Parents are always telling you things growing up. Lessons they have learned in hopes that it will sink into your head. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. I’d like to think that for the most part it sunk in, though the budget part took me awhile. I mean, who saves up money just in case the car needs repair? Certainly not a 22 year old in need of new boots! Too bad my transmission needed a complete overhaul! Yikes. Live and learn, and so I did. I also ate Ramen Noodles for 3 months to pay for it.
One thing my parents drilled into me is that it is always the stuff that you are unprepared for that gets ya. I guess that is what happened to me last week, something that I was not prepared for me sidetracked me. Nothing bad or life altering mind you, but something that I definitely was not expecting (no there is no baby on the way…that would fall under the life altering category). I really don’t want to go into it as it really isn’t worth it, it just gave me a few more bumps in my road.
Which is why when rice pudding was our choice this week for TWD I decided to make it Rocky Road flavored. I did use Dorie’s method of parboiling the rice first. Which I am not sure is totally necessary but it is always nice to try new techniques. You can save yourself a lot of time and ingredients by just making this with chocolate milk as I did. Otherwise you would have to have milk, cocoa powder and sugar. You could also use milk and hot cocoa mix in a pinch as well.
I like to eat this version while it is still warm. You can eat it cold, but if you do the marshmallows make it really thick, and this is already a thick version to begin with.
If you want to see the black and white rice pudding that was picked by Isabelle of Les gourmandises d¢â¬â„¢Isa, head on over to her site.

Chocolate Marshmallow “Rocky Road” Rice Pudding

1 ½ cups water
1/3 cup Arborio rice
2 ¼ cups chocolate milk
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup marshmallows
¼ cup slivered almonds

Bring water to a boil. Add rice and boil for 1 minute. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 8 minutes. Drain water from rice and place rice back into saucepan.
Add chocolate milk and bring to a boil. Then reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes to ensure no sticking to the bottom of the pan.
When rice has absorbed the chocolate milk, remove from burner and stir in marshmallows and chocolate chips. Keep stirring until they completely dissolve into the rice pudding.
Place into serving dishes and top with slivered almonds. I like to serve this version of rice pudding still warm.

I bet you are thinking those are cinnamon rolls. Guess again. Those are cookies. Cinnamon Roll Cookies.
The holidays are fast approaching and that means the annual cookie and ornament exchange is coming up. Which means I have to find a cookie that I want to bring. So every year I audition new cookies to see if they will make the cut. This is my first cookie to try out.
I like it. I forgot to roll it in cinnamon-sugar and I think that makes a flavor difference as these were not that flavorful. I plan on making them again but with some orange and almonds in there as well, and make the icing be orange icing.
This is just a quick post. I have had a pretty emotional draining week and the wit and sarcasm you know and love just isn¢â¬â„¢t flowing right now.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

For the filling:
½ cup sugar
2 TBSP ground cinnamon

For the dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup warm water
½ tsp powdered egg whites

For the filling combine sugar and 2 TBSP cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt together for the dough in a bowl; set aside.
Cream butter and brown sugar in a bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, blending just to incorporate; do not over mix.
Trace a 16-x-9-inch rectangle on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Pat the dough into the rectangle using your hands, then sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the dough.
Beginning on a long side and using the paper to help you, roll the dough into a log. Dust the outside of the log with the remaining cinnamon mixture (I forgot to do this). Wrap log in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F; line tow baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice chilled dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.
Combine icing ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies, let stand at room temperature.

