Christmas "Cinnamon" Rolls

I used to make cinnamon rolls every Christmas that were so full of fruit filling they oozed across the plate.  Those long ago rolls had shredded apple, raisins, chopped nuts, and whatever else I had on hand that year.  They also depended on white sugar, real butter, whole milk, and at least half white flour. The basic recipe that I follow (king of) for method and basic ratios is from Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook  (page 154 in current edition if Google books is correct.)

This year I made a few changes.  I can't have apples, milk, butter, or cinnamon any more.  So those things were out automatically.  I've grown to like the richer flavor of brown sugar so I use it when ever I can. Scratch white sugar.

I miscalculated a bit when I slowed down the final rising in the refrigerator.  So they weren't quite ready for first breakfast on Christmas morning.  We took them with us to the daughter's in laws for second breakfast and they were a big hit.  Only enough leftover for boxing day breakfast.  That's two dozen largish rolls gone down seven adults and 2 children in two days.

The really great change is that now I have a mixer that can do dough.  Now I don't knead the dough by hand or break my arm beating the first stage batter.  This looks like more work than it is.

2012 Christmas Rolls

Dough:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (1 package)
2 cups Almond milk, divided
3 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 cups +/- whole wheat flour, divided
1/2 cup parve (dairy free) margarine
2 eggs, slightly beaten

In a glass quart measuring cup, measure 1 cup almond milk add the margarine and microwave 1 - 3 minutes on high until margarine is melted.   (you could skip this and just melt the margarine and warn the milk to lukewarm.)  Add more almond milk to the 2 1/2 cup line. The mixture in the cup should now be lukewarm and the margarine melted.

Measure (ha!) 3 cups flour and all the rest of the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add all of the milk and margarine.  Attach dough hook and mix until hook leaves "tracks".  You may need to scrape the bowl once or twice.  Scrape the bowl.  Cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and go away for at least 45 minutes.

Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time.  If dough is still very sticky add more flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough is barely moist.  Dough should be slightly sticky by not loose.  Beat until dough climbs the hook.

Remove from mixer.  Cover and let rise for about an hour.

Prepare a 13 X 9 pan or a 1/2 sheet pan depending on whether you want sticky buns or not.  For sticky buns you need to melt 1/4 cup margarine in a 13 X 9 baking pan then add about 3/4 cup brown sugar and spread evenly across the bottom of the pan.  For regular rolls line a baking sheet with parchment or a slipat or grease/spray the sheet.

Depending on the size of your working surface you may want to divide the dough into two or three pieces.  Roll out on a floured board/pastry sheet to 1/4 inch thick or less.  You want a nice rectangular shape.  Even sides make rolling easier, but there's no need to get totally anal about it.

Fillings:
1/2 cup softened parve margarine for base.

Spice:
1 cup Brown sugar
2 teaspoons Allspice
1 teaspoon  Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Cardamon
Mix well

Citrus:
1 cup brown sugar
zest of Orange, lemon, or lime enough cover the dough one layer

Extras:
raisins or other dried fruit (chop larger fruits into raisin sized pieces), enough to cover dough
chopped nuts, enough to cover dough

To fill the rolls:
Spread the rolled out dough with softened margarine.  Take your time and carefully cover the dough evenly with margarine.  It takes a light stroke and patience to not tear holes in the dough but if you do tear a hole just pinch it together and go on..  Some people use their hand for this step.  I used a fork in 2012 and an offset spatula in the past.

Next sprinkle on the sugar with or without spices.  Again try for an even layer.  If you're adding fruit or nuts now is the time to sprinkle them evenly over the dough.  I zest with a microplane right over the dough, but you might want to try sprinkling your zest if you're making citrus rolls.  Once you have all the fillings you want  to use evenly spread over the dough it's time to roll.

Decide if you want fat rolls or skinny rolls.  For fat rolls start rolling up one of the short sides of the rectangle and roll fairly tightly until you get to the other side.  This may mean that you are try to roll sideways since most times the long sides are parallel to the table edge.  This eHow shows how to roll the dough.  I usually make skinny rolls.  I use my fingers to measure the size of the rolls.  three fingers wide for sticky buns, two fingers for regular rolls.  I use my Dough Knife to cut the rolls, but I have used a regular knife, plain dental floss, or heavy thread to cut them in the past.  After cutting, place rolls a cut side down in prepared pan.  Spray with butter flavored oil or gently brush with melted margarine.  Cover and let rise.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Sticky buns must be inverted within 5 minutes watch out for drips.  Remove pan before "sticky" cools.

