Cinnamon Buns with Vanilla Icing

This recipe comes from Michael Smith of 'Chef at Home' on the FoodNetwork. I really like how simple it was, considering they look like they came from a gourmet bakery. You won't be able to stop at one!
One note I would make is that the filling was not quite enough for me. I would like more cinnamon goo in the middle. So the only thing I would change is to make 1.5x the filling.
Also, if you have traditional yeast and not instant, warm 1/3c. of the milk seperately and sprinkle the yeast on top with 1t. sugar. Use the remaining 2/3c. milk to make the milk mixture.
Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls
Michael Smith - Chef At Home

Dough

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups flour
• 1 package instant yeast - 2 1/4t.
  
• 4 eggs

Filling

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Glaze

• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar

1. In a small pot gently warm the milk along with 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, the vanilla and the salt. Don't bring to a simmer, warm just enough to melt the butter. Meanwhile measure half the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the yeast. Add the warm melted milk butter mixture to the flour, beat with a paddle attachment until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth before proceeding. Switch to a dough hook and add the remaining flour. Knead until a soft dough forms that is no longer sticky to the touch, about five minutes. Rest the dough in a warm place, covered in a lightly oiled bowl until it doubles in size, about one to two hours.
2. Knock the dough down and let rest for a few minutes. Meanwhile thoroughly mix together the room temperature butter with 1 cup of brown sugar and the cinnamon. Flour your work surface, the dough, your hands and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a long rectangle shape, about 18x12-inches. Evenly spread the cinnamon butter over the top of the dough leaving an inch or two uncovered along one long edge. This will help a seal form. Roll tightly into a long cigar shape from the covered long edge to the uncovered long edge.
   
3. Slice the dough log into 12 or 16 sections (I ended up with 16 - 1" sections). Turn each on its side and position evenly in an appropriately sized lightly oiled baking pan. Rest, uncovered, until the dough doubles in size again and the rolls swell into each other.
4. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350. When the dough is ready, bake for 40 to 45 minutes (they took me 30min.).
5. When the cinnamon rolls have cooled enough to handle stir together the glaze ingredients and drizzle all over them.
   

Double Fudge Brownies or I Love Paula Deen

Paula Deen needs to be related to me. I don't think any television cook has ever made me as happy as she has. The recipes in her magazines never fail to delight my guests and are so easy! Even her layer cakes are, well, a piece of cake.

Anyway, before I drool all over the keyboard, here is the recipe for my 'go to' brownie. I made a little icing for them - the recipe included below. But honestly, if you let the brownies cool and sit overnight, they really don't need icing. The flavors will have deepened and the fudgy texture develops. Or, like Josh, you just might need your brownies to have icing.
Enjoy!

Double Fudge Brownies
Paula Deen Holiday Baking 2007

1c. sugar
3/4c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4c. Swiss Mocha flavored instant coffee mix
1 1/4c. all purpose flour
3/4c. chocolate chips
1 c. butter, softened
4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat all ingredients except chocolate chipson medium speed until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 30 min.

Icing:
Combine 1c. powdered sugar, 1/4c. cocoa, 1 t. vanilla and 1/4c. milk. Add extra powdered sugar until spreadable consistency.

An Autumn Cake

Wow what a whirlwind month September was. Heck, so is this month for that matter. Usually by now I have baked enough to feed an army but that is not the case this year. I also lost my food guinea pigs, with the closing of Josh's office. Now where to send the goodies?

To get back into the swing of things, I chose a simple pound cake that would be comfort food and a reminder of the wonderful, cozy season we are now in. This cake comes from the October 2007 Bon Appetit and I am sure many of you have made it already.

Just some quick notes on the cake: I used Pam's Baking spray for the bundt pan and I am in love with this product. The cake slid out perfectly, no breakage at all. I also upped the amount of Maple extract to 2 tsp. and I put this in the recipe below. In my opinion, it needed even more but I like strong flavors. I also did not put in the espresso in the glaze as the original recipe called for. It seemed out of place and I am not a fan of coffee in dessert. Other than that, the cake was delicious, although quite plain. Definitely not too sweet at all. We served it last night with a small scoop of vanilla icecream and it made a wonderful dessert.

For my next project, apple strudel. I made the mistake of going to the closing Farmer's Market near my house and I now have 40lbs of apples to contend with. When will I ever learn
Ciao!

Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Glaze

Bon Appetit October 2007

Cake:
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons (or more) whipping cream

Preparation for cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray pan generously with nonstick spray. Dust pan lightly with flour. Mix chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons flour in medium bowl. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and maple extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chip mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

For glaze: Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons cream in medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding more cream by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle. Spoon glaze decoratively over top of cake; let stand at room temperature until glaze is firm, about 1 hour.

In Search of Comfort Food

It was a long weekend here in Canada. Sadly, it rained almost the entire time. I feel bad for all the optomistic campers out there who are convinced that the sun will shine as soon as Friday 4pm arrives. They are not so lucky, and while I will admit that leaving town for the three days even in a rainstorm is better than staying at home with not much to do, this weekend proved to be a lazy one. We spent most of it with R & J as usual, but this time they were kid-less which allows for lazy afternoons on the patio and trips to local pubs. The weekend also gave me time to bake yet again, still unphased by the brownie-cookie incident.

Rain always has a way of sending me in a search for a homey comforting dessert of some kind. Cookies and cake won't do it, a light fruity dessert is better for al fresco picnics of which there were none this weekend. No, I wanted something substantial that smelled like my Grandma's house. The only person that I could think of to fill this request was Martha Stewart.

As an aside, I have received many ribbings about my Martha obsession. But to them all, I gladly say that I would not be half the cook, baker and general homemaker if not for her tips and recipes. I have probably 6 years worth of back issues sitting in various piles around the apartment and nothing cheers me up more when I am searching for that "home" feeling.

While flipping through the October issues I have collected - and yes I know it is August right now - I came upon an entire article on the humble Bread Pudding. The basic recipe as well as 4 variations were included and I just knew that this was the recipe I was after. It was simple and would smell delicious and also feeds a crowd.

I made the Banana Rum version but the original is just as good. The secret ingredient I used was the Cinnamon Crunch bread from my local bakery which definitely was dense enough and flavorful enough to stand up to the rest of the ingredients. I would recommend using a denser loaf of bread and preferrably something a bit more exotic than basic challah although that is the easiest option. The recipe came out a bit too soupy and not as eggy as it should so I have tweaked it just a bit and come up with what I think is a fantastic bread pudding. A drizzle of caramel sauce and perhaps some whipped cream would also not go amiss.



Martha Stewart's Bread Pudding
Banana Rum ingredients optional

1 large loaf bread - challah or dense sweet white bread
2c. milk
2c. cream
4 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1c. sugar
1t. cinnamon
1t. nutmeg
Optional:
3T. rum
3T. butter
1/2c. brown sugar
2 large bananas, sliced



Cut the bread into one inch cubes and set aside. Butter a 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.
Heat the milk and cream over medium until just starting to simmer. Remove from heat.
Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Slowly add the warm milk, by ladlefulls, whisking well so as not to cook the eggs. Poor the mixture over the bread and stir to combine. Place mixture in greased dish and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the top is brown and the middle is hot and bubbling.

For the rum banana version, add the rum to the custard mixture. Saute the bananas in the butter and brown sugar until soft. Stir the banana mixture into the bread and custard.