Honey Oatmeal Bread

So who doesn't love bread? I have give this bread as gifts with elderberry jelly for Christmas. It was a hit.

I should say that I use my stand mixer for this recipe and have no real idea of how long to knead bread. I have heard others say knead till your arms feel like falling off and then add another minute or so. I did make some sourdough bread recently and that method seem to produce a nice loaf.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

from the KitchenAid Stand Mixer handbook

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter or margarine
5 1/2-6 /12 cups flour (can do half white and half wheat)
1 cup oats
2 tsp salt
2 pkgs active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
2 eggs (I often forget)

Place water, honey, and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat til the mixture is very warm (120-130).
Mix together 5 cups flour, oats, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Gradually add the warmed liquid mixture to the flour mixture. And stir till well combined. Add the eggs and combine well.
Stir in as much remaining flour as you can. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a smooth and elastic dough. (Till your arms are ready to fall off and then a minute more.)
Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to grease top of dough. Cover lightly with waxed paper. Set in a warm place for about an hour or till dough doubles in size.
Divide dough in half. Shape into loaves. Place in a greased loaf pan, cover, and put back in the warm spot for another hour or till the dough doubles.
**Optional--beat 1 egg white and 1tbs water together and brush over the tops of the loaves. sprinkle with oatmeal.
Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from pans immediately (otherwise the crust gets soggy) and cool.

Served warm or cool, this is great bread. Maybe I'll bring it next month.

I looked in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook which said that one would need to knead for 8-10 minutes to get a good loaf. That seems to correlate with the knead till your arms feel like they will fall off and add a minute that others have said.

I am sure this can be modified to use a bread maker too, but as I don't have one I don't know how. If you do, please comment.

Applesauce Ornaments

These are fun to make and they smell, oh, so good. I don't do anything exactly, but Donna does so I am going to use her recipe and tell you what I do, or don't (other than measure).

• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup cinnamon
• 1 cup glue

Mix all together till a dough forms. Roll out. Cut out your ornaments remembering to put a hole for the hanger to go through. Dry.

Since I don't measure my recipe looks more like

• 1 jar of the cheapest applesauce I can find
• 3 large gars of the cheapest cinnamon I can find
• all purpose flour

Mix the applesauce and the cinnamon together. Add flour till the mixture is roll-able. This is best done with a mixer as getting the right consistency takes a while. Continue from above. Usually I am pretty picky about the food we buy, but since these are more for the smell and the fun I don't even look at the ingredient list!

Serving Tray

Serving Tray

(As we displayed at MOPS!)

This is a simple and inexpensive gift!

Here is what you will need:

A picture frame (at least an 8 x 10)

Fabric, pretty paper, pictures, quotes, ticket stubs, or child artwork, etc. Whatever you decide to "frame" in your tray!

Mugs (The Dollar Store has very nice mugs and you can get a decent frame there too!)

Hot Cocoa (I bought a large canister of hot cocoa at Walmart for $1.78?!)

Marshmallows

Baggies

Ribbon

Pretty Jar (The Dollar Store is where I bought mine!)

Candy Canes (Yep Dollar Store!)

Holiday straws (This was just an extra touch if there are kids in the family!)

You could also add to your tray a little box of chocolates or cookies or even a relaxing instrumental CD! (I have seen all of these in the Dollar Store, but also in the dollar section at Target!)

Small card or gift tag - to attach to jar to write cocoa directions  Ex: add 2 Tablespoons to 8 oz of warm milk.

Optional: Shrink Wrap

Optional: Felt

What to do:

1. Place what you decided to use as your art work in your tray (frame). Get creative! Add ribbon, buttons, etc.

2. Pour your cocoa in your jar ~ don't forget to tie a ribbon and your tag or card with cocoa directions!

3. Put a few marshmallows is a baggie ~ tie closed with ribbon.

4. Arrange mugs, cocoa, and marshmallows on your tray.

5. Put a candy can in your mugs and straws (if desired).

6. Add a box of cookies or chocolate (if desired).

8. Also you can add felt or cloth to bottom of your tray (frame) to prevent it from damaging furniture!

7. Optional ~ make this gift sparkle and look professional by wrapping it in shrink wrap and adding more of your ribbon

A simple, inexpensive gift from the heart!