What's Cookin' Wednesday- Homemade Candy Bars

I originally found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. I adapted it and changed it a little, but with this one I have ventured too far away from the original. It is always a hit when I make it, and only recently have I even tried any of it. I will go ahead and apologize for the lack of pictures this week. They are usually headed out the door shortly after I get them finished. The article I read about them in claims that they are similar to Kit Kat Bars, which is why I made them in the first place.  I would argue that they are perhaps similar, but Kit Kat, they are not, as that is my favorite, by far.

Homemade Candy Bars

• 8 ounces Waverly crackers, divided
• 1 cup butter, cut up
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Method

Start by lining the bottom of your pan with crackers. I have tried putting melting chocolate and covering the bottom first, but I didn't hear any results from that time, so I usually don't, besides that just uses more anyway.

Next, melt the butter, I usually use unsalted, but I like unsalted, much better than regular butter for pretty much any type of cooking anyway. However, I am sure that regular salted butter would be just fine, it would just increase the sodium. After the butter is melted suffiecietnly, add the milk and sugars, I find it is easiest to add the graham crackers crumbs last. Stir until the mixture is sufficiently combined. 

Cover the first layer of crackers with roughly half the mix, repeat and then top it all off with final layer of club crackers.

In another pot, or even double boiler, melt your chocolate chips and butterscotch together and add your peanut butter, the smoother your peanut butter brand is, the better this will turn out. 

After everything is melted, pour it over the top layer of crackers and then let that cool a touch on your counter and then place in your fridge for at least an hour for it to set up well. I usually don't have the hour, so I usually just place it in the freezer, room permitting and that seems to work just fine. However,  I wouldn't recommend freezing it.

This is always a hit, the only thing I would like to change is the crackers, I would much rather find a recipe for a wafer, that would be closer to the kit kat wafter. I have considered using those sugar wafers, but I haven't had the chance yet.

What's Cookin' Wednesday- Banana Pudding

So, here we are the middle of October and the first Wednesday recipe post in quite some time. I have been cooking, well some, but not a whole lot. We have just been busy, even more busy since school started and since the baby is taking less naps and sleeping less during the day, I have much less free time than I did. Anyway, I made this Banana Pudding this past summer for a family. I don't like the recipe that comes on the box of vanilla wafers, just don't like the cooked taste, and besides I surely didn't want to heat up the oven, therefore the house in the middle of the summer.
Super, Super Good Banana Pudding
Ingredients

• 1 package cream cheese
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 cups cold milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 4 bananas, sliced
• 1/2 package vanilla wafers

Method

Yes I know, cream cheese? But ah, it makes the pudding. On to the method. First you simply mix the cream cheese until it is fluffy, to get some air in it, I would recommend a hand mixer, but you can easily accomplish this by hand. On a sad note, we lost old mixey, our stand mixer this past summer, I was trying to get some batter off the side of the bowl and the spatula I was using got caught up in the tines. Instead of breaking the spatula, but the mixer head tore all apart, oh well, I have an second hand kitchen aid that has one setting.....super high, and it throws stuff all over the kitchen, so I make do with our hand mixer as much as I can.

Next, add in the condensed milk, I sent the spouse to get the ingredients and she came back with evaporated milk, which worked fine, I haven't any idea what the difference is anyway. Then add the pudding mix, regular milk and vanilla and continue to beat until all your ingredients are mixed well. Finally fold in about half of your cool whip, because seriously, why would you bother with any other whipping topping?

Then spread out your vanilla wafers, banana slices and then cover with your mixture. Or, as I like it just mix it all together, not as pretty, but oh so good.

Serve whenever....I like banana pudding better the second day, but this tastes pretty good they day you make it.

Oh and of course cover your pudding with the rest of your cool whip, shew, bout to leave out an all important step.

Sorry my pictures aren't better, but then I have never professed to be a food photog;-)

What's Cookin Wednesdays- Tea Anyone?

