Brûléed Oatmeal with Baked Apples

2 apples (Granny Smith, Baldwin, or Honeycrisp)—peeled, cored, and cut into wedges ¼ inch thick
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
4 cups (32 ounces) whole milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups (6 ounces) rolled oats
½ cup (3 ½ ounces) firmly packed light brown sugar

To make the baked apples, position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, melted butter, and brown sugar and stir to evenly coat the apples. Spread the apples on the prepared sheet and bake until the liquid is bubbling and the apples are tender and glazed with the brown sugar mixture, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep warm. Preheat the broiler (grill).

Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the milk and salt to a gentle boil, about 3 minutes. Stir in the oats. Reduce the heat to medium and cook uncovered at a gentle boil, stirring frequently, until the oatmeal is soft and the milk is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the oatmeal boiling gently. Remove from the heat.

Divide the hot oatmeal among 4 shallow baking dishes about 6 inches in diameter, spreading it evenly in the dishes. Evenly sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar over each serving. Using a spoon or your fingers, gently press the brown sugar into a uniform layer.

Arrange the baking dishes on a baking sheet and place in the broiler about 6 inches from the heat source. Broil (grill) until the topping melts and bubbles vigorously, about 3 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking to ensure uniform browning, and watch carefully to prevent the topping from burning. Place each baking dish on a serving plate. Top with the warm apple splices and serve at once.

Recipe Source: Williams-Sonoma: Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch

Apple Berry Breakfast Crisp

Filling:
4 cups thinly sliced peeled apples (about 4 medium)
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries or sliced strawberries
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or instant Clear-Jel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Topping:
1 cup old fashioned oats
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8-inch baking dish with nonstick baking spray.

For filling, combine brown sugar, flour or Clear-Jel and cinnamon in large bowl. Stir to mix well. Stir in apples, blueberries and juice concentrate until fruit is evenly coated. Spoon into baking dish.

For topping, combine oats, brown sugar, margarine and flour in medium bowl; mix until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over fruit.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm.

Makes 9 servings.

Tip: For a delicious dessert, serve warm with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream.

S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies

Alyssa has been really wanting to make cookies, so today we made these together. She was hoping to have enough to deliver some Christmas treats to our neighbors, but we ended up eating them all. Oh well--they were simple to make so we can make another batch for our neighbors!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars (we used 7 3/4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips instead)
3 cups miniature marshmallows

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate bar sections, marshmallows and bits of remaining dough over baked layer.

Bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned.

Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.

Cheeseburger Pasta

We love pasta dishes! This meal was great. We think it would also be fun to serve crumbled bacon over it.

Ingredients
1 pound penne pasta
1 to 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 cans (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/4 cup dill pickle relish
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons steak seasoning (such as Montreal steak seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions, for serving

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, relish, mustard, ketchup, steak seasoning and seasoned salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Drain pasta; add to meat mixture.

Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted. Garnish with green onions.

Favorite Dinner Rolls

This is the recipe from the Lion House cookbooks. I added the 20 minutes autolyse time--it really seems to help and it is a very simple thing to do. I had trouble describing how to make the Parkerhouse rolls--but I'm sure you all already know how to do that.

2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups (16 ounces) warm water
1/3 cup (2 3/8 ounces) sugar
1/3 cup (2 3/8 ounces) vegetable shortening (butter-flavor is good)—or use 1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) butter or margarine
2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
5 to 6 cups (21 ¼ ounces – 25 ½ ounces) all-purpose flour
Melted butter (about ½ cup)

In a large bowl, mix yeast and water and let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, shortening, salt, dry milk, egg, and 2 ½ cups of the flour. Beat together until smooth (beating 2 minutes at medium-high speed). Cover and let mixture rest for 20 minutes. After mixture has rested, gradually add remaining flour until a soft dough is formed.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Alternatively, you can knead dough in a large standing mixer. Knead for about 4 minutes in mixer on low. Place dough in greased bowl; cover and let rise until dough doubles in bulk. Punch down.

To make Parkerhouse rolls, roll dough out onto counter about 3/8-inch thick. Cut with round biscuit cutter. Remove cut shapes and reroll remaining dough. You may need to let the dough rest before re-rolling if it doesn’t roll easily.

Prepare a half-sheet baking sheet by greasing or spraying with Baker’s Joy. Line with parchment and spray lightly again.

Slightly stretch out each dough round into an elongated oval. Dip top side of bottom half of oval into melted butter. Place into prepared pan, folding top half over onto buttered half. Gently press cut edges to seal. Repeat with remaining dough, placing rolls quite close together. Placing each new row of rolls close to the last row helps prevent the tops from opening up during rising and baking.

(To make crescent rolls, divide dough into thirds. Roll out one third of dough into a circle; cut into 12 pie-shaped pieces. Starting at the wide end, roll up each piece into a crescent. Place on greased baking sheet with point on bottom. Repeat with remainder of dough. Brush tops with melted butter.)

Butter plastic wrap and use to cover rolls. Let rolls rise until double in size. Bake at 400°F. for 15 minutes. Serve warm with honey butter or cran-raspberry butter if desired.

Makes about 3 dozen rolls.

Cran-Raspberry Butter

We make this butter every Thanksgiving to serve with our rolls. It is absolutely delicious!

1 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce (we prefer to use homemade, but canned will work)
½ cup raspberry preserves
2 cups butter, softened
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl; beat on high for 5 minutes. Mixture should be creamy. Spoon into a dish; cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Makes 3 ½ cups.

Honey Butter

Yummy!

½ cup (4 ounces) softened butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 cup (12 ounces) honey

Whip butter; add vanilla and egg yolk. Gradually whip in honey until light and fluffy.

Makes 1 ½ cups.