This was because I was baking at my mom's house. I simply grabbed the spoon that was second biggest and used it. Who owns 1/2 tbs spoons?? I decided to keep going. Then the recipe wanted me to roll and cut the dough like sugar cookies. For whatever reason this dough did NOT come out shape and bake. It was too sticky to do anything but drop cookies. So I altered the instructions a bit and decided to do drop cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar and squashed a little with the bottom of a glass. I also added way more nutmeg then called for, a whole freshly grated pod, or seed, or whatever nutmeg is, and still found the nutmeg flavor subtle. They got good reviews, (especially since they were so delicate from all that exta baking soda!) but a nutmegy Snickerdoodle was simply not what I had in mind...

Nutmeg Softies

1/2 c. butter, softened,
1/2 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. dairy sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. all purpose flour

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening for 30 seconds on high.
2. Add granulated sugar, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined scraping sides of bowl.
3. Beat in sour cream, egg, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer and stir in any flour that remains. (Dough will be sticky)
4. Divide dough into thirds. Cover and chill dough about 2 hours or until easy to handle.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On lightly floured surface roll out 1/3 of dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out dough with desired shapes.
6. Place cutouts on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are firm and bottoms are golden.
7. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.