In honor of the tax day tea parties that are going on all across our country today I decided I would make tea the subject of today's post. I typically drink tea in the afternoon, right after Little M lays down for the afternoon siesta. Occasionally I will swap a cup of tea for my morning cup of joe, just depends on how lazy I am in the morning, because it is bit easier to just use some of the water Tip has already heated and just make some tea, as opposed to making coffee. Tea reportedly also has numerous health benefits, none of which I heavily buy into, I think yes it might help some, but I skeptical of what some of the "experts" studies about it. I drink it because I like it.
      As previously alluded to, I like to drink tea while it is still hot, in a coffee cup, however as we all know tea is extremely popular, sweetened and cooled, especially here in the south.  In my opinion the best type of sweet tea is sun tea. Where you let the sun steep your tea and then you bring it in and mix it as usual. However, I have read that this approach also lends itself to some pretty nasty bacteria reproduction in your drink of choice, so you have to be careful when making sun tea, and they say if you see strands floating around in your tea, then you shouldn't drink it, me, I think that would just be common sense, but Mcdonalds does have to put warnings on the coffee, warning the consumer that the contents are hot, go figure. Alot of people also like a bit of honey in their tea and milk is also very popular. I have never been fond of putting either in mine. I consider it to be a lot like putting sugar and cream in your coffee. My mom always says that if she wants coffee, then she is going to drink coffee, not that I think all 'coffee' drinks are bad, I used to commonly enjoy those machiattos(spelling?) from starbuckles.
       There are several different types of tea, black, green, red, white and herbal, which really isn't tea, because it is not usually made up of tea leaves, but of other various plant particulate. Black tea is what we typically drink, and is what is commonly used to make the southern treat sweet tea, but the experts tell you that the greater health benefits come from green and white tea. I don't care for the green variety, I think it tastes a bit cabbaggy, if you will.  However, while I am typing this blog, I am enjoying a cup of white tea. One downside is the catechins in tea stain your pearly whites quite effectively according to Food Detectives, and of course drinking more fluids means more pit stops!
     Just a quick note about the tea parties today.  We certainly are blessed to live in a country where like-minded folks can peacefully take a stand to show their opposition to out of control government spending. Long live liberty!

What's Cookin' Wednesday- Southern Scramble

Sigh......sorry I missed posting last week. I just got too busy and didn't manage to get a post up last Wednesday. Today I am posting the recipe I would have posted last week. I had planned to do breakfast recipes this month, and I still will, I hope to make up last week's post some other time this month, perhaps next week.
This is what I eat for breakfast, when I am not overly lazy and just pour up a bowl of cereal. I don't particularly like eggs, scrambled is about the only way that I will fix them, and I try to put alot of other things in with the eggs, so I can hardly taste them in the end.
I remember making this when we lived with Tiff's parents and getting some strange looks from my mother in law, but hey don't knock it till you try it. I think it is pretty good and the chips gives me that crunch that plain old scrambled eggs just doesn't have.


Southern Scramble
2 Eggs
Seasoning- I use Tony Cachere's, the container says that it is great on everything, and the container is not wrong
Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Salsa
Shredded Cheese- I typically use Colby Jack, however, I have used Mozzarella or cheddar with great results
Tortilla Chips- I prefer Santitos, no trans fats and I haven't gotten around to making my own yet

Method
I like to have my eggs sitting out for about thirty minutes or so. This allows them to expand just a little, and I think it gives you a fluffier scrambled egg, I read this in a cookbook regarding another recipe so I can't take credit for it.
Next scramble your eggs, I like to use a little olive oil, like Rachel Ray with that stuff I guess, I don't call EVOO though, that annoys me. After your eggs are cooked, go ahead and add your seasoning and sprinkle your cheese on top then throw it in the microwave, or cover it, to let the cheese melt a tad.
Finally top with your chips and salsa and enjoy.
I do sometimes add a little cinnamon, but that is strictly for diabetic reasons, I don't think it really effects the taste either way, but cinnamon does obviously help blood sugar levels.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays- Crescent rolls

