Ooey, Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Who doesn't love cinnamon rolls? So warm and gooey and fantastic. There's nothing better than lounging around in some warm pjs, watching a movie, sipping peppermint mocha coffee, and enjoying a warm, homemade cinnamon roll.

Notice to delightful light switch in the background. Unfortunately that part of the counter was the only clean portion I had left after my jaunt in the kitchen (such is my style of baking), and eating my creation took precedence over cleaning up for the picture.

Cinnabon Style Cinnamon Rolls

Dough
1 cup milk (110degrees)
2 1/2 tsp bread machine/active yeast (1 envelope)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup melted (and colled) butter
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups AP flour, sifted

Filling
1/3 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

Frosting
1 4 oz. pkg cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

If you overheat your milk, it's important that you wait for it to reach 110 degrees again, before moving on. Hotter can kill the yeast, cooler, and it won't activate. So, now that we have that out of the way, moving on! With a handheld or stand mixer, combine the yeast and warmed milk. Add the sugar, melted butter, eggs, and salt. Slowly add the flour, and mix until combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes-this is my favorite part, becoming one with the dough! Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and keep in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. It's so cold here right now, I had to turn the heater on in my room, and keep the dough in there-it took my eggs an hour and a half to get to room temperature in the kitchen!
After the dough has doubled in size, on a floured surface, roll it out into a large rectangle (the original recipe suggests 16"x21"). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the margarine onto the dough. I suggest using tub margarine for this part, although you can use melted butter if you prefer. I simply like removing the step of melting, and waiting for it to cool, and I find the margarine much less messy, and it spreads without spilling, as melted butter would. Next, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle onto the butter. Pat the cinnamon sugar in-this makes the rolling less messy, and incorporates it into the dough better so it's gooey and fantastic!

Roll the dough, and cut into 12 pieces. Arrange them 3x4 in a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. While the rolls are baking, combine the frosting ingredients, and spread on the warm rolls. Then sit somewhere cozy, cover your legs with a blanket, and enjoy!

(I understand that it is only the end of August, and anyone in Phoenix is really their eyes at the possibility of covering up with a blanket for the next two months, but I'm lucky enough to be able to enjoy that already up here!)

And more on the cake stand in the future!

S'mores Cupcakes

Taking such a long break in the beginning is not the best way to start a blog. But having a friend in from out of town, and still working everyday, sort of took it all out of me. But I'm back, and ready to go at it again!

So for my second start, here's s'mores cupcakes! Little did I know that it was National S'mores Day when I made these. But it definitely let me celebrate!

They're especially s'mores-like with the graham cracker crust and the melted chocolate chips under the cake.

The recipe (found here) is from Trophy cupcakes, which is a cupcake shop up here in Seattle. I recently stopped by one while I was downtown, and it's so adorable! Like a cute, friendly version of Sprinkles. I had a Samoa cupcake, which wasn't mindblowing, but it was fresh and clearly not mass produced, and yummy. :)

Garage Sale Goodies!

I went garage sale-ing Saturday morning. It was so fun! I've never done it before, besides occasionally hitting up a neighbors sale and buying a book. But this morning I went to the Mother of All Garage Sales. No really, that's what it's called...Told you! It was crazy. Tons of houses in the area (118, to be exact) participated. There were rest stops, refreshments, I even bought a tamale and an elote (Mexican street corn) cooked fresh just minutes before that in someones front yard! Here's the map I got of the sales going on.

And my $2 lunch!

It was super fun. I just parked and walked up and down neighborhoods looking at all the cool things people had. Two houses in particular had the most incredible vintage stuff. If only I'd had the $375 for one of the cabinets. And, I found a trunk exactly like I've been looking for for 4 years now for $100. But I only allowed myself $40, and ended up walking away for only $20. So now, onto the goods!

Everything in this picture was $6.50. Of course, I have to have the obligatory Christmas decoration. I especially love the jar with the flat edges and the hexagon stopper, and the tall candle holder in the background. I have a plan for both those, so we'll hopefully see them again in the future!

Here's a picture of all desert plates.

I'm most excited by the four pack of Wilton heart shaped pans. I got the all for only $1! It sort of felt like highway robbery, I walked quickly to my car and put them away before I kept shopping.

The Tullamore Dew crock is the most unique (and at $5, the most expensive) thing I got. It's a Christmas gift for my dad, who uses Tullamore Dew exclusively in his "famous" Irish coffees. Mmmm, that sounds great right about now...

And finally, a couple items I got for half off at the Goodwill last week. I'm excited to give these all a makeover. Hope they turn out!

I also bought a few other items at Michaels, Goodwill, and Value Village the last few days. I'm excited to get working on them and see what happens with them. I'm sure there will be some fails to share as well, but the trying is what excites me! Be sure to keep an eye out for some of these items in the future!

Getting crafty again!

I've been recently lamenting my inability to do anything crafty, having left all my supplies boxed up in Phoenix. So I started scouring the internet for anything I could do quickly, easily, and with few supplies just to get my creative juices flowing. So...I made tutu's!!

They're so easy, and incredibly adorable in the end. I'm super happy with them! They're so precious, and you can make your own, on the cheap, and with very little time, in a few easy steps.


So, step 1. Get your supplies ready! For these tutus you'll need:
          1. Two rolls of tulle, any color
          2. 1 in. elastic
          3. Scissors
          4. Tape measure
          5. Sewing machine, or good ol' fashioned needle and thread

Step 2. Cut your elastic two inches smaller than the waist measurement, and sew the ends together. Let it be noted-you can leave it unsewed while you tie the tulle on, but if you sew it first, you can tie them, and move them around without having to worry about them falling off.

Step 3. Cut the tulle into 20 inch strips. You'll likely use 2/3 of the roll of more, so you can cut it all if you don't mind having extras.

Step 4. When using two colors of tulle, you pattern it in a color 1-2-1, 2-1-2, repeat, pattern. So for instance, in my first tutu, I laid out white, black, white and folded them in half lengthwise, or hot dog style. ;)

Fold it in half again widthwise, bringing the two ends together, and making a loop at the top. Next place the folded tulle behind the elastic, and bring the two loose ends through the loop, securing it to the waistband.

Then I repeated with white-black-white, and so on, until the tutu was completed. It's literally as simple as that. The key is to remember which was you wrap the tulle the first time, and tie them all the same from there on out!

The colors and embellishment opportunities are endless! Also, make sure you flip it over and seperate the layers of tulle to make it fluffy and fabulous-it gives them more of an ethereal fairy look.

After I finished my first tutu, and moved on the the next, I decided to scrap the black and white tutu completely (which explains all the different pictures!) and added tons of hot pink. I love it! If I had the little girls these were made for nearby, I'd have made them my models, but instead I had to make due with a giant Christmas dog. He was very obliging.