PW Cinnamon Rolls

Non food note: I start my “big kid” job on Monday! OHMYGOSH. I’m so excited! I’ll be working at Moss Adams, LLP as a tax staff accountant! I’ve enjoyed (last ever) Christmas break of three weeks, but I’m so ready to get to work!

Waaaay back in high school, I made friends with a girl named Kristin whose mother, Mrs. C, also happened to be my chemistry teacher. Mrs. C became a sort of surrogate mother when I was on campus during school. Had a bad day? She was always waiting with a hug. Shit hit the fan with a history teacher my junior year? Totally there to help me figure out what to do next. Forgot lunch or lunch money? She generally let me riffle through her lunch for food. I also much lived in her classroom.

Her daughter, Kristin is a spitting image of her mother. A nicer, more caring, more empathetic 20something I have yet to meet. She is currently doing her masters in counseling (I think) at Saint Mary’s (I know). She wants to be high school counselor, and I can’t think of anyone who is better suited for that job. If she cares, she cares deeply. If you decide to do something that makes you happy she’ll be there cheering and encouraging you all the way through, which is what I think a lot of high school students need.

Now every Christmas I go over to Mrs. C’s house and make Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls, albeit with a few modifications, with Kristin. The dough we make per the recipe, but the filling we use about half the sugar and butter and for the frosting we make about half to 2/3 of what the recipe calls for. Everything still works out and tastes delicious, but the rolls just aren’t swimming in the frosting.

I blogged about the rolls last year – but this year I got some pretty pictures and I wanted to update the amount of things we used to be more accurate. This year was as tasty as last year. There is always some downtime with making the dough: the milk, vegetable oil and sugar all have to be mixed together, then scalded, and then cooled which takes about 45 minutes to an hour. After that cooling period, you throw in the yeast and let that sit for a minute or so. Then the dry ingredients get mixed in, and then you let it sit in a warm place until it’s doubled in size which is about an hour. So there’s about 2 hours of inactive time which is just fine with me because it gives plently of time for Kristin and me to catch up! This year we chatted and watched White Christmas which I’d never seen before.

After we rolled out the dough we put about 1/2 a cup of butter on the rolled out portion and then go more-or-less hog wild with the cinnamon and only sprinkle about half cup to 2/3 cup of sugar over the dough. Then you roll everything up into a nice neat package, which isn’t as hard as you think it would be, and start slicing.

As a perk to making the rolls at Kristin’s house I get to look out their kitchen and see this view:Isn’t that an awesome view?

The overall flavor reminds me of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls but better. I think it’s the frosting that makes them. The maple frosting seems less cloyingly sweet then Cinnabon’s frosting. The maple also adds a nice flavor that I don’t normally seek out – I’m not a huge maple fan but it works with the rolls.

Mr. C was home by the time we started baking so he, of course, had to taste one right after they’d been frosted. They won his approval just like last year – so at least Kristin and I know we’re consistent! The recipe makes about 36 rolls, I put them in disposable pie pans with six rolls in each. This year we decided to test how they taste after freezing (bake, ice, and then freeze – reheat in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes) and they tasted just as good as fresh out of the oven.

The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls
The filling and frosting have been cut in half to reflect what Kristin and I actually do
Ever so slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Dough

1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 4.5 teaspoons
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 heaping teaspoon Baking Powder
1 scant teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Salt

Filling

1 cup butter – more if needed
1 cup sugar – more if needed
Generous sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Maple Frosting

1 pound Powdered Sugar
1.5 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
.25 cups Milk
3 tablespoons Melted Butter
1/8 cups Brewed Coffee
pinch teaspoons Salt

Extra melted butter for the pans

Dough

In a large pot mix together the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until it’s just about to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 45 minutes to an hour or until the mixture is about body temperature (you should be able to leave your finger in mixture and have it feel warm but not hot).

Pour in the yeast and allow to proof for a few minutes. While the yeast is proofing measure out 8 cups of flour. Mix flour and yeast-milk mixture. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place to double in size – about an hour.

Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the last cup of flour. Remove half the dough (if you’re feeling overly neurotic you can weigh the dough or you can just eyeball it) and roll it out til the dough measures about 30″ by 10″.

Filling

Pour 1/2 cup of the melted butter over rolled out dough. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the butter. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the sugar over the cinnamon – use more if you need to. Starting from the 30″ edge roll towards yourself until the entire thing is rolled. Pinch the seam to secure the roll. Cut in to 1.5″ slices.

Pour a little bit of the extra butter into pie pans. And arrange the slices in the pan being careful to not overcrowd them – they expand! Set aside for 20 minutes.

Repeat for the second half the dough.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 13-17 minutes or until golden brown.

Frosting

Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee and salt. Then add the maple flavoring. You can tinker with adding more of any of the ingredients to get the flavor you’d like – the frosting, in the end, should be think but still pourable.

After the rolls come out of the oven, pour the icing over the rolls.

Enjoy!

Mini Marshmallows

Pardon the non food information – but I have FANTASTIC news: I received a job offer! I’m currently going through the pre-employment background check, but I don’t see any reason why I should not pass that, so hopefully come January 2, 2012 I shall be starting my “big kid” job! Whoop! I’m so excited, I get a job to do something I find fascinating and useful! For those of you who don’t know, I will be doing tax returns for an accounting firm (I’ll mention the actual firm once I sign. I don’t want to jinx it!). And now back to your regularly scheduled post:

Having this blog gets me to make things I wouldn’t ever think to buy in a store. Case in point: marshmallows. They aren’t very flavorful when they’re from the store, but homemade has this light airy texture and FLAVOR. And they taste way better in hot coco than regular marshmallows. I also think that homemade marshmallows melt more quickly into your hot coco but I could be completely wrong.

As an aside: what the difference between hot coco, hot chocolate, and hot cocoa? Anyone know? I’ve always been kind of confused.

Anyway, don’t be scared of homemade marshmallows. I really believe they’re easier than brownies. Yes, I typed that correctly. Easier than brownies. For the marshmallows there are only two things you might not have lying around your kitchen: corn syrup and a candy thermometer. Woah, woah, woah! Don’t leave. Yes, I said thermometer, but it really does take all the guess work out of it and makes the whole thing super simple.

The recipe itself, from Ezra Pound Cake, is mostly hands off and the most time consuming thing is the waiting for the marshmallows to dry. Once the sugar is dissolved you don’t stir the pot at all so all you have to do is watch the temperature to make sure you turn off the heat at the right point. After the sugar is cooked to 240°F, you add it to the gelatin that has been blooming (I used Knox Original Gelatin) and just whip the holy bajesus out of it.

Marshmallows always reminds me that I really really need to get a handheld mixer. You want to get your egg whites whipped as close to the time you need to add them to fluff as possible. I always have to whip them first then set them aside and then refluff them right before adding by had since I don’t have a hand mixer. Boo. After adding the egg whites you add whatever flavor extract you want to the fluff.

When removing the fluff for drying its VERY important to spray your spatula with Pam (or whatever spay oil makes you happy). The fluff won’t stick to it and you can spread it around. I end up respraying the spatula a few times, but it really does make all the difference. For the mini marshmallows like these ones, I used a jelly roll pan in order to be able to spread the fluff thin enough.

For the red swirls right after spreading out the fluff quickly drop some red food dye on to the top of the marshmallows and then using a wooden skewer swirl the red food dye around the marshmallows. I’ve found that I have to do this fairly quickly or the marshmallows start to set up.

The entire cooking process takes about 40 minutes with the bulk of it waiting for the sugar to reach 240ºF. With it being this easy, why buy marshmallows ever again? Homemade are simple and way tastier!

Homemade Mini Marshmallows

From Ezra Pound Cake
1 cup powdered sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water (around 115°F, about 15 seconds in the microwave)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites (or meringue powder reconstituted according to the manufacturer’s directions)
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or any other extract flavor. I used peppermint)

Spray a jelly roll pan (for mini) or 9×13 (for regular/thick) with oil (such as Pam) and dust with powdered sugar.

