Cinnamon Rolls

Don`t worry, you can thank me later.

You know, all the best things in life are either addictive, fattening, health damaging or costs at least 10 dollars. Well, who cares if these Cinnamon Rolls kind of ruin your healthy eating plan? It`s weekend, it`s rainy (at least in my town) and these are my perfect medicine for chasing away the melancholic mood I have.

Spring is full of surprises, I know. Especially for me. Usually, spring is that time of the year when I start worrying about the fact that I am a baking freak and have no boyfriend or any type of friend in general. Because I`m weird. And I kind of start accepting this idea. With my earphones plugged in and a long (long,long,long) list of Guns N` Roses, Of Monsters and Men, Scorpions and Bryan Adams songs to listen to. 

Ok, so leaving my obnoxious behavior aside, I took a set of pictures of (almost) each step of the recipe, so I make sure this works for you.

First of all, the yeast part. You don`t have to warm up the liquid too much, 115 degrees F should be enough to make the yeast rise. If the liquid is not warm enough, the yeast won`t activate, if it is too hot it will kill yeast. I think I used the word "yeast" too many times. Ok, so you know it`s good to be used when you start to smell it and it looks bubbly, foamy  and well, pretty much like that:

After this, you just dump in the rest of the ingredients and knead until your arms fall off. Literary. 

No, really, you have to (!!!) knead it like crazy in order to get a fluffy, soft dough. A good 15-20 minutes work perfectly. This time, I cheated and used my bread machine. My lovely, trustworthy friend. If you don`t own such a tool (it`s really useful, by the way) you can do this by hand or use a hand mixer with the dough attachment (the one that looks like a corkscrew). So, if you use a bread machine, dump the ingredients in this order: liquid, other ingredients(sugar, eggs, vanilla extract,oil etc), flour and end with the dry yeast. Dry yeast is sold in 7 or 8 gr. packages and it usually doesn`t call for dissolving in liquid, but I do mix it with my warm water/milk to be sure it does it`s job. If you have a 25 gr. fresh yeast cube, crumble it between your fingers and dissolve it as directed above.

After you`ve mixed and kneaded the dough (you should stop kneading when the dough stays together in an elastic, pliable dough ball which doesn`t stick), place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm spot in your house to let it double in volume. I pop it in my microwave (without turning it on, obviously).

Then, take the beautiful thing out (I looove working with dough), schmear it with lovely, flavorful butter (aka the thing which makes these Rolls out of this world delicious):

...and top with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Owh, Tooth Fairy will be so glad to receive my teeth soon.

Roll this beauty up, just like you would do with a burrito or a Swiss Roll...

I just fell in love with this recipe. See how weird I am?

Use a bread knife of dental floss to cut it. Food can be so sexy. There, I said it!

Warning: use parchment paper for this recipe, or else you will have a big, unpleasant surprise with the Rolls sticking to the bottom of the pan and stubbornly refusing to come out. So, again, DO NOT (UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES) be naive and think that greasing&flouring the pan will work. Because as the Rolls bake, the sugar will caramelize and caramel is the whore of the kitchen if you don`t know it`s secrets.

Remember: Parchment paper!

After you have placed all your babies in the pan, cover them and allow them to rise 20 to 30 more minutes. Then, you have to wait only another 30 minutes until you can eat the entire pan, like I would do if I had any room for more.

This is how they look like...

...lovely golden brown, puffed up and waiting for you to eat them right away. 

But first, top them with cream cheese frosting, because a Cinnamon Roll is not a Cinnamon Roll until you spread some gooey topping over it.

I just want to marry these Cinnamon Rolls and be fat for the rest of my life. 

Awww dear Jeeezus! Look at the...

*Gasping for air*

*Eats another three pieces*

*Burp*

They look good, they are delicious and all the stuff, but my first attempt proved to be a complete disaster. At that time, I was quite inexperienced but adventurous when it came to baking. So what did I do? Instead of putting the good ol` stuff like cinnamon+sugar, I mashed up 2 ripe bananas, mixed them with a bit of honey, shredded coconut and spread it over the dough. 

The moment I tasted one, my inner baker said: "I have done...the most horrendous mistake.". I can`t describe how ashamed I was of the final result, but here`s a picture to remind me of the dark day:

Don`t worry, since then, I gathered a lot of information about baking and everything that it involves. Maybe, in the near future, there will be a Honey Coconut Banana Rolls recipe...who knows? 

However, this is a perfect dish to treat your guests with on the Easter Breakfast.

