I made a few changes to a very trusty cinnamon roll recipe, and the results were delicious. I sold pans and pans of these happy little buns at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. They were a big hit! Buttery, rich, and delicious with a delicate maple glaze on top.

Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice

6 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of fine sea salt
5 1/2 tablespoons butter flavored shortening
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 cups whole milk

6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup

In an electric mixing bowl, cream the sugar, salt, and shortening. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Finally, add the flour, the yeast, and the milk to the mixture and blend until a soft dough forms. Use your dough hook to knead the dough at medium speed for about 10 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 12 minutes. The dough should be supple and tacky, but not sticky. As you knead, add flour or water as needed to obtain this consistency in the dough.

Oil a large bowl and transfer the dough into it, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

Mist your clean counter with cooking spray and transfer the dough onto the counter. Roll your dough out into a large rectangle, about 9 inches by 18 inches. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle evenly over the dough.

Next, roll the dough upstarting at one of the longer ends and finishing at the other end. Place the dough seam-side down on the counter.

Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into rolls about 1″ thick and place the rolls onto a greased baking sheet or round oven-safe dish, about 1/2″ apart. Cover with saran.

At this point, you can either refrigerate your rolls for up to 2 days if desired. If you do this, then remove the rolls from the refrigerator about 3-4 hours before you plan to bake them so that they can come to room temperature and rise.

Otherwise, go ahead and allow the shaped rolls to rise for 75-90 minutes, until they double in size.

Preheat your oven to 350 derees. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes. or until they begin to turn golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and maple syrup, mixing to form a thin glaze. Drizzle over the warm buns just before serving. Enjoy!

Dear readers, this past weekend was my very first farmers market selling bread on our town square. It was so much fun! The whole experience was an all-around success. I made new friends, got to know some local farmers, and even traded a few loaves for some fresh produce for next week’s baked goods!

In preparing for this fun adventure, I went to some of my tried-and-true go-to recipes. Here is my very best banana nut bread. I’ve been making it for 10 years or so, and it’s evolved with tweaks here and there. These little babies sold like hotcakes on Saturday morning!

My Best Banana Nut Bread
originally based on a recipe from Allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing just until combined. Stir in the nuts, if desired.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

One of my very first cookbooks when I was a little girl was the Care Bears Party Cook Book. It had lots of kid-friendly recipes for fun and festive treats. To this day, I still make a dessert that is based on a recipe from this cookbook. It’s called Cloud Cake. I have included the original recipe and my simplified version below.

I usually make this light and easy dessert with just strawberries, but for the Fourth of July? Red White and Blue Cloud Cake just seemed right!

Cloud Cake
from the Care Bears Party Cook Book

1 pound cake
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup raspberry jam or fresh berries with their juice
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Slice your pound cake loaf horizontally and remove the top half. Pour half of the orange juice over the bottom half of the cake. Then spread with raspberry jam or fresh berries and juice. Replace the top of the cake to make a sandwich. Pour the remaining juice over the cake. Top with whipped cream and more berries if desired.

Red, White, and Blue Cloud Cake

2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries
1 loaf-sized pound cake
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Combine the strawberries and the sugar in a bowl. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Stir the strawberries again – they should be nice and juicy. Set aside.

Cut slices of pound cake. Top with the strawberries and juice. Top with some blueberries. Add some whipped topping, and then decorate with extra fruit on the top. Serve immediately – enjoy!!!

This dish was inspired by what I had on hand in my refrigerator and from a few different recipes I browsed recently online. We have so much squash these days from our own garden and from our CSA baskets, as well. But no one in our house is complaining – you’ve never tasted squash unless you’ve eaten it fresh from your garden – so sweet and fresh!

Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

4 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
2 small yellow squash, sliced into 1/4″ thick half-moons
2 small zucchini squash, sliced into 1/4″ thick half-moons
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley

In a large pan, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until golden brown and slightly crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towel.

Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms, hominy, squash, lemon zest, lemon juice and chicken broth. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 5-6 more minutes, until all the veggies are tender.

Break the bacon into bite-sized pieces and return themn to the pan. Season the veggies with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot and garnish with the fresh chopped parsley.

Yes, dear readers, I know I just posted a recipe for peach cobbler a mere three days ago, but are you seriously complaining?? Peach cobbler is the best!! And this one is different – you’ll see . . .

So this recipe comes from our across-the-street neighbor when I was growing up – my mom’s friend Mary. It used to be that people thought I was crazy when I would make this recipe, but nowadays, I think there are a few similar versions floating around the internet.

Basically, you melt a stick of butter in a pan. (This is the way any good southern recipe starts, right?!?) Then you pour your batter into the melted butter and pour your peaches over the top of the batter. The best part is that you aren’t supposed to stir! How easy can this get?

