Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Fresh out of the oven. Yum!

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Rest Time: 2-2.5 hours
Rise Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes


Yields 12 rolls

   

Ingredients:

Dough:

4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 whole egg, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
1 package instant dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
1 1/4 kosher salt
vegetable oil or cooking spray

Filling:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Icing:
2.5 ounces cream cheese (about 1/4 cup) (I used 4 oz)
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Dough:  In an electric mixer whisk egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, & buttermilk.  Add 2 cups of flour, salt, & yeast.  Whisk until moistened and just combined.  Remove whisk attachment and add dough hook.  Add all but 3/4 cup of remaining flour and knead on low for 5 minutes.  Check the consistency of the dough.  It should be moist but not sticky.  Add more flour if necessary.  Knead on low for 5 more minutes or until the dough clears the side of the bowl.  Turn out the dough on a lightly floured work space and knead by hand for 30 seconds.  Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl.  Lightly oil the top of the dough and cover for 2-2.5 hours.  Until the dough has doubled in size.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, & salt in a bowl and mix very well.  Set aside for later use.

Butter a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Place dough on a lightly floured work space.  Shape into a 12x18 rectangle with the long side facing you.  Brush the dough with melted butter leaving 1/2 inch boarder on the top edge.  Sprinkle sugar mixture leaving 3/4 inch boarder from top edge.  Gently press filling into the dough.  Tightly roll the dough starting with the edge closes to you.  Pinch seam and place seam side down.  If needed squeeze the dough until it is an even thickness.  Slice dough into 1.5 inch rolls (yields 12).  Place rolls cut side down in buttered pan.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the  refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Remove rolls from refrigerator (remove plastic wrap) and place in the oven (turned off).  Place a shallow baking dish on the oven rack just below the rolls and fill with boiling water.  Close the oven and let rolls rise until they are slightly puffy (about 30 minutes).  Remove rolls and pan with water and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  When oven is preheated place rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown (about 30 minutes).

While rolls are cooling make your frosting.  Whisk cream cheese in electric mixer until it is creamy/fluffy.  Add milk, whisk.  Add powdered sugar, whisk.  Spread over the rolls.

----I doubled this recipe and stored the other prepared cinnamon roll log in the freezer.  I will post again on how they do when we decide to eat them.  :)
 

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

It tastes way better than it looks.  The decorating went very bad.

Prep: 10 minutes
 Cook: 60 minutes @ 350 degrees (not including wait time)



 Ingredients:

 Cake:
1 cup stout or porter beer (I used Guinness)
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (plus additional for greasing the pan)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Bailey's

Directions:

Cake:
Cook beer and butter in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat until butter is completely melted.  Whisk in cocoa powder and sugars.  Take off heat and allow it to come to room temperature (took mine about 1 hour). --- Use this wait time to grease your 8 or 9 inch springform pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
*Preheat oven before starting this next step* Beat sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract in your electric mixer.  Mix until very well combined.  Add the cooled butter-beer mixture and whisk together.  In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the butter-beer mixture and whisk until it just comes together.  Pour into the springform pan and give it a few short drops onto the countertop.  This will shake out any air pockets within the batter.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Run a knife (I used a spatula) around the edges to separate the cake from the pan and remove the ring from the springform pan.  Spread a generous amount of frosting on the top of the cake.

Frosting:
Beat cream cheese in electric mixer until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and Bailey's.  Beat until smooth.

Baker's sugar on the left.  Regular granulated sugar on the right.

 A quick side note:  You can use regular granulated sugar  in this recipe but your cake will not be as fluffy.  Baker's sugar (ultra fine sugar - Caster's sugar) produces fluffier cakes.  It is also used more frequently in making meringues.  As you can see in the picture there is a big difference in texture.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake time: 30 minutes @ 350 degrees

Yields: 18

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (about 9 ounces), divided
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 large baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray.  Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave using a glass bowl, stirring twice (I did 1 minute straight, stirred, and then 30 seconds).  Cool slightly.
Using an electric mixer beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in 1 cup of powdered sugar until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme.
In a separate bowl whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt.  Gradually add mixture to meringue on low speed.  Then add melted chocolate and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (dough will be stiff).
Place 1/2 cup powdered sugar in bowl.  Make dough balls about the size of a tablespoon.  Roll in powdered sugar coating generously.  Place on cookie sheets spacing 1.5-2 inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes, take out of oven and leave cookies on cookie sheet for an additional 10 minutes.  Then transfer cookies to cooling rack.



