Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:

• 1/4-ounce package yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour


Filling:
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

 Icing
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

 In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 30-45 minutes.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Note: This makes 12 very large cookies. I cut the recipe in half and ended up with what you see above..... and they were bigger than they look.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup dark cocoa powder
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

* You can use 2 cups of any combination of chips you like. I just used what I had on hand. I'm sure white chocolate or peanut butter chips would have tasted good also.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead briefly by hand to be sure the ingredients are well combined.

Spoon dough on cookie sheet in sizes proportionate to the size cookies you would like. Due to the fact that cold butter is used (and they are so full of goodies) they do not expand too much. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the tops are firm. (It's ok for cookies to still be gooey in the center. They will continue cooking on the baking sheet after you remove them from the oven.) Let cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.