Pizza Breadsticks

When it came to food, I didn't do much planning ahead for New Year's Eve. I knew I was going to bring something to the parties we were attending, but didn't think too much about what that would be. That morning, it was crunch time and I had to figure it out, and fast.

I turned to an oldie but a goodie--pizza breadsticks. I've been making these for a few years now. I've brought them to several parties and they're always a hit. I knew I hadn't served them to this particular group of people, so it was an easy decision. Plus, they don't take much time to pull together, so that's a bonus.

These are made with store-bought pizza dough. Pepperoni and mozzarella cheese are folded into the dough, then the dough is cut into small breadsticks and twisted before baked. Served with pizza sauce for dipping, these are a fantastic and addicting snack!

Pizza Breadsticks
(Source: Adapted from Rachael Ray)

Ingredients:
- 1 tube ready-made pizza dough, recommended brand Pillsbury
- 24-36 pepperoni slices (I use turkey pepperoni)
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or use a little more or less, based on your preference)
- 1 jar of your favorite pizza sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Unroll the pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Stretch to make a relatively even rectangle. In an even layer, on one half of the dough, place the pepperoni down onto the dough, making sure to leave a 1-inch border around each edge. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the pepperoni.

3. Fold over the other half of the dough and press down gently on the edges to seal the halves together. Gently pat down the folded dough.

4. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut 8-10 thin strips (about 1-inch thick). Your breadsticks will be pretty long. If serving at a party, cut the strips in half length-wise so that they are a more manageable size.

5. Holding the ends of each strip, gently twist once, being careful not to let all the cheese and pepperoni fall out (some will, though). Place twisted strips onto baking sheet. After all strips are twisted and placed on the baking sheet, feel free to take any stray pepperoni/cheese pieces and tuck them back into the openings in the twisted strips.

6. With nonstick cooking spray, spray the entire pan, including the pizza breadsticks. Bake until golden brown, about 12-18 minutes. Remove from oven and serve as soon as possible. Serve with pizza sauce.

Read more...

New Year, New Look

Now that the holidays are over, clearly the Christmas blog layout had to go. Although I do always hate to part with it! :)

Keeping with the season, though... I give you Heather Drive's new winter design. And with the temperatures around these parts lately, it's definitely winter (I've been freezing my buns off).

You'll notice some new shades of blue, and lots and lots of snowflakes. I even updated the header with new pictures and it got some "snow" as well.

Now I just have to start brainstorming for spring!

Read more...

Caramel Cocoa Crispy Bars

I have so many recipes to share from this week! It's going to take me a while to get caught up. I hope you guys are up for all of these food posts. :)

For New Year's Eve, we were going to a couple of different parties, and of course, we couldn't go to either one of them empty-handed. For my brother's party, I decided to make a dessert. I went through several starred recipes in my Google Reader, looking for something relatively easy, but wonderfully tasty. After putting my "finalists" up for votes from Michael and Cristina, we settled on these caramel cocoa crispy bars.

These "fancified" rice krispy treats flew off of the platter at the party. They're irresistible, and were a wonderful treat with which to welcome the new year. The cocoa krispies cereal is mixed with melted marshmallows and butter, pressed into a pan, drizzled with melted caramel candies, and topped with mini chocolate chips. Start your year off right--make these!

Caramel Cocoa Crispy Bars
(Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp. butter
- 1 (10 oz.) package marshmallows
- 6 cups cocoa crispy cereal (brand name or generic, both work fine)
- 20-24 caramel candies, wrappers removed
- 1-2 tbsp. milk, half-and-half, or cream
- handful of mini chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Prepare a 9x13" pan by greasing with butter or nonstick spray.

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the marshmallows, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat.

3. Working quickly, add the cereal and stir until it has been evenly coated with the melted marshmallow mixture. Pour the treats into the prepared 9x13" pan. Using a heavily-greased spatula (spray generously with nonstick spray), press the cereal mixture down into the pan evenly.

4. To make the caramel topping, place the candies into a heatproof bowl. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Before the last interval, add 1 tbsp. of the milk/cream, heat, and then stir to combine. If necessary, add another tbsp. of milk/cream to make the caramel easy to drizzle. Drizzle over the top of the cocoa crispy bars. Sprinkle the handful of mini chocolate chips immediately, and press down lightly to help them adhere to the caramel.

5. Allow the bars and the caramel topping to set completely. Cut into bars for serving.

Read more...

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I have been wanting to try to make homemade cinnamon rolls for about a year now. No joke. It's just that they require quite a bit of advanced preparation, so you have to plan ahead. Because of all that prep, they're also a bit time-consuming, so it's hard to muster up the motivation to make these. And then we're just not that all into breakfast in this house. While we love breakfast foods, most mornings we prefer simple cereal.

But as Christmas was approaching, I decided that I'd make cinnamon rolls--not once, but twice. Once on Christmas morning for our big breakfast with my family, and then again the day after that for a brunch at Michael's sister's house. I bought all the ingredients, read through the recipe to prepare myself, and then... well, it didn't work out. I didn't make them for Christmas morning, and I didn't make them for brunch the following day, either. There was just too much going on and not enough time to devote to these cinnamon rolls.

So when we had my sister-in-law (home on holiday break from college) come over to hang out with us and spend the night earlier this week, I knew that I just had to make cinnamon rolls for the three of us to enjoy in the morning.

I had never attempted homemade cinnamon rolls before, so this was all new to me. And I'm always worried about working with yeast, so this was kind of challenging! But it all worked out in the end. The cinnamon rolls? Absolutely amazing. The only thing left to figure out is when we'll have the opportunity to make these again!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
(Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride, adapted from Food Network)

Yields 12 rolls

Ingredients:
Dough:
- 4 large egg yolks, room temp
- 1 large whole egg, room temp
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp
- 20 oz all-purpose flour (approximately 4 cups), plus additional for dusting
- 1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
- 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- Vegetable oil or cooking spray

Filling:
- 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 1/4 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Icing:
2-3 tbsp. milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. For the dough: in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined.

2. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough, add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

4. For the filling: Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

5. To assemble: Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle.

6. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough.

7. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness.

8. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

9. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

11. When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 25-30 minutes.

12. While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the milk and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

Read more...

Greetings, 2010

I think I'm in love with 2010. Well, so far.

First of all, 2010 is a nice, even number. And it looks nice written down. For my anal retentive self, that's a big deal. But that's not really what I'm talking about when I say I *love* 2010.

You see... 2010 is full of possibility and promise, and so much of what will happen this year is yet to be known. As of today, this first day of January--this first day of a new year--2010 has not let me down.

I feel refreshed. I feel hopeful. I'm upbeat.

The book has been closed on 2009. The past twelve months of my life are filed away in my mind. The past twelve months of posts are now in the blog archives.

The new page, it is blank. I'm ready for 2010. Although 2009 wasn't a bad year, I still believe that 2010 could be a better one. And so I greet it, with arms wide open.

What is meant to be will be, and I have good feelings about the next 364 days.

Bring it, 2010. BRING IT.

Read more...