I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week! I am almost finished with day three of my detox from carbs and wine, and let me tell you how much it pains me to even look at this photo. It is only because I’m already past the withdrawal phase that I can post this. I think it was the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and this cinnamon roll cake that put me over the edge… carb overload! And don’t think this is a long-term thing, I only plan on torturing myself for a few more days.

My sister, brother-in-law, and my niece came and stayed with us last week and we had a great time. My sis and I stayed up late one night in our jammies laughing and watching Cupcake Wars. What a blessing to just hang out and catch up with her. She is also a master chef in the kitchen, so I loved cooking Thanksgiving dinner together. She didn’t even get mad at me when we had to run out to the grocery store a half an hour before the turkey was done.

This cinnamon roll cake is both a dessert and a breakfast, especially if you’re a fellow carb-addict. This recipe has made the rounds in the foodie blogosphere for good reason, and this will definitely become a repeat recipe in our house. The boy and family LOVED it! It really does taste like an ooey, gooey cinnamon roll, but it’s way easier than homemade cinnamon rolls. This would make the perfect breakfast for Christmas morning. You can even make it the day before and warm it up before serving.

On a totally unrelated note, thank you to my friends and readers who have let me know about my spam-posting impostor over the past few weeks. I was in denial, hoping it would go away. It didn’t! And no, that was not me trying to sell you false eyelashes, or whatever else was popping up here. The boy has a whole theory about the spam posting impostor and he could be right (he usually is and that completely frustrates me).

Jen from Swank Web Design, who created my blog design, has updated everything and I think the problem has been fixed. If you are looking for a blog designer, I cannot sing her praises enough. I love working with her! She is so creative and incredibly efficient. While Jen was updating things, I had her add a section to my sidebar called “The Essentials”. Many of you have asked for my frosting, sugar cookie, and gingerbread recipes, which I know have gotten buried in my blog posts. All of the essential recipes are now right there, just in time for holiday baking.

Hope you’re having a carb-indulgent week for me! More carbs next week… I promise!

Cinnamon Roll Cake (Posted by Holly at Life as a Lofthouse)

12 servings

CAKE:

3 cups Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Sugar

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/2 cups Milk

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 cup ( 1 stick)  Butter, melted

TOPPING:

1 cup ( 2 sticks) Butter, softened

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

GLAZE:

2 cups Powdered Sugar

5 Tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

In an electric or stand mixer add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well , slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.

For topping, In a large bowl mix the 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy. Drop evenly over the batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.

Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.

FOR GLAZE:  In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My dad’s birthday always coincides with the fair. No, we didn’t take him to the fair. We like him too much to do that to him. We celebrated at my house and because I’m so burned out from baking, I couldn’t bring myself to bake a cake. Thank goodness the boy had a better idea! I don’t eat a lot of fried foods, but what my son requested required Grandma’s deep fryer. The boy and his Grandpa can never pass a churro stand without buying one when they’re together. This shared ritual started at Disney when my son was two (just shortly after his grandpa taught him the phrase, “More Beer!”). Anyway, I had to agree that frying up a few churros was the perfect alternative to a birthday cake. Not only were yummy, but had a personal meaning behind them. Have I taught the child well or what? The recipe below comes from the “Butter, Sugar, Flour” blog and was really easy to make.

Now, had I known that deep fried White Castles were an option, I might have convinced the boy that we make these for my dad just for shock value. My parent’s first date was at White Castle (Apparently, my dad was really trying to impress her??  42 years of marriage later I think he made a good choice). We don’t have White Castle in California (and those frozen ones in the freezer aisle don’t count!). When my parents moved here, they used to make my grandma bring a case on the plane with her as a “carry-on” item. I’m not kidding! Can you imagine the smell? Does deep-frying them take the edge off the smell? Hmmm…. Let me know if you make it to the fair.

If you’re now inspired to take out that deep fryer, here are the latest fried foods coming to a fair near you. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff?

1. Deep-fried chocolate covered bacon

2. Zucchini weenie (if you’re wondering it’s a hot dog in a hollowed out zucchini, battered and deep-fried.)

3. Deep-fried coke (I’m a little confused too.)

4. Fried Jelly Bellys (How dare anyone even consider messing with a Jelly Belly?)

5. Fried pizza (because it wasn’t greasy enough in its original state??)

Churros with Dulce de Leche Sauce (From Linda at Butter, Sugar, Flour)

Adapted from a recipe by the Bodega Tapas boys found in Gourmet Traveller, October 2007.

