Homemade Pretzels

Warning!! These are super delicious and you will want to eat them all.
However, the food network people are not lying when they say these are for intermediate bakers. I consider myself pretty capable in the kitchen but these were definitely a little tricky and VERY time consuming. I made two batches, being too afraid to just double the recipe (for me that is a great way to forget something or mess up measurements) and was definitely in and out of the kitchen for 3 hours. It was fun though. And it sounds weird to boil the pretzels in baking soda water but that is what gives them the delicious metallic pretzel taste that is so wonderful.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

Prep Time:
30 min
Inactive Prep Time:
1 hr 0 min
Cook Time:
25 min

Level:
Intermediate

Serves:
8 pretzels

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 package active dry yeast
* 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
* 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
* Vegetable oil, for pan
* 10 cups water
* 2/3 cup baking soda
* 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
* Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Thanks food network!

Dear Friends who like to eat yummy things,

My sister actually made these this weekend and they are SO YUMMY!!!! We found out that if you don't have a mini-muffin tin you can use a regular one and everything still tastes delicious. I think an interesting variation on these would be to make them green for St. Patrick's day by using lime pudding--do they even make that? Probably not. But you could use food coloring. :) Enjoy!

p.s. You will probably have glaze left over. Making about 2/3 of what the recipe says is probably okay. Unless you like a LOT of glaze on your little lemon muffins of deliciousness.

Love,
Sarah

FoodNetwork.com
Lemon Blossoms

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time:
12 min
Inactive Prep Time:
1 hr 0 min
Cook Time:
12 min

Level:
Easy

Serves:
5 dozen

Ingredients

* 18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
* 3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
* 4 large eggs
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

* 4 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested
* 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 3 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

Hawaiian Bread

This recipe is from allrecipes.com, I do have the following suggestions though to make it better.

Prep Time: 20 Min

Cook Time:30 Min

Ready In:2 Hrs 35 Min

Original Recipe Yield 3 round loaves

Ingredients

• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup white sugar (add some honey too if you like. Or just put lots on once it's done)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (up to you, you could always replace this with coconut extract if you prefer that to ginger)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the yeast mixture, eggs, pineapple juice, 1/2 cup water, sugar, ginger, vanilla, and melted butter. Gradually stir in flour until a stiff batter is formed. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
3. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a well floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into round loaves. Place the loaves into three lightly greased round cake pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bottom of a loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Super Fast Salsa

This is a great recipe that I got from a girl in my ward. There are lots of variations--you can essentially add in whatever you like. This version will be pretty mild so you could add in spicy peppers and stuff if you'd like.

1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans (or you could use black-eyed peas or another type of bean that you choose)
3-4 medium/large tomatoes, cut to be about the same size as the corn and beans
1/4 of an onion (I prefer the red ones but you could leave the onions out completely if you don't want to have onion breath forever)
1/2 a bunch of cilantro--basically do this to taste. I like a lot of cilantro!
1/2-1 cup Italian salad dressing (the Zesty/spicy kind works the best, but all of them are delicious)

Stir and Enjoy! You will want to eat it the minute you are done and it is delicious that way too but it gets more delicious as you let it sit in the refrigerator.

Easy OREO Truffles

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Ready In:
1 Hr 30 Min

Pumpkin Cake Roll

3 eggs
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Powdered sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
2 (3-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, grease paper, and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until lemon colored. Gradually add sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; fold into egg-pumpkin mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth out top, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake for 15 minutes.
Lay a clean kitchen towel out on the counter. Sprinkle powdered sugar on kitchen towel. Turn the warm cake onto towel and remove parchment paper. Roll up cake and towel lengthwise. Cool in refrigerator or freezer.
While cake cools, beat margarine and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Unroll cake and spread with filling, then roll up again. Wrap roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate until served. Cut roll into 1-inch slices.

From Carl

Welcome!

This morning a decision was made by Angela and Lindsey to start a recipe blog! Yay! :)Please post your yummy recipes!