My Mom's Sticky Bun Recipe

This is a very easy and crowd pleasing recipe my mom always uses when she makes sticky buns for church or family events. It uses (thawed) frozen bread dough and sits overnight in your refrigerator so it's ready to bake in the morning! I don't know about you, but anything that can save me time in the morning is an absolute bonus.

Ingredients:

2 loaves frozen bread dough (thawed)

1 large box cook and serve vanilla pudding

1 cup of chopped nuts

1 stick of butter

2 T milk

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

• Butter 9x13 pan. 

• Spread nuts on bottom of the pan. I like pecans, but walnuts work just as well. 

• Cut or tear bread into small pieces. Lay in pan. 

• In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, milk, cinnamon and pudding mix. Pour over dough evenly. 

• Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. 

• In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake covered pan for 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and flip onto serving plate or into another 9x13 pan. 

• Serve and devour!

What's Grandma's Secret?

It's a question I always wondered about. My grandma has always made my favorite oven roasted turkey. There was no comparing, and not even my mom could come close. There was always something particularly good about my grandma's turkey, a certain taste and texture no one else could achieve - very moist (sorry, Missy**) and with a slightly buttery/salty taste (but not too much). It was never dry, never bland. She didn't use a rub or fresh herbs.

Being curious, I finally worked up the nerve to ask her what her secret is, and if I wasn't at her house to eat turkey that day, I may have had a heart attack. Do you know what she told me the secret is? PAM. That's right. Pam cooking spray. It's as simple as that. She coats the turkey with cooking spray before covering it and putting it in the oven. She also says "don't open the roaster until the turkey is completely done" but we all know that, we just need to have the restraint and faith not to open it. All these years, I thought she had a special ratio of seasoning or liquid or method of cooking the turkey. The truth is, she may, but until I actually stand by her while she preps the turkey, I'll never know and no one else will either.

So this week, when I made my slow-cooker turkey, I sprayed it with cooking spray (I thought of this a few minutes too late. I had already first prepared and used a fresh herb mixture). Even though I didn't use my oven (I don't trust leaving it on while I'm at work all day - and it's been summer a.k.a. hot), I figured I could at least give the cooking spray a test run. You know what? It was good. So I guess, like most grandmas, she knew what she was doing with her cooking. I just didn't expect it to be so simple.

What other secrets does she have up her sleeve? I don't know, but I need to find out. If you have a favorite thing that someone in your family makes, find out (if they'll tell you). One of the best things about cooking is learning and passing along recipes.

**My friend Missy has a particular dislike toward the "m word" as she refers to it. And Betches Love This.

Homemade Pie Crust - A Battle with My Mom

Ever since I was young, my mom and I have fought over anything and everything - from what was appropriate to watch on tv, to buying a Trapper Keeper (mine had a cat on - big surprise), to my curfew, to cutting my hair (I won that one), and a number of things I won't even bother to mention. I credit my mom for part of my love of cooking. Growing up, she baked all my friends' and neighbors' cakes, believed in a home cooked meal and dinner time with family, and could usually be relied on to come up with some kind of dessert. Not to mention, she has made her own jam and canned her own vegetables. But the one thing she doesn't do, the one thing we still fight about is making homemade pie crust.

She firmly believes that making homemade pie crust is too difficult, even though I can't recall the last time she even made the attempt. Here is a woman who makes frosting from scratch and takes the time to make homemade strawberry jam but who is convinced a pie crust is beyond her talents. Of course, I hold my stance that while it does take more time than unrolling those crappy refrigerated Pillsbury** ones, it is more than worth it to make your own crust. Not only does it taste 1000x better (this has not been scientifically tested, btw) - kind of the difference between eating cardboard and, well, pie crust, but it's very easy to learn to do. Maybe the first time, it won't come out exactly how you want, but many of your best recipes probably haven't either. And if they have, then you really need to give making pie crust a try. It will probably take you 15 minutes longer, but it is absolutely worth it to get that flaky, buttery crust that is only achieved with a homemade crust. Plus, your pie will actually look homemade, and where I'm from (the glorious PA Dutch country), people know the difference.

*If you have leftover pie crust, try making a cinnamon roll style treat with the leftover dough! In my mom's family, her mom called them 'dough hickeys'. I have no idea why, but it is a tradition now every time I have leftover crust, which is pretty much every time. Just roll or press out the extra dough, spread a layer of butter on the dough, sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, and roll up the dough. Then cut it into little cinnamon roll shaped pieces and bake for a few minutes. My mom would always wait for my extra pieces of 'dough hickeys' when I was making a homemade pie. They're only good if you use homemade crust though. So don't try this with cheater pie crust!

**As a sidenote: I have nothing against Pillsbury. I happen to really like their crescent rolls - especially the garlic butter flavor. I also really like the Grands biscuits, although I don't buy them often because they are a killer on calories (well for me since I could eat them all in one sitting). I just don't get why they have such a crappy tasting premade pie crust. It is really awful.