Today's recipe was one of the first bread recipes that I tried. Unfortunately no pictures today, because I haven't made them lately, or since I started What's Cookin' segments. Anyway, the recipe is really easy and the taste tons better than the canned numbers.
Crescent rolls
2 Pkgs of Yeast- .oz pkgs
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 shortening
4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 butter
Method
Dissolve yeast in water and proof for about ten minutes. Stir in sugar and salt. Cut in the butter and shortening and slowly add in the flour. Knead until smooth then let rise for about an hour, or until doubled. Then divide and roll out your small rectangles. Roll them up and let them rise again on your pan or stone. Finally bake for about ten minutes at 400 degrees.
These are great by themselves or my favorite pigs in blankets. Sorry again no pictures, but come on we all know what crescent rolls look like;-)

What's Cookin' Wednesdays-Banana Bread

Ok, so before I made this for Special Breakfast Fridays I spent some time perusing our recipe books and looking in other places for a good recipe and found one I liked only to remember this recipe when I was about halfway done.  Silly me, I will have to try Mrs. Ellen's recipe next time I make this wonderful treat.
We don't usually buy a lot of bananas because they don't get eaten that fast in our house, I don't eat them much anymore and Tiff hardly ever eats them. So we have stopped buying them, because they just went bad sitting out on the counter, had I known that banana bread was this easy, I wouldn't have thrown those away. Oh well, waste and learn. This recipe turned out well, we all three liked it, I would have preferred some pecans in it, but I had exhausted our supply from this past fall.

Banana Bread
3 to 4 ripe bananas
1/3 Cup Salted Melted Butter
3/4 to 1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg lightly beaten
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp Baking Soda
Pinch O' Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
Pinch O' Cloves
1 1/2 Cup Flour

Method
This is fall off the wall easy to make. You first have to mush up your bananas. When they say ripe, they mean extra ripe, like brown, gross, wouldn't even want to think about eating them ripe, not black mind you. Nor would you want the banana itself all brown and gross looking, however I have worked with folks that eat them like that, ick, I just don't get understand and me, I hate wasting food, but there are limits indeed.
After you have those mashed up, not pureed like baby food, you do need it a bit on the chunky side, set your bananas aside and melt that butter. The next time I make it, I might try using unsalted butter, which I like to cook with far better and perhaps increase the amount of salt in the final mix, but for this go round I used good old Country Crock.
After the butter is melted you, set it aside and let it cool down just a bit and go ahead and mix all your dry ingredient together. Once that is done and after your butter is no longer super hot mix all the wet ingredients together, including your bananas. Now wrestle the dog's food bowl away from the baby. Oh wait, you might not have to complete that step, depending on your child and well dog status, but I typically have to, either the food bowl or fish her out of his water bowl, unless I have had the foresight to pick both up off the floor.
Finally mix everything together and if you like go ahead and fold in some pecans or walnuts or whatever you like, I have even seen it made with raisins, but the wife doesn't like raisins very much, so I leave those out of most everything that I make for her.
Then put your batter in a loaf pan, we happen to have a silicone pan, I wouldn't recommend them, not fond of mine, but since they are what I have right now, they are what I use and I am grateful for them. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or of course until brown, I think I baked mine a little long, because the loaf had pulled away from the side of the pan, but the bread was still really moist and delicious!

What's Cooking Wednesdays-Rosemary Bread

REVISION
Well I guess that the medicine I take has finally addled my brain. I had some pictures all resized and ready to post, but then completely forgot to post them. Mind they are not very good, I took them with the good ole point and shoot, as the sun was setting and I was trying to finish up supper. They don't do the bread justice either, it really is easy to make and it always turns out well for me.

