Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Hey All and Happy Thursday! Did you know Tuesday was National Pancake Day? Well we did, and we took advantage of the day by having breakfast for dinner! It's seriously one of Hub's favorite things...like ever. He could be having the worst day at work but then get a text from me asking if he wants bacon or sausage for dinner and he immediately forgets all about whatever is going on. 

Sorry about the crummy night time pic. Just know they were chocolate chip and they were amazing and would've photographed beautifully in the daytime :) So along with the pancakes I made some bacon and eggs.  And for dessert I knew instantly what I wanted to make...Cinnamon Roll Cookies!

These things are freaking awesome. I laugh out loud when I think about how good they are because they make me that happy. Its recipes like this that make me glad I'm a Zumba instructor and therefore can eat a ton of these!

The worst part about this recipe is the waiting! They spend about two hours in the fridge before they're ready to bake, and another half hour after they're iced. But they are so worth it. I mean these are the epitome of the phrase "Worth the wait"!

Super chewy and cinnamony (word?) on the inside, light and crunchy on the outside, and topped with sweet creamy icing. These cookies are awesome!

I know, I know. You're thinking these all don't look exactly like a perfect teeny tiny cinnamon roll cookie. Well I'm here to tell you nothing in life is perfect and as long as what I'm eating tastes awesome, I'm good to go. I think next time I need to roll up the dough tighter, so remember that when you try these out and they may look more like an itty bitty cinnamon roll than mine. Trust me though when I say these taste fantastic!

Makes 2 dozen
Ingredients:
2/3 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/3 Cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp butter, softened, divided
1/2 Cup brown sugar, divided
1 Tbsp cinnamon, divided

4oz Cream cheese
1/4 Cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Directions:
Whisk together the sugar and butter in your mixer until soft. 

Add in the egg and stir until fully incorporated, followed by the vanilla and sour cream.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir together with a fork then slowly add it to the dough.

Once everything is mixed together, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a circle. Place in the fridge to chill for at least two hours. 

Remove and flour your work surface really well. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with a silpat or grease with cooking spray. 

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll each half out into a circle about an 1/8 inch in thickness and coat each circle with two tablespoons of butter. 

Sprinkle on 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 a tablespoon of cinnamon over each circle and roll up into a log. 

Slice into thin cookies using a sharp knife and place on the baking sheet. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until fluffy and slightly golden brown. Remove and allow to cool on baking sheet. 

Icing:
Whip the cream cheese in your mixer until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and milk and mix together. Add more milk for thinner icing. 

Top cooled cookies with icing and return to the fridge for about 30-60 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

So did you and your family take advantage of National Pancake Day? Do you love breakfast for dinner, too?

Thanks for stopping by!

**I linked up to lovely little link party, the homeacre hop, pin it thursday, all things thursday, full plate thursday, work it wednesday, whats cookin wednesday, wicked awesome wednesday, show me what ya got, create link inspire, tasty tuesday, share your stuff tuesdays, the scoop, nifty thrifty tuesday, the diy'ers, make it pretty monday, made by you monday, metamorphosis mondays, sunday showcase, a marvelous mess, carrie this home, much ado about monday, craftomaniac, amaze me monday, busy monday, super saturday link party, link party palooza, weekend bloggy reading, weekend potluck, tickled pink, foodie friday, thursday style, kitchen fun and crafty friday, friday flash blog

***recipe adapted from here

Fluster's Creative Muster - Linky Party #61

Hey All! I'm here tonight co-hosting with the Fabulous Robin from Fluster Muster! So excited to be a part of this party!
In case you missed it...here's what I've been up to:

 How to Make Eggs On The Go!

 Strawberry Lemon Squares!

These are Not Your Ordinary Cookies!

Enough about me! Time for you to party!

Fluster's Creative Muster - Linky Party #61

When we were young my mom would always serve burgers with her secret sauce (I think she stole the name from McDonald's). No burger that she ever made was complete until she added that sauce. When I saw the post "A Burger's Favorite Sauce" at last weeks party I had to see if mom's secret recipe got out. My mom will be happy to hear that her recipe is still a secret, however I think Organizer by Day's recipe has her's beat. 

By linking to this party you are giving Fluster Buster and co-hosts permission to use your images in featured posts.

Host

Fluster Buster

Co-Host

Organizer By Day

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.flusterbuster.com" rel=”nofollow” title="Fluster Buster"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJugVPUK-FOY4TV5Kg6RLtNrq5OEPoVyFF_AD5sbKUOfZJHxiOb7RvZMFOIFUdK4QfNyv2vy4HKwb6yk2GYx7JitexZtZVAbpHt0vnGVO7IMT2stfsQxNmGbXn6yPIvM2EJ65bTg-C9Bat/s1600/Party+Button.jpg" alt="Fluster Buster" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

An InLinkz Link-up

Eggs On The Go!