Ingredients:

Dough:

370 gr. plain all purpose flour

50 gr. sugar

1 (7 gr) package of active dry yeast

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

50 ml. milk

150 gr. water

4 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

grated zest of 1/2 orange

Filling:

100 gr. room temperature butter

215 gr. granulated sugar (brown would be perfect but you can use white)

3 leveled teaspoons of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

a few drops of lemon juice

60 gr. room temperature cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

3 to 5 Tablespoons of milk or heavy cream to make a looser icing

Directions:

1.First of all, combine the milk and water in a saucepan and heat it until it is lukewarm (115 d F/60 d C), take off the heat. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the yeast, stir it a bit, set aside for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to activate. You know it`s ready when it looks foamy and it smells. Stir in the egg, egg yolk, oil, vanilla extract and orange zest. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour and rest of the sugar. Make a well in the center of it and pour the liquid yeast mixture. Start mixing with a wooden spoon until the dough starts forming (2 minutes). Switch off to a hand mixer (or electric mixer like Kitchen Aid) with the dough hook attachment (the one that looks like a corkscrew), and knead for 15 minutes or until you got a soft, non sticking, pliable dough ball.

Lightly oil a clean, large bowl and place the dough ball inside, cover with a clean kitchen towel and set in a draft-free, warm place to rise, about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until doubled in size.

2.Take the dough out on a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin start stretching it out into a 14x8 inch/35x20 cm rectangle.

Filling:

1. In a bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Toss together until combined. 

2. Spread the softened butter over the top of the dough rectangle and sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll up the dough like you would do with a burrito or a Swiss Roll. Using a sharp bread knife, cut the roll in 12-16 equal pieces.

Place them in a rectangle 13x9 inch/33x22 cm baking pan which has been previously lined with parchment paper.

3.Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel and leave the rolls to rise for an additional 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 d F/180 d C.

4. After they increased in size, remove the towel and insert the rolls into the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and puffed up. You could cover with aluminum foil to prevent heavy browning.

While they are baking, make the cream cheese glaze.

Glaze:

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon juice. Add vanilla extract, then mix in milk. If you like a thinner glaze, add more milk, if you want it thicker, add less liquid.

Spread it over the rolls immediately after you`ve taken them out of the oven.

Coconut Lime Custard Tartlets

Tart, with a lovely lime&coconut flavor and a flaky, buttery pie crust, these tartlets are so easy to make yet so fancy. Perfect for Easter, right? Who needs a big slice of custard pie when they can have itty-bitty bites of cuteness? 

I`ll tell you what...I`m going to make them again! And again. And again. Probably until I`ll get sick and tired of them, but that`s quite impossible because you can play with the ingredients an make your own version, which, if you do, please let me know so I can try `em too. 

So chances are you don`t find limes at your grocery store or whatever, but who cares? You can substitute them with any kind of fruit. Lemon, grapefruit, orange, sweetie...phew, there are lots of choices. I`m thinking about a combination of kiwi and banana. 

I chose lime and coconut because well, they pare beautifully together and I had a lot of limes hanging around in my fridge. 

Please excuse me if I seem a bit, I don`t know...is distracted the right word? I`m thinking about hippocampus (the part of your brain which looks like a seahorse and is responsible for storing, memorizing and organising information). My dad is going to fetch me the brain of a pig and well, I really want to see that. And a lot of other things. The brain is a mystery to us.

Whatever, it`s almost the middle of the night and I can`t concentrate on writing any more, but I`m still going to hang around on the web until I fall asleep on the keyboard. 

I don`t know how to give you the measures for this recipe. I know I`m horrible. I beg you for forgiveness. The thing is that I made an Apple Pie the previous week and there still remained 100 gr. or so of pie crust. It was flaky, buttery. Would have been a shame to throw it away, right? Well, I popped it into the freezer and used it for this recipe.

Originally, I wanted to make Mini Cherry Pie Bites but I didn`t feel like another ordinary pie recipe would be suiting for spring.

These Tartlets are fresh, tender and (with a bit of browned bottom but well...sometimes you can`t trust your oven) taste like cheesecake. They are as creamy, maybe with a bit more tartness but...wow! I swallowed 4 of them while shooting.

Here`s a peek inside:

Oh, and one more thing: the most difficult part is stretching the dough and arranging it in the mini muffin moulds. Apart from that, you just have to toss, mix and bake. That is pretty much all. 

And remember it`s ok if your don`t look perfect, like those you buy at the shop/baker. They are homemade, you worked for them and therefore, the most important thing is that you put love in every baked good you do. That way, everything will be a success.

Easter is coming (as I previously mentioned) and I suggest you try to be good to all and offer them a small gift to show you care about them. May you have the most beautiful holiday.

Ingredients:

100 gr. already made, unbaked, pie crust (homemade or bought, I already have a recipe, so check it out: Apple Pie )

1 large egg

3 Tablespoons plain yogurt (coconut or lime yogurt would be nice too)

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon plain all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 gr. shredded coconut

juice of 1 lime

zest of 1 lime

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F/180 C. Grease 13 mini muffin cups. Set aside.

2.Lightly flour your rolling pin and work surface. Stretch the dough as you would do for regular pie. Take a ruffled or round cookie cutter and cut the dough. Take each piece and arrange it in the muffin cup, making sure that the dough touches the bottom. Continue like this with all the dough. Pop it in the fridge while you make the filling.

