Ingredient Title Chef Category

Recipes from the family

Just back from North Dakota where I finally lapped up all of the rhubarb that I could eat in all of the wonderful forms it can assume. Ah, yes, and real, true, old-fashioned caramel rolls, so gooey that you have to eat them with a knife and fork.

Almost as good as caramel rolls are the six-week muffins that Don Helland, of Devils Lake, put together one evening for breakfast the next day. Actually, we had them twice, fresh and hot from the oven, about a week apart. The Hellands mix up a batch of the batter and store it for as long as six weeks. Because the muffins are made with a box of raisin bran cereal instead of just plain bran cereal they are not the heavy, dry "bran muffins" that a lot of people greet with a turned up nose.

6-week Bran Muffins with Apricots

Stir up this recipe, store the batter in the refrigerator and produce fresh muffins on 20 minutes notice. You can vary the dried fruit you use with each batch you bake. No buttermilk on hand? Reconstituted dried buttermilk works just as well or in a pinch use sour milk or cream.

10 cups (15 oz. box) Raisin Bran flakes
2 cups granulated sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
4 eggs, beaten
1 quart buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
Snipped dried apricots or other dried fruit

In a very large container mix or shake together the cereal, sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Add beaten eggs, buttermilk and oil; mix well. Store in a very tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you want to bake a batch. Stir in any dried fruit before filling greased muffin tins two-thirds full with batter and bake in preheated 400 F oven for 20 minutes. Recipe will make 4 or 5 dozen.

Mary's Never-Get-Hard Caramel Rolls

You may have clipped this recipe years ago; they are still the best! Please note her notes.

2 cups French vanilla ice cream
1 stick BUTTER (no substitutes)
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or more
3 loaves frozen bread dough (or homemade), thawed in the bag
Cinnamon

Butter two 9 x 13-inch baking pans. Melt ice cream in microwave. Add butter and continue microwaving until nearly melted. Add 2 cups brown sugar and bring to a boil, just to make sure sugar is dissolved. Stir in vanilla. Roll bread dough into rectangle. You can spread it with butter, if you wish, or just sprinkle rectangle with remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up lengthwise and cut into slices. If you try to squeeze too many into the pan they try to rise up and take flight (these babies do rise), leaving no yummy sauce on the bottom. We do not want rolls with no yummy caramel sauce, as the sauce is the best part. Mary sometimes does not put all of the sauce in the bottom of the pans. She saves some to pour over the top as this gives a nice shiny crust. (And, she confesses to sometimes saving some of the sauce to pour over ice cream as a topping. She also advises hiding the caramel sauce dish so that you can scrape it yourself.) Bake in the lowest rack in preheated 350 F. degree oven for 20 minutes and then turn the oven up to 425 F. for another five to 10 minutes. This will thicken the caramel so that it will stick to the rolls and not the pan. But, watch this closely as it all depends upon your oven.

Caramel Rolls Starting with Frozen Cinnamon Rolls

An overnight way of serving fresh, hot sticky buns in the morning. Note the similarity to Mary's Recipe.

1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick butter
9 frozen cinnamon rolls

Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan. In a saucepan combine ice cream, brown sugar and butter; stir over medium heat until dissolved. Pour sauce into greased pan. Place frozen rolls on top of sauce. Cover with towel. Place pan overnight in oven with oven light on. In morning take pan from oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Place rolls in heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. If tops become too brown, cover with aluminum foil. Remove rolls from oven and turn onto heavy aluminum foil. Makes 9 servings, but it depends upon your addiction to sticky buns.

Don's Spice-Rubbed Fish Fillets with Lemon Butter Sauce

The wall-eyed pike, Northerns and perch were wonderful (we had fish five times in seven days and it never failed to please). However, this sauce will flatter any fish.

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 pound fish fillets
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or more

Combine seasonings (first 6 ingredients). Brush both sides of the fish with 2 teaspoons oil and gently rub the spice mix all over the fish. In small skillet, heat butter over medium heat, swirling the skillet, until butter is deep amber brown, about 3 minutes; watch carefully so it doesn't burn. Whisk in lemon juice and keep warm. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy skillet; add 2 of the fillets and sear until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side; transfer to a plate and tent with foil. Wipe out pan and repeat with remaining fish. Serve immediately, spooning pan butter over the fish. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

You can go home again and again, and it tastes so good!

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