All-Purpose Muffin Mix

Many cookbooks have all-purpose muffin recipes plus a number of variations. I use Bittman's basic recipe all the time (from How to Cook Everything). But it's nice to have a healthy muffin mix on hand, especially when I'm turning the cooking over to the kids! This is one my friend Alondra concocted several years ago. It's low fat, full of whole grains, and adaptable to lots of variations.

All-Purpose Muffin Mix

• 8 c. flour (we use 3 c. oats, 2 c. white flour, 3 c. white whole wheat)
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. baking powder
• 1 T. salt
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. shortening or butter*

*You can use either; I prefer butter, but this means during the warmer months, when my house is warmer, I have to store the mixes in the freezer.

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter. If you do this in a food processor, your oats will become oat flour. Divide into storage containers or ziplock bags. Makes 4 batches (~2.5 cups mix each).

For baking, add:

• 1/2 c. applesauce or mashed banana
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 c. milk
• other ingredients as you wish (nuts, raisins, blueberries, etc.)

Spoon batter in 12 greased or lined muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar if desired. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Herbed Cheese Biscuits

These are GREAT with soup. I melded a couple of recipes from my Betty Crocker cookbook to come up with this.

Herbed Cheese Biscuits

• 2 c. flour (I often use half white whole wheat)
• 1 T. sugar
• 3 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 3/4 t. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 c. butter
• 3/4 c. milk plus more as needed
• 1/2 c. shredded cheese (sharp Cheddar is especially good)
• melted butter--about 1/4 cup--if desired

1. Combine  dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk to make a stiff dough (don't stir/mix too much!!). Add in cheese as dough comes together. You may need to add a touch more milk to make these soft enough to "drop" instead of roll out.
2. Drop biscuits by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheet. You should get about 12.
3. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
4. If desired, spread melted butter over top of biscuits when they come out of the oven. Mmmm

~Makes 12

Cranberry Coffee Cake

If you're like me, you're liable to discover a bag of cranberries in your freezer around this time of year--totally forgot about them! Try this sweet coffee cake if you're able to round up cranberries, fresh or frozen. It's best warm, straight from the oven or reheated. I make it Saturday night so we can have it Sunday morning for breakfast (and Monday morning, too!). Note that there are two measurements for sugar--in case you're checking to make sure you have enough.

Cranberry Coffee Cake
~Simply in Season

• 3 c. cranberries
• 2/3 c. sugar 
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 1/3 c. flour (can do half whole wheat)
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt

Combine cranberries and first amount of sugar. Spread over bottom of greased 13x9-inch pan (glass is pretty). Sprinkle walnuts over cranberries. Cream together butter and second amount of sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Combine dry ingredients left and add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Batter will be thick--almost like cookie dough. Spoon clumps of batter out over cranberries. You will have some small gaps here and there, but the batter will spread out as it cooks. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

~Serves 12-15

Egg Muffins

Time to start trouble shooting food-related issues for this school year! What sorts of nourishing, cheap, quick-to-eat breakfasts can we round up? (We also need to practice eating more, um, quickly and "on task" than is typically the practice around here.)

At any rate, this egg muffin (or "Egg Bbang" as it's called in Korea) is a delightfully different approach. The batter is quite sweet and is a nice complement to the egg. The eggs are like hard-boiled eggs, so if your kids don't like those, then they won't like these. I'm going to try mixing up the batter the night before so it's quick work to assemble these and pop them in the oven.

Egg Muffins
~from Aeri's Kitchen (a VERY fun site; her site has lots of lovely step-by-step pictures, too)

• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup flour (I used white whole wheat with pretty good success)
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 8 small or medium eggs
• salt

1. Whisk two large eggs until fluffy. Whisk in sugar until dissolved. Whisk in flour and baking powder. Whisk in milk and melted butter. Batter will be quite thin. Aeri suggests putting in a big ziploc bag at this point and cutting a hole in one corner so you can "dribble" in the batter with more control. I used a 4-cup mixing bowl with pour spot with good success, too.
2. Silicone muffin pans are GREAT for this recipe. If using a metal one, grease that baby!
3. Pour a small amount of batter in the bottom of 8 muffin cups (just enough, really, to cover the bottom). If you won't be eating that many eggs, just do this for the ones you'll put eggs in. They don't "keep" well.
4. Crack a small or medium egg on top of each batter-lined muffin spot. Sprinkle some salt on top.
5. Pour batter over eggs until they are covered and batter mostly fills up the rest of the muffin cup (unless you're using a really large muffin pan).
6. Pour extra batter in remaining muffin spots.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Turn oven off. Leave in oven for an extra 5 minutes to let eggs finish cooking.
8. Eat warm!

