Hot Cocoa Cream of Wheat

 Makes 2 servings

2 cups water

1/2 cup cream of wheat

1/4 tea. salt

1/4 cup milk

1 Tab. butter

4 Tab. hot cocoa mix

mini marshmallows

Bring water to a boil and stir in salt and cream of wheat. Turn down heat and cook until reaches desired consistency.

Turn off heat and add milk, butter and hot cocoa mix. Stir to combine and scoop into bowls. Garnish with marshmallow.

Breakfast Nachos

 

2 servings

5 eggs, scrambled

1/2 cup cheese, shredded

1 1/2 cups tortilla chips

Any toppings you would like:

• avocados
• tomatoes
• salsa
• cilantro
• sour cream
• beans

Cornmeal Mush

 

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup cold tap water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups hot tap water

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal and cold tap water.
2. Meanwhile, in a 2 quart pan, combine the salt and hot water. Bring it to a boil over high heat.
3. While the water is heating, add the cornmeal mixed with the cold water. Combining the cornmeal with cool water before adding it to the boiling water keeps the cornmeal from lumping up when it hits the hot water.
4. When the water and cornmeal boil, reduce the heat to low.
5. Allow the mush to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it is nicely thickened.

Breakfast Muffins

Basic Muffin Recipe

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

4 tea Baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup margarine, butter, shortening or oil

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients. Stir until flour is moistened and ingredients blended. The batter will be lumpy. Fill lined or well greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 400F 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

You may add in all sort of things such as blueberries (fold in 2 cups at the last minute), maple (substitute 1 cup maple syrup for the milk) or any other desired flavorings and additions.

How to Make an Omelette

 For each omelette:

• 2 large eggs

• Pinch salt

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons grated cheese, any kind

• Desired fillings
  

• 2 tablespoons chopped herbs of your choice, optional

1. Prep the eggs:

   Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add a small pinch of salt and beat the eggs with a fork until they are well combined.
2. Melt the butter:

   In an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter.
3. Add the eggs and cook the omelette:

   Add the eggs to the skillet and cook without stirring until the edges begin to set. With a silicone spatula, push the edges toward the center of the pan and tilt the pan so the uncooked eggs move to the edge.

   Repeat until the eggs are somewhat set but still a little soft in the center, about 6 minutes.

4. Fill the omelette:

   Place the cheese, other desired fillings, and herbs in a line down the center of the omelette and cook for about 1 minute longer, or until the eggs are mostly set but still a little soft in the center.

5. Fold and plate the omelette:

   Slide the spatula around one side of the omelette at the edge to loosen it. Slip it under the eggs, and use it to carefully fold the omelette in half. Slide the spatula under the folded omelette to loosen it from the pan. Tilt the pan over a plate and use the spatula to nudge it onto the plate.

Santa Pancakes

ingredients to make pancakes
2 medium bananas, sliced
18 semisweet chocolate chips
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
Whipped cream in a can

Make pancakes as you wish. A little cinnamon and vanilla added to the batter goes well with the toppings.
Place pancakes on individual plates. For Santa's eyes, place two banana slices on each pancake; top with a chocolate chip. For ears, cut remaining banana slices in half; place on either side of pancake. For nose, remove nine cherries from pie filling; place one in the center of each pancake. Spoon 1/4 cup pie filling above pancake for hat. Use whipped cream to spray the beard, hat brim and pom-pom.
Source: Taste of Home

Egg Nog Muffins

source: two peas & their pod

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup eggnog

For the Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup eggnog
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2 mini muffin pans or 1 regular muffin pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, using a mixer, cream together the butter, canola oil, and sugars till smooth. Add the eggs, beating to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternately with the eggnog, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pans, filling the cups nearly full. Bake the muffins for 10-12 minutes, or until they're a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean. Remove muffins from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes. To make the glaze, combine butter, sugar, eggnog, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Dip the tops of each muffin into the glaze and let cool on a wire cooling rack until glaze sets up.

