Cherry Sweet Rolls

Every year my tart cherry tree produces an embarrassment of riches.

I have tons and tons of cherries and being a "waste not, want not" type of girl, I'm always looking for new ways to use them.









I've made wine... and finally threw it out two years later.

I've got tons of jam.                      

Made several pies.

I've bartered them for veggies.

I've made vinegar.



So then what? 

Then the idea struck me. If they can make cinnamon rolls, why not roll up some cherries in there. Maybe put a cheesecake like filling to make it sweet and wah-la, sweet cherry rolls.

I found a no bake cheesecake filling but found that it probably would be too liquid to go inside like a frosting like I wanted so I did some major renovating. I used the sweet roll recipe from a bread company cookbook and here are the results.

Cherry Sweet Rolls

Dough (From Fleischman's bread book I believe)

5-5 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt

1/2 c water
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs

In a bowl, mix 3 cups flour, 1/2 c sugar, undissolved yeast and salt.  In a separate saucepan,
heat milk, water and 1/2 c butter until warm (120 degrees), butter does not need to melt.Stir into dry ingredients. Stir in eggs, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead on light floured surface until smooth and elastic about 4-6 mins. Cover and let rest 10 mins.


Cream Cheese Base 

This started its life as a no-bake cheesecake filling but changed radically when I realized the receipe I initially was going to use was a pour and set filling. As I wanted this more of a frosting like consistency, I improvised.

2 bars cream cheese-room temp is best
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 small lime
1 tsp almond extract
1/8 c sugar
1/8 c whipped honey (or more sugar to taste)

Mix all to a frosting like consistency.  

Frozen or fresh pitted cherries.
(If using cherry pie filling, drain all the syrup off, it will make the rolls mushy.)





Assembly: 

Roll out the dough to a rectangle shape about 1/4" thick. Frost with the cream cheese frosting.

On top of cream cheese spread a layer of cherries (not sweetened). 

Roll out jellyroll style and cut.

This looks like a crime scene!

 

 If freezing for later use (think of this as a back to school treat!) put in cake pan container with directions on how to bake and stash in freezer. 

 

 If not, bake at 375 for 30-45 mins. (Trick is to test the middle roll for doneness.) Once finished, serve as is or make a drizzle of powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the top.

 Delish!

Bring the Snacks Back!

Why is it that certain snacks go out of style? After all, they were good once, why don't people still make them?

I mean, I understand, some of it is a change in culture. When I grew up it was rare that anyone had peanut allergies so my favorite Peanut Butter Goodies were everywhere. My goodness, they were on our school menu at least once a week and everyone loved them. Now? Some schools won't allow even peanut butter sandwiches because of a handful of students are allergic.  I get it, peanut allergies can land a student in the hospital but in real life, people have to adapt to their surroundings, not the other way around....

And peanut butter goodies are SO GOOD....

 

But what about Finger jello? Does anyone remember that? Finger jello is AWESOME and yet you never hear of anyone making it anymore.

Well, I'm bringing finger jello back. It's great. It's low in calories. Did I mention it's AWESOME? 

FINGER JELLO

3 packets of unflavored (Knox) Gelatine
3 packages of jello (most have the sugar in them)
(1/2 cup of sugar if your Jello/Flavored Gelatin is sugar free)
3 cups of boiling water
1 cup of cold water

Mix your unflavored gelatine in your one cup of cold water. 












Mix your 3 packages of your favorite jello in with your boiling water. If your Jello is sugar free, add sugar and disolve. 












Mix both gelatin mixtures together and put in an ungreased 13x9 pan. 















Let it cool and once cool, put in refrigerator to firm up. Once firm, cut into squares and eat with your fingers. YUM.

YUM!

What other snacks of your childhood do you want to bring back? Let's make a concerted effort so they don't disappear forever!

Spring? Stay Inside & Sew!

 


Mother Nature doesn't seem to know it's spring. 












The ice storm started Saturday night. The weatherman told us it would be 50 degrees Sunday.

Like fudge it was.







 



To be fair the ice did melt off the windows but it never got out of the thirties that's for certain! 

It was very pretty though.




And today, it drizzled all day.

















Earlier this week we had a visit from our local neighbors. This group travels together and likes to hang out in the field. 

My car died too Friday.. so I can't go anywhere...


Might as well sew right?

I did five more blocks towards this quilt. To be honest, I don't even know how many I currently have. They are large blocks too so I may have at least one side done by this point.

I obviously like this fabric, because I believe I've bought all they had at the co-op.

I picked this fabric up this past weekend during a visit back home.
Linda's Fabrics in Davison MI.

I love picking out my favorite fabrics from my stash and seeing what they look like together. Kind of fabric candy...

 

This fabric I picked up at during the local community garage sale last year.
The pink and black reminded me of a Barbie Doll.

I keep trying to pick out which ones I'm going to sign for the quilt front and back. It changes with each block I make.

This one?

 

Love the Stars!

Or this one?

 

Decisions, decisions...  

Which one would you sign?

My Grandmother's Quilts

 

On a quick trip back home, I was excited to see some of the quilts of my grandmothers. Both grandmother's have passed but wrapping up in their quilts made me feel still protected in their love. It made me happy to think I'm carrying along their tradition if even a little bit. 

 Grandma McElyea's quilts were obviously made out of feedsacks. the colors are all over the board but appear to be along the 1930's color spectrum with lots of pastels in various patterns.

  

I love the electric orange she chose for so many of the fans.

In others she choose to put in fabric that was the same as the background. These fans just appear to "float on the background.

They are placed randomly so they show up, where they "show up".

 I don't know why but I just love this random yellow fan. It's just kind of there all of the sudden. There's no other pattern so it just shows up as bars.

  

When you look at the back or even around the fan you can see how it was very much stitched by hand. This is a big quilt so it had to take forever.

Great Grandma Wren and that little guy is my father!

Grandma Wren's quilt was a lot more utilitarian. It was made with my Great Grandfather's cast off shirts. It has minimal quilting but was obviously well used. 

With four kids and a man with a big appetite, Grandma spent more time in the kitchen than sewing... although I'm sure that she spent a fair amount of time mending...

Just the basics here. Just enough to keep it together. It held up pretty well when you figure this was probably made in the 1930's or 1940's. Maybe even earlier.

It is showing it's age though. The fabric is literally falling apart. When you figure this is the second life for this fabric... first a shirt then a quilt. 










These quilts make me wonder how many generations of my family slept under them. How many times did these get rung thorough Grandma's old fashioned washtub? How many times did they end up on the line to dry? 

I'm sure that both Grandmothers were making these because they needed them for their families but I'm sure that there was a sense of accomplishment and joy when they were finished. Both grandmothers had four children  each so I'm sure that many quilts were made to cover their children and then their children's children and finally down to their Great, great, great grandson. It's a heritage and a love that far surpasses one lifetime.