Posts from — December 2010

Late last week I had a craving for cinnamon rolls. This craving had gone on for several weeks, but every time I was out Christmas shopping at the mall, I made the decision not to cave and buy one, even though they smelled so good…

Luckily when the craving just had to be satisfied, I did a quick web search and found this “Easy No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls” recipe from The Happy Housewife. It was a great instant gratification recipe since I didn’t have to wait for the dough to rise, and it called for no oil, shortening, or refined sugar, like many other recipes I found.

I needed the whole cup of milk, and I found it only made 8 rolls, which surprised me. I used a 9″ round cake pan and it didn’t fill the whole pan, but I was able to line the pan with them and when they baked they spread out and touched each other. Before I put the rolls in the pan, I greased it with a little bit of butter and sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon in.

I only needed to bake them for 16 minutes, and they were yummy drizzled with some leftover royal icing I had from making Christmas Cut-Out Cookies!

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This month instead of sharing book reviews, members of the Kitchen Reader group are all sharing a holiday recipe that is special to them.

I decided to share my mom’s recipe for Christmas cut-out cookies, although to be fair, they can be and have been made many times at other times of the year. Although they are probably the most time-intensive recipe I make at the holidays (because of the decorating time), I always make at least one batch because they remind me of making and decorating them with my mom, and they make me (and the loved ones who ooh and aah over them) feel young.

I thought about tinkering with the recipe to make it fit my blog a little bit better, perhaps swapping in a natural sweetener for sugar, but ultimately decided to stick with the original. I did use wholesome ingredients (organic butter, sugar, and flour, cage-free eggs) and decided they were a treat worth enjoying (in moderation!) Here’s the recipe!

Christmas Cut-Out Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 1.5 c. confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2.5 cups flour
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

1. Cream butter, confectioner’s sugar, egg, and vanilla.
2. Blend in dry ingredients.
3. Cover and chill the dough for a few hours or overnight.
4. Roll out on a floured surface and cut with favorite cookie cutters.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 4-5 minutes per batch.

For decorating, you could make buttercream frosting or Royal icing. I made Royal icing (using meringue powder) for the first time this year because it hardens nicely and I wanted to mail some cookies to relatives we won’t be able to see this year.

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Wow, it’s been a while already since I wrote my last post, and I know my frequency has been down a bit over the past couple of months. I’m finally ready to share why: my husband and I are expecting our first baby in early June!

At first I was so excited, I couldn’t figure out how to write a blog post without spilling the beans…then, and for most of my first trimester, I felt pretty icky and, well, didn’t have a lot to share beyond that, since my time in the kitchen and the gym were both drastically reduced by all-day nausea. Even if we had been ready to announce the news, I didn’t figure my readers really needed to hear about me eating yet another bowl of Trader Joe’s tomato soup or taking another mid-afternoon nap to escape the queasiness.

Now I am feeling much better and hope to get back into the swing of things with more regular blog posts. I’m still seeing (and accepting new) health coaching clients, and although some of my healthy favorites are strangely unappealing these days (fish, beans, and spinach, to name a few) I do hope to get back to doing more home cooking and trying out new recipes again, so thanks for staying tuned!