Pumpkin Doughnut

3½ cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
Canola oil or peanut oil, for frying

For the cinnamon-sugar:
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the spiced glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
2 tbsp. milk


To make the dough, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar and butter and beat until well blended. Stir in the egg, then the egg yolks, and then the vanilla until incorporated. Combine the buttermilk and pumpkin in a liquid measuring cup and whisk together. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Once the dough is mixed, cover and chill for at least 3 hours or until firm. (The dough still seemed quite soft so we did an additional 30 minute chill in the freezer.)
On a well-floured work surface, roll or pat out the dough to a ½-inch thick round. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour. Using a 2½ to 3-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out rounds of dough. Use a smaller cutter (or a wide pastry tip) to cut a hole out of the center. Reroll and cut the dough scraps as necessary.
Add oil to a large saucepan or Dutch oven to a depth of about 2-3 inches. Attach a thermometer to the side of the pan and heat the oil to 365-370˚ F. Add the rings of dough to the hot oil so that they are in a single layer and not touching. Fry, turning once, until both sides are golden brown and doughnuts are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes total. Use a skimmer/strainer to remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel-lined rack. Bring the oil temperature back up to the target range before repeating with the next batch of doughnuts. Use the same process for the doughnut holes, frying for a shorter time.


To make the cinnamon-sugar, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish and whisk to blend. When the doughnuts are just cool enough to handle, dip half of them in the cinnamon-sugar to coat completely, shaking off the excess.

To make the spiced glaze, combine the powdered sugar and spices in a small bowl. Add the milk and whisk to combine, until a thick glaze is formed. If necessary, add a bit more milk to thin the glaze out. Dip the remaining half of the doughnuts in the glaze. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Source: Annie's Eats

Orange Scones

There are so many ways to enjoy these – hot out of the oven, spread with butter or drizzled in apricot jam with a slice of cheddar cheese. And of course any leftovers make wonderful strawberry shortcake…

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
1/2 cup butter
zest of one orange
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg + enough buttermilk to equal one cup

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Using a rasp or zester, grate in zest of one orange. Whisk egg in liquid measuring cup with a fork, add milk to equal one cup of liquid. Add yogurt and egg mixture to dry ingredients. Stir lightly with a spoon then gently knead in bowl until the mixture holds together. Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead a few times until the dough is uniform – do not over knead the dough. Roll the dough out into a 12 – 14 inch round and cut into wedges. Alternatively, roll out to a 1/4 inch width and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass. *Note: these are flakier if you create laminated dough by rolling out into a large rectangle, folding the bottom third up and the top third down over it building layers before rolling the dough out for cutting.
Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the biscuits are lightly browned. Serve warm with butter or preserves.
Source: House Full of Jays

Pumpkin Cheese Danish

Pastry:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup canned, cooked pumpkin
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp. allspice or pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 sheets (1 1/2 boxes) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon milk
**extra powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, pumpkin, vanilla, salt, and spices and mix until just combined. Do not over beat!
Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 by 10-inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. Place a heaping tablespoon of pumpkin-cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining sheets of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes. Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, until puffed and brown.
Whisk to combine the confectioners' sugar and milk until a smooth glaze forms. Generously drizzle the glaze over pastries and sprinkle them with additional powdered sugar (can re-heat for 10 seconds in microwave).
(Recipe from Sprinkle Bakes.)

Green Eggs and Ham Croissant Breakfast Sandwich

Katie decided to celebrate the book this morning with a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast sandwich.

She fried Canadian Bacon in one pan and some scrambled eggs dyed green in another.
Some cheese was melted on a croissant in the microwave. The breakfast sandwich was easy to put together from there.
We like them anywhere...we like Green Eggs and Ham!

Watermelon Waffles for August 3rd, National Watermelon Day

These cute watermelon waffles are just chocolate chip waffles...

made with your favorite waffle batter dyed pink and green.

A great addition to our watermelon week!

This idea comes from Random Thoughts of a Supermom.

Nest Bread for Easter

I found this recipe on Catholic Cuisine, which was posted by Waltzing Matilda. It is a variation of St. Lucia bread.

1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/4-ounce packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
optional- 1 tea. orange extract
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5-6 RAW colored eggs
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 tablespoons orange juice


Warm the milk in a small saucepan, then pour 1/2 cup of it into a large bowl. Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar and let it set for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the remaining milk. Add the butter and milk mixture to the yeast mixture. Whisk in the eggs, juice, extract, 1/4 cup of sugar, orange rind, and salt.
Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough can be gathered into a ball. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes, adding more flour until the dough is smooth and elastic and does not stick to your hands.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turning it once to coat it. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
Punch down the dough and divide it into 5 or 6 equal parts. Roll each part into three ropes and braid the ropes together, Then, shape the dough into small braided rounds like a round nest, pinching together the ends to form a circle. Nestle an egg in the middle of the nest. The eggs must be raw eggs that have been colored in non-toxic food coloring. The egg will cook along with the bread and can be eaten as well. Some of the food coloring will bleed onto the bread which is why you want to make sure you use a non-toxic coloring substance. Transfer the rounds to a greased baking sheet and then place in the fridge overnight on Holy Saturday night. That will stall the second rise. When you are ready to bake on Easter morning, let the dough have a short second rise in a warm oven of about 30 minutes. Remove pans and heat the oven to 375°. Bake the bread for 25 minutes or until golden brown, then let it cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.
For the glaze, stir together the confectioner's sugar and orange juice in a medium bowl until smooth. Drizzle the glaze mix over the bread. You can also sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired.