One thing about me is that I have a major sweet tooth.  Maybe I wouldn't call it a sweet tooth but specifically a chocolate tooth.  I love all chocolate except white.  Over the years I have collected a lot of chocolate recipes, but none that are dark chocolate.  So when I came across this recipe I knew I had to try them.  They were better than I expected.  Even my toddler liked them.  I found her sneaking them off the counter and devouring them as fast as possible.

When I am cooking or baking I always seem to mess up one during the process.  With these cookies I accidentally beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.  I thought I was going to over beat them since I still had to add the powdered sugar, but that didn't happen.  Phew!  :)

The bag of chocolate chips I used was 10 ounces and 60% bittersweet. I used the whole bag in this recipe.  I rounded my 1 cup of chocolate chips to be melted.  I figured a little extra chocolate wouldn't hurt anyone.  :)  Once you add the melted chocolate to the dough it really stiffens up.  I recommend using the paddle mixture just before the melted chocolate is added.  That way you don't have to dig out the dough like I did with the whisk attachment.

I measured the first cookie to get an idea of what a tablespoon size of the dough would look like and then estimated the rest of them.  After I was done rolling them there was quiet a bit of powdered sugar left.  Next time I would use 1/4 of a cup and add additional if needed.  They don't spread out too much when baking so 1.5 inches apart I think is plenty.  Some of mine I had an inch apart and they didn't touch.  I also got more then 18 cookies.  I was able to get 21.  Next time I will be a little more careful with the size of the dough balls and I can probably get about 24.

These cookies are incredibly rich for their small size.  They have a fudgy texture which is great.  After my first batch came out of the oven I didn't like all that fudgy-ness (almost seemed slightly under done) so I stuck them back in the oven when the other batch of cookies finished baking for 10 minutes.  I didn't want my cookies to over cook and be crunchy so I turned the oven off an left them in there for the 10 minutes they would be out sitting on the counter cooling on the cookie sheet.  Then I took them out after the 10 minutes and let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and then transferred to the cooling rack.  I was much happier with these results.  I stored mine in the fridge.  I tend to like cold desserts and I liked how the chocolate chips added a crunchy texture to the fudgy cookies when they were cold.

I have a soft spot for crinkle cookies.  They just look so darn good!  These are fantastic for the dark chocolate lover.  They are incredibly dark chocolate tasting.  Whoever is a chocolate lover like me will enjoy these cookies.  I can't wait to bake these for my dad because I think I just found his new favorite cookie.  :)









(Recipe source: http://www.divine-baking.com/2011/04/deep-dark-chocolate-cookies.html#more)

Swedish Pretzels

 Prep time: 30 min.
Rest: 30 min.
Bake time: 10-15 min. @ 425 degrees


Yields: 16 pretzels


Ingredients:

Pretzel:
7 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dry active yeast or 1 3/4 ounce fresh yeast
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Top:
1 egg, beaten
kosher salt

Directions:
Melt margarine/butter in small sauce pan.  Add milk and heat until lukewarm.  If using active dry yeast heat until 115 degrees or 100 degrees for fresh yeast.  Pour milk into an electric mixing bowl and add the sugar and yeast.  Stir until dissolved, scrapping sides as needed.  Add half the flour at a high speed and then knead in remaining flour (or if you have a dough hook attachment you can use that).  Work dough until it is smooth and elastic.  If it is sticking to the sides of the bowl let it rest for a few minutes.  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.  It should be loose, warm, and feel "alive".  Divide dough into 16 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a long stripe and form into a pretzel.  Place on greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.  Brush with egg and sprinkle with salt if desired.  Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes, depending on desired color.  Transfer to cooling rack.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook time: 13-15 minutes @ 400 degrees
Yields: 10-12

Ingredients:

Biscuits:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 tablespoons cold butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Butter Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Kosher salt

Directions:
Cut cold butter into Bisquick.  Once combined add cheese, milk and garlic powder.  Mix with hand until just incorporated.  Place 1/4 cup size biscuits on greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Place biscuits in the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cilantro
3 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions: In a small or medium heavy pot add water, rice, salt and 1 teaspoon of oil.  Boil on high until most of the water evaporates.  When water just skims the top of the rice reduce heat to low and cover for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes turn heat off and leave for 5 minutes, keeping rice covered.  In a medium bowl combine rice, cilantro, lime juice and 2 teaspoons of oil.  Mix together.