Cinnamon Buns!

I was on Pinterest the other night just randomly looking through pins and came across this recipe for making "Cinnabon" Cinnamon Buns and thought "why not?!?!?!".  Picked up some of the ingredients this morning with the kiddos after story time at our local library and then began the process during "group nap" time!  As I was making the dough, I realized I didn't have enough flour (of course I realize this in the middle of the process and not while I'm at the store buying the ingredients!!!), and so I used about a cup and a half of whole wheat flour.  When my 2 year old woke up from nap, she helped me add the cinnamon center and roll it out :)  I love letting her help me in the kitchen! I think she has an appreciation for how things are made and always likes to help!

These are fresh out of the oven and I just had a chance to taste them! Soooooo yummy!!!  I have to say though....I think the whole wheat flour made them a little grainy, I probably WON'T be using it again!  LOL!

Here's the Pinterest recipe I followed:
http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/breads/cinnabons-cinnamon-rolls/


Here's how they turned out:

Fresh out of the oven before being frosted!

After adding the frosting

Making the cream cheese frosting found in the recipe

Allowing them to rise another 30 min. before putting them in the oven to bake

Rolling it up!

Adding the cinnamon mixture for the center

Deena working on her rolling skills!!!

Cinnamon mixture

Dough after rising an hour

Deena helping mix!

French Toast

One of my dad's specialities growing up was his French Toast.  He would mix together a whole bunch of things and throw it in the pan and voila! French Toast!  Now, my sister also makes a mean French Toast and my husband sometimes asks me to make her French Toast.  She has more of a recipe or finesse to her recipe and so I've sort of adopted her way of making it!  I baked some fresh bread earlier this week (check the blog post!) and my husband asked me to make some French Toast with the remainder of it this weekend!  So here it is!

Here's the Pinterest recipe that I loosely followed:
http://countryrecipebook.com/easy-country-french-toast/
I also added a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the egg mixture!  The cinnamon, vanilla, and salt are KEY ingredients!

Yummy!  The other key ingredient is MAPLE SYRUP!!!

Here's my 2 year old's breakfast!

Browning the other side

Placing the soaked bread on the hot griddle

I absolutely LOVE this Calphalon griddle pan!

Smells like fall!

Every year around this time when I was living in NYC, I would go apple picking with my good friends the Lee Sams!  This year, I happened to visit NYC a week after they went apple picking and was able to bring back some freshly picked apples to make apple crumble with!  This used to be an annual baking day (or days sometimes) with my good friend Celine!  She would make all kinds of pies and crumble using the freshly picked apples and I would be her "helper"!  LOL!  I would always bring some of these apples into my classroom and have my kids make apple crumble because it's SOOOOOOO easy to make! I highly recommend making this simple and delicious recipe at home with your kiddos!

Here's Celine's recipe:

Ingredients:
4-5 peeled and cubed apples
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I like to put more in mine!!!)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Place apples in a greased 9x9inch baking dish
2.  Sprinkle a small about of cinnamon and nutmeg on top and rub into the apple cubes
3.  Blend together the remaining ingredients without the butter at first and then add the butter and mix together
4.  Crumble handfulls of the oatmeal mix over the apples
5.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes (or until the topping is golden brown)

We LOVE to eat this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

Here's how mine turned out:

Oats mixed with other ingredients

Spices rubbed into cubed apples

Peeled and cubed apples

The ingredients

If you don't have one of these apple corer/cutters - get one!  They're amazing!!!  I had 6 of them in my classroom and would have my kiddos do all of the cutting of the apples!

Peeled apples