Cool rolls for a few minutes.  Hot sugar can cause serious burns!

Eat and enjoy.

Thank you, Chocolate Covered Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is a blogger after my own heart.  She just remembers to photograph everything before she eats it.  (I almost always forget to take pictures.)

During Halloween I found her recipe for Copycat peanut butter eggs.  They were way too easy and way too delicious. I used natural chunky peanut butter, real powdered sugar, dutch processed cocoa,  coconut oil and maple syrup. (I didn't use salt.)  The recipe must be small to avoid over indulging. I doubled it the first time.  Katie said to keep these in the freezer but I found the refrigerator works fine for keeping the coating solid.

The grandsons and I enjoyed the peanut butter and chocolatey goodness.  There was some coating/dip left over so I grabbed some graham crackers and dipped those in the left over chocolate sauce.  They were better than those store bought chocolate coated graham crackers!

At the beginning of December I made a batch of just the chocolate sauce using 1/2 cup each cocoa , coconut oil, and maple syrup.  Then I dipped mini marshmallows, raisins, and chocolate graham crackers.  I needed a bit more patience with all those small items because they clumped up, but they were so good.  Daughter and son-in-law ate a bunch of these.

Christmas Eve I made the original recipe again a quadruple batch this time.  I used a plastic "shot glass" as a mold and got some shapes that resemble mini peanut butter cup.  I dipped chocolate graham crackers in the leftover coating and sprinkled some crushed starlight mints on those.   Everything is in the freezer now.  I'll pack it into containers for the fridge in the morning.

Beef it's what's for dinner and lunch and breakfast and leftovers.

So, daughter and I went shopping.  That is an event in itself. I rarely leave the house and son-in-law usually does the shopping.

We found a very nice reduced price bottom round roast about 5 pounds of meat that would have to eaten or frozen in two days.  I looked at it and said, "Fajitas!"  She asked "Can we make burgers?"  We did both.

Beef Fajitas:
10 - 12 flour tortillas (8 inch "Homestyle"/soft taco)
meat:
20 ounces beef sliced into thin strips (I sliced 1/2 inch thick slabs off the above mentioned roast and partially froze them before slicing into strips about 1/8 inch wide and 3 - 4 inches long.)
marinade:
juice of 1 lime, 3 tablespoons Worcestershire (or soy) sauce,  2 -6 shakes of hot sauce (we like Tapatio), 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
mix together and pour over meat in glass container or plastic bag.
vegetables:
4 Bell Peppers , sliced thinly (We used 2 red and 2 green)
1  Onion , slivered
2 Celery ribs, sliced thinly
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
(except for the garlic the vegetables should be about the same length and width as the meat strips)

Over medium high to high heat in large heavy pan heat a bit of oil to just below smoking. (We used a wok but any large heavy pan that can take medium high to high heat will do.)
Add meat with marinade.  Stir fry until meat is browned.  Add vegetables except garlic.  when vegetables start to wilt add garlic. (Adding the garlic earlier may result in burned garlic.)  Turn down the heat and keep stir frying until the vegetables are done enough for you.
Meanwhile warm up the tortillas using the package directions or just heat a dry skillet to medium and lay one tortilla at a time in the hot  pan for a few seconds, flip it over for few more seconds, and repeat until the tortilla is warm and soft.

Serve:  1 warm tortilla with a heap of meat and veg.  It doesn't need cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado, or anything else.  Sides are built in.

Leftovers are great as omelet filling for breakfast the next day.
Burgers next post.

Pizza Cupcakes?

Monday is our second grandson's eighth birthday.  We held his "Hogwarts" party Saturday.  When his mother, our oldest daughter, asked him what kind of cake he wanted his instant reply was, "Pizza!"

We finally decided that mini calzones baked in cupcake wrappers would work.  The kids made their own as part of Transfiguration Class.  The wrappers needed to be sprayed with cooking spray as they tended to stick to the pizza dough.

Our daughter and her sister-in-law (son-in-law's sister) got whole wheat pizza dough from the grocery store.  They diced up fresh mushrooms, bell peppers, sliced black olives, cooked bulk Italian sausage and bought mini pepperoni and diced onion.  We have a favorite store spaghetti sauce that we think makes the best pizza sauce.  We have some people with dairy allergies so we don't always use cheese.  For extra punch we made a herb blend of 2 parts dried basil, 1 part dried oregano, and 1 part granulated garlic, We sprinkled the tops with this blend.

