yummy yummy in my tummy

Since I didn't want to do anything I had to do while waiting for Cory to finish running errands yesterday, I headed into the kitchen.
The outcome: soft pretzels, cinnamon rolls, and more ice cream (and of course, lots of dishes - again).

Pretzels have been on my list of things I want to try to make for a while, I even made it one of my 2011 goals. Cory's cousin Rochelle's post last week about her list of stuff to make inspired me to cross pretzels off my own list. I used Alton Brown's recipe, and I just used kosher salt instead of hunting down "pretzel salt"...and I'm not even sure it would have even made a difference - they were DELICIOUS!

I've been saving this jar of mustard we picked up from Colman's Mustard Shop in Norwich when we were across the pond in September for something really really good...this was the perfect occasion. We enjoyed the pretzels hot out of the oven with and the mustard wasn't too overpowering. I couldn't believe how good they were, or how long it took me to finally whip up a batch of these. I feel like making more today...

Last week Cory requested Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, so I made them ahead of time for breakfast this morning. This time I cut the recipe in half because the full recipe makes 6 or 7 pans of rolls, and I didn't think we needed that many. I also didn't use as much butter and sugar as she suggests for the filling, and I substituted about half of the regular white sugar with brown sugar. Oh, and I took it easy on the maple extract in the icing.

I think they turned out better this time around than the first time I made them.
Bonus: I froze the other two pans to enjoy later! :)

The ice cream...
Since the vanilla bean was sooo good last time, I wanted to make it again but with a different recipe. I tried the Brown Sugar Vanilla Bean recipe from NieNie, and of course it turned out good (it's home made ice cream!), but I think it's a little too sweet. I'm going to stick with David Lebovitz's version out of his ice cream cookbook.

I'd also like to add that this Nutella Chip Cookie recipe is ah-maz-ing. It's just really hard to get your baking time just right so they aren't undercooked or too crunchy.

Now I'm off to work on those things around the house that I avoided getting done yesterday (and maybe some more pretzels).