Somethin' Special

Cinnamon rolls have always been something special in our family. My mom made them for special occasions (Christmas, special Sundays, coming home from college), and even if it wasn't a special occasion, the cinnamon rolls made that morning special.  When they were made from scratch, it was quite the process involving lots of time and a large Tupperware bowl. Later on, the introductions of the breadmaker and Pillsbury Hot Roll mix made the process much easier and less time comsuming.  Every time I have them, I'm taken back to growing up and special occasions. Other cinnamon rolls from a restaurant, from other kitchens, or from a tube just don't measure up.

I saw this recipe a few months ago and was hesitant (see above). But last weekend, Steve, sister-in-law Asheley, and brother-in-law Tom ran a 5K. I thought "What better time to make calorie-laden cinnamon rolls than to celebrate after a race?!" I started the night before since I decided to try a recipe from scratch, popped the dough in the fridge overnight, and then rolled them, raised them, and baked them off the next morning. Yes, it was a lot of work, but I'd do it all over again! Or at least take the ones out of the freezer and re-heat those.

A few things I would do differently...
~ After I let the dough rise the evening before, I forgot to mix in the additional flour and leavening. I tried doing it the next morning, but it got too punched down and the first batch I did the next day didn't rise well. Next time I'll try harder to remember to mix it the evening before.
~ I used 9x13 foil pans since I knew I'd be freezing most of them and I squeezed 15 into each pan. While they are nice and gooey, they're also pretty dense. I'd limit it to 12 in a pan next time.
~ Scald the milk in a large soup pot/stock pot. I did it in a sauce pan, but ended up getting a second pan dirty when I had to transfer it anyway. I don't like having to do more dishes than necessary.

Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted a very little bit from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
Cinnamon Rolls
1 quart (4 cups) Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast (not Rapid or Fast-Acting)
8 cups + 1 Cup All-purpose Flour, divided
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter
2 cups Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Frosting
1 bag Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups Milk
1/4 cups Melted Butter
1/8 teaspoons Salt

Directions
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape - should be 12-18 inches x 24-30 inches. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a 9x13 pan (you can also use round cake pans for smaller batches). Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.

Makes ~3 dozen cinnamon rolls

Fancy & Simple

Because we have a few herb plants on our deck this summer, I've been looking for ways to use them (for more than just decoration anyway). This is a super-simple way to make your bread a bit more "fancy." Its so good that I may or may not have had a cold piece of this bread for lunch the next day. If you really want to be really fancy, you can call it "French Bread with Chive Garlic Compound Butter." Or to be really really fancy you can call it "Pain français avec du beurre de composé d'ail et ciboulette." But I'll just call it...

Chive Garlic Bread
From "Taste of Home"

Ingredients
1 loaf french bread
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. chives, finely chopped/snipped
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the loaf of bread into 1 1/2 inch slices, not cutting all the way through the bottom of the loaf. Place on a sheet of tin foil long and wide enough to wrap around the bread.

In a bowl, combine butter, cheese, chives, and garlic. Spread on each side of each slice of bread. Wrap in the tin foil and tightly seal the edges.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Serves 6-8

Image from http://www.cookinglight.com/

Good & Simple

It used to be that whenever I bought bananas, at least one, usually more, would go brown on our counter. Then into the freezer they'd go until I had enough to make a batch of banana bread. These days, we're going through literally three bunches of bananas a week since they're Henry's favorite food, so we don't get to have brown bananas anymore. So Wednesday, I took matters into my own hands - I put three perfectly yellow bananas into the freezer because I wanted banana bread.

I've tried lots of recipes for banana bread. Some are sweet or exotic (and these were both tasty), but this one is just banana bread - plain and simple. Or good and simple. Or delicious and simple. Because you don't need to mess with the flavor to make it delicious. If you have a good texture and good bananas, that's really all you need.

I'm going to share with you the key to making banana bread, and its something I stumbled upon by necessity. Storing bananas in the freezer (see above) makes them very mushy inside. All you have to do is let them thaw at room temp for about 30 minutes (or if you're like me and don't have the patience, thaw them in the microwave), cut off one end of the banana in its peel, and squeeze the banana into the bowl like you'd squeeze frosting out of a bag.  This isn't a pretty sight - Steve was at first grossed out and then fascinated by this. But you hardly have to mash the banana after that, and I like the texture it gives the bread. So there you have it. Freezer bananas are the way to go.

Note: In order to make sure I was spelling "bananas" correctly, I sang the one line from "Hollaback Girl" in my head a number of times while writing this post (B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) But it was the one from "The Office" when Kelly sang it. Not the Gwen Stefani one. Too much language. :)

Banana Bread
From Lois Smits

Ingredients
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 3)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch bread pan.

Sift flour, soda, powder, and salt together and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar, then add eggs until well-combined. Add flour mixture and bananas alternating between the two. Beat well after each addition. Fold in nuts if using. Pour into the prepared pan and let sit for 15 minutes.

Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (it will look golden brown before it is actually done - test it to be sure).

Makes 1 loaf. Will last maybe 2 days, not because it goes bad, it just won't last.

One-A-Penny, Two-A-Penny

The first time I heard about The Pioneer Woman, it was about a recipe that used mostly canned, pre-packaged, way-processed foods. Not that I'm a purist about using whole ingredients, but it turned me off for a while.

Then on Thursday, I was reading a blog (don't remember which one) that referenced The Pioneer Woman so I clicked on over, and the recipe that was on the front page was "Hot Cross Buns" - these haven't been an Easter tradition for me, but I thought to myself, "Why not start a new tradition?" So, off I went!

Hot Cross Buns
(Barely) Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
Buns
2 cups Whole Milk
½ cups Canola Oil
½ cups Sugar
1 package (2 1/4 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
4 cups All-purpose Flour
½ cups (additional) Flour
½ teaspoons (heaping) Baking Powder
½ teaspoons (scant) Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Salt
¼ cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
Spices: Cardamom, Nutmeg, Allspice (optional)
½ cups Raisins

Glaze
1 whole Egg White
Splash Of Milk

Icing
1 cup Powdered Sugar
Splash Of Milk

Directions
Combine 2 cups milk, canola oil, and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan. Stir and heat until very warm but not boiling. Turn off the heat and allow to cool until mixture is still warm, but not hot to the touch – about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle yeast over mixture. Add 4 cups of flour and stir to combine. Mixture will be very sticky. Cover with a towel and set aside for 1 hour.

Add 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir till combined.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar with cinnamon and whatever other spices you want to use.

Lightly flour surface. Press to slightly flatten dough. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle on about a third of the raisins. Then fold the dough over on itself and flatten again so the dough is “plain” again. Repeat the sugar/raisin process, then fold the dough again. Repeat a third time until all the raisins are used. (You won’t use all the sugar/cinnamon mixture.)

Pinch off large golf ball-size bunches of dough. With floured hands, quickly roll it into a ball, then turn the edges under themselves slightly to create a smooth top to the roll. Place on a cookie sheet sprayed lightly with non-stick spray. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for at least 30 minutes - an hour is better.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix 1 egg white with a splash of milk. Brush onto each roll.Bake for 20 minutes, give or take, or until tops of buns have turned nice and golden brown. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Icing
Mix powdered sugar with enough milk to make icing very thick. Start with 2 Tablespoons and add more as needed for consistency.

Add icing to a small Ziploc bag and snip the corner. Make icing crosses on each roll.

Makes 18-24 rolls