In the bowl where you’ll actually whip the marshmallows, place the cold water and gelatin and allow to bloom while you cook the sugar.

In a heavy or medium sauce pan combine the hot water, corn syrup, salt, and sugar. Over low heat stir the mixture until the sugar completely dissolved. Clip in the thermometer. Over medium heat cook the sugar mixture to 240°F.

Pour the cooked sugar mixture into the mixer bowl that has the gelatin and mix, using the whisk attachment, on high until the mixture has tripled in volume and looks glossy. It will fill most of the bowl. In another bowl (and either a clean whisk or using a handheld mixer) beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the egg whites and extract to the marshmallow fluff and mix until they’re just combined.

Spray your spatula with oil and scrape the fluff into your prepared pan. You may have to respray your spatula a few times. Sift some powdered sugar over the top and allow to sit for at least 3 hours. I usually let it sit overnight.

If swirling in some food coloring, drop small amounts of food dye all over the top and quickly swirl using a red food dye. Then dust with powdered sugar and allow to firm up.

Once dried out, take a small knife and run it around the edges and then dump it out onto a clean work surface and cut into whatever size/shape you’d like. Toss each cut marshmallow in some powdered sugar to make sure they don’t stick.

Enjoy!

Postcard Recipe: Scottish Shortbread

I’ve never been a huge fan of shortbread cookies. Either they didn’t have enough flavor or, to me, they felt overly buttery and not in a good way. Like croissants. Or shortbread cookies were just too heavy after cooling down and I always wanted them to be this light, melt in your mouth cookie no matter when you wanted one.

Then, earlier this year my friend Lulu was in Scottland and sent me a postcard from this set, which in turn came from this book Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms, with a recipe for Scottish Shortbread cookies. I’m all for recipes on postcards so I decided to put it somewhere safe so I could make it the next time I had the time to bake some cookies.

Friends, that safe place? Its a lie. A trap. Don’t put anything in a safe place. I lost that dang postcard and had to try every search I could think of to find that post card (which led me to the book, so hurrah!). Luckily I found the recipe again and was able to make it.

The recipe itself is fairly simple but incorporates semolina flour which I have never seen before in a shortbread recipe. Granted, I don’t look too closely at shortbread recipes because as I mentioned before I’ve never been a fan. But, these cookies have won me over. I’m assuming its the semolina in the mixture that gives it a light, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth flavor that I just haven’t found in other recipes.

It doesn’t take too long to make up a batch of these cookies, since its just flour, semolina, sugar and butter. The most important thing about this recipe, I feel, is that your butter has to be at room temperature. I’m totally guilty of forgetting to take out butter early enough so it’s room temperature by the time I need it, but since it’s the only thing holding the flours and sugar together you want to make sure its easy to combine everything.

The longest part is mixing everything together to form the dough – at first it’ll look like its just going to be a crumbly mess, but keep going! You’ll be rewarded with an awesome dough. The recipe says to make it into a disk and cut into 8 wedges…well you COULD do that. But then you’d only have 8 pieces. And I’ll eat all 8 pieces without thinking about it. So, I used my little disher to make lots of little cookies. Which are just adorable because they’re little and everything is much more cute when they’re smaller.

I also liked that the disher makes them slightly rounded on top rather than just flat. You could smoosh them down after they come out of the disher but then it takes an extra 30 seconds per cookie dough ball and that adds up quickly. I just want them to get into the oven and then into my mouth. Yum. This way they’re also perfect for an afternoon tea…or a midnight tea if they last that long. They’re really just perfect at anytime. Much like bagel bites. Only better.

Scottish Shortbread

Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms

This recipe serves as a perfect base for any flavored shortbread. I love to mix the zest of a lemon or orange into the mixing bowl before I start combining everything.

200 grams/8 ounces/2 cups flour
50 grams/2 ounces/.5 cup semolina flour
75 grams/4 ounces/ 2/3 cups sugar
150 grams/8 ounces/2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment mix everything together until it forms a dough. Once dough is formed use a small disher (#70) or a tablespoon to make uniform balls. Place on parchment and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cookies will not brown much – just the edges!

Allow to cool on cooling rack.

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