Garlic knots

I love bread.....and more importantly I love fresh bread that I made. It makes me feel accomplished and wifey. So here is now my kids absolute favorite....garlic knots!! 

1 cup of water

2 tbsp of butter, softened

1 egg (room temperature)

3 1/4 cup of flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp regular active dry yeast

Place all dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select the DOUGH CYCLE and press start. This next part you use maybe your table or a large surface area to work on. Sprinkle with flour so it won't stick. Once dough is done flatten the dough onto the well floured surface then using a pizza cutter, cut into strips.

Take each strip and tie into a knot, making sure to keep it well floured so it doesn’t stick together. 

Place each knot onto the baking sheet. Once you have tied all the strips into knots, cover them with a cloth and set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake 9-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Topping:

1-2 tbsp of butter, melted

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped finely

Add butter and minced garlic together and cook in the microwave until melted. Add the fresh chopped basil and stir. Once the knots are out of the oven, brush the top of each knot with the garlic basil butter. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Cream cheese pound cake

Sometimes you just need to eat cake....found a recipe my sister in law shared on FB that I instantly fell in love with. So I adapted from that recipe but I used cake flour instead because I wanted it lighter and fluffier. 

Ingredients 

¾ pound · Butter 

• 3 cup · Sugar, granulated 
• ½ pound · Cream cheese(room temp)
• 6 large · Eggs(room temp)
• 3 cup · Cake flour, sifted 
• ¼ teaspoon · Salt 
• 1 ½ teaspoon · Vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon · Almond extract 

Cream cheese glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temp

1/2 cup powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Directions

Beat cream cheese until very creamy. Beat in powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add 3 tablespoons milk. Totally combine. Add more milk to get desired consistency for drizzling.

Cake directions: 

Preheat oven to 325. Grease bundt cake pan. 

Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese. Add salt, vanilla and almond extracts. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in sifted flour. Just mix until incorporated, you don't want to over mix batter. Pour into greased bundt pan and tap on the counter so that all batter sets evenly. 

Bake for 90 mins. Let cool on bakin rack for about 15-20 mins then flip on to serving plate. This is important so that cake doesn't stick I pan. 

Pour glaze on and enjoy.