Pizza Cupcakes:
18 ounces pizza dough (or bread dough)  separated into 12 equal portions
1/2 +/- cup favorite pizza/spaghetti sauce
2 cups total of favorite toppings:, (1/4 inch dice seems to work best)
    Cooked, crumbled sausage
   bacon
  diced ham (Canadian Bacon)
   Mini pepperoni (Or quarter regular pepperoni)
   Onions
   Bell Peppers
   Mushrooms
[Shredded cheese]
Method:
Roll, pat, or stretch each portion into a flat circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Smear with about a Tablespoon of sauce leave a clean edge about 1/8 inch.  Add toppings [and cheese] to middle (about 1/4 cup).  Pull sides up to form ball.  Pinch the edge together to seal.  Place seam down in cupcake papers and Sprinkle with herb mix. [sprinkle with Parmesan or extra cheese].  Let rest while oven heats to 425F.

Bake at 425F for 12 to 15 minutes.  Internal temp of 145F.

Let us know if you try this.

I want Lemon Cake!

Daughter with her birthday cuppycake

Daughter"s birthday was September 20 and that's what she wanted - Lemon Cake.  The grandsons insisted on "cuppycakes". I searched the books and came up with a few variations on some old favorites.

For the cake base I started with Betty Crocker's Dinette Cake recipe and changed it up a bit.  I used my ancient Encyclopedia of Cooking's Lemon Meringue Pie recipe for the filling and topping.  It's been a lot of work but there are 11 almost perfect cupcakes waiting to be eaten.  (Daughter grabbed one as soon as they hit the counter.)

We used 4 lemons for zest and 3 for juice.

Filling:
1/4 c. corn starch
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. boiling water
2 egg yolks
1/3 c. lemon juice, fresh
1 T. lemon zest
1 T. margarine
[use double boiler method.  a steel bowl with something that will serve as a lid will work for the top]
Combine the cornstarch, salt and sugar.  Whisk in the boiling water slowly until it is smooth and lump free.  Cook over boiling water [double boiler] until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly.  Cover and cook 15 minutes.  Beat egg yolks and gradually add about 1/3 of hot mixture to eggs while stirring constantly. [temper eggs] Combine mixtures and cook 5 more minutes.  Just before removing from heat add lemon juice, zest, and margarine.  Mix well.  Scrape down sides of bowl and cover with wax paper that touches the surface of the pudding.  (if using plastic wrap let pudding cool 10 minutes then cover)  Chill pudding while cake bakes.

Cake:

1 1/2 c. cake flour
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. liquid (leftover juice from lemons plus water)

1 T. lemon zest
3 T. shortening

2 T. margarine
1 egg

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cup cake papers in 12 cups.  Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high speed scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.  Bake 15 - 20 minutes.   Do NOT over bake.  Cool while making meringue.

Meringue:

2 egg whites

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

In large mixing bowl with whip beater on high speed beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.  [stand mixers work best for this or get an assistant] Add sugar a bit at a time.  [watch for "snowstorms"  mixer is on  high!]  Beat until peaks form.  Beat in vanilla.  Done.

Assembly:

Raise oven temperature to 400F.

Fill with lemon pudding using pastry bag.

I used a pastry bag with Wilton's #10 round tip, but there are cheap plastic tips available in most grocers.  Fill the bag with about 1/2 cup lemon pudding.  Stick the tip into the middle of each cupcake as far as it will go without squashing the cake and squeeze until the tip is forced out.  Each cupcake will only take about 2 teaspoons of filling. (Edit:  Now I know that the pros remove some of the cake so that they can put more filling in their cupcakes.  So if you want to take a spoon and dig the center out of the cupcake-go for it.)

Carefully so you don't deflate it spread a dollop of meringue on each cupcake.  [Air is the secret ingredient in meringue.]

Put the cupcakes in a 400F oven for 5 - 10 minutes.  Watch them! Until the meringue is toasted.

Eat.

Stress and Change equal Diet Fail

Trying to diet in a house full of food and stress isn't easy.  Now I'm redoing my computer.  Happy, happy.  Joy, joy.

My old guy just wasn't keeping up.  He kept crashing.  Meanwhile, all my stuff is still that hard drive until I can the family technogeek over here to move the drive to the new computer.  Named this computer NCC-1701F in honor of Star Trek's birthday.

Diet fail today.  Peanuts and a quart of juice.  Tomorrow will be better.