~Makes about 8 egg muffins

Spiced Coffee Cake

We love coffee cake around here--we have it on Sunday mornings (the sweetness tempts my children to eat up and not dawdle--a plus since we have to leave for church and don't get home until early afternoon). This is from my mom-in-law's friend Dee. It's the nutmeg in it that makes it a little different from the usual coffee cakes. If I remember, she gave it to us in a 9x13-inch pan, so it must double fairly easily.

Spiced Coffee Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Pour batter into a lightly greased 9 inch square pan; sprinkle evenly with Streusel Topping.
3. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (can use walnuts)
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stir in melted butter. Spread on top.

Cherry Tomato Focaccia Topping

YUM. YUM. YUM. That's all I have to say.

That and, when the Lord bestows abundant numbers of cherry tomatoes on you for free, you find numerous ways to consume them. ☺

You can use really any focaccia bread dough here--or even storebought pizza dough from a can if you'd like. I use Bittman's pizza crust/focaccia dough recipe here because I always use it and it's easy. We like this with a hearty entree salad, but it also makes a great first course, would go well with soup, would work well in a lineup of homemade pizzas, etc. It's good hot and at room temperature, and reheats tolerably well.

Cherry Tomato Focaccia Topping
~adapted from Simply in Season

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• olive oil
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• handful fresh basil leaves, snipped (if you have it)
• salt and pepper
• 1 recipe focaccia dough

1. Prepare dough per directions through the patting out part (I use a jelly roll pan to bake this in).
2. About 30 minutes prior to the dough being ready (my dough has to rise 30 minutes on the pan itself, so I start this step when I get to that part of the dough), toss halved cherry tomatoes with about a teaspoon sugar and about a teaspoon salt. Let sit for 30 minutes or so. Then spin tomatoes in salad spinner off and on for about 30-45 seconds, or until most of the seeds and juice have spun out. (This is a handy trick I learned from America's Test Kitchen.)
3. Drizzle olive oil onto dough.
4. Sprinkle with minced garlic.
5. Place cherry tomato halves around dough, cut side up.
6. Sprinkle cheese over (this is a light sprinkling--this is not pizza).
7. Sprinkle basil leaves over top.
8. Add salt and pepper if desired (but remember the tomatoes have a wee bit of salt in them, the cheese adds salt, etc.).
9. Bake according to focaccia bread dough directions (mine bakes at about 375 degrees for about 1/2 an hour).
10. Enjoy!

Makes enough for one focaccia dough recipe

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Delicious! We cut ours into 16 small squares, enjoyed one each as a snack with afternoon tea and then finished off the rest for breakfast the next morning.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
~from Simply in Season

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour + 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. sugar + 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. cinnamon + 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 c. blueberries
• 1 t. lemon zest, optional
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/4 c. melted butter or oil
•  2 T. butter
• 1/3 c. chopped walnuts or pecans or almonds

1. Prepare topping and set aside: mix second amounts of whole wheat flour (1/3 c.), sugar (1/3 c.), butter (2 T.), cinnamon (1 t.), and the chopped nuts.
2. For batter, combine flour, first amount of whole wheat flour (1/2 c.), first amount of sugar (1/2 c.), baking powder, first amount of cinnamon (1 t.), and salt. Stir in blueberries and lemon zest, if using.
3. Combine egg (slightly beaten), milk, and melted butter or oil. Add to batter mixture and fold in, mixing gently until all is combined.
4. Spread/pour batter into greased 8x8-inch pan. Sprinkle topping over.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until top is light golden brown (I had to cover mine with foil the last few minutes while the inside finished cooking--use a toothpick to test). Serve warm or at room temperature.

~serves 9 or more

Honey Granola Bread

Wow. This is YUMMY. It makes two big, beautiful boules. Perfect for toast or to give as gifts! If you need smaller loaves, just divide the dough into more portions. It looks long and involved, but it's really not much different than most sandwich loaves.

~Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens, 11th edition; I'm giving food processor directions, but you'll need a heavy-duty one. Otherwise, make as you would normal bread with your mixer (order is roughly the same, but you'll end up stirring in/kneading in the last bit of flour)

• 3 to 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 pkg. active dry yeast (or about 5 t. yeast)
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1/3 c. butter
• 1 t. salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. granola
• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 c. oats

1. Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour and yeast in food processor. Process briefly to combine.
2. Heat milk, honey, butter, and salt until butter starts to melt. Remove from heat, cool slightly and stir until butter melts (this is an informal process; don't sweat the timing and don't rush it).
3. Add milk mixture and eggs to flour/yeast mixture. Process 30 seconds. Stop and scrape down sides. Process 1-2 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients except final cup of white flour. Process until dough comes together, adding remaining flour if needed. Dough will be sturdy but sticky.
5. Place dough in large bowl and cover with oiled saran wrap. Let rise until double (an hour or so).
6. Punch dough down on a large floured surface and divide into two pieces (or more). Let rest 10 minutes.
7. Shape dough into balls, pulling dough around to the bottom and tucking in. Place on baking sheets (grease them if they're not stone ware and/or you're not using parchment paper). Flatten balls slightly until 5 or 6 inches in diameter. You might fit both on a baking sheet if it's large. Cover each ball with oiled saran wrap and let rise until double (45 minutes or so).
8. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 35 minutes or until hollow-sounding when tapped. You may need to cover bread the last 10 minutes with foil to prevent browning.
9. Allow to cool slightly on pan and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Aunt Ernestine's Country Sausage Muffins

These are a meal in a muffin! Aunt Ernestine is my great aunt on my mom's dad's side.

• 1/2 pound pork sausage
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. self-rising flour
• 1 (2-oz) jar pimiento
• 1 (8-oz) carton French onion dip
• 1/2 c. milk

1. Brown sausage, stirring to crumble, and drain. Reserve 2 tablespoons drippings.
2. Combine all ingredients, including reserved drippings. Stir enough to moisten dry ingredients.
3. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
4. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until brown.

Hide-and-Seek Muffins

Another gem from Pretend Soup that my kids have thoroughly enjoyed (and making). Perfect for summer berry picking time, try these the next time you have an abundance of berries. We tried them with strawberries, but big blueberries, raspberries, or medium-sized blackberries would work, too!

~From Pretend Soup

•  1 1/2 c. flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 1/2 cup white)
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 c. sugar + extra 
• 1/4 c. (4 T.) butter, melted
• 1 c. milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 12 small-medium strawberries (or other berries of similar size)
•  muffin cups or spray for muffin tin

1.  Mix dry ingredients (flour through 1/4 c. sugar) together and set aside.
2. Mix wet ingredients (melted butter through vanilla) together. Add all at once to dry ingredients and mix.
3. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling them about half full.
4. Roll berries in sugar and push one berry down into each muffin spot. You will be able to see the tops of the berries, but as the muffins bake, the batter will rise up and cover each berry!
5.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before eating; you can take them out of the pan at about 5 minutes, but the berries are quite hot, so wait the full 10 before eating them.

 ~Makes 1 dozen medium-sized muffins

Resurrection Rolls (aka Empty Tomb Rolls)

A fitting recipe on which to end my Lenten fast from blogging this year: resurrection rolls. Carrie and I first made these a couple of years ago, and they're yummy! Kids can help, and they are a fun visual reminder of what we will be celebrating this coming Easter Sunday in particular. Recipe can be increased as many times as you'd like. We've served these as snack food, as dessert, or as a breakfast treat.

1 tube crescent rolls
8 marshmallows
melted butter
cinnamon sugar mixture--just eyeball it (remember, cinnamon goes a long way)

Roll marshmallows in melted butter
Roll marshmallows in cinnamon sugar mixture
Wrap up each marshmallow in a crescent triangle, sort of making a rounded ball--seal up every little corner.

Bake according to directions on crescent roll tube--it is best if you make these on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.... they are quite gooey! The marshmallows melt (if they're not fully melted when you take them out of the oven, let them sit for a few minutes). Then, they look like the empty tomb!

Enjoy

Jiffy Cupcake Corn Muffins

Looking for an easy, sweet corn muffin? Pick up a Jiffy cornbread mix and a Jiffy yellow cake mix next time you're at the store.

~recipe from my mom-in-law

• 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
• 1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix
• 2 eggs*
• milk*
• water*

*I'm not exactly sure here--I just know you need whatever's called for on BOTH boxes.

