In Need of a Creativity Refill

I've been feeling exhausted for two days now, with no valid reason, so my brain is running a little low on creative ideas. Once again, there will be no knitting content to this post, but I am working on it, I promise. Today, there will be recipes, some of them I have linked to in the past, today, I will be posting the actual recipes here. They are in no particular order.


Top 3 Current Favourite Recipes


1. No-Knead Challah

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp course salt)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and room temp.
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Add in the flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Cover (not airtight)
and let the dough rise for 2-3 hours on the counter. You can shape and bake after it has risen or you can refrigerate 4-7 days.

Either way, shape the dough as desired (I made it into large buns) let rest 40-90 (depending how cold your house is) minutes and bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 min. After removing from the oven I gave mine a brush of melted butter.



2. Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter (I reduced it to 3/4 c)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I reduced it to 1c)
1 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
1 small can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.


3. Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites
1/3 cup thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/4 cup buttermilk


In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth.

Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in 350F preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

These are great topped with swirls of white chocolate, cream cheese frosting or a dusting of powdered sugar.

*Note, the original recipe said these made 10. I find one batch makes 6 medium to large cupcakes, or about 24 mini cupcakes.