This recipe is courtesy of the Pillsbury Doughboy’s Kids Cookbook. It comes from my daughter’s first cookbook and has become a family favorite at Thanksgiving and other holidays. It is easy and has never failed to satisfy.
Measure, level off with spatula and place sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Stir together and set aside. In a large bowl, place flour and yeast from box mix, currants or raisins and stir until well mixed. Add beaten egg to flour mixture and stir. Measure and add hot water and 2 TBL butter. Stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Place dough on lightly floured surface and with greased or floured hand, shape dough into a ball and knead for 5 minutes. Cover dough with large bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes. While waiting, generously grease a 12 cup Bundt pan with shortening. Melt ¼ cup butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Set aside.
With a knife, cut dough into 4 even parts and then cut each part into 8 pieces. You’ll have 32 evenly sized pieces when done. Form each piece into a ball. Dip each ball into the melted butter, then in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place balls in greased Bundt pan. Sprinkle any remaining mixture on tip.
Cover dough with sheet of plastic wrap and cloth towel. Place pan in warm place (80 to 85 degrees) to let the dough rise for 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. When dough has finished rising, bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately turn it upside down onto serving plate. Remove pan.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray your 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. Then line it with parchment paper, allowing some overhang on the sides. This will help you lift out the cookie bars easily once they are baked.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, and butter. Mix until everything is well combined and forms a smooth batter.
Fold in the 1 cup of M&M’s and optional chocolate or white chips (if using), ensuring they are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan using a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup M&M's on top of the batter. Can also use some sprinkles if you wish.
Bake of 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool slightly before lifting out using parchment overhand and cutting into squares
Notes
Don’t over-mix.
Store in refrigerator in airtight container for up to 5 days.
The finished and cut bars can be frozen for up to 3 months.
This recipe uses a brownie box mix and adds peanut butter and who doesn’t like peanut butter and chocolate? This is very simple to put together and never fails to please. My grandsons loved them and so did my German class attendees.
HEAT oven to 350°F. Coat bottom of 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
PREPARE brownie mix batter according to package instructions using oil, water and eggs. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
MICROWAVE peanut butter in medium microwave-safe bowl on HIGH 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto brownie batter and gently swirl with tip of knife.
BAKE 29 to 32 minutes or until set in center. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
Fri Jul 12, 2024 – Departed the condo just before 10:00am for the short drive to the Oxenholme train station. Fortunately, we left with plenty of time because the traffic was really backed up in Ambleside. Got there in time to catch the train to Glasgow, a two hour trip. Checked into our hotel at 2:30 and set out to explore. We saw the Glasgow Cathedral and the Glasgow Necropolis, an old cemetery. We made our way back towards the hotel before stopping at Sarti, an Italian restaurant, where they served excellent food. After a short walk back to the hotel we had a drink in the lobby and played Quirkle and Cribbage. STAY: Hampton by Hilton Glasgow Central
The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral
Sat Jul 13, 2024 – Went on Rabbie’s Oban Glencoe Highland Lochs and Castles all day tour today. Nothing remarkable to report. Lots of time in the bus and Carl took several naps. However, for dinner the front desk at the hotel recommended The Red Onion, a restaurant right across the street. It was excellent food. The kitchen messed up and our food was slow coming so they gave us a second round of drinks on the house. STAY: Hampton by Hilton Glasgow Central
