Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Dark & Dangerous Cinnamon Buns

Yum!



I highly recommend this book - King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. We have made many recipes from it now and I feel confident that you will get many healthy and yummy uses from it.

And now for this delicious recipe:

For the dough


3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
5 tablespoons honey
1 large egg, yolk and white separated
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dry potato flakes or 3 tablespoons potato flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast

For the filling

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons cinnamon
pinch of salt

For the icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons milk

To make the dough

Combine all the doug ingredients, using the egg yolk and setting the white aside to use in the filling. Mix and knead–by hand, mixer or bread machine– until you have a medium -soft, smooth doug. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it's quite puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours. While the dough is rising, make the filling.

To make the filling

In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, egg white, cinnamon and salt until completely combined.

To assemble the rolls

Gently punch down the dough and place it on a lightly greased surface. Roll the dough out until it is a 12 x 16" rectangle. Scoop the filling onto the dough and use an off-set spatula or wet fingers to spread it evenly over the dough, leaving a 1" margin along one of the long edges. Roll the dough into a log (not too tight to allow for rising), starting with the long end that has the filling all the way to the edge, turning it so the seam will be flat against the surface. Use a serrated knife and cut the dough into 16 1" pieces.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Evenly space the buns into a 9 x 13" baking dish lightly coated with nonstick spray. They won't touch one another. Cover and let rise for 1 to 1 1/4 hours - they will not double in size, but should rise by about half as large as they started out.

Place in the oven and bake until they are a deep golden brown on top, about 24-28 minutes. Remove the pan and set on a wire rack for about 3 minutes. Carefully turn the rolls out onto a wire rack and then flip them back again (so the tops are up) onto another wire cooling rack.

To make the icing

In a large mixing bowl, mix together confectioners' sugar, vanilla, butter, salt and 2 tablespoons milk. Add in additional milk, if necessary, to achieve a creamy spreadable icing. Spread the icing over the baked rolls.

Makes 16 buns.

Friday, February 6, 2009

White Chocolate Cookies


I had a bag of white chocolate chips that I wanted to use up so I went searching for a new recipe to try and struck white gold! These were really tasty cookies. Definitely worth a try. My last batch got slightly over baked but I have to say they were really good that way. They sort of reminded me of Pecan Sandies when I was a kid. Yum!

Here is the recipe from All Recipes.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Peelin'

Hello and Happy New Year!

Looks like I need to dust this blog off a little bit. I am taking a break from both of my blogs (man, we have really neglected this poor food blog). I have still been researching and I came across this post about peeling a wide range of veggies/fruits.

It is always nice to find out tricks to save time and make the process all the more fun. I remember how much I used to hate chopping garlic years ago. Before I learned to give the garlic a good thump with the side of a knife and my palm, I would cut the top of the garlic and then peel the papery coat off, all the while my fingers getting sticker with garlic juice and my patience running thin. I even bought a jar of the minced garlic in a jar, but I didn't get through it fast enough and it just wasn't like fresh garlic. So needless to say I was so happy to learn the EASY way.

And this method of doing ginger was a new one for me.

I hope you find some of the tips helpful.