December Recipes

Miss in the Kitchen
    On Christmas morning, my kids are so into what’s under the Christmas tree that they often forget to eat, and then suddenly, they are starving. So I always want something really simple for Christmas morning, and these cinnamon rolls are ideal.  They taste amazing and are the quickest and easiest!
SUPER QUICK AND EASY CINNAMON ROLLS
 2  8 oz cans refrigerated crescent rolls
 1/4 cup butter, softened
 1 cup brown sugar
 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 1/2 cup cream cheese icing homemade or store bought
    Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
    Roll out each can of crescent rolls into a separate rectangle, pressing the seams together.
    Spread 2 tablespoons of butter onto each rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar over each rectangle of dough. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons cinnamon over each.
    Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut dough into one-half-inch strips.
    Roll up each strip carefully.  If the dough comes apart where it was perforated, just pinch it back together.  It will bake together.
    Place each roll into a greased 9-inch baking pan.
    Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until rolls are browned and cooked through.
    Drizzle with cream cheese icing.
    Serve warm or at room temperature.
    One of our family Christmas traditions is to decorate the tree and then have a glass of egg nog while admiring the tree.  This year the grocery store was out of egg nog, so I thought I would attempt it on my own. I searched for a recipe and it didn’t seem too difficult, but of course I didn’t have several of the ingredients. I made adjustments to what I had on hand, and it turned out way better than store bought.  I don’t know why I would be surprised at that, but man, it was good! And very obtainable.  This version is not too rich, you could make it a little richer by replacing 1/3 of the milk with heavy cream.  You have to try this – it really is easy and such an incredible holiday treat!  I may never buy store bought again!
HOMEMADE EGG NOG
 8 egg yolks
 1 cup sugar
 6 cups whole milk
 1 vanilla bean, split and seed scraped
 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
 2 teaspoons cinnamon
    With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow.  
    In a Dutch oven or large pan add milk, vanilla beans with seeds, nutmeg and cinnamon over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.   
    Remove from heat and pour about 1 cup of milk mixture into eggs, whisking as you pour to temper the eggs.  Stir into remaining milk mixture and continue to cook over medium-high heat until thickened.
    Chill for 4 hours or until completely cooled and serve.
Enjoy!
Miss
    Milisa Armstrong lives on a cattle ranch in Kaycee where she cooks, writes and raises a family. Visit her blog at missinthekitchen.com.