Interested in Pinterest?

Pinterest has become the single biggest time bandit of my life. It is addicting to see all the stuff I would never run across in my normal internet browsing; to see all the things I will never make, do, or see and to occasionally find something I will actually use in my walking around 3-D life.

For any of you who are unfamiliar with Pinterest, it is a website that acts as a digital bulletin board. Remember how before the computer age we would see something we liked in a magazine or a newspaper and would cut (tear) it out and stick it on a cork board with a thumb tack, or a straight pin ? Well this is a similar thing except it is a global assortments of everyone's favorites, lumped into one huge massive site. It takes forever to even get through the tip of the Pinterest iceberg. I should know! I have spent countless hours when I should be sleeping looking at the plethora of interesting things I had no idea were available for my taking. For instance, it had never occurred to me to core an apple and insert a tea light to use as table decorations in the fall. Now I know and will use it somewhere. In addition to the boatloads of decorating and craft ideas are tons of recipes. One for something called Monkey Muffins has hit with a bang this week, so I thought why not try it.

Monkey Muffins from Pinterest but originating on The Pioneer Woman blog

Since this recipe is per muffin only you will decide "how much" the recipe calls for. I started mine with 6 frozen uncooked dinner rolls ( You know those you get in the frozen food aisle with about 2 dozen frozen rolls that look like white mutant eggs) If you have a fabulous dinner roll recipe you love to make knock yourself out and make it. If you had rather take an easier step and eliminate the whole yeast rising thing use biscuit dough, either homemade or canned

Take out of the freezer and let thaw. Take out a muffin pan ( regular size) and do a quick swish with Pam ( I did not do this step and really wish I had cause clean-up is going to take more than a little elbow grease) In the bottom of each muffin cup you are going to use put a thick pat of butter and one teaspoon of granulated sugar. Follow with about 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon sprinkled evenly ( yeah right!) over the sugar. Tear the thawed rolls into three parts and kinda roll them into 3 balls. (Easier said than done for the dough is very sticky) and put on top of the goodness in the muffin tins. Cover and let rise for about an hour. When the dough is risen put one more pat of butter on top of it, another healthy sprinkle of sugar ( 1/2 teaspoon or so) and a light sprinkle of cinnamon ( literally a pinch) Bake at the recommended temperature for your recipe, can or package ( mine was 400 degrees) until they are nicely brown and cooked through. While freshly hot and just out of the oven top each muffin with a healthy teaspoon of sweetened condensed milk over the top and let it ooze all over the hot bread. When they are cool ( Who am I kidding? These things need to be eaten warm) loosen the edges with a knife and serve with either steaming hot coffee or ice cold milk.

And the verdict is these are pretty delicious as is but there are a couple of things I will do differently next time. First I will put the still in a can condensed milk in a water bath in the crock pot for about 1 hour on high and then reduce the heat to low for 15 or so more hours. When it is done I will have this thick caramel to put over the blazing hot muffins. I thought the plain condensed milk was a little too milky and "raw" tasting. I will also add some toasted pecans on top of the caramel, but that is a personal thing. I do love pecans. I think I will try another batch and use ground cardamon instead of the cinnamon just to see how it tastes. Don't get me wrong, the cinnamon was excellent, but the cardamon would give it a Swedish flavor and could be outstanding. When I try it that way I will probably use toasted almond slivers rather than pecans.

I will also try it with biscuit dough some morning for a quick biscuit. I will let you know the pluses and minuses of all the different ways.

Now my biggest problem is what to do with one can minus 6 teaspoons of condensed milk. Any Suggestions?