Christopher's Chewy Cinnamon Rolls

There are many cinnamon roll recipe out there, but any good baker knows that it's all about ratios of ingredients. This is the recipe for the perfect, chewy cinnamon roll.

The video is 30 minutes long, but it explains all the technical info that will be very useful for a first timer or anyone who's looking to bake for sale.

Cake Calculator

A lot of people have requested help converting their cake recipes to fit into different pans. For example, you might have a recipe that makes two 8" round cake layers but you'd like to make it into three 9" round cake layers.

To help with this, I've created this very basic calculator you can use to convert your cake recipes. If you'd like me to add the ability to enter your recipe and have it also scale the recipe calculations for you, comment below to let me know and I'll work on adding that.

Blueberry Scones

Tender meatballs

"Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree on what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear.” -- Lemony Snicket

It took a long time to find the right ratios of meat to bread to egg to get a meatball recipe that would hold together yet still be perfectly tender. What we really love about this ratio is that they're even better the next day or the day after and they freeze really well. It's easy double the recipe, freeze half of them, then use the leftovers to make a meatball sub with melted provolone cheese.

Salted-Caramel Sauce

In 20 minutes, you could be swimming in this!

Salted-caramel sauce is the essence of life. It's good on anything from cakes, pies, ice creams and just plain fruit. It's so easy to make and lasts for over a month in the refrigerator. I usually keep it in a piping bag.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (if making salted-caramel)

Directions:

1. Add sugar to small pan, being careful not to get any sugar on the sides
2. Carefully pour the water in to the pan without splashing the sides.
3. Cook over medium-low heat until the sugar melts and turns the desired color (somewhere between iced-tea for light caramel and Coca-cola for dark caramel).
4. Heat the cream in the microwave for about 45 seconds.
5. Add the cream a little bit at a time as it will bubble up.
6. Once all the cream is added and stirred in, stir in the butter a few tablespoons at a time.
7. Pour the caramel onto a heat-safe plate.
8. If making the salted caramel, sprinkle 1/2 tsp course salt over the surface of the caramel.
9. Let cool and use as needed.

Maple Oatmeal Banana Bread

Maple oatmeal banana hearty goodness!

This recipe has three things we love: maple syrup, oatmeal and bananas. And the best part? It uses a blender. It couldn't get any easier!

Of all the quick-breads we've come up with, this one is by far our favorite. Since it has oatmeal and banana, we've decided it belongs in the "vegetables and fruit" group of the food pyramid. Seems legit!

Miso Chicken-noodle Soup

A steaming bowl of Japanese deliciousness!

During a recent pilgrimage to our local Asian market, we found Miso broth. In case you're not sure what it is, it's the broth from that really thin soup you get at a Japanese restaurant as a first course. It's also extremely popular as a main ingredient in Asian salad dressings. We've always loved the flavor of miso soup, but we're a meat-and-taters kinda people and feel like soups that're all juice are just a delay tactic to getting real food in our belly.

This recipe involves no cutting, peeling or chopping (though you do have to use two forks to shred a single chicken breast).