Mardi Gras King Cake

Did you do anything fun for Mardi Gras?  I'm a  little late posting, but here is what we had for our Mardi Gras/ New Orleans themed dinner a few nights ago. For dinner we had dirty rice with smoked sausage and corn muffins. For dessert, I had to look up some yummy recipes online. Several sites said that they make King Cake for Mardi Gras. I found a recipe that makes individual cakes instead of one big one. They were delicious! 

King Cake Knots:

Recipe from: Easily Creative

Ingredients:

1 loaf refrigerated french bread dough
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons milk
yellow, green and purple sanding sugar or sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with butter-flavored cooking spray.

2. Find the seam in the french bread dough and unroll into a rectangle. Shape until it is about 16 by 12 inches. Brush the dough with softened butter. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle liberally over butter.

3. Cut the dough in half lengthwise, then crosswise into strips.

4. Stack two strips together, cinnamon sides facing each other. Twist the strips together. Tie them loosely in a knot, stretching gently if necessary. Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

5. Bake for 25-28 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool completely.

6. Meanwhile, mix together powdered sugar and milk. Dip the top of each knot in the icing, then sprinkle each with yellow, green and purple sanding sugar or sprinkles.

* I didn't have all those colors of sprinkles so used purple food coloring in the icing and used green sugar sprinkles. It didn't turn out quite as pretty as I had imagined, but it still tasted yummy!