Mix up each mix exactly as directed on the back of the boxes, combining them in one big bowl. Line muffin tin with liners or spray with Pam. Fill muffin cups (15-18) with batter and bake: you will need to split the difference in the temperatures given on the two boxes and bake for about as long as the corn muffin directions.

~Makes 1 1/2 dozen or so

Naan

This is one of our favorite recipes, although I must confess it's not on the menu much these days since I'm spending my afternoons reading Library Science homework instead of cooking dinner :-). Naan aren't hard to make, but they do require rolling out which takes some time.

~from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann edition

• 2 t. instant yeast (same as bread machine or rapid rise)
• 2 T. milk
• 2 T. yogurt
• 1 T. sugar
• 3.5 c. all-purpose flour plus 1/2 c. whole wheat (can use all all-purpose), plus extra to roll out dough
• 1 egg
• 2 t. salt
• 4 T. butter, melted and still warm (do this when ready to bake)

1. Stir together yeast, milk, yogurt, and sugar in a bowl; set aside.
2. Combine flour, egg, and salt in a food processor. Turn machine on and add yeast mixture through feed tube.
3. Process for about 30 seconds, adding 1.5 cups water a little at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is dry add another tablespoon of water and process for another 10 seconds. If too wet, add a little more flour.
4. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead by hand for a few seconds to form smooth, round ball. Put dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise until doubled (1-2 hours). (You can let it rise 8 hours or so in fridge)
5. Put baking sheet (preferably, a stone) on a rack on lowest shelf of your oven; heat oven to 500 degrees. Punch dough down and, using as much flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking to board or hands, roll it into a snake, then tear the snake into 12 equal-sized balls. Let rest for 10 minutes covered with plastic wrap or damp towel.
6. Roll out one ball into an oval roughly 6-8 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. Open oven door, grab dough, one hand on each end of the oval, and toss it onto the baking sheet or stone. Close oven door and flip naan after 3 minutes. Naan is ready when it's puffed, mottled, and browned around the edges, 6-8 minutes. You can cook as many naan as will comfortably fit--I use a pizza stone and can fit 3-4 on there at a time.
7. Wrap freshly baked naan in kitchen towel to keep them warm and pliable. Serve asap and spread with melted butter. (I make my towel slightly damp to help soften them).

Makes 12 naan

Beautiful Blueberry Muffins

This is my go to recipe for blueberry muffins these days. I know it from memory because I've made it so much (that, and this is a variation of the master recipe in How to Cook Everything, 10th anniversary edition so it's not hard to remember the base recipe). Recipe doubles beautifully and freezes great.

• 3 T. melted butter or oil
• 2 c. flour (I use half white whole wheat)
• 1/2 c. sugar
  
• 3 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. lemon zest, optional
• 1 egg
• 1 c. milk
• 1 c. blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or butter or line muffin tin.
2. Mix dry ingredients together.
   
3. Mix wet ingredients together.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in blueberries.
5. Spoon into muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

~Makes 12 muffins

Pumpkin Bread

My long-time friend Leah and I used to get a bread like this from a bakery near where we lived--we looked forward to pumpkin bread time every year and it was a highlight of the fall! This "bread" has more sugar than my normal pumpkin cake recipe, but it's delicious! It sounds like a lot of ingredients/steps, but the process is very similar to making cookies or another basic cake. It doubles well; just use 1 whole can of pumpkin. The chocolate chips are my addition in honor of Leah; the original calls for raisins and walnuts.

~from Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. ground ginger
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 t. ground cloves
• 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/3 c. water or milk (I use milk)
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 6 T. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. white sugar
• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• (1/2 c. chocolate chips)
• (1/2 c. raisins and/or 1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans.
   
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flour through baking powder) together.
3. Combine milk or water with vanilla in another bowl.
4. Beat butter until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add sugars and beat on high until lightened in color and texture, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin puree and beat on low speed until just blended.
5. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk mixture in 2 parts, beating on low speed until smooth.
   
6. Fold in desired additions (chocolate chips, raisins, and/or nuts).
7. Scrape batter into pan(s) and bake about 1 hour--until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (baking time is not quite 1 hour for mini pans). Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf or 3 mini loaves

Pinwheel Biscuits

Excuse my lack of cool photography equipment and the resulting picture! These are a delicious little break from an ordinary biscuit. They're similar in process to Cinnamon-Raisin Bread, but much faster since they require no rising time. This recipe is inspired by the 1918 edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, known then as the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook. I don't know why some version of this recipe doesn't appear in the 100th anniversary edition. So I adapted, combined, and invented. These are a touch dry without the glaze we're used to on top of cinnamon rolls. Feel free to whip one up. We like 'em plain, too.

• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
  
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 2 t. baking powder
  
• 2 T. butter
• 2/3 c. or so buttermilk or yogurt
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. raisins/craisins/mixture
• melted butter
  
• zest of one lemon

1. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add lemon zest if using. Cut in butter. Stir in buttermilk or yogurt, adding more if mixture is too dry to roll out.
   
2. Roll dough out on floured board to 1/4- 1/2-inch thickness.
   
3. Spread with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and raisins.
4. Roll up (you may need a dough scraper to help you get it off the board). Cut into 3/4-inch slices. Place on cookie sheet reasonably close together. They'll rise higher if they're touching, fatter if they're more spread out.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
   

Makes about 10

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Just in time for fall to roll around, here's a terrific little pumpkin muffin recipe. They're dairy-free, too, if that's a concern for you. They have a lot of sugar, but I've also found that pumpkin muffins are an easy way to sneak in some whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour.

• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. oil
• 1 3/4 c. pureed pumpkin (1 can)
• 3 c. flour
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 2 t. baking powder
• 2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 2 c. craisins

1. Beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin together thoroughly.
2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to egg mixture. Mix until smooth.
3. Stir in craisins.
4. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full and sprinkle tops with brown sugar.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

~Makes 24 muffins

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread (Food Processor Method)

My kids love to "help" cook; raisin bread provides a terrific opportunity. They can help brush the butter, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar, and spread the raisins out. Sometimes, the recipe gets lost in translation. My daughter just announced that she was making "cimmanon raisin rolls" and need 4 cups of cimmanon and 4 cups of butter...". This bread isn't quite that over the top, but it is tasty and beats anything storebought hands down. There are lots of steps, but they're not hard and this bread is easy to double. If you like your bread sweet, add some extra honey to the bread dough.

Recipe is a combination of recipes from Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition and How to Cook Everything, 10th anniversary edition

If you have a sandwich bread recipe you love, simply make that, and follow the steps below for rolling out the dough and adding the filling. Let rise and bake as directed in your original recipe. If you don't have a food processor, just follow basic bread mixing directions in any basic sandwich loaf recipe. (or follow a bread-machine recipe for the dough and make it that way). Double or triple or quadruple the filling according to how many loaves your recipe makes!

• 3 1/2 c. white flour
• 3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 t. yeast
• 2 t. salt
• 2 T. oil
• 2 T. honey
• ~1 c. room temp water
• 1/2 c. raisins
• water
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 2 T. melted butter

1. Combine flours, salt, yeast in bowl of food processor (use a dough blade if you have one). With machine running, pour in oil and honey. Pour about a cup of water in (while machine is running) and let machine run a few seconds until a nice dough ball is formed. If the dough is slightly sticky, that's fine. If it feels dry, add more water. You'll be adding extra flour when you roll it out, so err on the sticky side.
2. Turn dough into bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise 1-2 hours, until doubled.
3. Start here if you used your own sandwich loaf recipe: Put raisins in a small saucepan and cover with water by 1/2-inch. Bring to a boil, turn off heat, and let stand until cool. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.
   
4. When dough has risen, punch down (if you made extra, divide now into correct number of pieces). Let rest while you drain the raisins. If they're still hot, run some cool water over them. Grease loaf pans and melt butter.
5. Roll dough out into a rectangle the same width as your bread pan (8 inches, 9 inches, etc.). Use enough flour to make it manageable.
6. Brush with melted butter.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.
8. Spread raisins over.
9. Roll up, starting with a short side. You want a fat roll that's as long as your pan.
10. Place gently into pan, seam side down. Press down firmly, but gently, with your hand until bread makes full contact with bottom of pan--especially in the corners. This will help your bread rise more evenly.
11. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until double (may take up to 2 hours).
12. Bake at 350 until done! (top is nicely browned, sounds hollow when tapped--usually close to an hour)
13. Let cool before slicing.

Makes GREAT toast!

