Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Making bagels at home seems hard, but I can assure you, it's really not!  I love having different varieties in my freezer at all times.  Sometimes I feel like I can't make them fast enough for my family!  

Cinnamon raisin has always been a family favorite.  Heck, we really like them all...here is my recipe for Everything Bagels - and Salt, too!  Same basic dough recipe.  You can create any flavor you like if you have this up your sleeve!  

The dough is mixed with raisins and swirled with cinnamon, which makes it look so pretty and tasty!  This is the dough after it's been resting for about an hour.  

Butter or cream cheese?  Toasted or not?  I actually like to eat these still warm from the oven with a slather of cream cheese.  Go ahead, try it.  Quite tasty freshly baked, right?  

Makes 8 bagels

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast 

1 cup raisins

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine all the ingredients needed for the dough.  Mix on low until all the flour is incorporated, then turn it up to medium speed and mix for about 5 minutes.  Once you have a pretty smooth dough (the dough should have pulled away from the sides and bowl should be pretty clean), sprinkle the raisins and cinnamon over the dough.  Use your hands to knead and mix throughout the dough, for about 2-3 minutes.  Turn the dough out and spray the same bowl with non-stick cooking spray.  Return the dough to the bowl, giving it a turn or two to coat in oil.  Let rest, covered with a clean dish towel for an hour.  

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 8 equal pieces.  Roll into a ball and use a finger to press and stretch a small hole through.  Allow them to rest for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil.  Spray an 11 x 18-inch baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Place the bagels into the boiling water (2-3 at a time depending on how big your pot is) for 45 seconds to a minute on each side.  Remove and place on prepared baking sheet.  Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled.  

Bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden.  Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.  Or freeze for up to 6 months.  

You may also like:

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Clementine Quick Bread

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

Dutch Oven No-Knead Crusty Bread

Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter and Raisin Granola Bars

Granola bars are absolutely one of my favorite snacks to make for the kids.  Between these and my Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars, I will never buy them from the store again!  Once you make these, I think you'll agree.

 These remind me so much of the Quaker granola bars - chewy and not all dry.  My kids gobble these up!  They were stalking me as I was taking the pictures...my two-year old right at my hip saying "want one" repeatedly.  Heck, I even scarfed down 2 or 3 of these after this shoot!  

I could have stopped at just adding the chocolate chips, but the raisins give it an extra chewiness that I just love.  This recipe is adapted from Averie Cooks and I'm sure you'll adapt it from my version to make these how you like (or maybe even depending on what's in your cupboard that day!).  You can use all honey or all corn syrup, use more crispy rice cereal and less oats, or even all oats and no cereal - so many possibilities. 

Makes about 15 bars

Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter and Raisin Granola Bars

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup light corn syrup 

1/3 cup honey  

1/4 brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup crispy rice cereal

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Line a 9 x 9-inch pan with foil, leaving an overhang.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the peanut butter, corn syrup, honey and brown sugar and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir to combine everything.  Add the vanilla and salt and stir. 

Add the oats and cereal and carefully stir to coat.  Add the raisins and chocolate chips and stir again to combine.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and using your hands or spatula, press down to spread and form an even layer.  Place in freezer for at least an hour to allow bars to set.  Cut to desired shape.  Refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.   

(Source:  Adapted from Averie Cooks)

Chewy Brown Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is now my favorite way to make oatmeal raisin cookies.  They are chewy and sweet and just awesome!  Great for an after school snack, plus they make your kitchen smell just heavenly.  And it makes a ton!  About 6 dozen.     

Absolutely do not overbake these.  They should look underdone and gooey in the middle - that's when they are the absolute best and chewiest. 

I used a cookie scoop so they were all pretty much the same size.  I would say about 2 tablespoons of dough when you drop them on the cookie sheet.  They spread and get very thin, so anything bigger and they will completely fall apart.  Believe me, I had a lot of casualties.  Well, not so much a casualty, we still ate them of course!

When I stored these, I used an airtight plastic container.  Some advice - place a piece of wax or parchment paper in between each layer.  Because they are so gooey in the middle, they end up really sticking together if you don't separate them.  Again, from personal experience...

Makes about 6 dozen

Chewy Brown Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 2/3 cups packed light brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups oats
2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to brown sugar mixture.  Beat until just combined.  Add oats and raisins and stir by hand.

Using a cookie scoop or spoon, drop cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cookies should be slightly underdone in the middle but golden around the edges.  Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I've been on a making bread kick lately.  We buy so much bread at the store - white bread, wheat bread, French bread, rolls, English muffins, the list is endless!  In a effort to tighten our budget at bit, I've decided to make instead of buy (as much as I can anyway).  Cinnamon raisin toast is one of my absolute favorite breakfast items, but it can be pretty pricey buying a loaf in the store.  I was so excited to find this recipe from Super Glue Mom on Pinterest that I immediately had to try it out.  It's easy and makes three whole loaves!! 

It makes a lot of dough - like I said, enough for three loaves so you'll need a pretty big bowl to let it rise.  It will double in size in about 1 1/2 hours. 

You roll the entire dough out at once and slather on a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Roll it up and slice into three loaves.  Into the loaf pans they go and to rise for another hour. 

And this is the heavenly (I'm pretty sure I used that word more than once while we were eating it this morning) finished product.  OMG.  Believe me, you will be so glad you have those other two loaves to fall back on.  We ate nearly 1/2 a loaf for breakfast and the other two are in the freezer.  Probably not long before they make their way out of there!  