And the final product? Crispy butter-fried dough puffs up and bakes all around the juicy-sweet peach slices. Again, the hint of cinnamon (barely a whiff) really brings out the depth of that golden peach flavor.

Georgia Peach Cobbler
From my mom’s friend Mary

4 cups fresh Georgia peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
A dash of salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the sliced peaches and the 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, until the juices start to run.

Place the butter in a 9×13″ baking dish. Put it in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until the butter is completely melted.

Meanwhile, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and stir just until combined.

Remove the dish with the butter from the oven. Pour the prepared batter over the butter. Do not stir!

Next, pour the peaches over the batter and butter. Do not stir!

Finally, sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the top. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the batter sets and turns a golden brown on top. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

Growing up in Atlanta, we lived next door to a wonderful family – the Fullers. They had a son my older brother’s age and a daughter my age. Their daughter and I were both blond little babies, and our moms would dress us in the same outfits from Laura Ashley, send us to ballet class together, and let us have sleepovers. We were flippin’ adorable!

Our families were together so often, that we got to call Mrs. Fuller “Mom Fuller” – since she was our “other” mom. Even now that we are all grown up (well, mostly grown up!), our families remain close. So here is a wonderful recipe from my “other” mom – Mom Fuller’s Blueberry Streusel Muffins!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
recipe from Mom Fuller

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and grease or line 18 muffin cups.

In an electric mixer bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well-combined.

In a seperate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, stirring well after each addition.

Finally, stir in vanilla and blueberries. Spoon batter into greased or lined muffin cups, filling two-thirds of the way full.

For topping, combine the sugar, flour, and teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles crumbs. Sprinkle on top of muffin batter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown. Yield ~ 18 muffins.

It’s no mystery around here that I am a Georgia girl, through and through. One of the best things about being in my beautiful state at this time of year is PEACHES.

I can (and do?) eat fresh Georgia peaches morning, noon, and night when they are in season. I like them cut into juicy-tart chunks on top of my cereal in the morning, I like them sliced and peeled next to my sandwich at lunch time, I like them in my salsa with a cold drink in the afternoon, and I like them underneath a fluffy-moist, crispy-sweet biscuit crust after dinner throughout the summertime.

Throw in some blueberries if you must, but the peaches are the star of this dish! I made this one up on the fly – it’s very versatile – you will fall head over heels for the subtle flavor that the honey lends to the fruit and to the crust!!

Peach-and-Blueberry Cobbler

3 cups of fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon honey (local is best!)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
A pinch of salt

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk
An extra drizzle of honey
An extra sprinkle of sugar

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a deep pie dish or a 9×9 baking dish and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the peaches, blueberries, honey, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Set aside to let the juices get to flowin’!

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until a flaky mixture forms. Pour in the buttermilk and stir just until a soft and supple dough forms.

Next, pour the fruit with all their yummy juices into your prepared baking dish. Then dollop the biscuit dough over the top by spoonfuls. Finally, use a spoon to drizzle some extra honey over the top of the dough. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, and pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

I have to admit to you, dear readers, that there was a time when I was intimidated by the task of baking chicken. It seems so simple – put it in the oven until it’s done, right?

But how do you know when your chicken is cooked through? Until the inside isn’t pink? Until the juices run clear?

But was the inside pink to begin with? And did the juices ever NOT run clear?

I just couldn’t figure it out. I either ended up with chicken that I was too scared to eat, or chicken that was too tough to eat!

Well, the best purchase I ever made was the $1.99 meat thermometer that I bought at the supermarket one day. Stick it in your chicken breasts when you think they are close to being done, and see if it registers 180 degrees. If so, then you’re good to go! Juicy, tender chicken that is safe to eat.

So shell out the extra two bucks for a meat thermometer and try out this amazingly tasty chicken. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside – you are going to love this stuff!

Crispy Baked Chicken
inspired by Pioneer Woman

4 chicken breasts, cleaned
1 cup fat free Greek style yogurt (or any plain yogurt)
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs (crushed cornflakes do the trick, as well)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons your favorite seasoning blend (Mrs. Dash, herbes de provence, cajun, whatev)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 thin tabs of butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and set aside.

You can start by either marinating or simply coating your chicken in the plain yogurt. Either way works fine. In a shallow dish, combine the panko breadcrumbs with the garlic, seasoning blend, and salt and pepper. Completely coat each piece of chicken with the bread crumb mixture, and place in the baking dish, about 1 inch apart. Top each chicken breast with a thin tab of butter.

Cover with foil and bake for 50-60 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and your meat thermometer registers 180 degrees when inserted into the center of the meat. Serve immediately.