Try these while Cooking with Kids and listening to great music – we love the classics – what about Nutcracker Suite!

Improved Cinnamon  Bun Sundaes

Any  good dessert should evolve over time.  A year or so ago, I tried cinnamon bun sundaes—little bite-sized cinnamon buns topped with a caramel  sauce, ice cream, and whipped cream.  They’re  terrific but now they’ve evolved.  We’re  topping them with butterscotch sauce and caramel whipped cream.  Both additions are very good and take a great  dessert and make it even better.

Caramel  whipped cream is easy to make.  Make it  like everyday whipped cream but substitute caramel flavor for vanilla extract  and brown sugar for white.  Use it on any  dessert.  You’ll never go back to  everyday whipped cream.  You can buy the caramel whipped cream at The Prepared  Pantry.  You can also buy a caramel whipped cream mix—you add only the  whipping cream.  The mix is quick and  easy, has the caramel in it, and has a stabilizer added so that it won’t melt  so quickly.

Of  course, you can still make them with caramel sauce but buttermilk sauce is even  better.  Buttermilk sauce does not taste  like buttermilk.  The buttermilk is  neutralized so the tang is gone and the syrup is rich and smooth, maybe with  some butterscotch tones.  It works on  both pancakes and desserts.  We have a buttermilk sauce and syrup mix that is quick and  easy and makes about three cups of syrup.   We have included a recipe for caramel sauce and buttermilk sauce.

So  here’s how to make them:

Improved Cinnamon Bun Sundae Recipe

Step  1: Make  the little cinnamon bun balls either with a monkey  bread mix according to package instructions or with a monkey bread  recipe.

Step  2: Place  bite-sized pieces of monkey bread in a wide-mouthed glass or in a bowl.  Don’t  make the pieces larger than what you would eat with a spoon.  You may need to snip larger pieces into  smaller pieces with kitchen scissors.

Step  3:  Pour buttermilk sauce or caramel sauce  over the pieces.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts.  (We used pecan  pieces.)  Heat the monkey bread, nuts, and syrup combination until warm in  the microwave.

Step  4: Add  a scoop of ice cream.  Top with caramel  whipped cream and a cherry.

Warm Caramel Sauce Recipe

2  tablespoons cornstarch   1 1/2 cups milk   1/4 teaspoon salt   1/4 cup corn syrup   1 cup granulated sugar   2 tablespoons butter   1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine cornstarch, milk, salt, and corn       syrup in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and is       thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the sugar, butter, and vanilla. Stir       until smooth. Thin if necessary with more milk.

Buttermilk Syrup  Recipe

1 1/2 cups  granulated sugar   3/4 cup buttermilk   1/2 cup butter   3 tablespoons corn syrup   1 teaspoon baking soda   2 teaspoons caramel flavor

1. In a large  saucepan, place the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking  soda.  Cook over medium heat until it starts to boil, stirring  often.  Once it comes to a boil, set the timer for six minutes and  continue cooking, stirring often so that it does not scorch.
2. Remove from the heat and the caramel flavor.