This week is one of my favorite new bread recipes, well pretty much all my bread recipes are new, seeing as I am but a novice bread maker.  At any rate, this one is pretty good. Have you ever been to the Macaroni Grill? This recipe makes a small loaf simmilar to what they serve, of course you have to factor that is freshly made as opposed to being mass produced and frozen, not to say that their bread is not spectacular, in fact it very much is.

Rosemary Bread
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Method
Once again bread making and getting bread to turn out like you want it, is all in the method. I have made and still make occasionally loaves that turn out TERRIBLE. Anyway, this one is pretty easy and I haven't had it turn south on me yet, knock on wood.
The first step is to add to put the yeast in your water, I like to go ahead and add alittle bit of the sugar to feed the yeast and let that sit for about ten minutes or so. It needs to be a bit frothy and and bubbly, if not throw it out and start again.
Next add the flour, salt, sugar and get to stirring. Once you get everything incorporated add the all the seasoning. A note, I usually use alittle bit less than a Tbsp of Rosemary, and it still turns out great. In fact I have let out most of the seasoning to try to get something closer to Italian bread, but the seasoning really makes a difference, and it makes the house smell, so, so good. Then go ahead and knead alittle bit while your dough is still in your mixing container. Then finally add the oil, you need to wait until as long as you can to add the oil because it will inhibit the gluten from properly forming and then woala , you get dense, flat bread that nobody would care to eat.
After everything is added turn your dough out onto a floured surface, I typically use the countertop, however, at some point I plan on buying a ceramic tile for this very purpose. It is my understanding they can be bought from flooring stores for a reasonable price. Then knead dough until smooth.
Next place your dough ball in an oil coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let that sit for about an hour in a nice warm spot. This is yet another wonderful thing about the warm weather here, it makes fixing bread so much easier.
Once the dough has roughly doubled in size, pat down and put on top of your baking sheet or stone. Cover you dough with a towel or more plastic wrap, I usually use a towel, and let that sit four about another hour or so. Next preheat your oven to 375 and bake you bread for about 30 minutes or until brown. I haven't tried it yet, but next time I make the bread, I plan on coating with an egg wash, that should give me a nice, shiny crust, but it is pretty stinkin good if you strickly follow the recipe.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays- Hamburger Buns

Yes I spelled Wednesday correctly this time. I must point out that the one who posted the previous comment had been reading the blog as well and hadn't corrected it, or noticed it before last night, besides I can't help it is the only day of the week that is not spelled phonetically.  Anyway, on with the post. Due to recent demand I have decided to make all of March's food posts bread recipes or at least recipes related to bread. I made this first one a couple of weeks ago when I had decided to make some hamburgers for supper. Tiff pointed out that we didn't have any hamburger buns and I replied well, we will just have to remedy that won't we.
A quick search and a couple of minutes later, this is what I came up with; I think they turned out pretty good. I think I will go to these every time I need buns for hamburger or chicken or what have you, I hate buying them from the store, because we never, ever eat all eight of them and they just sit in the cabinets and go bad, I hate to waste food.

Hamburger Buns
1 Cup Warm Water
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 Egg
3 1/4 Cups White Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Active Yeast
1 Egg Yolk Plus 1 Tsp Water
Sesame Seeds

Method
First Sprinkle the yeast in your warm water, but do not stir it up, it should get a little bubbly and frothy.  After the yeast starts to proof a bit combine all other ingredients except the sesame seeds and egg yolk wash. After you get everything incorporated, turn your dough out onto your counter or a larger bowl and knead the dough until smooth.
Your work is pretty much done now and all that is left is the waiting. You need to let the dough rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size. Next some people punch the dough down and knead again, but I find this makes your bread a little tougher, or perhaps I am just not doing it right. Anyway, I usually just pat mine down and at the point go ahead and divide the dough into equal parts. The suggestion is to weigh the dough to  make sure you parts are equal, but our scale is our and defunct so I just eyeballed mine. I only made a half batch, so I came out with four buns, but if you make the full recipe you should have eight.
At this point you want to put you divided dough onto whatever you want to bake them on, I used the pizza store, a cookie sheet would work nicely. Cover the buns with a towel and let them rise once again.
Finally preheat your oven up to 375 degrees and them bake your buns for about ten minutes, or until golden brown, slice and enjoy.

