Pull Apart Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

Once a month, the pastor's wives at my church Southbay Church, get together for some face to face time. It's a great way for us to spend time together, fellowship, pray together, share what's going on in each other's life, and grow together.

It seems funny that we see each other at church every week, live in walking distance from some of them, and live only a few miles from the others, and we still feel like we don't get to see each other, much less be able to talk in depth and create good relationships.

It's really important for us. Since our church is a church plant, we are all new to the area, moved here not knowing a soul other than each other, and are still a very new, growing church - so cultivating and maintaining close relationships with our own team is crucial. We celebrate birthdays together as staff families, have our monthly staff wives brunch, and are just very intentional about relationships with one another.

This past month, I hosted the brunch at my place. I tried to get a picture of all of us girls, and of course, everyone said "no, not today", so I can't show you our beautiful faces, but I'll try again next month! :)

I made these pull apart maple sticky buns - and they are amazing! They have cream cheese dipped in cinnamon and sugar wrapped around biscuits, drenched in butter, and covered with maple syrup and pecans!!! The recipe is from Kraftfoods.com

Have I told you about kraftfoods.com before? I haven't? Shame on me!! (and no, I definitely am not getting brownie points from Kraft to talk about them - I just love them)

This is the first website I started using when I first started cooking. There are hundreds of recipes for every kind of type. You can even put in three ingredients you have on hand and it will tell you what to make for dinner. There is a healthy living section, and enough desserts to make you the talk of the dinner party for months on end!! And they are EASY with not too many froo froo ingredients. The summer recipes and Christmas recipes are the best!

Check it out.... but for now, go make your hunny some sticky buns for breakfast!

PULL APART MAPLE STICKY BUNS (By: Kraftfoods.com)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, divided

1/3 cup maple-flavored or pancake syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cans (12 oz. each) refrigerated flaky buttermilk biscuits

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cut into 20 cubes

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Sprinkle nuts onto bottom of 12-cup fluted pan or 10-inch tube pan sprayed with cooking spray.

3. Melt 2 TBSP. butter in small microwaveable bowl. Stir in syrup; drizzle over nuts in pan.

4. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a shallow dish.

5. Separate biscuits into 20 biscuits. Flatten each to 1/4".

6. Roll cream cheese cubes in cinnamon sugar mixture until evenly coated; place 1 in center of each biscuit.

7. Gather up sides of dough to enclose filling; press edges together to seal. Roll each into ball.

8. Melt remaining butter in small dish. Dip top of each ball into melted butter and then cinnamon and sugar.

9. Arrange half the balls, cinnamon sugar side up, in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining balls to form second layer. Top with any remaining butter and cinnamon sugar.

10. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 min. in pan.

11. Invert onto serving plate. Remove pan. Top buns with any remaining nuts in pan. Cool slightly.

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Favorite Things

I have several kitchen and entertaining items that I LOVE. I thought I'd share. I'd love to hear from all of you what your favorites are too. I was thinking about making this a recurring series with a link up - doesn't have to necessarily be cooking gadgets - anything that's your favorite things that you want to share. What do you think?

This is probably my favorite kitchen/baking item! I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer. My husband bought it for me for my birthday a year after we were married - back when we were BROKE and shouldn't have been spending so much on kitchen tools. ha. It was a special at William's Sonoma that year, and now you can't even get them. So if anything ever happens to it, I'll be so sad, cause I really love the color -terra cotta. But maybe I'll just have to replace it with a pistachio one to go with my one day vintage kitchen! This really does make a difference in the way batters come out. They are much smoother, creamier, and the end result turns out so much better than when I make it with my hand mixer.

My husband is affectionately known as the "cheese grater". I like to actually call him my sous chef because he does all the smaller tasks for me when I'm cooking. He was tired of using the small hand-held grater we had and cutting his fingers, so for Christmas, he bought me a cheese grater! :) I love it too!! It slices and grates - so you can use it for veggies as well as cheese.

I love milk glass! I think it's so classy and pretty. I don't have a lot of it, but a couple different serving pieces, including this pitcher and some tumblers. They make a perfect addition to a brunch, etc. I always look through the kitchen stuff at thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc) and find some great finds. I would love to add this!

This was my first "real" knife. It's so handy! I use it for just about everything.

I love this spatula because of the size - mini. It's perfect for getting out that infamously hard to reach first brownie from the batch, making it into corners on casseroles, and the like. It's so convenient, and I find that I can't keep it clean because I'm always using it. Definitely a must.

This is another must. This is not an ordinary ice cream scoop! Rather, it has a liquid inside the handle that reacts with the warmth of your hand and softens the ice cream when you scoop it. It doesn't melt it, just softens enough so it's not impossible to get out. GENIUS!!

No more smelly garlic hands! Enough said!

The best way to cut meat, herbs, anything you need. Another one of those items for me that never stays in the drawer because it's always being used.

Last, but not least...

