For my son...

I made this tray of goodies.  Last night was my older son's last meeting as being Worshipful Master of his Masonic Lodge...following in his dad and grandfather's footsteps.  I volunteered to make the desserts for after their lasagna dinner.

LEFT to RIGHT:

Pastry Roll-ups (recipe to follow)

Chocolate Chip cookies (will post this at a later date)

Shortbread cookies (adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Countdown Brownies (family trade-secret)

Pastry Roll-ups

As you can see...a very simple cast of characters.  Believe me when I tell you this, when people taste these for the first time, they'll think you are a baking genius and think you've spent hours in the kitchen!  Trust me. This really isn't even a recipe!!

Sprinkle a bit of flour on your working surface. 

Unroll one of the pastry crusts, sprinkling the top with a bit of flour.  Gently roll the crust to for just a wee bit larger circle.

Slather on some softened butter...I was quite generous and used about 1/2 a stick of REAL butter.

Sprinkle on some brown sugar.

...and cinnamon

...and pat it all down with a rolling pin.

Here's where a pizza cutter comes in handy.  Cut it into wedges.  I do 16...I'm going for a smallish, one or two bite treat here.

Add just a little bit of mini chocolate chips and finely chopped pecans (walnuts would be good, too).

After they're all lined up on a baking sheet, brush them with a bit of milk (any kind will do).   

I've lined my baking sheet with a silpat.  If you don't have one, that's okay...just make sure you line your pan with foil that's been sprayed with cooking spray (yes, you will thank me) so they don't stick to the bottom.

Sprinkle with sugar.  You can see here I only brushed a few rows at a time with milk before topping with sugar...just makes it stick better  I go a little crazy here because I really like the crusty, sugary top.  (don't look at my tarnished silver sugar spoon handle [was hubby's grandmother's]...but I use those treasures!)

You can see here they are quite close together on the tray...that's fine because they do NO puff up and become one big glob.  Bake in a preheated 425 oven for about 10-12 minutes...or until just starting to get a bit browned on the top.  DO NOT bake until they're all golden brown.

Wait only a minute, then gently remove them from baking sheet on to a foil lined cooling rack or another baking tray.  Cool completely.

SAVE all that brown sugar/buttery goodness that has come out during baking.  Just gently scrape it together and let cool.

THEN...because I'm a dork and didn't take photos of the rest because I was multi-tasking by also watching a movie...make your burned butter frosting. (you'll have to rely on the recipe listed below for this...sorry).

I put the frosting in a zip-bag, snip a very tiny tip off one corner and drizzle over the roll-ups.  Now, if you want to add even MORE goodness...take some of that brown sugary/butter goodness and sprinkle it over the frosting.  If you do, make sure you only drizzle a few at a time with frosting, then sprinkle those few. This frosting get hard very quickly...if you wait toooooo long...it won't stick if already dry.

SAVE any remaining sugary bits and use them as ice cream topping.  Oh.My.Goodness.

I hope your family and friends love these as much as mine do.  When my daughter saw the picture of the tray on FB, she immediately posted she got 'dibs' on any leftover roll-ups'.  I had to inform her, according to her dad, those were the first to go!!  Guess I'll be making some for her and her hubs.

Enjoy!!

PASTRY ROLL-UPS

Roll-ups

1 box (2) Pillsbury pie crusts (refrigerated section)

1 stick (8 Tbps.) REAL butter, softened

brown sugar

cinnamon

mini chocolate chips 

pecans, finely chopped

Frosting

1 stick butter

4-5 c. powdered sugar

pinch of salt

2-3 Tbps. milk

Preheat oven to 425

Place a silpat on baking sheet...or line completely with foil, spraying with cooking spray.

Roll-ups:

Unroll one of the pie crusts onto a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle top with a bit of flour before gently rolling crust to form a little bit larger circle.

Using 1/2 the butter (4 Tbsp.), spread on crust, leaving about 1/4" edge unbuttered.

Cover with brown sugar.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Using your rolling pin, gently press the sugar/cinnamon into the crust.

Cut into 16 wedges...a pizza cutter is perfect for this.

Removing one little wedge at a time, sprinkle with a few mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans. 

Roll up like a crescent roll.  Place on lined baking sheet.  They can be place close together since they will NOT puff up/spread out and bake together.

Repeat with 2nd crust.

Brush tops with milk.  Sprinkle with sugar...the more you use, the crunchier the tops will be.

Bake 10-12 minutes until just barely turning brown on the tops.

Remove from oven.  Let rest 1 minute before gently moving them to a foil lined cooling rack...or another baking sheet.  Let cool completely.

SAVE those yummy buttery/brown sugar bits that have oozed out during baking.  Scrape them into a pile on the baking sheet.  (I usually place it in a little bowl for cooling)

Frosting:

Melt butter in saucepan.

