Cinnamon Rolls

What could be more quintessentially Mennonite than hot, gooey, sweet, sticky, dripping with sugar cinnamon rolls? I have long been on the hunt for the Perfect Cinnamon Roll - but have yet to find it. Or at least make it. Not that I have devoted a lot of time and effort to the cause, but it seems like I ought to have a recipe on hand. So I decided, at the encouragement of a friend of mine, to try out the one in Mennonite Community Cookbook. She too grew up in Wayne County and has fond memories of the sweet rolls that women in the community made, and is looking for that elusive recipe (if anyone has one they're willing to share...I'll take it!)

I had been a little put off by the amount of time and effort they take to make, but I decided one morning around Mother's Day to go for it. They did take a decent time commitment, but it was worth it to see the dough rise and the spirals of cinnamon goodness gradually balloon into rolls. I used the butter frosting suggested in the recipe, also found in MCC:FFR.

When they came out of the oven and were spread with frosting, they were a sight to behold - but alas, they were not the Perfect Cinnamon Roll I'd been craving. And there were way too many of them for Joe to eat on our own. I divided them up and gave some away to my aunt and uncle and my parents and my neighbors, and the rest we took care of on our own.

Beer Can Chicken

Alright, so I didn't find this recipe in the Mennonite Community Cookbook. But it was my first experience cooking solo on the grill, and most deserving of a blog entry. Actually, Joe had been talking about grilling a beer can chicken for some time, but every time he brought it up, we ran out of time (it takes at least 2 hours on the grill).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept, beer can chicken consists of taking a whole roasting chicken and stuffing an open can of beer up its butt cavity, then cooking or grilling it standing up. The beer keeps the chicken moist and tender while cooking - as for flavor, I certainly couldn't detect any beer flavoring in the meat, so for those of you who aren't inclined to buy beer, you could probably use a can of Sprite or juice.

I was a little skeptical of using the grill - I'm quite inexperienced at it, and meat generally falls into Joe's area of cooking expertise. But I had the day off work and he strongly encouraged me to use the grill instead of the oven, giving me a few basic instructions about how to turn it on. I had also just recieved my first copy of Cooking Light (a belated birthday gift from cousin Kathleen) and it contained a recipe for a BBQ sauce to go with the chicken.

By the time Joe got home, the chicken looked and smelled like a masterpiece. Joe, in fact, was impressed and a little intimidated by my grilling prowess! But it tasted delicious - and there were lots of yummy leftovers, not to mention a few cans of beer that we were obligated to drink with dinner :)

Barbecued Beer Can Chicken
1 whole roasting chicken
BBQ Sauce
3 T. ketchup
3 T chili sauce (I used oriental sweet chili sauce)
2 t. worcestershire sauce
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cider vinegar
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/8 t. salt
1 garlic clove, minced
BBQ Rub
1 T. salt
1 T. black pepper
1 T. sugar
1 T. paprika
Dispose or set aside giblets (I boil for our dog). Rinse and dab dry chicken, including the inside. Work the skin away from the meat of the chicken with your fingers and apply 1 T. BBQ rub directly on the meat of the chicken (but don't remove the skin). Also rub 1 T. on the outside of the chicken and 1 T. inside the cavity. Then spread sauce over and inside chicken. Reserve 1/4 cup of the sauce if you wish to have some leftover for serving w/ chicken (I used all mine). Turn on grill and set to medium heat. Pour out the top inch of the beer and add the remaining 1 T. BBQ rub to the can of beer. Insert beer into the chicken cavity and set chicken on the grill standing up, using legs and can as a tripod. Grill for 2 hours, checking occasionally and applying more BBQ sauce as needed.