I did purposely make mine a little smaller.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays- Blueberry Muffins

This is a new recipe I tried it out when I made Special Breakfast a couple of weeks ago. Every Friday I get up a little early and make breakfast, to break up the hum-drum of oatmeal and cereal. Also I like to do special things for my family to show them how much they mean to me, this gives Tip just one more reason to look forward to Friday. They turned out well, better than a mix, for some reason every time I make muffins from a mix, the bottoms burn, I have adjusted the baking temp, used silicone baking pans, everything I can think of, still burnt bottom. I submit there are few things more dissapointing that a burnt muffin bottom. For some reason a few of the muffins had sink holes, where the topping fell into the batter, I don't know what happened there, I did make the batter the night before and it sat in the fridge, but I don't think that would have caused that, who knows.
Anyway, the jury is still out for the perfect muffin recipe, but these were pretty good, I will most likely make them again.

Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup White Sugar- I substituted Brown....mmmm
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Oil
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Oil
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract- Optional, but I use it in ALOT of my baking
1/3 Cup Milk
1 Cup Blueberries- I used a little more

Topping
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

Method
Combine Flour, Sugar, Salt and Baking Powder. I whisk it for a minute, just to make sure everything gets mixed up well, but I wouldn't consider that to be necessary.
Place oil in a 1 cup measuring device, I used my handy prep bowl that my lovely wife gave me for Christmas. It has cup lines on it, and makes mixing things like this easier, a regular measuring cup would work fine though.
Next add the egg and then fill up the remainder with milk. This will not necessarily give you the amounts listed in the directions, but it is how the recipe stated how to do it. I am sure you could go by those measurements and still have fabulous muffins.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry and stir or mix with a blender until everything is just incorporated.
Finally fold in the blueberries. Dump them in the middle and the with a spoon bring up the batter over the top of the muffins. You don't want to mash up the blueberries in this process, so perhaps using frozen ones, might work well, I used fresh, because that is what I happened to have on hand.
Now you want to line your muffin pans and pour out the mix, I think I ended up with 12 muffins.
The topping is easy, you just mix everything with a fork and then spoon out over your muffins.

Place them in your oven preheated to 400 degrees and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

They were enjoyed by all!

What's Cookin Wednesdays- The Dough

Well today's post follows last weeks post. That and I haven't been trying to many new recipes here lately, been focusing on a couple of other things. Anyway, my dough is still a work in progress. The recipe I am going to post today is one I tried out a couple of weeks ago and uses some wheat flour, in an attempt to make it alittle bit more health friendly.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 Package Instant Yeast- I believe it is something like 2 - 21/2 Teaspoons
1 Teaspoon Sugar- I use brown, but the original recipe calls for White, I might try Truvia next, finally found it.
3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour 
3/4 Cup Warm Water- Around 100-115 Degrees
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil

The Directions are pretty straight forward.
Mix the Yeast, Sugar, 1 Tablespoon of All-Purpose Flour, 1/4 Cup of Water and let is sit for about five minutes, it should get frothy, otherwise you need to toss it and start again.
Next add in the Wheat Flour, 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour, Salt, Oil, Rest of the Water and knead for about 8 to 10 Minutes.
You will need to let your dough rest for about 15 minutes then stretch or roll your dough out to the size you are looking for, ours happens to be the pizza stone, I haven't measured the diameter.
Next take a fork and punch some holes in the dough to let the steam escape, otherwise you get bubbles in your dough, very important tip, that is.
Then bake your dough in an oven heated to 450 Degrees for about 5 to 7 minutes, just before it starts to turn brown.
Then top with whatever you like and bake for about 10 minutes, or until you see the crust browning.

