My Grandma's Famous Orange Rolls

This is the most requested birthday dessert and my grandma has been making them ever since I can remember. Most orange rolls have only a little bit of orange flavor/filling but my grandma has altered the recipe over the years to add more and more of the orange sauce and they taste so good. I've made them 3 times now and it may seem like a lot of work but I finally have everything figured out and I can make them pretty quick (minus the rising time). I've cut my grandma's recipe in half and it made 24 orange rolls.

Orange Rolls
Dough:

• 1 1/2 T. dry yeast
• 1 T. sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 c. flour

Put these ingredients in a mixer and mix slightly.

In a large pan heat:

• 2 1/4 c. milk
• 3 T. butter
• 3 T. shortening

Heat until very warm (120-130F.); shortening does not need to melt completely.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Add:

• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten with a fork

Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Then change to a dough hook and add 3 c. flour. If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook just mix the flour in by hand. Transfer the dough to a large bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Put in a warm place. ( I put it on top of the stove and turn the oven on to warm) Let it rise until double in size (about 45min.-1hr.) and then punch it down. Let it rise once more until double in size.

Orange Sauce:

• 1 stick of butter (1/2 c.)
• 3 c. sugar
• 1/2 of a 12oz. can of frozen concentrate orange juice
• 1 1/2 T. orange zest (about 1 orange)
• 1/2 c. water

I start cooking the orange sauce when I start making the dough because it takes awhile to cool. Bring the ingredients to a boil. Once it is boiling turn to medium heat and don't stir anymore. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the soft ball stage. (235F. on a candy thermometer) Let the sauce cool in the pan.
On a floured surface, roll 1/2 the dough out into a rectangle (approx. 18inX12in.). Spread 1/2 of the orange sauce over the dough. (Depending how cool your sauce is it will either spread or I just kind of drizzle it all over. It all tastes the same. Just make sure it isn't too hot you want it to be thick.) Roll the dough starting on the long side. Cut into 12 slices (approx. 1 1/2 inch slices) and place in a buttered 9X13 baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap that you've sprayed with cooking spray and let them rise for about 1 hour.
I don't have any pictures of them once they've risen or cooked because I took these to Sunday dinner and forgot my camera. So once they've risen bake them at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until slightly brown and cooked through. As soon as you take them out of the oven flip them upside-down and serve. (All the sauce is at the bottom of the pan and if you flip them the sauce will cover the whole roll and you don't want the rolls sticking to the pan because once the sauce cools it hardens.)

You have to try this!

This was delicious! What's not to love pasta, chicken, bacon, cream sauce, cheese. (Typing that reminded me of the episode of Friends where Rachael makes a trifle with hamburger and Joey says what's not to like jam-good; meat-good; etc. I love that show, anyways, back to the recipe) I'm sure you could also just pan fry the chicken in the sauce if you didn't want to use a crock pot or don't have the time. And I actually might try it next time without the chicken to see how it tastes because I bet it would taste amazing even without the chicken.

Garlic Chicken Farfalle

• 1 lb (16oz) Farfalle pasta (bowtie)
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 2-3 cloves garlic crushed or garlic salt
• 1/2 T. pepper
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 lb. bacon crumbled
• 1 c. shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 (12oz) Lawry's mesquite marinade with lime juice (by the bbq sauce)

I didn't have any precooked, crumbled bacon left from Costco so I cooked up a batch in the oven because my dad always does and it was so easy. (I also tried a couple of pieces in the microwave but they were more chewy than crunchy so I prefer the oven and it's not as messy) Cover a pan with foil and curl the edges to contain the grease. Place the bacon on the foil and cook at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Keep an eye on it because it depends on the thickness how long it will take to cook. You don't need to flip the bacon either. Put the cooked bacon on paper towels to cool and when the grease is cool you can just crumple up the foil and throw it away. I think from now on I'll always cook my bacon this way.
Place chicken and the bottle of marinade in a crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. I only had 2 chicken breasts so I used a couple of chicken tenders also. After 5 hours I used 2 forks and shredded the chicken in the crockpot so that it would absorb more flavor. It makes the overall sauce a lot stronger. Or you can do like the recipe suggests and pull the chicken out and let it cool then shred it.
Next cook the pasta. Drain and set aside. (Next time because the sauce was pretty strong I'll probably make 1 1/2 lb. or a box and a half of pasta and make a bigger batch.)
Then start the sauce. Melt the butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and cumbled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
This is what the chicken looked like shredded in the crockpot.

Next add in the pasta and stir.
Then add the chicken (but not the extra marinade) and stir to combine. You can sprinkle more cheese on top.

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love the Nestle Tollhouse recipe but I thought I would give this a try and see how it compares. Overall I didn't notice much of a difference in taste but the look and texture was better with this recipe.

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 lb. butter (4 sticks)
• 1 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 c. brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 T. vanilla
• 1 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. baking soda
• 6 c. flour
• 3-6 c. chocolate chips (I used 5 c.)
  
• 2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

First cream the butter and sugar together for 10 minutes. It's important that you cream these 3 ingredients for at least 10 minutes.
Add the eggs and cream for another 2 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
(This was a lot of cookie dough and so I had to transfer everything from my mixer bowl into a large bowl and mix the last little bit of flour and chocolate chips by hand.)

I love using this scoop for cookies. I got this at Wal-mart. I also use a silpat because nothing sticks to it and cleanup is really easy. I cook everything on them.
Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Remove them to a cooling rack.

I was able to make 9 1/2 dozen cookies with this recipe. I placed 4 1/2 dozen on another silpat and cookie sheet (below) and flash freezed them. Then I can put them in a ziploc in the freezer and pull out however many I want whenever I want. If you don't have a silpat just put them on wax paper so they don't stick.