Sun Jul 14, 2024 – Spent the morning in our room before walking to the train station. Upon arrival to Edinburgh we walked to the Cairn Hotel and Apartments, conveniently located next to the Ukraine Embassy, and asked them to store our bags. We then headed out to find the Camera Obsecura and World of Illusions exhibit. Along the way we walked along the Royal Mile, stopped at the Tron Kirk (old church converted into a craft sale area) and passed St. Giles Cathedral. A queue was forming for Camera Obsecura for entry in 10 minutes and two tickets were available. A fascinating and interesting place with optical illusions and “magic”. Afterwards, we headed to the Johnnie Walker Journey of Flavour Tour. This tour took us through the ages as Johnnie Walker was created and developed, all in an entertaining manner. A whiskey and soda drink was created for us based upon our answers to several different flavor questions and the tour ended with us selecting two cocktails to enjoy. Lori even liked the cocktails and Carl got a hoody sweatshirt from the gift shop. Returned to our hotel, checked in, relaxed a bit before heading to a local pub, The Theatre Royal Bar, to watch the football (soccer) finals Euro 2024 which matched Spain and England. Unfortunately, England didn’t win. STAY: Cairn Hotel & Apartments
Mon Jul 15, 2024 – Departed our hotel around 11:00 am, walking to our Walking Food Tour with Secret Food Tours. As normal we were early so we did some sightseeing, again, along the Royal Mile and a quick tour of St Giles Cathedral, where our tour was meeting. Our guide, Carlos, was from Spain! Excellent walking tour where we stopped at Mimi’s Bakehouse for scones and tea (excellent), to Rattray’s Whisky Experience and Whisky Shop for Scotch Whisky tasting (Lori liked this one as well!), to the Fudge Kitchen for a small, small sample of fudge, to a food court for pizza made with 4 cheeses from Scotland, and finally to The Magnum for the best food. We had Cullen Skink, a fish soup, which was superb and Haggis Bon Bons, pretty good. By now it was late afternoon and raining so we decided to go to our hotel and relax for the evening. STAY: Cairn Hotel & Apartments
Tue Jul 16, 2024 – Departed our hotel around 10:00 am for a walk to see the Royal Yacht Britannia when along the way we stopped at another Mimi’s Bakehouse for a late breakfast of scones and salmon Benedict. Both were excellent. We finished the walk and were not able to get much of a view of the Yacht and decided the price for a tour just wasn’t worth it. Caught the TRAM for a ride to get us near the Edinburgh Castle. We were only ½ mile from the meeting point for the Underground Caverns Tour so we got tickets and joined the group-just as it started raining. The first half of the tour was outside so our rain jackets came in handy. The underground caverns story was interesting – mainly the history part, not the “haunted” stories part. We stopped at Jeremiah’s Taproom for fish and chips and mac n cheese as well an apple cider and grapefruit hefeweizen beer. Played a game of cribbage before coming back to the hotel to relax and prepare to depart tomorrow. STAY: Cairn Hotel & Apartments
Wed Jul 17, 2024 – Had an early start to the day with PU by UBER at 5:30. At this time of the day the traffic was light so no issues getting to the airport. We actually arrived before the kiosk to check in was open. The first leg of the trip was a 1.5 hour flight to Amsterdam where we had a 3 hour layover which we spent in the Delta lounge. The airport is large and not efficiently laid out, however, it did have nice, creative seating options. The flight from Amsterdam to Detroit had the same first class seating as the flight over. I had a nice Argentine Malbec wine with a fish dinner and an ice cream sundae. I watched the movie “Freelance” and most of “Beekeeper” which had little to do with beekeeping. Spent most of the 4 hour layover in Detroit in the Sky Lounge before arriving to Green Bay and being picked up by Ed Tucker at 8:30 pm. A long day! Stay: Home.
This recipe sounded weird to me. Use olive oil to make a sweet almond cupcake. Well, I was very surprised – couldn’t taste the olive oil and the flavor is similar to the more expensive box mixes.
2TBLcitrus juicefrom the same citrus fruit as the zest
¼tspalmond extract
¼cupalmondsliced
Instructions
Preheating your oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cups into 6 cups of a muffin pan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Ensure all ingredients are well combined.
In a separate measuring cup, whisk together the wet ingredients: olive oil, milk, egg, citrus zest, citrus juice, and almond extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, gently stir the mixture just until combined. Don't overmix the batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Each cup should be about three-quarters full. Evenly top each muffin with the sliced almonds. Then, lightly dust the tops with extra sugar.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Remove the muffin pan from the oven and let the muffins cool slightly in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Can be served cold or warm (warm is better).
This recipe originally came from the Big Green Egg website but it has been slightly modified. My grandson, who is a picky eater, really likes the flavor and asks for seconds. We like to serve it with a homemade BBQ Sauce.
Five to six pounds of meat is way more meat than we can eat in a single setting we generally freeze about 1/2 of it.
Set the BGE for indirect cooking at 235 degrees using apple wood for smoke flavor.