Adpated from Holiday Cookie from Cuisine at Home Magazine

I don’t have kids and yet somehow I got stuck with a teenager.
You see, Little Fuzzy Bunny was suppose to be “fixed” a couple months ago. It gets done right around the time their hormones kick in, at the six month mark. But because LFB was in a waiting pattern about her eye we have not done the surgery yet. See it’s not recommended to put two pound bunnies under anesthesia that often, so we waited to see if she has to have the eye removed (which as of yesterday she does not…she gets to keep the eye!).
What that means is that I have been stuck with a teenage bunny in all her hormonal glory. Now, it’s not nearly as bad as if she were a human teenager. She can’t scream at me that she hates me, though I do get that message when she claws my arm to a bloody pulp that she is unhappy with me at that moment. She doesn’t make me walk 10 paces behind her when we would go to the mall together (I had several friends who made their mother’s do this). She doesn’t beg me for a cell phone and texted her friends 24/7 running up my phone bill to a cost level that makes my blood boil. She doesn’t beg for money (just food). I don’t have to worry about her drinking or getting knocked up. So all of that is good. But she is without a doubt moody. One minute letting me pet her lovingly the next minute biting me. Or digging into me like I am a flower bed.
I am glad it will be resolved soon as I was not cut out for moody pets. There is only one person who gets to be moody in my house and that’s me.
Speaking of moods. I really wasn’t in a bread baking mood (even though technically this is a cake), especially yeast. I just didn’t have 4 hours to wait around and punch down dough. But I have been a bad TWDer as of late and I knew I needed to get off my butt and make this weeks pick. Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl chose for us to make Kugelhopf.
I had problems right from the start. Number one I had no pan for the bread (there is a special one) and I had no milk. So I went with what pan I had and I used apple cider instead of milk. So that meant I was going to be changing the flavor of the bread. I added lots of nutmeg and some cinnamon as well. I skipped the raisins as I was out of those as well and added chopped walnuts instead. This bread/cake takes many hours to make, 2 for the first rise, another 2 after that, then in the fridge overnight and another 2-3 hours after that. I am not quite sure it is worth it to be honest. I mean, it produces a good product, but it’s a lot of time. I do however plan on making bread pudding with it, I think the bread/cake would be excellent for that.

Instead of the 1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk I used apple cider, and yes you warm it.
I added 2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg.
I added 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
I omitted the raisins and added ¾ cup walnuts.

They say that puppies and babies are made cute so that you don’t want to kill them when they drive you insane (though I have seen some ugly babies in my time so I am not sure how true that is ). I must say that as a dog owner, it was a lot easier to forgive my dog for throwing up grass on my $1500 chair (that I saved for over a year for) which stained it permanently, when she looked up at me with those sad little cocker spaniel eyes. Those woeful eyes have saved my puppy many a time from having to take a long walk off a short plank.
In the cooking world there are recipes that drive us insane but in the end they were worth it. This recipe is a case in point. The first time I made it many, many swear words were spewed from my mouth. You see, this is a very easy recipe….until you have to assemble it in the pan. First you lay down the caramel and pecans…and then spread thick batter over that. Umm, that doesn’t work all that well. Then you top that with streusel (that was easy). But then you have to spread batter on top of the streusel. And, that ladies and gentleman is somewhat of a nightmare. After making versions of this cake several times now I can tell you that using both a spatula and your fingers is the way to go. As is dropping pieces of the batter around the cake so that spreading is kept to a minimum.
The whole time I was spreading the impossible I just kept mumbling to myself that this darn well better be worth it! Good news is, it is. This is one of those recipe that the first time I made it I didn’t get to photograph it because I made it at night and the smell was just too over powering and I ate like half the cake. Oops.
The original recipe does not use pumpkin. If you would like to not use pumpkin then omit the pumpkin and use ½ cup buttermilk and ¼ cup sour cream. I decided to add pumpkin this last time to make it a little more festive. I like both versions equally so it is hard to say which way I recommend you make this.

Pumpkin “Cinnamon Roll” Coffee Cake

For the Caramel:
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

For the Streusel:
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 TBSP unsalted butter, sliced
1 ½ TBSP ground cinnamon
¼ tsp table salt

For the Cake:
¼ cup buttermilk
2 TBSP sour cream
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp table salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch pan with nonstick spray.
Stir together the brown sugar, cream and salt for the caramel. Pour into a prepared pan and spread to coat the bottom. Sprinkle pecans over the caramel.
In a food processor, process brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon and the salt for the streusel. Pulse until small clumps form; set aside.
Whisk buttermilk, sour cream, pumpkin puree and eggs together and place into a large measuring cup with a pour spout.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer just until combined.
Alternately add dry ans wet ingredients, starting and ending with the dry. Blend each additions just until incorporated.
Spread half the batter over the caramel, then sprinkle with half the streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over that and top with remaining streusel. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool cake  for 5 minutes, then run a pairing knife around the sides to loosen. Invert onto a serving platter while hot, then let cool slightly before slicing. Due to the sticky top, and electric knife is best for cutting, but a sharp, thin bladed knife is fine too.

Adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine December 2005