Cinnamon Rolls

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls are so good, and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that. I ran across a blog the other day that claims to have a recipe for cinnamon rolls that are better than Pillsbury so I'm gonna have to make them some time. Problem is, No one in my family has ever been good at bread baking so we always only buy store bought bread stuff, but I'm totally OK with it because I like Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls much better than any Homemade cinnamon roll Ive ever tried. And when it comes to homemade bread recipes, The only Homemade "Rolls" Ive ever absolutely died over are my moms friend Helen's rolls that she always made at thanksgiving. Ill share the recipe if I'm ever able to get ahold of it. But Until then, Pillsbury Great Harvest and Rhodes will have to work(:

Provo Bakery

So as you know I love cookies and Bakeries and I love the big sugar cookies from sweet tooth fairy, but then I came across this blog the other day that asked which Utah bakery has the best sugar cookies, and no one said sweet tooth fairy, everyone said Provo Bakery. So I figured I had to drive down to Provo Bakery and see for myself, and I would have to agree, they're the best I've ever tried. My mom and my son Caleb and his little friend Britton would have to agree as well. I gave Caleb and his friend the Smiley face sugar cookie as well as a big red letter U cookie (for University of Utah) and then I kept the 2 helmet university cookies for my mom and myself(: They're not as thick as Sweet Tooth Fairy Sugar cookies. They re still just as soft, they have a more precise shape and I think they taste a little more short-bready. And they use a fondant icing that's really really good. I thought that the only kind of sugar cookie they would have was the smile sugar cookie, because that's all that the blog had mentioned, however they re are several different sugar cookies, all about the same size, and definitely the same recipe, and then there are tons of other different kinds of pastries (crumb bars, donuts, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, etc...) The store itself is kinda small and dumpy looking from the outside (which is probably why I've never cared to go in before,) but inside its a whole different bakery. Surprisingly its really crowded and there were like 4 workers behind the counter and the line was super long, so obviously it does well. (Lesson learned: Can't judge a book by its cover, LOL)

Recipes to try

CLICK ON picture BELOW FOR A LIST OF FABULOUS BLOGGER RECIPES

Pigs In a Blanket

I'm going to apologize early for this post. I don't have a photographer for my food pictures so my pitures always look ghetto especially this picture. Anyway, regardless of the ghetto picture, Pigs in a Blanket is one of my favorite-quick meal time recipes. Caleb likes it too so! Just about everyone's already heard of it, but I'll share the recipe anyway just in case, especially because I make it w/ a couple modifications.

Pigs In a Blanket

6 oscar mayer cheese dogs

Pillsbury Butter Flake Crescent Rolls

Provolone Cheese Slices, each cut into strips

Heat oven to 360°F. Slit hot dogs to within 1/2 inch of ends; insert 3 strips of cheese into each slit.

Separate dough into 6 rectangles. Wrap dough rectangle around each hot dog. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, cheese side up.

Bake at 360°F for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

IHOP French Toast

So I went to Great Harvest Bread Today and bought a loaf of white bread. I NEVER eat bread unless its from Great Harvest. They make bread exactly the way I like it: Thick and chewy. And then tonight I noticed a carton of fresh whipping cream in the fridge. And I started thinking back about the IHOP french toast recipe off of thesisterscafe.com that Iv'e been wanting to try forever, so I knew I had to make it right then, and I'm so glad I did! The results were more than perect. And I'm not sure if it is because this is such an amazing recipe or if its just because great harvest bread makes awesome french toast, but whatever the reason, it really was the BEST french toast EVER. So I'll for sure be making this one on the regular.

IHOP FRENCH TOAST

(original recipe: thesisterscafe.com)

(my modifications are printed in red, and of course they're just optional)

2 eggs (I used 1 whole egg + 2 yolks)

1/2 cup whole milk (i used 1/4 C vanilla almond milk + 1/4 C cream)

1/8 t salt

1 t vanilla

3 or 4 Tablespoons Flour 

4 slices Great Harvest white bread

Whisk ingredients together in med size bowl. Dip bread front and back allowing each side to soak a couple min. Fry bread in butter in nonstick skillet over med heat till lightly golden on each side. Sprinkle w/ powdered sugar. Top with Coconut syrup and whipping cream or whatever other toppings you'd like.

Topping Ideas:

buttermilk syrup, strawberry syrup, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, butter, whipping cream, bananas

((tonight I got carried away and used all of the above(: except for the bananas))

Oreo Pudding Cookies

These are so good! I don't think I can ever eat regular chocolate chip cookies again after trying these):

Oreo Pudding Cookies

(recipe adapted from thegirlwhoateeverything)

1 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 small package instant Oreo Pudding mix

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups Hershey's cookies&creme drops

1 1/2 cups mini m&ms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour and soda in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in pudding mix until blended, then eggs and vanilla. Add flour and soda mixture. Stir in cookies n cream drops and m&m's. Using a cookie dough scooper, place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container. Makes two dozen.

The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe

Tonight I also stopped at The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe. Their cupcakes are way better than sweet tooth fairy's cupcakes. Actually ALL of the cupcakes at cocoa Bean are better than sweet tooth fairy cupcakes especially their Ultimate Brownie cupcakes (which they only have on Mon, Wed, and Fri.) The Ultimate Brownie ones are hands down the best, that's why I bought 2 and nothing else. They don't sell cookies and other treats at Cocoa Bean, just cupcakes, so I guess that's their only draw back. But they do sell keychains. The purple one in the picture above is cocoa bean, and the pink one is sweet tooth fairy