Mix all of the dry ingredients and season the brisket liberally. Cook the brisket fat-side down for 1 hour and then flip it to fat-side up. Cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
Lay out a big double-thick layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil and lay the brisket on it fat-side up. Pull up the sides of the foil and pour on the coffee as you close up the package. Be careful not to puncture it or you'll have to start over.
Place the brisket packet in a 235 degree oven. After another hour, begin checking the internal temperature. When it reaches 200 degrees, remove from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes, wrapped. Remove the brisket from the foil. If desired, skim the fat from the liquid and serve the remaining juices as a sauce. Slice the brisket about 1/4 inch thick , across the grain, to serve.
Once you have tried this recipe you’ll never go back to making Risotto on the stove top. The Instant Pot makes this so simple. While the risotto is cooking in the Instant Pot you can go about making the remainder of your meal.
Press the sauté button on the Instant Pot. Add and melt the butter. Add the onion and stir fry for 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and rice and cook for an additional minute. Add ½ cup broth and stir for 2-3 minutes until it is absorbed by the rice.
Add the remaining 1 ½ cups broth, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Lock lid.
Press Pressure Cook and adjust time to 10 minutes. When timer beeps, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Quick release any additional pressure until float valve drops and then unlock lid.
We flew to Phoenix from Appleton to the Mesa airport for this trip. The direct flight was excellent. It was a breeze to secure the rental car from Alamo (through Costco) before heading out to Dave and Ann’s house in Sun City West. The traffic was horrendous even at 7:00pm at night. A charcuterie board and wine awaited us when we arrived. Stay: Dave / Ann
November 14, 2025
After coffee and chatting with Dave and Ann we made a 50 minute drive to Pinnacle Peak Park in Scottsdale where we hiked 2 miles RT where excellent views of the valley were had. Trail (4 mile RT, Scottsdale). In the evening we all headed to the Stand Up Live Comedy Club for a hilarious night of stories from three comics. The MC was Patrick Keene, followed by Pauly Casillas (from Tucson, AZ) and then the headliner Kyle Kinane. Stay: Dave / Ann
November 15, 2025
Again after coffee and chatting Lori and I headed to an Artwalk at Trilogy in Vistancia. It was not a large art show but we did find a 3-D dice tower and Uno card holder to purchase as gifts. Since it was sunny and clear skies we headed to Lake Pleasant and hiked 4 miles RT on the Maricopa Trail. We were disappointed with the trail because it never got close to the lake. The drive to the Discovery Center was very roundabout and just as we headed to the car it started to rain. Ann prepared an excellent chicken dinner for us. Stay: Dave / Ann
November 16, 2025
Luckily there was a Packer bar nearby which was only a 5 minute drive so we could watch the Packers beat the Giants with other Packer fans. After the game we headed to a Goodwill store but didn’t buy anything (lines were too long). In the evening we taught Dave and Ann to play Reganwerman. Stay: Dave / Ann
November 17, 2025
The highlight of the day was a Food Tour booked via Viator. The food tour along Roosevelt Avenue (known as the RoRo district). The first stop was at Taco Chelo where we sampled Sonoran Taco followed by a stop at Arizona Wilderness DTPHX (a brew pub) to try a steak burger, Wilderfries in duck fat. Loria and I also purchased a cider sampler. The third stop was at Pomo Pizzeria for a slice of Margherita Pizza with Pomo Lemondrop alcoholic drink. The final stop was at Match Market and Bar where we sampled dumplings from Lovebite Dumplings followed by a Tuxedo Cake and ice cream. Lori went to a different Goodwill where she made a couple of purchases and we taught Dave and Ann the game of Skyjo. Stay: Dave / Ann
November 18, 2025
We said goodbye to Dave and Ann around 11:00 and drove to our hotel (which wasn’t ready yet) so we hit yet another Goodwill where Lori made another purchase. Supper was at Red, White, and Brew with Tim and Susan Pickering before relaxing for the remainder of the evening in the hotel. Stay: Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix/Gilbert
November 19, 2025
We lazed around in the hotel room before leaving for the Mesa airport (15 minutes away) at 11:00. The flight home was uneventful.