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

vegetable oil, for deep frying

mixed ground cinnamon and caster sugar, for dusting

Dulce de leche sauce

400g can of condensed milk

60ml of milk, warmed

1. For the sauce,  place unopened can of condensed milk into a large saucepan and cover completely with water. Bring to the simmer over medium heat and cook for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary to keep can covered. Cool completely in water (do not remove can while still warm as it may explode), then open and remove dulce de leche. Combine dulce de leche with milk in a bowl and stir until smooth. Set aside in a warm place until required.

2. For the churros, combine oil, 600ml water and salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Gradually add flour and baking powder, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until dough is smooth.

3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan to 165°C. Spoon the batter into a piping bag with a 1-centimetre star nozzle. Carefully pipe 10cm lengths into the oil, cutting the churro from the bag with scissors, being careful as the hot oil may splash (if this is too fiddly, pipe the batter into a slotted spoon first, then lower into the hot oil). Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture until well combined.

4. Serve warm or cold with the sauce.

Yesterday I shared a few fun desserts for the 4th . Here’s a few more crowd pleasers fancied up just a bit. The Napoleon and Cheesecake recipes come from two fabulous food bloggers. Martha gets credit for the parfaits and shortcake, and Better Home and Gardens shares their berry pudding cake in a 4th of July slideshow. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’m leaning towards the Napoleon.

It’s Ancestor Day today in my son’s class and every family was asked to bring in a food based on their heritage. Several weeks ago, my son had to decide which ancestry line to research. My dad made it clear right away that his German side was not a possibility. He thought the fact that he is related to Prince Vlad III the Impaler, might scare the children. My dad swears by the fact that his lineage can be traced to this man, who inspired the fictional Dracula character, but that’s a story for another time. That left my son to research the wacky Irish lineage on my mom’s side, and believe me they are quite wacky! 

In deciding what to make for today’s festivities, I just couldn’t bring myself to make a potato dish or stew or even Irish soda bread so I opted for Irish scones. I’m not typically a scone lover. I’d take a muffin over a scone any day, but these are an exception. For those of you scone lovers, these are on the sweet side. You may want to cut back on the sugar by a 1/4 cup. For me, the sweeter the better!

Dried Cranberry, Walnut, and Lemon Scones (Adapted from Bon Appetit recipe)

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, diced
• 1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup (or more) chilled half and half, divided

Position rack in top third of oven; preheat to 375°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in bowl for glaze.

Whisk flour, baking powder, lemon peel, salt, and 1 cup sugar in large bowl. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Mix in cranberries and walnuts. Add 1/2 cup half and half and1 tablespoon lemon juice. Toss with fork until dough comes together in moist clumps, adding more half and half if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Press out each half on floured surface to 6-inch-diameter (1-inch-high) round. Cut each round into 6 wedges. Transfer to baking sheet; brush with glaze.

Bake scones until golden and tester comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

When I think of pockets, I immediately think of my mom and how indebted I am to her for the rest of my existence. One day when I was in junior high, I forgot to take out the red lipstick from my white Guess jeans’ pocket. When I opened up the dryer, lipstick covered all of my favorite clothes, which had been paid for by my countless hours of babysitting logged. Of course, as a dramatic pre-teen, it felt like a red tornado had whipped through my life, ruining everything in its path. I’m not sure how many hours my mom spent getting the stains out, but amazingly she did! It’s easy to say the words “I love you,” to someone, but it’s through compassion and sacrifice, that we know we are truly loved.

To celebrate the invention of the pocket, I made the best pockets I could think of - chocolate pockets. I used to bring my ex-husband chocolate croissants from our favorite French bakery. I have to say, these are almost that good and pretty easy to put together.

Chocolate Turnovers

2         cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, divided

1         tsp. ground cinnamon

1 package (17.3 oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed (2 sheets)

1 egg, beaten with 2 teaspoons water

1-1/2 teaspoons shortening(do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Combine 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside.2. Unfold one pastry sheet; roll on lightly floured surface to form 12-inch square. Cut into nine 4-inch squares. Place 1 heaping tablespoon chip mixture onto center of each square.