I made LindaC's cinnamon buns/rolls last week and while I was happy with the end results, I messed up a bit and knew I could do better. Basically, last week I made the dough in my KA which I do not recommend as it tends to over mix the dough, bringing out the stickiness and making one think it needs more flour. This time I mixed it with a wooden spoon to start, and then kneaded it on my counter top adding flour as necessary. After I made the dough, I remembered Lou's plea for photos and a tutorial. So here it is, unfortunately minus the mixing of the dough. But the recipe I used was very easy for the dough. Basically proof the yeast and start dumping in the other ingredients. I used LindaC's recipe as a base and added 1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar mixed with a generous tbs of cinnamon for the filling. I spread about 1/3 cup soft butter before I put down the brown sugar mix. The icing is a combo of almost equal parts cream cheese, butter and a cup or more of powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla. Next a rise of about 1.5 hours: Punched down: Rolled out like buttah: Spread with softened butter: Add brown sugar mixed with cinnamon: Start rolling up on the long side: finished roll: Sliced, in a greased pan, then let rise 30 min: Out of the oven: Iced:

Here's how they came out - I baked them for 45 mins. in a quarter sheet pan and they were perfectly done (some reviewers said they'd cut the baking time to 25 mins.,don't know how they could have baked through..) I ended up with 12 very generously sized rolls. Recipe notes that it serves 6. I don't know how anyone could eat 2 of these in one serving, and I can't imagine making each roll twice as large as mine were and having them bake through to the center without overcooking the outside. I skipped breakfast and had one of the rolls w/ cafe au lait as my lunch and I was more than satisfied. The brioche is very rich, yet light and flaky. It was my favorite part, which surprised me, as I am a big caramel/pecan fan. The point is, the "goo" really is the icing on the cake in this recipe. Many sticky buns I've had are only good for the goo, and the bread part is just a means of transport - you would as soon toss it away once the sweet stuff is gone. This recipe was time and labor intensive. If I make it again I will probably try one reviewer's method of boiling the goo a bit before pouring it in the pan. I'd like to add a deeper caramel flavor. This was a humungous diet splurge for me. So as soon as I finished mine I packaged up all but one and brought them to my sister's for her family (w/ strapping teenage boys) to enjoy. One bonus from this baking adventure was coming back home to a house that smells like heaven!!

Enjoy your family recipe! How much dough depends on how large or small (or somewhere in between) you want the buns. I weigh my dough balls on a scale so I have equal-sized buns. Using this method your buns will bake to the same size in the same amount of time. For small luncheon rolls - between 1-1/2 or 2-ounces. Just go up from there in 1/2 to 1-ounce increments until you get the size you want. Probably around 2-1/2 to 3-ounces will work well for most burgers. After you've formed the dough into a round ball (making sure any air bubbles are worked out), pat it into a nice round about 1/2-inch thick. I use my muffin top pans (6 to a pan - the holes are about 1/2-inch deep) to bake my large hamburger buns, and I have another pan (12-holes on the pan) for small buns. You can place them onto greased cookie sheets, or cover with parchment paper. The shallow pans I use give them a nice structure and they remain nice and round. Cover with plastic wrap for the last rise. Your recipe makes a LOT of dough and you may find you need to retard a portion of the dough (covered), or the formed buns on cookie sheets (and covered with plastic wrap), in the refrigerator in order to prevent the dough from over-proofing waiting for room in the oven. You'll have several cookie sheets and you'll want to bake them one sheet at a time, unless you have a convection oven. You could use the recipe for making more than one thing - burger buns, hot dog buns, and cinnamon rolls - all from the one recipe. Take your leftover burger buns, slice them, and wrap in a sheet of foil (I get pop-up sheets of foil at Sam's Club that work perfectly for this). I also like to add deli-sliced ham to the buns and freeze them. Pop the foil-wrapped Ham Buns in the toaster oven for 15-20-minutes for a quick lunch. Handle the dough with oiled hands, instead of flour. If you have a Silpat (or other silicon mat) place your dough on it for forming (loaf, buns, cinnamon rolls, etc.) and you won't require any bench flour if you handle the dough with oiled hands. You can also spray your counter with PAM for forming dough without using any bench flour (remember to oil your hands). Another way to figure "how much", a serving of bread is 1-ounce and a hamburger bun is supposed to equal 2-servings. There is some loss of weight from moisture drying during baking, so around 2-1/4 to 2-1/2-ounces will probably end up around 2-ounces when baked. Yet one more way... You can take the total weight of the dough and divide it by 3 and you'll probably be good-to-go. Four cups of flour in a recipe should equal approx. 2-pounds of dough or 32-ounces. Divided by 3-ounces per roll is 10.6 rolls. Divide by 2.5 and you'll get about a dozen. If you make the dough into cinnamon rolls or sticky buns, 1.5 pounds of dough will equal 12 rolls. Roll the dough 12-inches wide by however thin you want your dough (about 1/2-inch thick usually suggested to maintain the structure). Add your cinnamon-sugar - but don't add any fat - there is more than enough fat from your hands when you patted the dough out, and roll the dough into a log. Using a 12-inch ruler as a guide, manipulate your dough log to approx. 12-inches wide. Take a sharp knife and nick your dough log every 1-inch using the ruler as a guideline. Take a length of dental floss and use it to cut your dough on the 1-inch marks. Slide the floss under the end of the dough, bring the ends up to the top and crisscross the ends, pull the floss to cut through the dough log. If you want to make quick sticky-pecan rolls, grease/spray your muffin pans, add about 1-T. honey or agave nectar (just barely enough to cover the bottom of the muffin cup) and top with chopped pecans. Add one cinnamon roll on top, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise to double. Don't be too generous with the honey in the muffin cups or you will find it spilling over the pans into your oven. Back to the topic... This is the general rule-of-thumb for most yeast breads when you want to figure what size it will be... The dough is approximately 1/3 of the finished size. You allow it to double in size before you place it in the oven, so that accounts for 2/3 of the finished size. The remaining 1/3 is from oven-spring, the amount the dough continues to rise in the oven. Now you can "eyeball" the finished size of any amount of dough you want to use for loaves, rolls, hot dog buns, etc... For hot dog buns, roll the dough to the size (or just a bit larger) and shape of the hot dog you are going to be using. -Grainlady

Check out the recipes found at the web site link below. I think you'll find lots of possibilities. Although the recipes are geared for children to help make, they are also kid choices. Kids' Quesadillas Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes (source: Just For Kids (sponsored by Birds Eye, Hershey's, French's, Oreo, and Lawry's) Prepare the quesadillas ahead of time, cover and chill, and cook just before serving. 8 slices American cheese 8 (10-inch) flour tortillas 1/2 pound thinly sliced deli turkey optional: 6 T. Honey Mustard or mayo 2 T. melted butter 1/4 t. paprika 1. To prepare 1 quesadilla, arrange 2 slices of cheese on 1 tortilla. Top with 1/4 of the turkey. Spread with mustard or mayo (optional), then top with another tortilla. Prepare 3 more quesadillas with remaining ingredients. 2. Combine butter and paprika. Brush one side of tortilla with butter mixture. Preheat 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange tortilla butter side down and cook 2 minutes. Brush tortilla with butter mixture and turn over. Cook 1-1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining three quesadillas. Slice into wedges before serving. Makes 4 servings. (Fun note: If you have some small cookie cutters in fun shapes, cut a shape from the piece of cheese to add to the top of the quesadilla, on the second side, just before serving.) Here is a link that might be useful: Kids a Cookin