 I found the fork tip after I made this one, and as you can see I got bubbles in my crust, oh well it still tasted good.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays- Fantastic Pizza Sauce

The post today is a little late today. I have been busy on a Valentine's project, more on that tomorrow. Much like bread, we really like pizza in the Clifton household. There are some particularly good pizza places at the beach and there is supposed to be one opening up here in Chipley. However, more and more I am not so big on getting pizza from the chain restaurants, ie. Dominio's or Hungry Howies. I do  still like Papa John's, but we don't have one local. Anyway, over the past several weeks I have been working on a good recipe. I am sharing the first part, the sauce today. It is pretty easy and you can make a big batch at the time, freeze the extra, in fact I think it tastes a little better.

• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 6 fluid ounces warm water
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• salt to taste

Sometimes I will dial back the honey and add just a little bit of brown sugar. However, I did find some Agave Nectar, which is supposed to be a great natural sweetener. I am still working on the crust, this past week I was quite displeased with the recipe I tried, it turned out really thin and didn't seem to get really done all the way through, which was quite odd, oh well you bake and you learn I suppose.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays- Vanilla Sugar Sweets Rolls

We like to eat bread, there I said it, I think it is the ultimate comfort food. I have been trying a couple recipes out, some have turned out well, and others, well, they just need some work or perhaps I need a bit more practice in making them. I have found that the key to getting any bread to turn out is to make sure that the dough has risen, otherwise you get a dense, soggy, icky, gross lump that is not good for anything. I ran across this recipe the other day and figured I would give it a go, we liked them and the aunt we gave them to said anytime we would like to make some more, they would gladly be eaten. I like pretty much anything with vanilla in it, and since this uses vanilla sugar, I figured, hey can't miss! I did cheat and just added a little extract to the sugar, as opposed to the timely process of actually making it with a vanilla bean. I will definitely have to try that sometime, when I can get my hands on the required ingredients. Anyway, the recipe is from zapbook and adapted by a bread website I frequent.

Vanilla Sugar Sweet Rolls

Dough: 1 Cup Milk

1-2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Butter-melted
1/3 Cup Vanilla Sugar
2 Eggs-lightly beaten
2 Tsp Instant Yeast
1 Tsp Salt
3-4 Cups All-Purpose Flour

Filling: Egg Wash:
1/4 Cup Melted Butter 1 Egg
1/2 Cup Vanilla Sugar 2 Tbsp Milk

Start by warming your milk in a saucepan, add the vanilla extract and bring to a scald, but be careful not to boil the milk.

After the milk has reached a good scald, just before boiling, take your pot off the burner and allow to cool to about 105-110.

Next, add the melted butter and vanilla sugar. Stir you concoction to make sure that the sugar is dissolved and everything is mixed together well.
Add in about one cup of flour and the beaten eggs and mix till smooth. Now, add in the salt and instant yeast. Sprinkle about a half a cup of flour on a flat surface. Pour out the sticky dough and add another half cup of flour on top.
Begin to knead in the flour slowly, add a little at a time till you get a slightly sticky dough but workable. Continue to knead for 8 - 10 minutes. At this point you want to get another bowl, I use glass, but plastic would work fine, I tend to stay away from metal bowls when I am proofing my bread dough, I don't know if the metal would affect it either way.. shrugs... You want to coat the sides of said bowl with butter, oil, or some such, I use cake release that I make from oil and flour or sometimes Pam nonstick cooking spray.

Place the dough into the bowl and flip over so all sides of the dough is lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to set for about 1 hour or till double in bulk. After dough has risen, pour out onto a flat surface. I find that turning on the oven light and placing the bowl in the oven, works pretty good, some new ovens have a bread proofing mode on them I hear.... have to look at said feature when I am in the market for a new stove.
After the dough has risen sufficiently, important, can't stress that enough, cut dough in half, place one piece back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Using the piece of dough on the flat surface, cut into 8 equal pieces.

