Soft Milk Bread Cinnamon Rolls

Soft Milk Bread Cinnamon Rolls

I was awake early in the morning and decided I may as well bake! I came up with this recipe.

Yield:
16-20 medium-sized rolls

Dough Ingredients: 
2 cups warm milk
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter melted
1 tbsp honey
3 tsp yeast
5 cup unbleached flour

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup cane sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter melted

Glaze Ingredients (you may want to double the portion):
1 stick cream cheese
1/2-3/4 cup powdered confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 tbsp milk as needed

More Ingredients:
melted butter for brushing

Directions for rolls:

1) Mix the warm milk, honey, and yeast together. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

2) In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar,  and salt.

3) Add the melted butter and milk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix with chopstick or spoon until dough forms. 

4) Knead gently in your hands until ball forms, but do not over-knead like you would for bread.

5) Set in greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 30 minutes.

6) Flour surface and flatten dough to a rectangular shape about 1/4 inch thick.

7) Brush most of one stick melted butter on dough. 

8) Mix cinnamon and sugar, then sprinkle it evenly across the dough.

9) Roll the dough up and cut into 16 equal pieces.

10) Place the rolls in a casserole pan, brush with remaining butter, cover, and let rise for about an hour.

11) Place in preheated oven at 400 degrees F. Add water to a pan under the rolls to add humidity to the oven.

12) Immediately turn the oven down to 350 degrees F. Bake for approx. 30 minutes or until browned on top.

13) While it is baking, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until light and creamy. Add milk as needed to get good consistency.

14) When the rolls are done, smother with the glaze and enjoy!

Pie Crust

  

Pie Crust

Getting a pie crust to be flaky can be tough, but not impossible. The secret (without using actual croissant dough) is to use cold ingredients, cold water, and frozen butter and then work quickly.

Use this recipe with your favorite pie!

Yield:
2 pie crusts, or one bottom and a top crust


Ingredients:
2 1/4 c flour

2 sticks (1 cup) frozen butter

1/4 c sugar (if you use liquid sweeteners, you may compromise the texture)

1 tsp salt

1/4 c water (more or less until dough forms ball)

Directions for Preparing the Dough:
1) In a food processor, add the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a couple times to mix.

2) Cut the frozen butter into medium chunks. Add butter to the flour mix and pulse several times until the butter is mixed.

3) While the food processor is running, slowly add the water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough starts to gather in a ball.

4) Finish packing the dough into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

5) Set the dough in the refrigerator for a minimum 45 min to an hour or up to two days in advance. The point is to have cold dough. Any more than 2 days and you will start to lose texture and color.

Directions for Forming the Dough:
1) Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit on the counter for five minutes. Cur the dough piece in half (weigh each half if you want them exact).

2) On a floured surface, and working quickly, take one of the halves, and roll it out to about an inch wider diameter of the pan you will be baking it in.

3) Wrap it loosely around a rolling pin to transfer it to the pan and unroll it.

4) Lightly fit the crust to the pan. If it rips, use some of the extra from the sides to fill in the holes.

5) Cut the edge of the dough so that it leaves enough to be tucked on the edges.

6) Shape the edges using any fancy method you prefer. 

7) Poke some holes in the base of the crust.

8) Place the crust in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before adding pie filling.

9) If you are using the other crust as a topper, use the rolling pin trick to place it on top of the pie before crimping the edges.

Pumpkin Pie

 

Pumpkin Pie

I really enjoy homemade pumpkin pie. I am a fan of custards and I appreciate the flavor of pumpkin as well. Generally speaking, I dislike commercial pumpkin pies because they are too heavy on their spices. I have served my pumpkin pie to many and only one has ever said they disliked it. The light flavor comes from leaving out all the heavy spices and enjoying the flavor of pumpkin! The nice thing about this recipe is that it works with pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, butternut squash, and other meaty winter squashes!

Use this recipe with homemade crust!

Yield:
1 pie, (sometimes two if watery or you add slightly more puree)


Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin puree (I use boiled pumpkin and put it in a blender with a little bit of the water it is boiled in) You can get a richer flavor and texture by baking the pumpkin in a shallow dish with water.)

