Cinnamon Buns

I made these cinnamon buns this morning. This is a quick version that uses a dough that is more like a biscuit dough than the traditional yeast dough. When my grandma used to make cinnamon rolls she used the "cheater" method of using frozen bread dough. These are even easier. They come out with a nice chewy texture and good flavor. They would be great with toasted pecans or walnuts. I can also envision them with toasted almonds and a bit of almond extract in the icing. Yum. Melt all 8 tablespoons of butter at the beginning and measure it out as needed. Those not suffering from butter lust like me could make these a bit healthier by cutting the butter content, but healthy sticky buns seems to be too much of an oxymoron to me! If you wanted to make these in the morning for overnight I company, I'd suggest measuring and whisking together the dry ingredients and the filling the day before and packing them in separate ziplocs or air tight containers so in the morning all you have to do is bring everything together in a few quick minutes while the coffee is brewing :D

From Cook's Illustrated:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter for greasing the pan
Use a 9 inch round cake pan

Cinnamon - Sugar Filling
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

Dough
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups lowfat buttermilk
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Icing
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cream cheese
2 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk
1 cup (4 ounces) powdered sugar

Mix the filling ingredients together with a fork, set aside.
Whisk together dry ingredients for dough in one bowl and whisk wet ingredients together in another bowl. Bring together quickly then turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly just to bring together. Pat out into a 9 x 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tbls butter then spread filling out on top, leaving a 1/2 inch all the way around. Roll up starting on long side using a pastry scraper if you've got one. Cut into 8 rolls, place one in the middle and the other seven around it. Coat with remaining butter.

Bake for 1/2 hour at 425 degrees

Whisk icing together until smooth.

When rolls come out of the oven, invert onto a plate and then invert again onto another plate so they are right side up. Hit them with the icing and eat immediately.

1st Tooth

Henry's first tooth started to poke through the skin this morning. He's hopped up on the Orajel and digging the iced chew toys. He also had an unprecedented two hour nap. Good baby!

Chicken and 40 Cloves

I love garlic! I made Chicken and 40 Cloves for my friends this past weekend. It turned out wonderful. Both the meal and the leftovers were eagerly lapped up. I am also quite enamored with how this photo turned out. The light from the setting sun really shows off the steam and the composition of the plate. If you are concerned about it being too much garlic for you, do not worry, the cooking process mellows the garlic and makes it simply scrumptous and not over-powering. You absolutely must serve this with a good loaf of bread to lap up all the garlic gravy. There are hundreds of variations on this classic recipe. I used the Alice Q. Foodie variation of the Barefoot Contessa recipe. I agree with Alice that you need to crisp up the skin in the broiler for a few minutes after braising. I also did a side by side comparison with the Cooking Light variation and you could easily do a compromise between the two (keep the cognac, reduce the oil, substitute a 1/2 & 1/2 for the heavy cream) and make it a tad healthier. It is really a great dish and I plan to repeat it for Husband Man this weekend.

Giggle Butt

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Chocolate Guinness Cake

I've made this many times for many occasions like my sister's 40th birthday party and St. Patty's Day. Yes, it has FOUR sticks of butter and a whole pint of beer in it. That's why its so darn good.

Cake:
2 cups Guinness Stout
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Ganache:
2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch high sides, then line with parchment paper.

Bring stout and butter to simmer in saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

In mixer beat eggs and sour cream and chocolate-stout mixture just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on low speed.

Divide between three pans and bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, turn out of pans, cool completely.

For Ganache:
Bring cream to simmer in saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until spreadable, stirring frequently.

Assemble cake with ganache between the layers and poured over the top.

Published in Bon Appetit September 2002

Meg's 1st Birthday

Henry at his friend, Megan's, first birthday party. They were both skeptical of the cake and confused by the flashes of eight relative's cameras taking pictures all at once.

Oatmeal Raisin

Here's the latest cookie I've made. I started with the Cook's Illustrated recipe but deviated. A lot.
I added three ingredients and changed another one. I think that makes it my own, don't you? They turned out chewy and oatmeal-y and nutmeg-a-licous. I really should be adding up my daily butter consumption. I have a feeling its very, very high.