Meyer Lemon Teacakes or Muffins

I have told you before about my love for Meyer Lemons. These little muffins can be served at tea time as teacakes or at breakfast. My guys could not get enough of them!

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3 Meyer Lemons or regular Lemons to make 2 tbsp Meyer lemon zest (or regular lemon) and 1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice (or regular lemon)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt.)
Optional: If you have another Lemon, you can juice it and add powdered sugar to it until it become thick enough to drizzle and drizzle over for a glaze.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini muffin tin with baking spray and then dust with flour. In a bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by lemon zest. Stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by the lemon juice. Add in additional 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the yogurt. Stir in all remaining flour, but do not over mix. Using a small spoon, scoop batter into prepared pan until each is about 3/4 full. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Drizzle glaze over them, if desired.

Original Recipe from Cooking With My Kid

The Queen's Waffles- Breakfast or Dessert?

I decided one day to treat my boys to something spectacular...something really different for breakfast. Then I saw these at Daily Dose of Sugar Mama. How about a sundae on waffles? "A sundae for breakfast!?" I can hear you asking incredulously.  Why not? To tell you the truth, there isn't more sugar in this than many other breakfast foods and oh, my! They really felt it was something special. We might even have them for dessert one day.

frozen cinnamon mini waffles
vanilla ice cream
fudge sauce
strawberry ice cream sauce
sliced bananas
chopped pecans

Toast the waffles, quickly top with ice cream, toppings… then eat. The cinnamon waffles were PERFECT with the vanilla ice cream.

Hot Cross Buns For Easter

with just raisins

with fruitcake fruit mix

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
4 eggs
5 cups flour
1 1/3 cups currants, raisins and/or fruitcake mix fruit
1 egg white

Glaze
1 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest
1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1- 2 tablespoons milk

In a small saucepan, heat milk to very warm, but not hot (110°F if using a candy thermometer). Fit an electric mixer with a dough hook. Pour warm milk in the bowl of mixer and sprinkle yeast over. Mix to dissolve and let sit for 5 minutes.
With mixer running at low speed, add sugar, salt, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and eggs. Gradually add flour, dough will be wet and sticky, and continue kneading with dough hook until smooth, about 5 minutes. Detach bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough "rest" for 30-45 minutes.

Return bowl to mixer and knead until smooth and elastic, for about 3 more minutes. Add currants or raisins and knead until well mixed. At this point, dough will still be fairly wet and sticky. Shape dough in a ball, place in a buttered dish, cover with plastic wrap and let rise overnight in the refrigerator. Excess moisture will be absorbed by the morning.

Let dough sit at room temperature for about a half-hour. Line a large baking pan (or pans) with parchment paper (you could also lightly grease a baking pan, but parchment works better). Divide dough into 24 equal pieces (in half, half again, etc., etc.). Shape each portion into a ball and place on baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 400° F. When buns have risen, take a sharp or serrated knife and carefully slash buns with a cross. Brush them with egg white and place in oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° F, then bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack. Whisk together glaze ingredients, and spoon over buns in a cross pattern. Serve warm, if possible.

Chocolate Chip Scones

recipe and photo from Beautiful Nest

2 cups flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 & 1/3 cups whipping cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl. Add chocolate chips. Blend in whipping cream with a fork or spatula, adding 1-2 Tbsp. extra whipping cream, if necessary. When mixed, turn out onto a floured surface and knead several times. Pat into a 10 inch diameter, and cut into triangles. (You can also use a round cookie cutter instead, if you like!) Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 11-13 minutes.

See them at Cooking with Jessica

Hugs, Kisses and Hearts Pancakes for the Ones You Love





This batter (recipe from Cooking with my Kid) is nice for this type of pancake because it is thin and can go through the narrow opening of a squirt bottle so you can "draw" whatever shapes you would like. Squirt bottles can be found at craft stores, and the cooking department of department stores. It is often with the candy making supplies.