1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs

3/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavoring

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

light dash cloves (optional)
1/2 tsp salt


Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Add all ingredients to a blender or stand mixer. Alternatively, add them into a bowl and use an immersion blender.

3) Blend until mixed.

4) Pour into prepared crust(s).

5) Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes. Pie will be just barely jiggly when it comes out and will set when cool. You can test by inserting a knife into the batter and it will come out clean.

Oat Milk Ice Cream

Oat Milk Ice Cream

This recipe is very interesting. I will likely post different versions of it later once I really hone in on ones I like. This version reminds me of iced milk or chocolate fudgesicles. It doesn't completely firm up, but there are other steps to take which I decided not to in order to experiment.

Yield:
Approx. 1 quart


Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
3 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp vanilla flavoring
1/2 cup maple (or other syrup)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt


Directions:
1) Place a freezer-safe tempered glass bowl or loaf pan in freezer.
2) In a high-speed blender, blend together the oats and water.
3) Strain milk through cloth to remove solids.
4) Mix other ingredients together in a large bowl.
5) Follow instructions on ice cream machine until it firms up, about 40 min after ice cream machine bowl cools down.
6) Scoop ice cream into frozen bowl or loaf pan.
7) Cover the pan with plastic wrap and press the plastic wrap against the surface of the ice cream so no crystalization occurs.
8) Stir every 30 minutes for up to two hours (four times).
9) If it is too hard, let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

Amazing Orange Cinnamon Rolls

We received a bunch of oranges from a friend at church. I have also been experimenting with making and using my own flour. I looked up a bunch of other recipes and eventually made this one. It was flaky and amazing.

Be warned that there is a long list of ingredients and this process is not quick. It took me five hours or so to make these originally. Also note that this uses the zest from four to five oranges, the juice from three or four, and two sliced blood oranges. This means you need, at minimum, six medium oranges for this recipe.

Amazing Orange Cinnamon Rolls

Yield:
16-20 medium-sized rolls

Dough Ingredients: 
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup, plus more, freshly-squeezed orange juice 
1 egg
2 tbsp butter melted
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp yeast
1 cup unbleached or bread flour
2 1/2 cups newly finely ground Kamut wheat flour (that has rested a day or two after grinding)
1 tsp salt
zest from two medium oranges

Filling Ingredients:
1/4 cup cane sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter at room temperature
zest from one medium orange

Glaze Ingredients (you may want to double the portion):
1/4 cup coconut cream powder
3/4 cup powdered confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
juice from one small orange
zest from one medium orange

Syrup Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cane sugar
2 cups water
Two or three small blood oranges sliced into rounds

More Ingredients:
One more stick of butter at room temperature
orange zest from one or two oranges

Directions:
1) In a small bowl mix the water, orange juice, honey, egg, butter, zest, and yeast. Make sure you have 1 1/2 cups altogether of this concoction. If short, add more orange juice. Let sit for 10 minutes or until the yeast activates.
2) In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt thoroughly.
3) Make a well in the middle of the flour and dump in the liquid mixture. Mix by hand and do not be tempted to add more flour or water. Knead until it is a soft dough.
4) Put the dough in covered, greased bowl to rise in a warm place for an hour or so until dough has risen to a little less than double its size.
5) While it is rising, make up the filling by mixing the sugar and cinnamon together in one bowl and the butter and zest together in another bowl.
6) Once the dough is risen, flatten it out and knead for a minute. Let it table-rest for five minutes.
7) Roll out the dough to a rectangle 10"x15" or to about 1/4" thick.
8) Spread the orange zest butter over the dough and get as close to the edges as possible. 
9) Sprinkle all the cinnamon sugar over the orange zest butter. Use a spoon to finish spreading it out to the edges. Enjoy licking the spoon when done spreading if you like!
10) Roll up the dough and pat the edges so that they are not tapered.
11) With a sharp knife, cut the dough every one inch or so.
12) Arrange the rolls in a greased 9"x13" baking pan so you can see the swirls. Allow them the rolls to rise in a warm place for a little over an hour or until they fill the pan sufficiently.
13) Preheat your over to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
14) Mix 4 tablespoons butter with orange zest and spread it over the rolls.
15) Bake the rolls at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Then raise the temperature to 375 degrees F and continue to cook until just browned.
16) While the bread is baking mix the coconut cream powder, powdered sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and zest to make the glaze. Set it aside.
17) Take a saucepan and mix the sugar and water for the syrup.
18) Heat the syrup on medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until it boils and the sugar is dissolved.
19) Turn the heat down on the syrup and add the sliced blood oranges to the sugar water. Let them simmer for 20 minutes, turning the oranges every five minutes.
20) Remove the oranges and place on a drying rack over wax paper to cool. Enjoy the candied oranges!
21) Once the rolls are done, take the other half cube of butter with orange zest in it and spread it over every square inch of the hot rolls in the pan.
22) Take the glaze and spread it over the hot rolls evenly.
23) Take a quarter cup of the syrup and drizzle it over the hot rolls.
24) When serving, add a slice of candied orange on top and drizzle some orange syrup over it!