Commence rolling out one piece of dough at a time to roughly a 6 by 4 1/2 rectangle. Mine didn't quite make a 'rectangle' shape, but I got pretty close.
Brush the top with a little butter and add a little vanilla sugar.
Do the same with the next piece of dough. Now place that piece on top of the other one, brush with butter again and add a little vanilla sugar. Do the same with the next two pieces of dough. After you should have 4 pieces of dough stacked on top of each other. Use your rolling pin and roll out the dough into a 6 by 4 1/2 inche rectangle again. I find that it was easier to stack the four pieces together and roll them out, then butter the top.
Starting on the longest end roll up the dough tightly. Pinch the ends and seam closed. Place the dough seam side down and set aside.
Cut each rolled dough into about 6 triangles. Of course continue the process with the rest of your dough, I ended up with roughly 24 triangle of yummy goodness.

Now place your rolls on whatever you intend to bake them on, I once again used my pizza stone, but I am sure a cookie sheet would work just fine. Cover your rolls with plastic wrap and let them rise for about an hour or so, till they have roughly doubled in size.
After they have risen, you want to use a pastry brush and cover the rolls with your egg wash. I however, covered mine before I let them rise, oh well they turned out fine, but next time I will wait until they rise.

Throw those beasts in your oven preheated to 375 Degrees and let them back for about 30 minutes, or until they are starting to turn brown, mine didn't take the full 30 minutes, but my oven is pretty wonky.
Here we are, I made a topping out of honey and a touch of butter, but they are fine plain or sprinkled with a bit of confectioner's sugar.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays

    For a while now I have resolved to cook more and cook from scratch. I believe that most health conditions, including my own can be managed, well at least in part by what you eat. Also with the addition of Lil' M I am determined to help her eat better so maybe she will not develop my medical malady's. In my opinion cooking from scratch is healthier than buying pre-packaged meals, not to mention cheaper! So, in that vein I have decided to add a recipe day to the blog.  The post may or may not contain pictures, but they will be recipes that I have tried and use. You will have to excuse the poor quality of my food pictures because my kitchen is not conducive AT ALL to taking pictures. Come to think of it, the kitchen is not conducive to cooking, but I have had to make do with less in the past and beggars can't be choosers! The first recipe to share is one that I used last year when Tiff had a Jr. Women's Club party, I had meant to get the post up earlier, but as I have found there is a wide divide between meaning and doing.

Sausage and Cheese Wontons

• 1 Package Wonton Wrappers
• 1 LB Sausage 
• 1 Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Cup Ranch (I use much less, but then I HATE Ranch)
• About a 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• Sour Cream for topping-Optional  

To start with I coat both sides of the wontons with olive oil and then place the coated wrappers in a muffin tin. 

 After the wontons are all coated I put the tin in the oven preheated to 350 Degrees. I let them bake for about 5 to 10 minutes, until they are just starting to get toasted and turn brown. You have to be careful or else they will bake too much, and you will have to throw them out, voice of experience here!

While I have the wontons in the oven I go ahead and brown the sausage and get my cheese portioned out. I find that it is always better to buy a block of cheese and then shred it myself, it always cooks better and once again..cheaper.

 

Here are the wontons fresh out of the oven and placed on my current cooking tool, the Pampered Chef Round Pizza Stone. They really do make great products.

At this point you are ready to start assembling your creations. 

Mix the browned sausage

  

with the cheeses

  

and don't forget the ranch, even though I forgot to get a picture of said ingredient.

Then fill up fill you slightly toasted wontons with the sausage mixture, just eyeball it and fill up each wonton. 

Then all that is left to do is place them them back into your already hot oven for just a minute or three, until the cheese melts and you done!

  

I had a little left over so I decided to make my own version and substituted  the disliked ranch, with the beloved Frank's Red Hot Sauce! They were great!