Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Rolls

I had leftover pumpkin from when I made my pumpkin cream cheese muffins and I knew i had to use it up so it didn't go bad, but I hadn't been inspired by anything, and I didn't want to make muffins again. So I started peeking around online and found an amazing idea. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls! What could be better?! So here's the recipe I found and I hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Rolls
(find original recipe here.)

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 T granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cooking Spray
3 T granulated sugar
3 T brown sugar
2 T flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 T chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Glaze:
3/4 cup powered sugar
1 T hot water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

To prepare the buns, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour, pumpkin, and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through nutmeg); beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of the remaining 3/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)

Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Punch dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 12 (1-inch) slices. Place slices in a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake the rolls at 375° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.

These cinnamon rolls came out great! They were quite easy to make. The longest process was letting the dough rise and then letting the rolls proof once in the pan, but besides that, I felt they were super simple to make. These don't have much of a pumpkin flavor as I expected but there is only 1/2 a cup of pumpkin in them, but they have a nice spice and flavor to them. The pumpkin gives these a lovely orangey color. They are really moist and the cinnamon sugar filling is really delicious. I think these are totally worth the effort and they are really, really good!!! Perfect for a nice fall morning, to go with your cup of coffee or tea.

Fresh out of the oven, waiting for the glaze

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

Its that time...time for my famous pumpkin muffins!!! I changed it up a bit this year and put together a mish-mosh of 2 different recipes that I have come across and my own little twist. These muffins are packed with everything fall! They are moist, flavorful and just make you feel happy when you eat them.

Minis ready to be devoured

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
Makes 12 regular muffins (original says 24 I got 12) or 48 mini-muffins

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese (I used 1/3 fat free)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your muffin tin and set aside.

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until combined and smooth.

3. Slowly stir in flour mixture to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

For the filling:

Beat the cream cheese until softened. Beat in the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.

For the streusel topping:

In a bowl combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. With your hands mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Fill muffins tins about 1/3 of the way full with the pumpkin batter. Add a good dollop of cream cheese to the center of each one. Fill the tins about 3/4 full and top with streusel topping.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes for regular muffins and 10 minutes for minis, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Place muffins tins on wire racks for cooling. Remove from tins and enjoy!

(Took bits and pieces from Two Peas and Their Pod and the streusel from GroupRecipes)


These...are...amazing. They are so good!! I am so glad I tinkered around with a few different recipes to make something so good and truly delicious! I sort of just went by what I had I hand and what I could do with what I had. I am really glad I found how to bake the cream cheese right into the muffins, cause I used to pipe them into the bottoms and it was a pain and I felt like you never got quite enough.

And not only is the cream cheese amazing but that slightly crunchy and sweet brown sugar topping is awesome. I think it makes the whole muffin! And the muffins itself, when you don't get a bite of cream cheese is delicious and moist. Very flavorful and light.


These muffins are a winner!! You must make these for a fall gathering or for your neighbor or someone you love, or just for yourself. They are that good!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry ~Happy Autumn~

-BellaRosa

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I came across a banana oatmeal cookie recipe a couple weeks back and thought that those sounded amazing! I love, love, love oatmeal cookies, and I love baking with bananas so it seemed win/win for me! I looked up a few more recipes and found one that seemed perfect and thought I'd give it a try since I have some overly ripe bananas chilling on my counter.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
(adapted from this recipe.)

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 white sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup banana, mashed (about 2)
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats

Optional:
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat in egg and bananas. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips or nuts if using them.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.


These soft, dense, flavorful cookies are great!! Really easy to make, although the whole, combining the sugar with the flour and THEN beating in the butter, was a little weird, but whatever, maybe that is why they are kinda thick and cakey. Also, I decided to go with brown sugar instead of all white sugar, because, well, I just like it more and I think that caramel-y flavor you get with brown sugar goes perfect with bananas. Also, to the last bit of batter I added a small handful of hazelnuts to see how those turned out. I think the nuts needed to be in bigger chunks, but I like the taste and texture of nuts in oatmeal cookies.

I hope you get inspired by these delicious cookies and use up some over-ripe bananas you may have sitting on your counter.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Cheddar Chive Muffins

I love finding new food blogs while poking around on Twitter and seeing who the current food bloggers I follow are following, or are friends with. I found one today called The Craving Chronicles and she seems fun and her food and photos look amazing. I got a few interesting recipes off her site today and I knew I was making Barbecued Chili for dinner so I was really excited when I found this recipe on her site for these savory muffins.


