Easy Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:
1 tsp white sugar
1/4 oz active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
Herbs for topping

Method:
In a small bowl dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Leave to foam for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl combine flour with the yeast mixture stirring to combine well. Stir in additional water slowly until dough pulls together. Knead briefly until smooth.
In a lightly oiled bowl place dough in a warm place and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
Deflate dough and turn out onto a lightly floured board. Knead briefly. Roll out dough and dimple. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and herbs. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Orzo and Chickpea Salad

For the salad:
1 cup orzo pasta
1/2 red capsicum finely chopped
1 lebanese cucumber chopped
400g chickpeas
handful of halved cherry tomatoes
handful of italian parsley
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 tsp brown sugar

Cook orzo pasta in lightly salted water. Drain and rinse with cold water, put in a large bowl
Add chopped veges and chickpeas.
Whisk dressing ingredients in separate bowl and toss in salad.

Paula Deens's Cinnamon Rolls

This is absolutely my favourite baking recipe. They always turn out tasting so good, even if they don't always look amazing.

Ingredients
Dough:
1/4-ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling:
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional
Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

DirectionsHeat oven to 350 degrees F.In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Red lobster copy cat biscuits

This is a recipe I absolutely love. Being from New Zealand I cringe to call them biscuits as they are in fact scones (to me anyway), but I will play along with the Americanism.
Here is the recipe using Bisquick recipe mix, I will also post another recipe without Bisquick which is very similar for those times when I don't have a big yellow box on hand.


With Bisquick
Ingredients:
For biscuit mix
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 Tbsp cold butter
3/4 cup cold milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

To brush on top
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Rub cold butter into the Bisquick mix, the mix should be crumbly but don't worry if there are pea sized globs of butter, that's fine. 
3. Add in the remaining ingredients for the biscuit mix. 
4. Drop 1/4 cup portions onto a baking sheet, no need to roll into balls or cut into rounds, just drop em. 
5. Bake for about 15 minutes until they start to brown a little.
6. Meanwhile combine the ingredients to mix on top
7. When they're hot out of the oven brush on the topping mixture and allow to cool a bit. 

Makes about 10-12 biscuits


Without Bisquick
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
6 Tbsp butter
1 cup milk
+ topping ingredients as shown above
Method:1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and one half-teaspoon garlic powder in a large bowl. 
2. Rub in butter as in the above recipe. Stir in the shredded cheese with a fork. Stir in milk just until moistened. Do not over stir.
3. Pinch off (or pick up with fork) desired-size amounts onto a baking sheet and cook at 450F for about 12-15 minutes (until lightly browned).
4. Use same biscuit topping as in above recipe.