Chocolate covered raisin cinnamon rolls

With the other half of the cinnamon twists dough I made cinnamon rolls this morning for breakfast.

1. Roll out the dough into a rectangle. Spread with softened butter.

2.Sprinkle with brown sugar,white sugar and cinnamon. Also sprinkle with chocolate covered raisins.

3. Roll up the dough and cut into slices. Place slices in a greased pan and allow to rise until at least double in size. About 45 min

4.Bake at 400 degrees 12-15 min or until golden brown

5. Frost while still warm with the butter glaze from the cinnamon twist recipe.

* These rolls were really good as the chocolate melted on the raisins it spread out into the roll dough and so it made them into cinnamon chocolate rolls. Yummy.

Cinnamon Twists

Dough
1-1/2 cups hot water  (~115° F)
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. yeast


Melted butter
Cinnamon-sugar mixture (1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbs. cinnamon)

1.In a large bowl, add hot water, egg, 1 cup flour, sugar, butter,salt then yeast. 

2.Mix for 2-3 minutes, then add remaining flour.  Knead for about 8-10 minutes.

3.Divide dough into 2 roughly equal portions. 

4.Pat dough to about 1/4-inch thickness in a rectangular shape.

5.With a pizza cutter, cut dough down the middle then into strips (about 1-1/2-inches wide).

6.Roll in melted butter,then in cinnamon-sugar mixture,
7.Twist the dough and then place on pan to rise.

8.Allow to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.

9. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly golden brown.

While twists are baking, in a large bowl, beat all ingredients together until smooth and a good drizzling consistency.

BUTTER GLAZE:1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2-3 Tbs. milk

1.Drizzle over hot cinnamon twists.  Remove from pan immediately after drizzling. 

Chicken Fajitas

2  tablespoons  vegetable or olive oil, divided
3  boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut across into strips
1 packet  fajita seasoning
1/2  cup  water
2  large onions, slivered
3  bell peppers (one each of green, yellow, and red is prettiest, but not essential), slivered
2  cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup frozen corn
12  fajita-size flour tortillas, wrapped in a cloth and warmed in the microwave 1 to 2 minutes
Salsa,avacado,cheese and sour cream for serving (optional)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken strips and cook, stirring a couple of times, until almost cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Add half of fajita seasoning and water, mix well, and let chicken finish cooking. Transfer chicken to a bowl; cover to keep warm.

2.Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in skillet until hot. Add onions corn and peppers; cook, without stirring, until tender and some caramelized brown bits begin to show up in pan, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir; add garlic and remaining fajita seasoning. Let cook about 2 more minutes. Stir vegetables into seasoned chicken.

Holiday Punch

4 cups cranberry juice cocktail

8 cups prepared lemonade

2 cups orange juice

1 (2 liter) bottle ginger ale

1 orange, sliced in rounds

1.In a large punch bowl, combine cranberry juice cocktail, lemonade, and orange juice.Refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

2.When ready to serve, pour in the ginger ale.

Chicken Taco Ring

2 tubes (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls

2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips, divided

2 cups finely chopped rotisserie chicken

3/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, undrained

1/4 cup chopped pitted ripe olives

1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon taco seasoning

1 tablespoon lime juice

1.Grease a 12-in. pizza pan. Unroll crescent dough. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup tortilla chips; press down gently. Separate into 16 triangles.
2.Place wide end of one triangle, chip side down, 3 in. from edge of prepared pan, with point overhanging edge of pan. Repeat with remaining triangles, overlapping the wide ends (dough will look like a sun when complete). Lightly press wide ends together.

3.In a small bowl, combine the chicken, cheese, mayonnaise, chilies, olives, tomato, taco seasoning, lime juice and remaining tortilla chips. Spoon over wide ends of dough. Fold points of triangles over filling and tuck under wide ends (filling will be visible). I also added about a teaspoon dried cilantro

4.Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Garnish with sour cream, salsa, tomatoes and lime. 

Easy peanut butter cup cookies

1 (17.5 ounce) package peanut butter cookie mix

egg,oil and water for the cookie dough mix.

36 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped and in the freezer for 1-2 hours

sugar (optional)

1.Prepare cookie mix according to package directions. Roll the dough into 1-in. balls and toll in sugar. Place in greased miniature muffin cups. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of each cup.

2.Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-12 minutes or until set.They might look like they are not done but they are don't let the cookies overcook or you will mess up the cookie.
3.Immediately place a frozen peanut butter cup in each cup; press down gently.

4.Cool for 10 minutes carefully remove from pans onto cooling racks.

Mock Butterfinger bars

I saw these on this food blog http://letsdishrecipes.blogspot.com and knew that I had to try them. They really did taste like butterfingers. Who knew :)

1 (10 oz.) box original Wheat Thins crackers
1 cup creamy peanut butter
16 ounces dipping chocolate or almond bark

1.Sandwich about 1/2 teaspoon peanut butter between two Wheat Thins crackers; repeat until all crackers have been used. 

2.Melt chocolate in microwave at 50 percent power for one minute; stir.  Return to microwave at 30 second intervals until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. 

3.Dip cracker "sandwiches" in chocolate to coat.  Set on wax paper.  Place in refrigerator or freezer for 10-15 minutes to set completely.  Store in an airtight container.

Chewy Caramel

1 cup butter

1 pound light brown sugar (2 1/2 cups)

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

1 pinch salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

2.Heat to between 240 and 247 degrees F (soft ball stage) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.  It will take about 20-25 min to get to this point so be patient.

3.Meanwhile, butter a 9x13 inch baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. Then chill the caramel about 45 min before cutting and wrapping.

 I covered half of the caramel in slivered almonds.

4.Remove from the pan and cut into squares using scissors. Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper or cellophane.