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Don't you love it when a recipe tells you that you have to make it ahead of time? This bread is terrific for a coffee break, breakfast, snack time,..... You can use frozen blueberries, but it's also a good go to recipe when you have bought more fresh blueberries than you can use and you don't want another blueberry dessert. Don't skip the lemon zest; lemon and blueberries really complement each other. And, by the way, you really will have trouble slicing it if you try to make it right before eating it. Just plan ahead a little and make it a great Sunday morning breakfast treat!

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, 11th edition

• 3 c. flour (I use half white whole wheat and half white flour)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. lemon zest
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 2/3 c. milk
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
• 3/4 c. chopped nuts, optional

1. Grease bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides of a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
3. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl and add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just until incorporated.
4. Fold in blueberries.
5. Pour batter into loaf pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1 1/4 hours.
7. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely.
8. When cooled completely, wrap bread and store overnight before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf

Lisa's Cinnamon Rolls

Ever since I saw Lisa's cinnamon roll pictures, I've been secretly craving them. Every time I see a recipe for cinnamon rolls, I know they are my baking destiny. The hang up? I always want them for breakfast and don't want to take the time to make them before I'm going to want to eat breakfast (read: I don't want to get up early enough to make them in time for breakfast!). Until now. I called up dear Lisa and discussed the glorious-looking cinnamon roll recipe. As is often the case when two great minds put their heads together, we trouble shot the get-up-early dilemma. Here is the truly wonderful result: make ahead cinnamon rolls. Like all great recipes, this one is the product of testing in home kitchens, tweaking of other people's recipes, and a different spin by Lisa and me. This dough also contains baking powder and baking soda, in addition to the yeast, so it rises more quickly even without the make ahead option. Choose your favorite method and enjoy (I should say that in my scientific testing here, I made one pan the regular way and stuck one pan in the fridge until morning--just to make sure I was testing fairly...of course that was my rationale... my family of five gave the first pan a good rating but the pan that sat in the fridge and was baked the next morning... Oh. my. goodness. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yeastier flavor, gooey-er filling--and they came from the same big rolled up batch of dough. I simply cut half and put in one pan; cut the other half and put in another pan.)

• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 t.)
• 1/3 c. oil
• 1 1/4 c. warm water
• 1 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 3-4 (or more) cups flour
• 1/4-1/2 c. melted butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 T. cinnamon
• Cream Cheese Icing

1. Mix together sugar, yeast, oil, and water. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Add salt, baking powder, baking soda, and egg. Mix well. Mix in flour 1 cup at a time. I use about 3 1/2 cups, adding plenty to the board when I roll the dough out. Lisa uses closer to 4 cups.
3. Let the dough rise 15 minutes.
4. Roll out into a rectangle, 1/4-1/3 inch thick. (Flour your board well! You may need to just use a countertop; this rectangle is pretty big).
5. Spread the rectangle with 1/4-1/2 cup melted butter. I use about 1/4 cup on this step and then drizzle the unbaked, still rising rolls with the rest. Lisa uses all 1/2 cup on this step. Clearly we both love us some butter.
6. Sprinkle the butter-covered dough with the 1/2 cup of sugar and then the cinnamon.
7. Roll up (you can use a dough scraper to help roll it up if necessary).
8. Cut into 1 1/2-inch to 2-inch thick rounds (depends on how big you want your rolls). Dental floss makes and ideal "cutter"--simply slide a strand under the roll at the place you want to cut, pull the opposing ends across each other through the dough, and voila: a nicely cut little roll. Place in buttered baking dishes (1 9x13-inch pan, 2 8x8-inch pans, or 2 cake pans). Drizzle with the extra melted butter if you'd like.
9. Let rise in preheated 170-degree oven (turn oven off before putting rolls in) for 20 minutes. OR, cover tightly with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.
10. Bake 15 minutes in a preheated 425-degree oven (obviously you'll have to pull the rising rolls out while you preheat the oven). Let the refrigerated rolls come to room temperature and/or place them in a warm oven to rise a bit before baking.
11. Spread with cream cheese icing while rolls are hot out of the oven.
12. Eat!

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• milk (a few tablespoons)

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. While beating, pour in a couple of tablespoons of milk. Add more if needed to get a good spreading consistency (the icing will melt a touch on the hot rolls, but you do want it a little thinner than your usual cream cheese frosting).

This made about 16 rolls for me--pretty good sized, but not Cinnabon ginormous rolls.

Another make-ahead tip that I think should work great: underbake the rolls slightly, cool, and freeze. The day you want to eat them, bake thawed rolls another 5 minutes or so at 425 degrees and top with cream cheese icing.