Cheddar Chive Muffins
(original by The Craving Chronicles found here.)
Makes 12 Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
1 egg1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
1 tablespoon dried chives

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease, or line a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a medium bowl combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the shredded cheese.

In a small bowl combine milk, egg and melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in herbs.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffins cups. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Cheddar Chive Muffin

I have to say these savory muffins are pretty darn good. Especially dipped in the yummy Bbq Chili...so yum! And! I am pretty sure if you were to brush these with some garlic butter they would come pretty darn close to tasting like Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits! I didn't get much of the chive flavor, but these muffins were dense and nice and cheesy. They were a little greasy, I thought, but that is probably because of the 3 cups of cheese.

Someone is trying to grab one before they cool...tsk tsk

These are great savory muffins and I hope you try them sometimes this fall or winter season as I think they are quite comforting and delicious!

Eat Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Pepperoni Rolls - Reinventing the Pepperoni Bread

So I didn't know what to do with myself today so I decided what not bake something! I took the idea of cinnamon rolls and took pepperoni bread and cut up the dough into pepperoni rolls! They are really cute and delicious and I think would be really fun for parties!

I made my Go-To Pizza dough and after it rose I dumped it out on to a floured surface and stretch it out over the surface into a large rectangle. I cover the dough with mozzarella cheese and tons of pepperoni and a light dusting of garlic powder. I start at the long end and start rolling, rolling, rolling. Making sure that is it tight and everything is tucked in. I tuck in the ends so the pepperoni and cheese don't fall out and normally I would just bake this as the long log but I took the idea from cinnamon rolls and cut them into about 1 to 1.5 inch think piece and stood them on end on a baking sheet.

Before the bake

I put them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 13-15 minutes until golden brown and the bottoms were nice and brown. Next time I think I will brush them with some egg wash to make them browner and beautiful.

Hot out of the oven

They are so good!! And so cute, and I think you could even make them smaller some how and use at parties for a little munchie. I thought this was a great idea and I am glad I came up with it!!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...and reinvent a recipe!

-BellaRosa

Mini Calzones

Tonight I decided to make some calzones, because I had some leftover sauce with hunks of Italian sausage in it. Plus it has been a while since I made calzones or pizza, so it sounded like a good idea. But I thought it would be fun to make them smaller and more "hand-held friendly". Here is my recipe for pizza dough. It works well for me, sometimes I have a problem with getting the bottom nice and brown and crispy, but that could be a problem with my oven too.

Go-To Pizza Dough

1 tsp. honey
3/4 cup warm water
1 packet dry yeast
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 (or more) all-purpose flour

• In a large bowl put honey and pour warm water over and mix with a fork until honey is dissolved in water. Add the yeast packet and mix thoroughly with hand, cleaning up sides of bowl, make sure all is incorporated. Let sit for 5 minutes until it is foamy
• Once the yeast is foamy add in your Parmesan cheese and 1 cup flour. Using a fork combine the cheese and flour into the yeast mixture until combined, will still be sticky and kinda wet at this point. Add in about a 1/2 cup more flour and start my mixing with fork, after a bit it gets less sticky and you can use your hands to finish kneading the dough.
• At this point, you'll know by the way the dough feels if you should add more flour or not. If it's still sticky you should add more until it feel uniform and smooth.
• Place bowl on top of the preheating oven covered with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Then you are ready to make pizza or calzones!

Normally I divide the dough in half and use each half to make one calzone, they are usually pretty huge. So I decided to divide the dough into fourths and made 4 smaller calzones.

I am sure you know how to make calzones but here's what I did. I put a small amount of sauce down and then a piece or two of the Italian sausage and some pepperoni topped it all with cheese and then folded over the top and pinched and folded the edges some nothing would ooze out. I make slits in the top with a knife to let steam escape and I bake them at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes. I think I could have baked my longer tonight, they weren't as brown and I was hoping, but they were still delicious!


Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Honey Lemon Marinated Chicken Sammiches

So I found this marinade awhile back from one of the first few Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazines. This marinade is great. Honey, lemon, cumin and oregano...very flavorful, but also light. I think it's a great Spring Time marinade with the citrus flavor and you can always use a new recipe for chicken. So I like marinating my chicken in this and then topping some nice kaiser rolls with the sliced chicken. This time I decided to add some sauteed mushrooms and some provolone cheese to the top. I got the idea for the mushrooms and cheese from my girlie Lynds (Just a Girl Baking). She made us some awesome chicken sammiches the last time we were over and they were delicious!

Honey Lemon Marinated Chicken Sammiches

Marinade:
Zest and Juice of half a lemon, or use more if you wish
1-2 cloves garlic, smashed or grated
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 cup olive oilsalt and pepper
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 crimini mushrooms sliced
2-4 kaiser rolls (depending on the size, I got 2 sammiches out of one chicken breast)
lettuce, mayo and provolone cheese

• Whisk together the lemon zest, juice, honey, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and olive oil, place in a big zip top baggie and add chicken breasts to the marinade. Seal the bag and mush it around to coat the chicken. Marinate in the refrigerator or 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and place top-side down in the pan and brown. Once brown on that side, flip over and brown this side for a minute. Place whole skillet in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Pull chicken out of oven, leave oven on and let rest while you get everything else ready.
• In a small pan cook the mushrooms in butter until just tender, season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set aside. Toast the kaiser rolls in the hot oven.
  
• Once chicken has rested slice thinly on a bias and place on the bottom of your rolls. Top with mushrooms and provolone cheese. Place in the oven to melt the cheese and heat everything through. Smear mayo on the roll tops and top with lettuce. Place tops on the sammiches and you are good to eat!

I served these with just a nice salad of red leaf lettuce, but some nice potato chips or corn on the cob would be great too!

These sammiches were so good, my hubsie came in from the other room just to hug me and tell me how good they were...and then he did the dishes and cleaned everything in the kitchen!!! Yeah...you should make them!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

I have been baking up a storm lately!! Ok, I have made banana muffins and oatmeal cookies, but whatever, I don't really bake that often. I also made some Toll house Choc. Chip Cookies last night, but that doesn't really count, cause its the recipe off the bag and not really that exciting.

So a while ago I looked up recipes for chewy, soft oatmeal cookies, cause really, I despise crunchy hard cookies...especially if they are meant to be soft! So I found a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who by the way, I love! This is the 2nd recipe I have made so far. She has a recipe for Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies, and they are yummy! Now I love a good oatmeal cookie, and I have to say I really enjoy making these more than other cookies. They are so easy and I had everything on hand.

Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg1/2 tsp. vanilla3/4 cup flour1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins (I used ones that were actually made for baking, they were moister)
1/2 cup walnuts (I used 1/4 cup almonds, cause half my batch was with nuts)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture until smooth. Stir in the oats, raisins and nuts if using them.
• At this point you can chill the dough for a bit, or scoop the dough on the cookie sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking.
  
• Scoop cookies onto parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine took 7 1/2 - 8 cause my oven runs a bit hot) until the edges are brown and golden.
  
• Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool.

I found my cookies to get a bit more brown than I expected, but they are still delicious.

*Note: By the way! I am having so much fun being able to take my food photos in natural lighting!! So fun!! I swear I took 40 pictures of these cookies...some were a bit blurry which was kinda disappointing, but seriously...I am so proud of the pictures, as well as the ones for the Sour Cream Banana Muffins. Plus it helps that I have a lovely green wall to take pictures against. Shout out to my brother and sister-in-law who got me those great appetizer plates in the first photo up there...I was so glad I saw them and thought to use them for my cookie pictures.

left: with slivered almonds right: just raisins

Happy Baking & Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Sour Cream Banana Muffins

I felt like baking today! It's was so nice out today and it made me want to do something productive. I helped out a friend (Just a Girl Baking) with some cupcakes yesterday, but I am more of a muffin-bakin' girl. I am seem to do better off making breads, muffins or doughs than cakes, so I wanted to bake! I decided to make some Sour Cream Banana Muffins, which are nice and moist and have a lovely light banana flavor.

Sour Cream Banana Muffins
Makes 12 regular size muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1/4 granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 sour cream

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin or line with paper liners.
• Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In another bowl beat the bananas, sugar, egg and vanilla until combined. Stir in sour cream
• Stir the banana mixture into the flour until smooth and combined. Scoop batter into prepared muffin pan.
• Bake for 10-15 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and top are light-golden brown. Let cool before serving. For best lasting flavor keep stored in an air-tight container or bag overnight.

