Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls were the traditional Christmas morning breakfast when I was growing up and naturally, after I got married, I continued the tradition with my own family. I started out making my mom's recipe but then when we lived in Rochester, I learned this recipe from David's friend Tad Mitchell and I've been using this recipe ever since.

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cups butter
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
4 cups bread flour

Combine warm water (105-115) with 1/4 tsp sugar in bowl. Add yeast and stir once. Let sit 5 minutes until yeast starts to foam. Meanwhile, melt butter. Add milk and heat until warm (105-115). Add sugar, salt, egg, 2 cups of flour and mix. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth (or knead in bread maker). Cover and let rise until double in size (approximately 1 hour). Roll dough into a rectangle 1/4 inch in thickness. Brush surface with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins (optional). Roll like a jelly roll and seal seams. Slice dough into 12 pieces. Place rolls in greased baking pan (9x13). Cover and let rise until double in size (approximately 1 hour). Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting

3/4 cup softened butter
3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3-4 Tbsp milk

Beat butter until smooth. Add sugar 1 cup at a time beating smooth each time. Add vanilla. Add milk until desired consistency is achieved.

Variations:

You can use a creamed cheese frosting instead of the buttercream. Fritz's Bakery in Philly uses cream cheese frosting.

Caramel Pecan Rolls

1/13 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Cook and stir all ingredients until combined. Pour in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup chopped pecans. Place rolls in pan. Let rise. Bake. Let sit 5 minutes and then invert onto serving plate.

Becky Haynie's Cranberry Sauce

This is nothing like the nasty cranberry stuff that comes out of a can. In fact, if you hate the canned stuff, you'll probably love this! My mom made it for us the first time when she came to Thanksgiving dinner at our house and it was an instant hit

1/2 cup orange juice
2 cups water
outer orange peel, petite diced
1 tart apple, petite diced
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Boil the orange juice, water and orange rind together for 10 minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients and add to orange juice mixture. Cook until cranberries burst, about 10 more minutes, stirring continuously.