Monkey Bread

Another easy lovely recipe from Saveur magazine - this one is a lovely recipe for you to do with the kids. Not much can go wrong and the kids will have a lovely time. This is one of those recipes where you know if you put in all this delicious decadent stuff, nothing can go wrong, and if something does, it tastes great anyway!

Cinnamon Monkey Bread

(original recipe here)

3-3 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Butter, softened plus more for greasing
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk
1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Salt

Heat 2 tbsp of butter with milk and 1/3 cup water on medium heat until warm. Transfer to a bowl of a stand mixer with a hook attachment. Add 1/4 cup sugar, and the yeast and stir to combine. Allow to activate the yeast and foam, about 10 minutes.

Turn the mixer onto a medium speed and add the flour and salt. Beat until all combined and the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow to rise until double in size.

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and flour a 10" bundt pan.

Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside. Melt the remaining butter in a pan, add and combine the brown sugar and set aside.

Pinch small rounds from the risen dough (about the size of small cherry tomatoes). Toss the small balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture (the kids will enjoy this part!) and fit snugly into the prepared bundt pan. Pour the butter-brown sugar mixture slowly and evenly all over the dough, allowing it time to get into the nooks and crannies.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve warm. (with vanilla ice cream or a caramel ice cream). :)

Snickerdoodle

My daughter's current favorite book is "If you give a mouse a cookie..." by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond. It tells of all the unbelievable things that can happen if you give a mouse a cookie. And included in the book are the most delicious, kid-friendly recipes.

So my daughter and my niece spent the afternoon making these jumbo snickerdoodles, and they were scrumptious. I say were, because they were gone in about 20 minutes!


Snickerdoodles
(original recipe from Mouse Cookies & More)

I made changes to the original and I've italicized the changes

1 2/3 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg (I left this out)
1/2 cup softened Butter (I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup Sugar (I substituted brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
1/2 cup Raisins
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 cup Sugar (I ended up using only 1 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a bowl, mash butter and sugar together until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture, and stir until well combined. Stir in walnuts and raisins.

Mix cinnamon and sugar on a plate. Roll pieces of the dough into one-inch balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.


To know what my fellow marathoners are up to, visit their blogs:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Having Fun With Whole Wheat Pasta

It's so much fun to make pasta and the flavor is so much better than store-bought plus you can control what goes into it.

This time my daughter wanted to help me. I used 100% whole wheat and made the dough, adding a little olive oil (2 tablespoons of oil for 1 cup of whole wheat flour), since whole wheat has a tendency to be dry. We also added about a tablespoon of dried basil into the dough.


My daughter helped rolling it out, and then we cut up the pasta into her favorite shapes using Play-Doh cutters (nope, I don't have cookie cutters at home - but you can use whatever you have on hand). We made moons and bears and butterflies...


Just drop into heavily salted, boiling water and cook till done (about 5-7 minutes). Drain and toss with your favorite pasta sauce or just cheese, butter and herbs. It was an easy and delicious dinner.

French Toast

My daughter's favorite. I'm not a huge fan of dessert for breakfast, so usually make mine without the sugar...



French Toast

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 Tbsp sugar
6 slices bread (crusts off)
2 Tbsp butter

Lightly beat eggs. Whisk in milk and sugar.
Melt 1/2 the butter in a pan.
Add a slice of bread to the egg mixture. Turn the bread and allow to become saturated.
Place in the pan and brown on both sides.
Repeat with the remaining bread.
Drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!






This is my entry for the Food for Plastic Challenge III, hosted by What's Cooking?. Tupperware has named April "Children's Month" and will be donating part of their proceeds to Boys' and Girls' Clubs.