No Excuse, Just Lazy - And a Recipe

Yep, that's me.  The few weeks have been lazy.  I don't have any excuse.

Don't get me wrong, there has been lots to do but I haven't had the motivation to work on any craft or take any pictures.  I hope to get something done tomorrow.  I have been working on some pieces for a card that I hope to have published but that is it!

So, I have to redouble my efforts to get some photos and cards done to share with you all!  And, I need to see about entering some further pieces for publication...

Until then, here is a snapshot from the last few weeks.

What I have been doing is baking again!  I decided to combine three recipes from the All Recipes website and came up with the following for a brilliant Cinnamon Roll recipe.  You can find the originals here, here and here!  And my combination is as follows:

Best Ever Cinnamon Buns

Makes 24 Buns

Ingredients:

2 packages active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 package yellow cake mix (I use butter cake for those in AUS)

7 cups all-purpose flour, divided

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

1/3 cup butter

Filling (divide the ingredients in half when rolling out two lots of dough):

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons white sugar

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon (personally, I don't measure this!)

Frosting:

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method: 

1.      In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, and let stand for 3 minutes. Add cake mix, 1 cup flour, eggs, oil, and salt; beat well. Stir in remaining flour until a soft dough forms.

2.      Knead on well floured surface for about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the dough surface. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

3.      Meanwhile; in a small saucepan, melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup ice cream; bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute. Pour caramel into the bottom of 2 lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pans.

4.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

5.      Punch down, and divide into two equal parts. Roll out each section on a lightly floured surface. Spread each with softened butter and sprinkle with brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon.

6.      Roll up like jelly rolls and cut buns 1 1/2 inches thick with a piece of dental floss or a dull knife. Place in baking pans on top of caramel, and allow to rise until doubled.

7.      Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes or until golden brown; shifting pans around after half of cooking time.

8.      While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

* If you aren’t a big cream cheese fan, reduce the cream cheese to 2/3 of the block for a more mellow taste.

These turned out light and fluffy with a yummy caramel base.  As predicted, the two pans are nearly gone and it's only been three days!  Enjoy :-)