I can’t believe how fast this week has flown by. Joe was lucky enough to spend a whopping four days home for the Thanksgiving holiday, that’s fine…I am thankful enough for that, given this was his first turkey day home in 4 years. Four deployments to Iraq and five to Afghanistan, his Thanksgiving meal consisted mostly of just the VERY basics…and good they were NOT. Bless the cooks’ hearts, they did try their best, like boiling steak (yes, seriously), etc. The guys learned to be very “creative” in what was available. MRE’s were looking pretty good towards mid~deployment and my boy usually came home 30 pounds lighter, not by choice. All in all, we were very blessed to be able to serve our country, and did so very proudly. Through many missed holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, every~day~goings~on, broken appliances, dead fish (ALWAYS when he is gone…always), lonely nights, etc. we prevailed. My motto during deployment was “She Who Waits Also Serves”…and I was both proud and honored to do it. It was our life at the time. As hard as those days were, we managed to get through it all. And came through it stronger than ever…we are fighters and not even 12,000 miles away from each other for months on end could ever change the love we have for each other…it only made it stronger. And we would not change One. Single. Thing. And would do it all over again should the need arise. Enough of that…that could be an entire post by itself…”The 20 Things I Learned From Deployment”…perhaps another day.
With him being home for these four short days, I did not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and, believe it or not, I have never EVER made nor eaten Monkey Bread. I know, it’s just not right…it is all sorts of wrong. So, I got to nosing around and figured this would be a great weekend snack AND a very quick one to whip up. So, muffins baked and iced, ready for our morning coffee/tea…our weekend begins…and I couldn’t be more thankful. Semper Vigilo (always vigilant, always watching) Joseph!!!
Sláinte!
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Penzey's cinnamon (our preference)
- 1 can Pillsbury Grands!™ Flaky Layers biscuits (I prefer these, any will work fine)
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Water
- 1/2 teaspoon Penzey's pure vanilla extract (our preference)
- 4 ounces light cream cheese (softened)
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Penzey's pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk (we used Vitamin D)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray 8 muffin wells with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon and mix well.
- Cut dough into 9 cubes.
- Toss biscuit pieces in cinnamon~sugar mixture gently to coat.
- In saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar and water over medium heat until it boils, stirring constantly. Cook for about 2 minutes or until brown sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Place 3 biscuit pieces into muffin well, drizzle caramel, then repeat two more times, ending up with 9 pieces in each well. Spoon remaining caramel sauce over the top and bake 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from oven and gently push the biscuit pieces back into the muffin wells with a spoon to give them a muffin appearance. Cool for 10 minutes. Then with a fork, gently move to cooling rack. While muffins are cooling, prepare the icing.
- In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth with a hand mixer. Add vanilla and 1 Tablespoon of milk, beating until well combined. Slowly add more milk as needed, 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Place icing into 1 quart freezer bag, snip a tiny bit of the end off and drizzle over muffins.
- Enjoy!
*A great way to fill the freezer bag with icing is to place it into a mug or cup, fold edges over and fill.
Slightly adapted from My Baking Addiction
Recent Comments