3.In a bowl, beat the egg well. Add the yogurt, sugar, vanilla extract, coconut, zest and juice of the lime and end with the flour. Mix everything thoroughly, and if you really want people to know you`ve put lime in there, add a dash of green food coloring. This step is optional and I didn`t do it. Whatever, they will still be delicious.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for somewhere around 25 minutes or until the top looks set and you might find a few cracks. Take them out of the oven and let cool completely in your pan. 

Take out and serve. :D

Nutella Baked Donuts

Well, as long as these are baked, you can have them for breakfast. Lovely. I don`t know about you, but my mom never served me donuts for breakfast. Or anything of that sort. My "treat" for breakfast were the sunny-side-up eggs and cheese. On other occasions, it was the plain toast with some butter. But almost never something sweet.

Doesn`t matter, I`m catching up now. I make myself whatever I desire. If I want Cinnamon Rolls with Snickers bars inside `em, that is what I do. And my family are happy because I usually make hearty portions. 

Ok, why was I talking to you about childhood? Anyways, let`s get back to the recipe. NUTELLA! This is good stuff, buddy. No, "good" is not an appropriate word to describe this chocolate hazelnut spread that makes life 1000 times better. It`s the food of the Gods. The only thing worth everything. Even dumping someone. Ok, not like that. But to me, a girl who has never had a boyfriend or fell in love or soapy stuff, Nutella is my life. My every trusting, understanding, always-there friend. 

I secretly keep a jar in my wardrobe in case there`s an emergency. Like kid-parent fight. I lock up my room and grab the jar. I don`t even need a spoon! I`m terrible, I know.

Apparently, this morning wasn`t a good one. I had the worst sleep I can remember and woke up with a pain in the neck. Morose as I was, I took the jar of Nutella out. But I wanted baked donuts as well. So what did I do? Exactly! I combined two of the best comfort foods in the mega-super-duper breakfast/dessert alternative: Nutella Baked Donuts.

Don`t judge, leaf-eaters.

You know, when 2014 started, everybody made resolutions, had aims or goals like eating healthy and working out. These types of resolutions were what I had seen all over the internet. People were posting pictures with healthy food like salads, smoothies and there were tons of pictures of gyms and descriptions or hashtags like "#workout" "healthy" "new year, new beginning". At some point, I kind of felt annoyed. Was I the only one who ate more sweets than in the previous years? However, this trend disappeared as quickly as I would bake a batch of these donuts. 

Am I boring? I think so. Ok, I`ll shut up now.

OH MY DEAR SPRINKLES! Mother of sugar! I`m so sorry we have none left. I`d bake a batch right now, but I just had a shower and my Milk N` Cinnamon drink is making me lazy. And tiiiiired. *yawn*

I`ve been through a lot recently. I mean my mood. I went from calm to anger and then tears in a matter of minutes. Then I laughed. Then I got bored. Finally, I decided to gather a collection of the moods I`ve experienced. My messy hair says a lot.

I am not the owner of the prettiest face (or anything physical) in the world, but I love to make faces and I often laugh when I`m tired. See those dark circles around the eyes? Yep, I got used to them and this is how I know that I worked.

Back to our donuts...what can I say more? Really nothing.

Oh yeah, I remember! The topping! I can`t believe I almost forgot to mention this. You know, leaving your donuts plain, iced or glazed or filled with nothing is in my opinion a huge sin and an insult for the food. An unpardonable, horrendous sin! 

I rolled almost all of the donuts in sweetened cocoa powder, but as I felt like some more Nutella is always welcome, I schmear it on the donut and top with sprinkles, shredded coconut, chopped peanuts or caramels. You name it. Just put something on it if you feel extra sassy.

Here is what I`ve done to a few:

Need I say they disappeared in no time? Like 2 minutes or so. And I`m not kidding.

Also, these beauties are so incredibly moist, with a tender crumb. They melt in your mouth. I mean it! Let me tell you why they came out spongy, flavorful, with a tantalizing aroma and all the fancy stuff: cream cheese. Yes, hear me out! Cream cheese. The main ingredient of the Cheesecake. Boy, was that good!

I took an extra picture of the interior so you can see the texture better:

I would like to call these the most PERFECT Nutella Donuts in the world, but unfortunately there is no such thing as a best recipe. I don`t believe in it and you shouldn`t either. Even though some have the word "fool proof" in it, there will always be  that one attempt that won`t work. And there`s a good chance that it is yours.

I just suggest you give them a try and indulge on the entire batch because they are baked, not fried. And the batter is beautiful, it looks like mousse. I don`t have a picture of that.

Ingredients:

25 gr. room temperature cream cheese

2 Tablespoons of milk

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (NOT olive!)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

80 gr Nutella

70 gr. white plain all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 d C/375 d C. Grease a donut pan with butter and lightly sprinkle some flour. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and milk until it resembles a thcik cream (2 minutes).  Add the egg, oil, vanilla and Nutella. Mix it together to incorporate all the ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary. Lastly, beat in the flour and baking soda.

3. Divide the batter evenly between the donut moulds and bake in the preheated oven for somewhere around 18 to 20 minutes.

Take them out and enjoy them warm, as they are, or go crazy and top it with whatever you like. You`re welcome.