Cinnamon Bun Twists

 Cinnamon Bun Twists 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Perfect with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee. Comfort food at its best!  Cinnamon and brown sugar get twisted up in puff pastry and baked to make a simple, yet outrageously good snack or dessert. These Cinnamon Twists are flaky, crunchy, and perfectly sweet.

 

Cinnamon Bun Twists 

 

(1) 14-ounce package puff pastry 

1 large egg

1 teaspoon water

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:  Let your pastry dough thaw and sit at room temp for 15 minutes.

Carefully unroll your sheet of pastry on to your work surface.  Roll and flatten seams and then trim the dough to form a rectangle. 

Add the egg and water in a small bowl and whisk together, set aside. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt to a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brush the top of the pastry with the egg wash, and spread the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut 1” strips of dough. Pick up one strip of dough and place it on top of another strip of dough so that the cinnamon sugar sides are touching each other. Repeat this process with all pieces of dough until you have 7 “pairs” of dough strips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twist each strip of dough until the entire strip is twisted and then place on the baking sheet, spaced evenly apart.

Chill the twists in the freezer for 10 minutes, or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This helps the twists keep their shape while they bake.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Once chilled, remove the twists from the freezer and gently brush only the exposed pieces of pastry (not the cinnamon) and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, or until the pastries are lightly golden all over and puffed up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove them from the oven, and let them cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack.

     

 

 

 

Photography is the property of and copyrighted to Welcome Home.

French Toast Sticks

 

I love making breakfast from things I want to use before the expiration date.  Like these French Toast Sticks that I make when my bread is just beginning to get stale.  Oh, you can make regular French toast but these are fun.  I use whatever bread I have on hand, white bread, brioche, wheat bread, even Texas Toast.  And of course, I have maple syrup and butter on hand to make them even more delicious! 

French Toast Sticks

6 large eggs

3/4 cups milk any kind

1 tablespoon maple syrup

8 slices bread 

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Cinnamon Sugar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, make cinnamon sugar topping by combining brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.  

Trim the crusts off the bread and cut into sticks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whisk together eggs, milk, and maple syrup and set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submerge the strips of bread in the egg mixture and let sit for around 1 minute to really soak up all the goodness. Then, lift the bread out of the mixture and let excess egg drip off each piece of bread. Repeat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Dip the sticks in the egg batter letting the excess drip off.  Add them to the skillet in single layer with space between them. Let cook for around 3 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flip French toast sticks and turn the heat up to medium. Cook for 2-3 more minutes or until golden brown. Before removing from the pan, sprinkle on a generous amount of cinnamon sugar on the French toast sticks and flip. Let cook for 20 seconds and do the same thing on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use a paper towel to wipe your pan to remove the brown bits. Turn the heat back down to low/medium and repeat this process 2 more times or until all French toast sticks are cooked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove from the pan and using tongs roll them in the cinnamon sugar if desired.

 

Notes

This recipe works best with stale bread so plan ahead 

A combination of vegetable oil and butter works best for browning.

When frying work in batches leaving space between the sticks

The sticks should be warm when rolled in the cinnamon sugar so it sticks to them.

For best results serve promptly or place in a single layer on a baking sheet in the oven on warm until ready to serve.

Serve with warm maple syrup and butter for dipping.

 

 

 

 

Photography is the property of and copyrighted to Welcome Home.

 

Homemade Pretzel Dogs

 

Homemade Pretzel Dogs

I don’t eat hot dogs that often but when I do, I like to go all out and treat myself to one of these incredible homemade Pretzel Dogs! A fantastic recipe that is simple to make using frozen or fresh pizza dough at the grocery store. A wonderful buttery dough is wrapped around my favorite good quality hot dogs makes these out of this world delicious and freezer friendly.

Homemade Pretzel Dogs

Sprinkling of flour 

12 oz pizza dough, thawed before using

4 hot dogs 

5 cups water 

¼ cup baking soda 

1 egg yolk, beaten with a tablespoon water

coarse sea salt, to taste 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and brush with the vegetable oil.

Dust the surface with flour, and cut the pizza dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough out until it’s a 12-inch rope. 

 

Don’t worry if the dough retracts and shrinks a little. Take the rolled out dough and wrap it around a hot dog in a spiraling motion, leaving room for dogs to peek out on the ends.  Press the ends of the dough together to hold in place.

In a pot, combine the baking soda with the water and bring it to a boil. Place the pretzels, one at a time, into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a lined baking sheet.

Brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with a little salt,  you can always add more after baking.

 

  

Bake until deep golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving. Remove from oven and sprinkle on more salt if desired.

If you want a garlic butter crust:

2 tablespoons butter, melted 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

Eliminate the egg wash and combine melted butter and minced garlic and brush on top of each pretzel dog before baking.

 

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

 1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons grained Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pretzels, for dipping

  

In a medium bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, honey, mustard and lemon juice together until combined. Serve at room temperature or chilled with pretzels for dipping.

 

NOTE:  If you're freezing the pretzels, do not brush the tops with anything. Do not salt.  Bake the pretzel dogs until just lightly browned and cool completely. Place them into the freezer on the cookie sheet for 1 hour to harden. Remove from the cookie sheet and place in a freezer safe bag and freeze until ready to use. 

To prepare from frozen, brush the frozen pretzels with egg wash or garlic butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until warmed through and golden brown.

  

Photography is the property of and copyrighted to Welcome Home.