Add powdered sugar and salt.  Stir gently.

Add milk.  Stir until smooth.  You're going for a thick, pourable frosting so adjust with more powdered sugar or milk as needed.

Let cool a little; pour into a small zip bag.  Snip a very small tip off one corner.  Drizzle frosting on roll-ups.  Here come the quite tasty part.  Sprinkle some of that sugary bits over the frosting.  If you do (and I sometimes do not) just make sure you only drizzle frosting on a few, then sprinkle those bits.  This frosting hardens quite rapidly and if you wait too long, they won't 'stick' to the frosting.

SAVE any of the sugary bits to use as a topping on ice cream.  You'll thank me for this...

ENJOY!!

Basic Pizza Crust...with Mushrooms/Onions

I was home alone last night.
I felt like pizza.
I made pizza.
It was quite delicious.

Mushroom & Onion Pizza

Put the flour in a food processor.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Pulse/process until it all comes together. You actually don't need a food processor, this is just how I almost always make it.  I've even forgotten to switch to the dough blade...and it works fine.  You can always use a stand mixer or even do it by hand.

 Cast of Characters

 This is pretty much how you want the dough to look after processing.  You do NOT want a dry mixture.

Put some olive oil in a bowl, oil your hands, and form dough into a ball.  Dough should be quite soft.  Place dough in bowl, turning over so all is covered with a light coating of the olive oil.  Cover with plastic wrap; let rise until doubled in size. 

While dough is rising, get the desired toppings cut up and ready.  

Remove dough from bowl and place on a piece of parchment paper (you don't need the paper, but it sure saves on cleanup...and from sticking to a pan).  Drizzle with olive oil.

I put this seasoned salt on before the toppings...just forgot to take a photo at the correct time!!

I was eating this myself & I didn't want sauce on it...so I didn't put any on!  

I started with the mozzarella cheese and then the mushrooms and onions.  That's what's nice about making pizza at home, you get what  you want!  If the hubs would have been here, he would have put sliced green olives (gag...) on his half.

I did top the dough with some of this awesome seasoned salt I found at Costco.  (I also felt like sprinkling more over the top right before it went in the oven)

 Drizzle with just a little bit more olive oil. Just makes it taste sooo good.

 Preheat oven and pizza stone (if using) to 500 degrees F.

Here's its ready for the oven!

Bake 10-12 min. or until cheese is melted and crust is nicely browned.

FORCE yourself to let it cool before cutting.  ENJOY!!

Basic Pizza Dough

Makes one 14" pizza

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. flour (I used a combination of all-purpose and bread flour)

2 pkg. Quick Rise yeast OR 2 Tbsp. instant yeast*

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. olive oil

7/8 c. warm water

Sauce of choice (if using)

Desired toppings

*This might sound like a LOT of yeast, but trust me here.  It will rise very quickly...and nicely...and form a very soft dough.  You can easily use less dough with great result.  However, this is sooo good and you can be eating pizza in about 45 minutes after you realize you have a pizza craving!

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients except warm water in bowl of food processor.  Pulse several times.

Slowly add the warm water through the feed tube, processing until dough forms a loose ball.  If you feel it's too wet, add flour 1 Tbsp. at a time.  (weather can be a big factor if you need more flour)

Place dough in a well oiled bowl, turning dough to get oil on all sides.  Cover with plastic wrap that's been sprayed with cooking spray.  Let rise until double in bulk.

Preheat oven and pizza stone (if using) to 500 degrees F.

Shred cheese, slice mushrooms & onion...get any other desired toppings ready while dough is rising.

Gently punch down dough; place in the center of a piece of parchment paper.  Using oiled fingers/hands, press/pat the dough into desired shape.  Drizzle with olive oil, making sure to get the very edges covered.

If using sauce, spread a thin layer on top of dough.  Sprinkle on a nice layer of mozzarella cheese; top with remaining toppings of choice (here it's mushrooms and onions).

Drizzle with olive oil.  Carefully pick up the parchment paper and place on preheated stone.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is nicely browned.

TIPS:

I've got a dough-rise mode on my oven so that's how I usually do the rise, but you can turn your oven on to the lowest setting for no more than a minute.  This will warm up the oven enough to let the dough rise rather rapidly.

If you don't have a pizza stone, use whatever pizza pan you want.  Just make sure to oil if very well so the pizza doesn't stick!!  OR...put parchment paper on your pizza pan.

My New Blog...

Okay.  I've had a knitting/quilting...all-purpose BLOG for several years...and thought it was time to have a spot just for the food/recipes/goodies that come out of my kitchen.

This was my lunch.  It's just little slivers of deli turkey, green pepper, onion & avocado on Artisan Romaine leaves...topped with salt/pepper.  Doesn't get much simpler than this!!

More food...photos...directions next post!!