Wet Stuff:
2 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract (the real stuff, imitation vanilla extract should be outlawed)

Dry stuff:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (store bought ground nutmeg sucks)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

The goods:
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raisins

Beat the butter, add the sugar, beat some more, add the eggs one at a time, beat some more, add the vanilla. Whisk the dry stuff together for even distribution, reserving one tablespoon. Mix the dry with the wet. Toss the raisins with the reserved tablespoon of dry stuff so they don't stick together. Add the oats and raisins to the dough and mix just until combined. Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. The need about 12 minutes or so at 350 degrees or until just starting to get a little brown around the edges. Take them out even if they still look a little underbaked. If you leave them in too long, they will get hard and hard cookies suck. These should be chewy.

Lovely with a glass of milk, unless you're lactose intolerant in which case they are also lovely with a Surly Bender :)

Cookie Baking Jag

The Magic Cookie Jar full of Pecan Sandies

On of the many strange quests I've been on since finding myself unemployed is the overwhelming desire to bake every single cookie recipe in the 1000 page Cook's Illustrated recipe tome. I've also been cooking A LOT - everything from Morrocan lamb tagine to traditional jambalaya for Fat Tuesday to pork country ribs and roast chicken. But, lets focus on the cookies, for now.

I have a love/hate relationship with Cook's Illustrated. I've been a recipe tester for them in the past and I understand the systematic thinking of testing every detail, ingredient and method to find THE best way to make something. Often, when they publish a recipe, you should follow it precisely to get the best results. However, sometimes I feel like this rigorous testing leads their recipes to be overly complicated or, alternately, dumbed down to the most pedestrian tastes. There are 23 base recipes in the cookie section that includes both cookies and bars plus variations on each. I have made ten so far. Here are my reviews:

Pecan Sandies
Excellent texture and taste, but add vanilla. Cook's omitted it citing tasters that found it overwhelming. I disagree.

Almond Sandies
Very good. Be sure to grind the almonds very fine. I made them too coarse. Also, I upped the amount of almond extract. Cook's called for a teeny 1/4 teaspoon. I would add a whole teaspoon especially since I found really nice tasting organic extract.

Molasses with Rum Glaze
These are AWESOME. Seriously, I ate most of the batch myself. Cook's found blackstrap molasses to be too strong, but I loved it. I used Pusser's Rum in the glaze. Killer. I'm make them again and again.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
I flat out don't like Cook's version of these. They got very hard and needed vanilla.
I am on a quest to find the most perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. In my opinion they need to be big and chewy with lots of brown sugar and really good chocolate flavor. The Cook's recipe turned out to be far below my expectations for this particular cookie. So, I branched out and tried 3 other oatmeal-chocolate chip recipes from various sources. One randomly from the internet which was so-so and needed an extra cup of flour. One from the family archives which turned out hard and curiously flavorless and then... a really good one from an unexpected source. I have a chocolate-lovers cookbook put out by the Hershey company. The recipes are good, but honestly, are even better if you use *good* chocolate/cocoa and NOT Hershey's. The best chocolate chips I've found are Callabeaut and are available in bulk at my co-op. As far as cocoa powder, get a high quality dutch processed.

Thick and Chewy Double Chocolate
Yes!! Chocolate and Espresso. Good god, these are good, but the Triples are even better.

Thick and Chewy Triple Chocolate
Nathan and my favorite so far. Use really good chocolate - dutch processed cocoa and good chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter
Hands down the best peanut butter cookies. The secret is to grind up whole peanuts yourself.

Classic Brownies
These did not turn out so well. I cooked them a long time, much longer than called for and they were still gooey to the point of being doughy in the middle. We ate all the way around the outside and three the rest out.

Lemon Bars (Key Lime Bar variation not in the book, but on their website)
Very good. Using fresh citrus and zest is the key to really good flavor.

Up Next:
I plan to try the oatmeal raisin variation today despite my dislike for the oatmeal chocolate chip variation in this book. I'm likely to doctor it as I see fit. I also plan to try the Hermits and Pecan Squares soon. Cook's doesn't have a recipe for homemade fig newtons, but there must be one out there somewhere and that intrigues me. I'll let you know what I find.