You all know about my love for coffee. Oh you don't?! You can read about it here. :) Yes, I love it. And it doesn't get much better than when you have a coffee pot that will grind the coffee and brew it all in the same pot! Love that. I bought this for my husband a few years ago from Target. They don't have it there anymore, but you can sometimes find it online. I've also considered getting the Cuisinart model (so expensive!) because the top of ours is being held down by a piece of tape. Don't judge! I love my coffee!!!

Hope you all enjoyed this feature. I might be back with some favorite brands, more gadgets, etc!!

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Summer Is Here

Now that I live in California, I love the summer!

Couldn't say the same for South Carolina. It was SOO hot, I would count down the days to fall - because you can still go to the beach in the fall, and you can actually keep the windows open.

In California, you can keep the windows open year round, the flowers are gorgeous, you can actually enjoy outdoor activities in the summer, and you don't get eaten alive by mosquitos - in fact I've seen one mosquito in the entire year and a half I've lived here. Quite the difference from Charleston. I got these peonies (my absolute favorite flower) from Trader Joe's, and they seriously make me happy! Aren't these gorgeous... I didn't edit this photo at all!

One of the things I do love about summer, regardless of where I am is ice cream!! I got this love from my dad. He's the start of a what will be a very long generation of sweet tooth's. He used to (and probably still does) get up to enjoy a midnight snack of ice cream. So, I have a sweet spot for some ice cream.

This is a sorbet recipe, so not exactly ice cream, and it's a recipe from Family Circle, so they found ways to take down the calories, but imagine that... healthy ice cream!! This keeps getting better and better! Did I mention it has coffee... and chocolate.... and it's ICE CREAM!! I'll put the nutrition facts at the bottom.

Well, it is actually a sorbet, so it's a bit icy, but the flavor is fantastic, and it's a great way to treat your sweet tooth without feeling bad about yourself. I definitely recommend using good quality chocolate for this one.

Mocha Sorbet (by: The Family Circle: Eat What You Want and Lose)

Ingredients (makes 12 servings): - I halved this written recipe

4 cups water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Combine water, sugar, corn syrup, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and chocolate in medium-sized saucepan. Simmer until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

2. Pour into 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Place in freezer for 2 1/2 hours or until partially frozen.

3. Working in batches, spoon chocolate mixture into food processor or blender. Process 1 minute or until smooth. Do not overprocess. Pour back into baking pan. Freeze 1 hour.

4. Repeat Step 3. Freeze for 1 1/2 hours or until firm.

Nutrient Value Per Serving: 140 calories, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 1 g protein, 3 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol.

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Grammie's Sock It To Me Pound Cake

Hope you all had a great LONG Memorial Day weekend!

It was so nice to have a day off work! We went to Carmel, CA for the weekend with some friends and took the pups along. We had fun exploring, letting the dogs play on the beach, shopping, etc. It was just so nice to relax - and force our puppies to be best friends! :)

I think they bonded by the end, even if it was forced upon them.

Of course I came home sick - just a really bad cold, but not a fun way to end the vacation.

So, let's talk about some yummy cake. This one holds a special place in my heart.

Very soon after we moved to California, my great-grandmother passed away. I wasn't able to go home for the funeral, but my grandmother sent me several items of hers that she thought I might like. She loved to cook as well, and was known for several key staples for family get-togethers: Red Velvet Cake that is to DIE for - my father requested it for every birthday, and at Christmas, she made homemade biscuits for ham biscuits! A true Southern love right there!

My grandmother sent me this pan that was my great-grandmother's and I felt it such a privilege to own it.

I knew I wanted to make something special in there, and when my mom came to visit, I knew I had just the thing. She brought me a present from my grandmother - a cookbook from her church commemorating the 50th anniversary. In there are several of my grandmother's recipes, including this cake recipe - I can remember eating this at Easter dinners, family dinners, and the sort. I LOVE the frosting on this, it's one of my favorites. I thought it would be so cool to make it in my great-grandmother's pan.

I know it's not a true tube pan, but I just thought it would be so cool to combine these! It was well worth it. And it's SOO easy! I LOVE how thick, creamy and yummy the batter is, and the cake is super fluffy with the cinnamon/brown sugar streak really makes it!

P.S. How do you like the new banner?

Grammie's Sock It To Me Pound Cake: (By: Billie Suthard, a.k.a. Grammie)

Ingredients - for cake:

1 butter recipe cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup chopped pecans (these are obviously optional, I actually left it out)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Ingredients: - for frosting:

1 box powdered sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 stick butter, softened

Directions:

For cake:

1. Mix cake mix, sugar, and oil together well.

2. Add eggs one at a time

3. Then add cream cheese and pecans.

This batter is soo soo yummy! You will definitely want to lick the beaters.

4. Pour 1/2 the batter into a greased tube pan.

5. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over batter in pan.

6. Pour remaining batter over cake and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I actually baked this for about 1 hr and 10 min. but I think it's because of the pan choice, so watch it carefully! Allow to cool on cooling rack.

Directions - For Frosting:

Mix powdered sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter together and pour onto cake.

**Note: You can also cook the above ingredients together and pour over warm pound cake, and it hardens - amazing!

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