Column from August 19, 2010

Recipes can bring back fond memories

The best recipes are often the ones that we keep in our heads. Those are requested for many events or get-togethers.

I was visiting with Grace at the Chamber of Commerce a while back and she told me about a recipe for cinnamon rolls she got from Barbara Pederson. It’s one of her kids’ favorites and they always request she make it when they come to visit.

Of course, Grace keeps it in her head, so she has to stop and think about how it’s made whenever anyone asks for the recipe.

I have lots of recipes like that – my meatloaf, spaghetti, chili, potato and macaroni salads, baked beans, etc. My daughter tends to be the one to ask for those and it’s difficult to explain some of them.

The best way to learn how I make them is to watch carefully during the process.

When my kids were in high school, it wasn’t unusual to find my dining room table filled with their friends who stopped by for spaghetti. Even when I would meet one who hadn’t been to our house before, they tended to tell me they heard about my spaghetti.

There’s nothing like a roomful of crazy teens to make a house feel like a home.

I wish I had Grace’s recipe back then. It would have been the perfect ending to a perfect meal for those kids.

Grace was generous enough to write it down to share with my readers. You’ll have to do some improvising, but that’s the secret to remembered recipes.

So, have fun preparing these cinnamon rolls and if they don’t turn out exactly right, try again. Once you get the hang of it, you might be making them regularly for your own friends and family.

Cake mix cinnamon rolls

1 box yellow cake mix

5 cups bread flour

2 packages or 4 teaspoons yeast

2-1/2 cups warm water (105 to 110 degrees)

Mix all ingredients together and knead until soft (dough will be sticky). Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Punch down and roll out into a rectangle.

Spread with ½ cup butter, sprinkle with ½ to ¾ cup brown sugar. (Grace didn’t include cinnamon on the list of ingredients, so I would recommend sprinkling it on at this point to your own personal taste.) You can add nuts and raisins, if desired.

Roll and slice every 1-1/2 inches to form rolls. Place in buttered pan (Grace uses a baking sheet) and let rise again.

Option: In small sauce pan, melt ½ cup butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup white Karo syrup and 1 cup finely chopped nuts just till warm (do not boil). Cool until warm to touch. Pour into buttered pan and place rolls on top and let rise.

Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown (time will depend on size of rolls). Remove and immediately invert pan onto foil and allow sauce to drip over rolls.

Pan may be lined with foil and buttered for easy removal.