2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour or a mixture
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter (melted) or vegetable oil

Preheat your griddle on medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl whisk together wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry being careful not to over mix. Throw some water on the griddle. If it sizzles, it is ready. Turn down the heat to medium-low and grease the griddle with cooking spray. Use a squirt bottle to place the pancake batter onto the griddle forming X, O and heart shapes. Wait until you see bubbles before you flip the pancake. Pancakes are done when they are golden brown.

If you want to make the heart within a heart shape, make the outline first, let them cook until they need to be filpped and flip them over. Fill in the middle with new batter and cook until the edge is done. Flip one more time to lightly cook the center.

Saint Lucia Day Saffron Buns

There are a number of traditional shapes for Lucia buns; two favorites are the figure-eight shaped ìcatsî with a raisin in the center of each loop and the ìbridal crowns,î a strip of dough topped with four smaller rings of dough, each loop embedded with a raisin like the stones in a tiara. This recipe is a little more time intensive and a bit trickier than our usual American recipes, with a prepartion and baking time of about 3 hours. This recipe comes from Virtual Planet through Gingerbread Snowflakes. Saffron is a very expensive spice so it is often sold in small vials or tubes.

Saffron threads, one tube, approximately 0.5 grams
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/4 cup milk
7 Tablespoons butter, melted
3 cakes of fresh yeast (0.6 ounces each) (You can substitute cakes for dry yeast packets.)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 and 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour,
plus additional flour for kneading

Glaze:
1 egg
3 Tablespoons milk

With a mortar and pestle, rub saffron threads and one teaspoon of sugar together and set aside. Heat the milk to lukewarm, about 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and add the melted butter along with the saffron-sugar mixture. Crumble the yeast in a bowl and pour about 1/4 cup of the warm saffron milk on top and stir gently. Sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt and let rest five minutes.Add the remainder of the sugar, the milk, 3 cups of flour and the beaten egg and stir with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour on top and knead dough in the bowl for several minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.
Shape into a ball. Dust the top of the dough with flour, cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, dry place until double in size, about 60 to 90 minutes

Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Divide the dough into small pieces and, using your hands, roll the dough bits into an S or other traditional Lucia shape. Push raisins into dough as desired for decoration. Place buns on a cookie sheet that has been buttered or covered in parchment paper. Cover buns with a clean cloth and let rise again until double in size, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Make the glaze by beating one egg with 3 Tablespoons milk.
Brush the tops of the buns with the glaze just prior to baking. Bake 5 to 10 minutes, cool on a rack. Makes about 2 dozen buns, depending on size

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

This recipe is from Katrina of Baking and Boys!

Dough:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened canned pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1/2 cup warm water
1 packet or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Icing:
3 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup Grade A pure maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

Spray your baking pans with cooking spray (either 2 8-inch round pans or a 9x13 pan). Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, salt, pumpkin and egg for the dough and set aside. In another bowl (small), whisk together the warm water, yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is frothy. Place the flour (all 3 3/4 cups) in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add yeast and pumpkin mixture to the flour. Mix on low with the dough hook until all the flour is incorporated and a sticky dough forms. Knead with dough hook on medium speed for five minutes. If the dough is too sticky (not forming a ball in the mixter), add a little more flour. At this point I added about 1/4 cup more all purpose flour. Form dough into a ball and transfer to a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Roll the dough around the bowl to coat all sides with spray. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 16 by 10 inch rectangle. Keep making sure the dough is not sticking to the surface as you roll, lifting it and adding more flour if necessary.

Spread the softened butter in a thin layer over the dough, leaving a small border on all sides. Whisk together the brown sugar and spices and sprinkle it evenly over the buttered dough. Roll the dough tightly from the long side until completely rolled up with open seam side down on the counter.

Slice the dough into about 1 1/2 inch pieces and arrange them in the prepared baking dish cut side up, leave a little space in between each one for room to rise. Cover the pan with lightly sprayed plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free place. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove towel and plastic wrap. Bake until tops and edges are golden, 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes before icing. You can remove the rolls from the pan by inverting them onto another dish, or just leave them in the pan.

Make the icing while the rolls are cooling. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add maple syrup and salt and beat until incorporated. Add one cup of powdered sugar and beat. Add the other cup of sugar and mix well, it will make a stiff icing. Add the milk slowly, a little at a time until the icing is the desired consistency.

Spread or drizzle the icing over the rolls. Serve.