Maybe I assume too much, but I'm going to assume if you've been around this blog for a while you know our guest blogger - Deanna from Teaspoon of Spice. She's my partner on ReDux, a very food-savvy & active RD in all things social media and honestly, one of the best friends a girl could ask for.
Deanna and I met more than a decade ago when we were both working for dairy council. I was drawn to her immediately because honestly, no disrespect to my profession, it's not every day I meet an RD who's as much of a foodie as I am.
We kept in touch off and on over the years, but it wasn't until the last couple of years that we really started putting our heads together on all things pertaining to food, nutrition, college football and life's little daily musings that make for the best early morning conversations.. It wasn't easy for her to write this post. I'll let her explain why. But I'm honored that she would make her first and only football post to-date for 2012 here on my blog. Deanna's is a friendship that I treasure, and I hope you'll come to enjoy her as much as I do.
From Deanna:
In the past, if Regan had asked me to write a guest post for Football Friday, it would have been a no-brainer. But when she did a few weeks ago, I did pause.
Obviously, I ended up saying yes, but when it came time to write this post, I was staring at the cursor for a long time. I must have started and deleted a dozen different intros. What is so difficult about writing a fun, lighthearted ditty about tailgating and yummy eats for watching the big game?
Well, you see, I bleed blue & white. And while I’ve been a die-hard college football fan my whole life (the best football happens on Saturdays in my humble opinion), nowadays saying that you graduated from Penn State can change the tone of a conversation pretty darn quickly.
I’ve resisted writing anything about the horrendous scandal - people have strong opinions, as they should. My main opinion right now? The only ones whose views we should be listening hard to are those of the victims and their families.
But Penn State has always meant so much more than football to me - starting from when I was little visiting the campus for their famous ice cream all the way up to my 2nd graduation (yeah, I stayed on a few extra semesters for another degree – wasn’t quite ready for the real world yet.) These days, I admit that I continue to fully support the team, but also my university as we strive to help those that have greatly suffered. (A notable organization alums have learned more about in the past year and have fundraised for is RAINN: http://www.rainn.org/)
So, now I will clumsily transition to what you are here for – game day eats. May I present a Penn State staple:
Grilled Stickies.
These local delights are from The Diner on College Avenue, where they’ve been making them since 1929. Stickies are basically a cross between a sticky bun and a cinnamon roll, cut into a rectangle and then fried on the large griddle. When served with vanilla ice cream, it’s called the Mount Nittany.
You really could use any cinnamon bun or sticky roll recipe here. My version uses some whole wheat pastry flour – by no means is this dietitian going to tell you stickies are a healthy nosh – but I guess it just makes me feel a little bit better to know it’s in there.
by Deanna @ Teaspoon of Spice Blog
- Dough:
- 1 package yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ cup warm low fat milk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2¾ cups all-purpose white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- Filling:
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- Glaze:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon low fat milk
- 3 tablespoons corn syrup or honey
For the dough, put yeast, warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in stand mixer bowl or a regular mixing bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, brown sugar, eggs, butter and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Add in 2 cups all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Using a dough hook (for stand mixer) or wooden spoon, mix together until sticky dough starts to form. Continue to add ¾ cup all-purpose flour (either using dough hook or kneading dough with hands on a floured surface) until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, covered with a dishtowel. Let rise until double in size (about an hour.)
Roll dough into 12 x 24-inch rectangle. Mix together 1/3 cup brown sugar and cinnamon, spread all over dough, leaving an ¼-inch border. Starting at the longer end, roll dough (jelly roll style), very tightly. Pinch the ends to seal. Cover with dishtowel to prevent from drying out while making glaze.
To make the glaze, heat ½ cup brown sugar, butter, milk and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once sugar and butter have melted, remove from heat. Pour into a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
Cut the dough log into 1-inch pieces and place each roll, cut side down, on the glaze in the baking pan. Make sure the rolls are right next to each other. Cover and let rise for 60 -90 minutes (rolls should be completely touching each other to form one large rectangle.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 15 minutes then tent with foil and bake another 15 minutes. Immediately turn out onto wire rack. Let cool 30 minutes.
Slice into 36 rectangle shaped stickies (12 rows by 3 rows.) Heat griddle or large skillet heat over medium heat and add pat of butter. Grill stickies in batches, about
2 -3 minutes per side. Serve warm.
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Friday, December 21, 2012 at 6:54AM 
