Cinnamon Buns

My friend from living in Provo, Shelsea has a lot of great tried and true recipes and craft ideas. One thing she is really famous for is her Cinnamon rolls. The basic dough recipe can be use for buns, scones, doughnuts, and other doughnut variations. I never have tried any other treat besides the cinnamon rolls, they are just too tempting!

Here is the recipe:

(this is the recipe cut in half, and it is STILL more than you could ever eat, so beware - you'll either want to half it again, plan on giving them away or freeze them after you roll them up and save them for later)

4 cups warm water

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsp yeast

1/2 cup oil

enough flour to make soft dough (approx. 10 cups)

1 Tbsp salt

4 eggs beaten well

Beat eggs and set aside. Put warm water in a large mixer add sugar and sprinkle on the yeast. Let it sit for 10 min. Add oil and some flour. Mix well. Add beaten eggs with more flour alternating and mix well. Add more flour and sprinkle in the salt. Mix adding flour until the dough  comes away clean. Put dough into an oiled bowl and roll to coat. Cover with saran or an air tight lid and let raise to double it's size.

Roll risen dough into a rectangle of a desired size. (it may be too sticky to put directly onto the counter, if so consider spreading saran wrap or dough mat of some kind). Spread the dough with butter, spread with brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll dough up and cut into pinwheels (I like to use dental floss for this part) and place on parchment lined baking pan. Let raise until double in size. Bake at 350 about 15 min. Take out of oven just long enough to put *topping on and return to the oven and bake until the topping bubbles all over (time will vary depending on size of pan/rolls). 

*Topping: equal parts of whipping cream and brown sugar, stir until mixed completely. Apply to rolls with the back of a large spoon and spread a thin layer on top.

After baking is done apply icing. I prefer a cream cheese icing.

Blend together:  1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

powdered sugar (add until consistency is no longer runny)

milk (don't add too much or else you'll have to had A LOT of powdered sugar)

He is Home!

My little brother David returned from his mission to Peru this month and so  Annabelle and I went home for 10 days. Mike, Adam (my older brother) and his wife Trudy  {who is pregnant - hip hip hurray} were all able to join us for the weekend that David spoke in church. We had a great trip, spent lots of time with family and it was cool enough I even put on my sweatshirt a few times (rain in 60 degree weather). Here are some highlights:

David coming home of course was the main event of my time spent in Colorado. At first he seemed to be a little uncomfortable around us, I think because we are a lot louder and rowdier than the polite Peruvians he has been living with but he got used to us and caught up on sleep (due to layovers and canceled flights I think he traveled for about 30 hours). 

Annabelle warmed up to him after a few days and asked me a few times if he was going back to Peru or not. I was glad to inform her that he was not, his plans now are to return to BYU and work on a degree in Bio-informatics (sp?).

My grandma, Nona if you have met her, came up with the idea of taking Annabelle to the North Pole. The North Pole is a little amusement park up in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. It is perfect for younger kids with fun rides and no lines. And because it is in the mountains the temperatures are nice in the summer and not too crowded. 

Although Annabelle wasn't afraid of the crazy fast and twirling rides or even the ferris wheel (the world's highest, by the way) She wouldn't sit on Santa's lap! And they had a really good, white bearded, blue twinkling eyed Santa available. Oh well!

Over the weekend that the ENTIRE McKean family was in town we went on a hike to a spot we have hiked to since I was probably only a year old. And of course had to take the opportunity to get some professional family pictures taken.

Went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo . . .

And of course we had some good down time to play with Grandparents. At the McKean house that meant eating ALL of the raspberries out of the garden each morning. And at the Sherwood's that meant either reading dozens of books or taking a quick little dip in the fountain with Papa Zeke.

Teaser

(Photo credit to Joyanna)

An update is long over due. I am happy to report this time that it is due to having such a great time that I never stopped to blog. Check back soon and I'll have my camera uploaded and my writing juices flowing.