To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

Remember that this recipe has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day.

Orange Cake

Orange Cake

This is an adaptation for a recipe for orange bread. It turned out so much like a cake, I decided to keep it. I actually made it using mandarins. This was very delicious.

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup oil or butter (I used coconut oil)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
3/4 cups sour cream
Juice from 4 large oranges or 8 mandarins
Zest from the same oranges or mandarins
1 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups flour (or more)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Dash of nutmeg

Optional Glaze Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1 can coconut milk (cream portion and enough liquid to get the consistency of what you want)
Splash of vanilla
Dash of cardamom

Directions:
1) In large bowl, beat eggs until fully mixed.
2) Add oil to eggs and beat until fluffy again.
3) Add sugar and beat once again.
4) Mix in the remaining wet ingredients.
5) In a medium bowl, sift all the dry ingredients.
6) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. If you see it is too runny, add  more flour.
7) Pour batter into greased cake pans or a bundt pan.
8) Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven 45 minutes for cake pans and 1 hour 10 minutes in a bundt pan or until it tests done with a toothpick.
9) Let cool briefly before trying to remove from pan.
10) Top with your favorite glaze.

Directions for Glaze:
1) Beat sugar, cream cheese, the cream portion of the coconut milk, vanilla, and cardamom together in small bowl until blended.
2) Add enough of the remaining coconut milk liquid until you get your desired consistency.
3) For best results, we discovered that this glaze fluffs up a little if refrigerated overnight.

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies (AKA: Crack Pumpkin Cookies)

So, my wife and everyone at her work really love these cookies. She calls them "Crack Pumpkin Cookies" because no matter how hard you try, you always eat a ton of them. They are so addictive! The recipe calls for oil only, but they can come out a little flat if you don't regularly chill the cookies during preparation time. I have debated using half butter and half coconut oil to prevent so much melting, but that might change the flavor too much.


Dry Ingredients:
6 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
Dash of cloves powder

Wet Ingredients:
2 c cane sugar
2 c room temp coconut oil (not the icky flavorless stuff, use the real stuff)
2 eggs
2 c raw pumpkin purée peeled
1/2 t vanilla extract

Other Ingredients:
More sugar for dipping
water for dipping





 Directions:


1) Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
2) In a very large bowl, mix eggs until smooth.
3) Add coconut oil to eggs and beat until fluffy and smooth.
4) Add other wet ingredients into egg and oil mixture and beat until fluffy.
5) Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until incorporated. The mixture will be sticky.
6) Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
7) Dip a dinner spoon and your hands in water (wet not soaking). Use the spoon to scoop out a small ball and roll it gently in your hands to form a mediocre ball. Roll the ball in sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet. Due to the nature of coconut oil, they might melt and spread on the pan. Space them accordingly.
8) Freeze the prepared balls uncovered for about 15 minutes.
9) Bake the frozen balls in a preheated oven 350 degrees for 15 minutes, rotating once at half time.

Yield:
A heap of cookies! I think I ended up with about 8 dozen. It depends on how big you make the cookies.