It’s a great way to handle the winter doldrums! I mentioned a week or so ago that long and dreary winter days inspire some messin’ around in the kitchen. Well, I’ve been messin’ around, and here are a few of my new twists on a familiar themes.

The first familiar theme is pizza. The new twist? Pizza DIP cooked in a slow cooker and served with sliced and toasted French bread. With the slow cooker we can fix and forget. And because the entire premise IS slow cooking, all the flavors in this dip have a good long chance to meld really well.

SLOW COOKER PIZZA DIP

2 ounces cream cheese

1 jar (14 oz.) pizza sauce

1 green pepper, finely chopped

3 ounces pepperoni, finely chopped

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

Generously spray the inside of your slow cooker, making sure to coat the sides as well as the bottom.

Cut up cream cheese into squares and place in the bottom of the slow cooker.

In a large bowl, place all remaining ingredients and mix well to combine. Pour over the cream cheese, place the lid on and cook for 2 hours on low setting.

The next familiar theme? Cinnamon rolls. The new twist? Baking them in hollowed out orange rind cups. OH MY—you won’t believe their taste. These cinnamon buns baked in orange peels are one of the easiest, cutest, and tastiest treats you can make for breakfast, a sweet snack, or dessert. Whether you bake them in the oven or grill them over a campfire, the orange peels infuse the cinnamon rolls with a fragrant, citrus-y flavor.

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And there’s absolutely nothing to this. You need a can of refrigerator cinnamon rolls and 4 large oranges. You want navel oranges rather than Valencia. Valencia are for juicing. Navels are easy to peel and thus it’s easier to remove the orange flesh from the half cups.

To bake them in the oven, start by preheating it to 400°F. Slice your oranges in half or 1/3 from the top. Cut a small slice from the bottom of each orange so that they’ll firmly stand up.

Using a grapefruit knife, remove the insides of each orange. (Save this and add it to your next fruit smoothie.)

Pop open the tube of cinnamon rolls according to package directions and place one inside each hollowed orange. Bake on a pan according to package directions, adding about 2 minutes to the suggested time. If they start to get overly brown on the top, remove them from the oven.

Then warm the enclosed frosting (if using) in the microwave, and drizzle this over the baked cinnamon rolls. These are meant to be eaten out of the orange rind cup, so pass around the spoons and dig in.

And by the way, the fun doesn’t stop here. You can make other delicious desserts or treats in hollowed-out orange cups. Brownies, vanilla or coconut mousses, and chocolate soufflés all turn out beautifully when baked in this way. Your limited only by your imagination when it comes to giving a new twist to a familiar theme!