Hey All and Happy Monday to you! Today I've got a great way to help make your week a little easier and better. What's the one meal that gets skipped over all the time? Breakfast. Funny thing is it really is incredibly important and good for you. 

When you eat first thing in the morning, it gives you more energy throughout the day and helps kick start your metabolism...therefore helping you lose weight! It's great! I always say to think of your body like a car and food like fuel. If you don't put fuel in your car, it'll start out sluggish, move slow, and eventually won't work anymore. So give your "tank" some "fuel" first thing in the morning. Don't have time you say? I have the solution. Eggs On The Go!

This idea came from my little sister who told me about it over dinner this weekend. She said she saw an idea to cook eggs in a muffin pan and immediately my creative wheels started turning. How great would it be to make a bunch of eggs all at once without dirtying my skillet and have them ready to eat throughout the week?! Pretty darn great, I think. So I got out all the ingredients I love to have with my eggs and threw everything in together.

These are so stinking easy, anyone can make them. All I did was crack one egg into each muffin cup, added some bacon, cheese, potatoes, peppers and a pinch each of salt and pepper, mixed it up with a fork and in the oven they went. After about 14 minutes I had perfect little egg cups ready to go! 

I only made four this time in case it was an epic fail, but they weren't! They came out great! I had to spray the heck out of the muffin tin with PAM before I poured anything in, but it really helped these come out smoothly. Now all I have to do in the morning is grab one of these yummy egg cups, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds, and I'm out the door! 

If you have a big family, make a whole dozen! If you have picky eaters, only add what they like into the cup. Want ham instead of bacon? Go for it. It's your egg. The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
2 pieces of bacon, cooked and cut up (or ham, or any meat, or no meat :)
1/2 Cup cheddar cheese
1/4 Cup diced frozen potatoes (optional)
2 Tbsp green peppers, chopped finely (also optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray or use your non stick muffin pan. 

Crack one egg into each cup.

Add any and all ingredients you can fit in the cup. Stir it all together with a fork.

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes still sitting in the pan. 

Take out of the pan and eat right away or store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. Take out the day you want to eat them and heat up in the microwave for a few seconds.

That's it! Easy Peasy! Breakfast is done for the week! The best part is everyone gets their eggs how they like them. Growing up in a huge family it was either scrambled or scrambled with cheese. This way, everyone wins! The fact that these are only 120 calories doesn't hurt either :)

Do you eat Breakfast?! If you don't, you need to start. It truly is the most important meal of the day and it can help you lose weight and stay healthy. You really can't afford to skip it. Do it for your health and for your co-workers that have to deal with your irritability every morning :)

Thanks for stopping by!

**I linked up to the diy'ers, make it pretty monday, made by you monday, metamorphosis mondays, sunday showcase, a marvelous mess, carrie this home, much ado about monday, craftomaniac, amaze me monday, busy monday, super saturday link party, link party palooza, weekend bloggy reading, weekend potluck, tickled pink, foodie friday, thursday style, kitchen fun and crafty friday, friday flash blog, the homeacre hop, bloom designs, pin it thursday, full plate thursday, all things thursday, create it thursday, tasty tuesday, work it wednesday, inspire me wednesday, whats cookin wednesday, wicked awesome wednesday, too cute tuesday, tutorial tuesday, link party tuesday, create link inspire, share your stuff tuesdays, titus 2 tuesday, the scoop, the diy'ers, make it pretty monday, metamorphosis monday

Strawberry Lemon Squares

So I wanted to explain why I sometimes call myself a "new cook" even though I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20. Growing up I had parents who were great cooks. They always made wonderful dinners and there were hardly ever complaints about what was on the menu. And as a teenager I thought I had anything better to do than learn how to cook. Therefore, I never learned before I left the nest.

When college rolled around I hadn't even figured out how to make pasta. Seriously! I didn't know how to make macaroni and cheese. Seeing as pasta is pretty much a college students only food group, I thought I was going to be in trouble. Luckily my freshman year I lived in a dorm with a food court (Wright Dormitory, IU!! :) and was able to prolong learning how to cook another year.

I honestly think I was afraid to learn how to cook. I guess it's because the few times I did try and cook on my own, they ended in epic failures. Like the time I tried to make a frozen biscuit in the microwave and almost set our apartment on fire. Or the time my sister and I tried to make cookies on my parent's nice Pampered Chef stone and dough ended up pouring over the edges and got all over the oven and ended up breaking the nice expensive stone and we tried to hide what we did only to be found out when our parents opened the drawer under the oven and found cookie dough EVERYWHERE! Or when I tried to make my first omelet and burnt the crap out of the frying pan and it had a million tiny egg shell pieces.

