Pie Crust Cinnamon Roll

I love pie crust as evidenced here and here. I also love cinnamon rolls. So, naturally, I wanted to try and combine the two into a giant pie crust cinnamon roll. Flaky, buttery, cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, no kneading, easy peasy. I love when experiments work out so well! You could cut this up and split it with a few lucky friends, or you could do what I did and tear off a piece, slowly unrolling it over a period of a few days and enjoy all that cinnamony buttery goodness yourself! I guess when it comes to pie crust cinnamon rolls I'm a bit stingy... sorry friends!

Pie Crust Cinnamon Roll

Inspired by this recipe

Ingredients

1 recipe your favorite pie crust (enough for a single crust, nine-inch pie)

Filling:

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

More brown sugar for sprinkling (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a pie pan, mix three tablespoons melted butter and four tablespoons brown sugar. Set aside.

Roll out pie crust. Spread with 3/4 cup butter, sprinkle on sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. Cut into even strips.

Now, take one strip and start rolling it up, set roll on the next strip, pinch dough together at seam, and keep rolling, continue with the other strips of dough until the roll gets too big to roll.

Transfer roll to pie pan, continue adding on strips of dough by rolling them around the already formed roll. Finally, you will have one big cinnamon roll.

Sprinkle with more brown sugar (optional, depends how sugary you want it!) Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light brown (very light brown).

Remove from oven, let sit for about five minutes.

Flip over onto a plate or serving tray. Yum.

Afreakingmazing

I will be linking up at these parties.. Tasty Tuesdays, Rook #17, Trendy Treehouse and Sugar and Dots, this week, check them out!

Magazine/Cookbook Monday: Creamy Hot Chocolate Muffins

Ok this may just be the funnest muffin idea I have come across in awhile! Its a muffin, in a mug! You could use pretty much any muffin batter, but i particularly like the Marbled Chocolate Muffin recipe from 1 Mix, 100 Muffins for this. It tastes like creamy hot chocolate in muffin form. I have also used the muffin in a mug idea with banana nut muffins to great results. The good thing about muffin batter is that you can stick it in a plastic Ziploc bag and store it in your fridge for up to four days. I like to keep the batter in my fridge and before I hop in the shower in the morning. I fill a mug with batter, pop it in the oven, and by the time I have dressed, done my makeup and found my keys, my muffin is hot and ready to go. Grab a spoon, run out the door, enjoy your home baked, completely portable, mug full of muffin!

Marbled Chocolate Muffins aka Creamy Hot Chocolate Muffins

Adapted from 1 Mix 100 Muffins by Susanna Tee (this is a GREAT cookbook for you muffin lovers!)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

Heaping 1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons melted, cooled butter OR sunflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease mug(s). Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Sift in sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat together two eggs (I use a fork). Beat in milk, butter or oil, and vanilla extract.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients stirring until just moistened. Beware of overstirring!

Divide batter into two bowls. Add unsweetened cocoa to one of the bowls of batter and stir in. Fill mug by alternating spoonfuls of chocolate dough and white dough.

Fill to 3/4 of the way full. These rise, alot! I like my muffins to be super tall so I fill mine fuller than recommended ☺. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until tops are light, light brown and spring back when touched.

Grab a spoon and enjoy your heaping mug full of creamy, dreamy, hot chocolate muffin!

I made a few regular muffins too...

So pretty!

Whisked Away Wednesday: Cinnabon Apple Goodies

Happy Fourth Official Whisked Away Wednesday!

As I have said before, I love a good bargain, so when I got two coupons in the mail for Kellogg's new Cinnabon cereal, I added it to my grocery list to try. Each coupon was for $1.00 off so combined that was a 2 dollar savings! And, to top it off, when I got to the store, they had a coupon to double the manufacturer's coupon. Altogether it was a 3 dollar savings and the cereal only costs $2.50 so the store credited me 50 cents on my other grocery purchases! I basically got paid for buying the cereal. Which is AWESOME! The cereal itself is pretty good... not amazing... kinda tastes like cinnamon toast crunch. I still prefer my home made granola. However, the cereal sparked my creativity and I spent much of my day today dreaming up ways to incorporate it in a delicious baked goodie...

I recently purchased a baking tray that you can use to make baked (i.e. healthier) doughnuts and I figured this was as good a time as any to try it out. I found a good lookin recipe on Everybody Likes Sandwiches for an apple cinnamon coffee cake with strudel topping and decided to modify it a bit to incorporate the cereal. I also made some mini muffins in case the doughnuts didn't turn out so well. I needn't have feared, they are SUPER tasty!! The strudel topping is crispy, cinnamony and buttery and the doughnuts/muffins are beautiful and golden and super moist with big chunks of apple and warm cinnamon notes. I would recommend you make these ASAP! You can get one of the doughnut trays at Sur la Table or just use the recipe to make mini muffins they are both equally delectable!

Happy Baking!

Cinnabon Apple Doughnuts and/or Muffins

Recipe adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 apple, chopped

3 tbsp crushed Cinnabon Cereal

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup crushed (with chunks) Cinnabon Cereal

Preheat oven to 400. Butter doughnut pan or muffin pan (or use muffin liners).

Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil.

Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. If using muffin tins fill about 3/4 of the way full. If using doughnut pan fill about 3/4 full as well.

Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake for about 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool. Enjoy!

Bacon flavored envelopes and pickle pops...

Its Friday, a day that seems to stretch on forever for me because I am counting the hours until the weekend finally arrives. I thought I would share a very entertaining website that is sure to make time move at least a little faster toward the glorious freedom that is Saturday.... When I recently stumbled across onemoregadget.com, I ended up spending a good hour going through their posts on all kinds of remarkable gadgets that I had no idea even existed. Let me just say, this is my new favorite time-waster (as if I need another one). Anyhow, love, love, love this website! Some of the strangest items I encountered there were envelopes that taste like bacon (I have to admit... i'm intrigued), a doggie high chair (really?), pickle flavored ice sickles... and this which I actually think I am going to invest in...

http://www.perpetualkid.com/wire-blooms-cable-clips.aspx

I have wires going from my TV that are particularly hideous... Hindsight is 20/20, don't go with Dish Network, they run a cable from the dish on your back patio through to your tv. Which for me means right through my kitchen! But these cute little clips may be the solution I have been looking for! Genius!! Enjoy the website and let me know if you find something amazing!

Liz