They are really easy to make, and come together in cinch. I think they could use a little bit of walnuts are pecans in them, but I have a picky hubby that doesn't like nuts in food, so I have to go without them...*sigh* I also think it would be nice to put a little texture and sweetness on the top and maybe add some crystal sugar on top, but I don't really have that, but it would be a lovely addition. I love these banana muffins and I hope you try them and I hope you love them too!

*Note: I have also made these as mini-muffins and they only bake for about 7-8 minutes and are great from breakfast with tea or your coffee! Plus everything is just so darn cuter when it's mini size!

Happy Baking & Eat, Drink and Be Merry!!

-Bellarosa

Baked Rigatoni with Tiny Meatballs for the In-Laws

We had my in-laws over for dinner last night, and I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen last week and knew I had to make it! So there were a few new things for me in this recipe that I have either never done before or was a different way of me doing something.

I have never done the "piece of white bread soaked in milk and then rung out and put in the meatballs instead of bread crumbs." I don't think I would do this again, I thought it was disgusting to do. I mean the meatballs were great, but that process was kinda gross to me.

And then making a bechamel was new, at least the way they have you do it, but it was delicious! I mean, I have made alfredo sauce before and essentially its like the same, the flour and butter and make a roux and then add the milk, but they way they have you incorporate they milk was new to me.

I felt that this took me way longer to make than I had anticipated. It took me and hour and a half start to finish. But then again I don't always have the best time management when cooking, like it's really bad, and I tend to do a step last that I could have had going while something else was working, but oh well.

The tiny meatballs were fun to make, a little tedious, but so they look so cute! And the bechamel came together quite quickly and then just the pasta to boil and then bake everything, not too shabby. It was so good, my father-in-law had 3 helpings...I kid you not! That means it was amazing!! And he took the leftover with them for his lunch the next day!

I thought this recipe was amazing and delicious and I think everyone should make it, it was so saucy and the meatballs were so tender and just melted in your mouth, this was a great dinner. I served it with a nice salad and some ciabatta bread, and it was great. I suppose you could add veggies or some spinach in for more nutritional value, but I liked it just the way it was.

For the original recipe click here.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!!

-BellaRosa

Bbq Pork Chops & Garlic Mashed Red Skin Potatoes

First of I have to say...I make the best mashed potatoes! I found the best way to make them super flavorful and really delicious is to use garlic butter and sour cream. Here's what I do:

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

One bag of small red skin potatoes (@ Giant Eagle, sorry I don't know the size of the bag?)
Salt
3-4 T butter, melted
3 cloves garlic, grated
1/3 to 1/2 cup sour cream
Splash of milk

First decide if you want the skins on or off the potatoes, either way, they are delicious. So rinse and clean potatoes or peel them and cut into quarters and place in a medium sauce pot. Fill the pot with water to just cover the potatoes. Add salt to water. Place on med-high heat and cover until boiling. Once boiling reduce and simmer for about 10-15 mins or until fork-tender. Drain and place back in pot.

Once potatoes are drained melt the butter in a small pot and grate in garlic. You can just smash the cloves and drop them in but I like using a small hand grater and just grate it in, that way you don't have big chunks of garlic. While that is melting together, add sour cream to potatoes and mash together. Add the butter and garlic and continue mashing. At this point you can taste and see if it needs more salt or any kind of seasoning. Mine were a little dry still so I added a little more sour cream and a splash of milk. I think used a hand mixer to blend the potatoes, but you can leave them chunkier if you wish. So good!! Also, I don't care much for pepper, so totally add pepper if you like that flavor in your potatoes.

With the potatoes I made pork chops. Now believe it or not, I got a great package of pork chops from Aldi...I know, but there were really good!! Anyway, there were 4 in the package, and they were maybe a 1/2 inch thick or so, and not very fatty. Very nice coming from Aldi.

So I seasoned them up with salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic powder. I got them brown on both sides in a skillet and then transferred them to a 325 oven and cooked them in there for about 15 mins. About half way through I basted them with some bbq sauce and they were delicious. I didn't have a chance to take pictures of the great meal, but I hope to add other pictures to my blog soon enough. I am gonna be picky about it, so we will see how the food photos come along.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!