Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

My sister's birthday was a couple weeks ago, and she picked lemon poppyseed pancakes for her birthday breakfast. We first had lemon poppyseed pancakes at Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin and loved them - if you're ever in Austin, I highly recommend stopping there! We decided to start with this recipe for Allrecipes.com, which we modified some. They were really good - if you like citrus, this is definitely a pancake recipe to try.

Ingredients:

• Pancakes
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 4 tsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• cooking spray
• Lemon Glaze
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tbsp butter
• juice from 2 lemons
• zest from 2 lemons

Yield: 4 servings

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon zest until well combined.

Stir the milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together and let stand for 10 minutes.

Whisk in the eggs, butter, and vanilla extract.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture.

Whisk a few times until the batter is mostly free of lumps.

Set the griddle to medium heat (or heat a skillet over medium heat) and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle (or into the skillet) and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes.

Flip the pancakes over with a spatula and brown the other side, about 2 more minutes.

They should be light and fluffy.

To make the glaze, melt the butter and then add the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Stir together over low heat until the glaze thickens.

Top the pancakes with the glaze and enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

I'm back with a recipe for another tasty dessert - strawberry shortcake! I used the recipe from The American Woman's Cook Book to make this.

Ingredients

• Biscuits
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• Butter
• 3 cups sliced strawberries
• Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Yield: 4 servings

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening with a knife or pastry blender.

Gradually add milk gradually to make a soft dough.

Turn out on lightly floured board and knead just enough to shape into smooth ball.

Roll or pat lightly 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured biscuit cutter into fourths and shape into large biscuits.

Brush tops with butter and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 450ºF for 15 minutes.

Split hot biscuits. Butter generously.

Put together again with filling of strawberries.

Make the whipped cream by beating the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (about 1 minute).

Top with whipped cream and more fruit. Then enjoy!

Mango Mussolini Cocktail Recipe

Today I'm sharing the recipe for a cocktail I created - the Mango Mussolini, named after a certain short-fingered, badly-coiffed international pariah. You either laugh or you cry about politics and I prefer to laugh, with a cocktail in hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz gin
• 2 oz mango puree
• 2 oz lemon juice
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 1 cup crushed ice

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Serve in a tiki mug or glass of your choice, and turn on CNN to check out the latest in Russian collusion and alternative facts.

Cinnamon Rolls

Hi everyone! I've been so bad about posting, but I'm trying to get back into it. Today I'm sharing the recipe for cinnamon rolls - I made these for Father's Day and they are so good!  

I used the recipe from  the KitchenAid Stand Mixer manual. These take a while to make, so if you're planning on having them for breakfast, I recommend making them the night before.

Ingredients:

• Sweet dough
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 eggs
• 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Yield: 24 rolls

To begin, you need to make the sweet dough. Place the milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixer bowl.

Add lukewarm milk mixture, eggs, and 5 cups flour. Attach the dough hook to your mixer and mix for about 2 minutes on low speed.

Continuing on low speed, add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix about 2 minutes, or until the dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Continue to mix on low speed for 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let dough rise for about 1 hour, or until it doubles in bulk.

Now you're ready to move on to the filling.

Place brown sugar,, sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon and pecans in a mixer bowl.  Mix with a flat beater on low speed for about 1 minute.

Punch down the dough and roll it into a 10x24 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface.

Spread sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly on dough.

Roll dough tightly from the long side to form a 24-inch roll, pinching the seams together.

Cut into 24 slices, 1-inch each.

Place rolls in an 11x15x2 baking pan and cover. Let rise for 45-60 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes.

 Remove from pans immediately and serve. Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Heath Bar Pie

I made this dark chocolate Heath Bar pie for my mom for Mother's Day - it was so good.  It's very easy to make and tastes delicious! I got the recipe for the graham cracker crust from Betty Crocker's Cookbook and I followed the instructions on the pudding package to make the pie.

Ingredients

• Graham Cracker Crust
• 12 full chocolate graham cracker sheets, crumbled
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• Pie Filling
• 2 packages Hershey's Special Dark chocolate pudding
• 3 cups cold milk
• 1 package of miniature Heath bars
• Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Makes 1 10-inch pie.

To make the graham cracker crust, mix the crumbs, sugar, and butter.

Press the mixture firmly and evenly against the bottom and sides of the pie pan. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes.

To make the pie filling, add 2 packages of the pudding mix to 3 cups cold milk. Beat with an electric mixer at low speed for 1 minute. Pour immediately into the baked crumb crust.

Chop miniature Heath bars into small pieces (I think I used about 25 of the candies).

Top the pie with the chopped candies and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

When you're ready to serve the pie, make the whipped cream by beating the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (about 1 minute).

Top the pie with whipped cream and serve!