Gills-A-GoGo: November 2014

We have been super busy it seems with marching band since July, believe it or not. Band camp and night practices and competitions and other stuff with plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Last weekend the band boosters hosted the huge craft fair which is a major fundraiser for the band. I like working concessions, me all around the food you know, not surprising there. We also have a pretty big bake sale, and it alone raised $1200. That's a lot of baking for items mostly priced at 25 cents each. I sent in some treats since that's an easy way to contribute, but it also gives the boys a little extra credit. On Friday I made brownie bites, on Saturday I made maple pecan cinnamon rolls, and on Sunday I made a party mix.

The kids really liked the cinnamon rolls, not often they've ever had homemade ones in this house since ours our usually in the can so I'll include that recipe in case they ever think back to good ol' days at home and want to make them some day. Boys, why are you laughing?

But most surprising was the party mix. I only made it because I had these boxes of Life that came in a 3 pack at Sam's. Grant eats some cereal but chances are, those boxes would have been sitting in the pantry quite awhile so I wanted to use up some Life. I wanted a recipe that would be more sweet and less like a traditional Chex mix since I knew I had sugar and probably not worcestershire sauce and found one on a blog called FullTummies. There aren't many recipes specific to Life cereal, just for your info. So anywho, I quick made a double batch and bagged it up and sent it in to the bake sale.

Then two days later at Bunco, a friend who happened to be chairperson for the bake sale asked kinda desperately if I had sent in the party mix and I answered sorta slow and said, "yeah?" I was afraid maybe I'd caused a hospitalization with a nut allergy or something! Turns out that someone had tracked her down just to see if she knew the recipe for the party mix. And she told me no one had ever requested a recipe from her before despite all the hundreds of delicious treats that come through at the bake sale. I don't know if she's buttering me up to keep on bringing stuff in every year or what, but I will tell you that this little impromptu mix was not all that great. It's ok though. I'd make it again, maybe.

Sweet Life Party Mix
4 c. Life cereal, any flavor (1 regular--smallish box is enough for 2 batches)
1 c. small pretzel sticks
1 c. peanuts, optional
1/4 c. butter
3 T. brown sugar
1 c. raisins
1 c. M&M's, any color (or sub in chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Mix cereal, pretzels, and peanuts, if using, in large bowl (I used a large roasting pan for my double batch).
In a small saucepan, bring to a boil the butter and sugar. Drizzle over cereal mix. Toss lightly to mix thoroughly.
Bake at 250 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Add raisins and let cereal mix cool.
When completely cool, add chocolate pieces--whatever you happen to be using.

~Yields approximately 7-8 cups

Cinnamon Pinwheels with Maple-Coffee Icing
Pinwheels
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Maple-Coffee Icing
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
A pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 tablespoon strongly brewed coffee (I didn't add the coffee since ew, coffee!)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a muffin sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Mix Bisquick and milk together with a wooden spoon until dough comes together, then turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 3-4 minutes.

Roll dough into a large rectangle, 1/4-inch thick, and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle about 3/4 cup of the brown sugar mixture over the dough; sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup well.

Roll dough, jelly roll fashion, tucking in the ends so that the brown sugar stays inside; slice into 12 biscuits. Place cut-side down in muffin cups on top of the brown sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Turn out of the pan onto waxed paper immediately.

For the icing, mix together all the ingredients with a whisk until icing comes together. It should be thick, but too thick to pour. Depending on the consistency you want, you may want to add a tablespoon more or less of powdered sugar. Drizzle over the cinnamon rolls and serve warm.

Makes 12