Tomato and Thai Basil Delight

We, actually the daughter/wife/mommy/auntie, bought a Thai Basil plant and started it in "our" garden a couple years ago.  It has become a weed (A word which here means: Any plant that grows wild and profusely, especially one that grows among cultivated plants. depriving them of space, food, etc.) lovely Purple blossoms everywhere.  We also have numerous volunteer tomato plants because The mommy person a.k.a daughter, wife, aunt, is the only one who actually tends the garden while teaching (summer) school, running car pool for swim lessons and day camp and other boy things, planning vacation,  taking vacation, and I lost track of what all she did/does since last frost this past spring.  She is very busy.

Let's just say we have lots of tomatoes and Thai Basil.

Our son-in-law and I were racking brains for a side dish that didn't echo the rest of the week.  I saw 5 or 6 perfectly ripe red tomatoes about 2 - 3 inches in diameter.  Tomatoes go with basil and garlic.

Here it is:
5 or 6 vine ripe tomatoes,  quartered lengthwise then sliced about 3/8 inch
36 (+/-) leaves Thai Basil, sliced into 1/8 inch or narrower slivers (watch your fingers!)
1 large clove of garlic, crushed (mashed, pasted - no chunks!)
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Use a glass bowl to avoid an unwanted chemical reaction.  Just toss all ingredients and let mellow 30 minutes or so.
Yes, 1 clove of garlic is enough.
No, I didn't forget the salt and pepper.  Son-in-law did and we didn't miss it.

Son-in-law got a business call just as the rest of us sat down to dinner.  He's very blessed that I saved him some.  It was too temping to eat it all before he got to taste the fruits of his labors.

Pulled Pork?

Daughter went nuts at the store and brought home over $300.00 (US) of fresh meat and produce.  We're eating good stuff, but not fast enough since their schedule has them gone most of the time since she shopped.  She found a fantastic recipe for turkey (pork) cutlet with a rhubarb chutney and made that with about 1.3 pounds of the 4 or 5 pound pork loin  she bought.  The rest of the loin sat in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

I watch Food Network too much.  Guy Fieri did a thing on pulled pork.  Claire Robinson did a thing on pulled pork.  Paula Deen... Well you get the idea.  I was ready for tender pork with BBQ sauce on a crusty roll with some cole slaw.

Crock Pots were made for this.  I always spray the crock first for easier clean up. (Cooking Spray has made life so much easier.)
I sliced a large onion into the bottom of our 6 quart slow cooker.  Added 1 teaspoon (+/-) ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon (scant) ground cloves, and two bay leaves.  Then I salted (very lightly) and peppered (moderately) the trimmed, boneless pork loin pieces (I had three about 1, 1.5, and 2 pounds) and laid them over the onions.

I carefully removed the blasted squeeze top from a 16 ounce bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce and poured it over everything.  I added a bit of water (1/4 cup?) to the bottle put the lid back shook it up and poured that in, also.  Then I rolled the meat over a couple times so it was well coated.  Washed my hands, clapped the lid on, set the cook time for 6 hours on high, and went to play on Facebook.

I had to go out a bout two hours later and my son-in-law was concerned about the high heat.  So we agreed to turn it down to low.  It still only cooked six hours.  It temped at 190+ F.

I carefully removed the meat to a bowl and broke it down with a table fork.  Pouring very carefully I put the sauce and drippings into a saucepan on the stove and brought it to a boil reducing it a bit. (From about 4 cups to 3 cups)

We served it on crusty wheat rolls by putting the "dry" meat on then ladling sauce over the meat to the taste of the diner before closing the roll.  We also had Cabbage Salad with craisins and sunflower seeds and roasted microwave corn-on-the-cob with lime "butter".  

Secret Recipes and training

Our youngest daughter asked me for my/our potato salad recipe this evening. I said I'd blog it and she got upset because it's our family recipe. She said it should stay in the family.

There's nothing really secret about the recipe some of it I stole from my mother-in-law, some of it is just trial and error that worked out over the years. I finally wrote it down when the kids got old enough to leave home so that they could have the blueprint. I make it a bit differently every time.

We have several "secret recipes" some I haven't written down yet. After some five decades of cooking, I don't know what was my idea and what I took from another cook. I learn new tricks all the time. I can't teach what I do to everyone because I don't what it is that do.

Cooking is an art. The secret is there is no secret. It is all training, practice, and a bit of talent. I've said that wrong. If I compare cooking to painting-- anyone can be taught to smooth paint onto a flat surface, but once in a while someone comes along who can create a three dimensional view with the same paint on the same flat surface. In cooking, anyone can be taught the basics but sometimes there are people who can create substance from nothing. I'm not saying that I'm an artist in the kitchen (Grandma Moses) but I just do what I do based on instinct more than training.