 Makes 3 loaves

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 1/2 cups milk, luke-warm (heat in microwave or stovetop)

1 cup warm water

5 teaspoons yeast

3 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup raisins

9 cups flour and more for dusting 

For the filling

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water until frothy, about 10 minutes.  Add in eggs, sugar, butter, salt and raisins and mix.  Add the room temperature/ warm milk and slowly mix to combine.  Gradually add flour to make dough (start with 8 cups and add in the last cup as needed).  You may need to add the last cup by hand if your bowl starts to overflow like mine did.   

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth, adding in the last cup of flour if necessary.  Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place dough in, turning it to coat all sides.  Cover with a clean dishtowel and set in a warm place.  Let rise for 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size. 

Once again, turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a large rectangle approximately 1/2 inch thick (mine ended up being about 27 inches long).  Moisten the dough with the milk and use your hands to rub all over dough.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle evenly over the dough.  Roll up tightly from the long end - it should be about 3 inches in diameter.  

Cut into thirds,  pinching dough together at the seams.  Place loaves,seams side down, into 3 greased loaf pans and let rise, uncovered for another hour.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.  Remove from oven and let cool on racks.  After about 20 minutes, turn bread out from pans.  Allow bread to cool before slicing.  Serve toasted with butter or use for French toast!  To freeze, wrap in foil and place in freezer bags.

(Source:  Adapted from Super Glue Mom)

  

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I was so happy with the way these turned out - just the cutest and tastiest little treats!  The secret is to use a small cookie scoop to get all of your cookies the same shape.  You might want to also think about doubling or doing another 1/2 of the recipe for the icing or filling.  I didn't have enough to turn all the cookies into the little sandwich cookies (not that it was a problem - the cookies were great on their own).

See how nice and perfect they turned out?  That's from using a small cookie scoop (that you can get just about anywhere that sells cooking and baking utensils).

And I would absolutely make this recipe again if I'm just in the mood for oatmeal raisin cookies.  They are moist and chewy.  And the recipe for the filling is a great go-to, incredibly simple recipe to use for cupcakes as well.    

Are they not just darling?  They will keep for up to 5 days refrigerated in an airtight container (if they don't all get eaten before that!).     

Oatmeal Cream Pies

1 1/2 cups flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2 cup raisins

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

6 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and set aside.  In a large bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric mixer) beat butter and the sugars until light and fluffy, a couple of minutes.  Add vanilla, beat until combined.  Add eggs, one at a time.  

With mixer on low, add flour mixture and beat until combined.  Stir in the oats and raisins by hand.  Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto a baking sheet.  Bake until cookies are just set at edges and slightly soft in the middle, about 11 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Let cookies cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool completely.  

Make the filling:  In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and confectioner's sugar until light, about 2 minutes.  Spread filling on flat side of half of the cookies and sandwich with remaining cookies. 

(Source:  Adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food)

No-Bake Cookies

No-bake cookies are one of those recipes that there are a million different slight variations, but most of them are almost exactly the same.  I'm sorry to tell you that this recipe is no different.  But that's not to say that they are not truly excellent.  Such a great cookie to satisfy your sweet tooth in no time at all!

Combine butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder in a saucepan until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and stir in your oats, peanut butter and vanilla.  I love raisins in mine, but forgot that I didn't have any, so I omitted them this time.  If you like 1/2 cup of raisins can go in, too (you'll love it).  :)

Using a small cookie scoop, drop mixture onto sheets of wax paper and let cool until hardened.  I kept these in the fridge, which helped them keep their shape and not get all melty when eating them.  Enjoy with a nice glass of milk!

Makes 3 dozen

No-Bake Cookies 

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa powder.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats, vanilla and raisins (if using).  Use a small cookie scoop to drop mixture onto wax paper.  Let cool until hardened.

Broccoli Salad

I have always loved broccoli salad, but never had a good recipe for it...until now.  This comes from my husband's cousin (thanks Shelly!) and it just has so many levels of flavor it in.  From the crisp broccoli and bacon to the chewy raisins and the tangy dressing - it is so good.  

I love that the mayonnaise-based dressing is not too heavy.  Makes a great side dish while you're grilling this summer.  So easy and so delicious, just my style.  And to make it even easier, I've also used the fresh, already chopped and washed broccoli that you can find in the produce section.  Talk about a time saver!

Serves 6-8

Broccoli Salad

1 large head of broccoli

1/2 pack of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons milk

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Chop broccoli off of the stems into bite size pieces.  Toss the broccoli with the bacon, cheese and raisins in a medium bowl.  Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, milk and soy sauce in separate bowl and pour sauce over broccoli mixture.  Refrigerate before serving.
  

Homemade Granola

What a great snack this is!!  My husband has been on this healthy, yogurt and granola parfait kick lately and I thought I would give homemade a try - so much cheaper than buying it at the store!  And you can add your own mix-ins to make it your way.  I was thinking dried cranberries would be a great addition.  Dried apples, walnuts, almonds, chocolate chips, dates, even pumpkin seeds...I could go on and on.  This turned out really sweet and good, but I think I would've liked it to be a little clumpier.  Like so you can eat it in bite size pieces.  I'll have to try adding a little more liquid (probably the maple syrup) next time.  If you want to add more than one type of nut, I would do 3 cups of oats and 1 cup each of the nuts.  

Makes about 5 cups

4 cups rolled oats (I had the quick cooking kind in my cabinet)

1 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup 

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  In a large bowl combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup, oil and salt.  Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  

Remove from oven and transfer to a big bowl.  Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed (if adding chocolate chips, I would wait until it cools so they don't melt!).