Needless to say I hung up the apron (more like burned my apron) for a long time. I was so lucky to have roommates the rest of college that cooked for me all the time. I would've starved without them! After college I moved in with my big sister and she felt so bad that I had the worst paying job in the world, she always paid for me to go out to eat with her. She, too, didn't have the cooking gene so we went out to eat a lot. Saved me from having to learn how to cook again!

Finally I met the man of my dreams, my Hubby. All I have ever heard growing up is "A way to a man's heart is through his stomach." or "To keep a man you gotta feed a man!". I know those are just funny phrases, but I started to take them seriously and told myself if I was going to marry this man and love him forever I needed to learn how to boil water cook! At the time we both lived in small apartments and the kitchens were not easy to learn in. I jokingly told him one day if he bought me a house with a big kitchen I would learn how to cook.

He just so happened to decide it was time for him to buy a house shortly after I said that :) So we went and looked at a few dozen homes, and fell madly love with one. The kitchen was huge! We ended up looking at it six times we loved it so much. A couple days later I get a phone call from my future Hubby and he says to me "Honey I love you and want to buy you the house of your dreams. I put a bid on the one you love and I'm going to buy it for you!"! I laughed hysterically and then started bawling. It was the happiest I had ever felt...not because I was getting a house, but because I realized the man I was hopelessly in love with loved me back just the same. It was an amazing feeling. From that day on I vowed I would learn how to cook so I could feed my man and my future family.

That was about four years ago. I'm now a great baker and still becoming a pretty darn good cook. Dinner is rarely thrown out and replaced with pizza and I still manage to make yummy new dishes that Hub loves. My forte though by far is baking sweet treats. I've actually been making lemon squares for...well about four years. It was one of the first things I learned how to bake. I had a craving for some the other day but this time I decided to jazz 'em up with some strawberry jam making Strawberry Lemon Squares!

First I made the yummy crunchy crust. This time around though I added vanilla wafers to it. Since I don't have a food processor (yet!) I threw a few cookies in a bag, smashed them up as well as I could, and cut a hole in the corner so that only the small crumbs would fall out.

Then I let it bake for a few minutes. While that was in the oven, I added together the rest of the ingredients but the jam and whipped it together. Then I poured it over the baked crust and dropped big ol' spoonfuls of jam into the lemon mix. Baked again, let them cool, added as much powdered sugar as I can handle, cut them and devoured!!

Ingredients:
1 3/4 Cups flour
1 Cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
1/4 Cup crushed vanilla wafers (about 10 wafers)
1 tsp salt
1 Cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice (or lemon zest if you have it)

4 eggs
2 Cups sugar
1/4 Cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
5/8 Cup lemon juice (it's basically a whole bottle of the lemon shaped lemon juice)
3-4 Tbsp strawberry jam
Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a 9x13 pan with parchment paper or coat it like crazy with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine the flour, powdered sugar, vanilla wafers and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the butter, vanilla and lemon juice until smooth and press into the pan. Make sure the crust is the same thickness throughout the pan.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until slightly golden.

While baking, beat the eggs for 2-3 minutes.

Combine the sugar, flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Pour into the beaten eggs and mix it all together. Then stir in the lemon juice.

Pour the lemon mix on top of the crust as soon as it comes out of the oven. Drop the strawberry jam into the lemon mix randomly.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the bars are set. Remove and let them cool completely. I usually open my oven and let the squares sit there until the oven is cool. Then I put the whole pan on a wire rack and let them finish cooling that way.

Top with tons of powdered sugar (if you want) and allow to sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Cut up and enjoy!!

Do you have any terrible cooking stories? Almost burn any apartments down like me? :) Love to hear your stories!!

Thanks for stopping by!

**I linked up to super saturday link party, link party palooza, weekend bloggy reading, weekend potluck, tickled pink, foodie friday, thursday style, kitchen fun and crafty friday, friday flash blog, the homeacre hop, bloom designs, pin it thursday, full plate thursday, all things thursday, create it thursday, tasty tuesday, work it wednesday, inspire me wednesday, whats cookin wednesday, wicked awesome wednesday, too cute tuesday, tutorial tuesday, link party tuesday, create link inspire, share your stuff tuesdays, titus 2 tuesday, the scoop, the diy'ers, make it pretty monday, metamorphosis monday, made by you monday, frugal crafty home, much ado about monday, amaze me monday, busy monday