The bread was delightful; crunchy top,  very moist and tender insides. I forgot the nuts in half of them and then remembered to add them before the next batch went into the oven and I think the nuts really added flavor to the bread.

Instead of making loaves, I made them into muffins. I like muffins better because they’re much more portable and easier to transport. Also, when I bring them into work people can just grab one and wander away rather than having to slice the bread.

So if you have an abundance of zucchini coming out of your garden, or your neighbor is leaving bushels of them on your doorstep, or you’re just a sucker for zucchini bread try out this version. You won’t be disappointed, because Grandmother’s always have the best recipes :).

The recipe was quick and easy, especially if you use a food processor to shred the zucchinis. One batch will yield about a dozen muffins and you only need 1-2 medium zucchinis to get two shredded cups.

Zucchini Bread

From The Gingered Whisk

Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins

Zucchini Bread

3 whole eggs
2 cups sugar
½ cup veggie oil
½ cup applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnut

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake/muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add in sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.

Then mix in zucchini, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Fold in walnuts.

Evenly fill cupcake/muffin tin to just about full and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each muffin.

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, which is like a monthly secret Santa blog hop, I was assigned More than an Occasional Baker by Ros from England (Hi! I’m going to be visiting Britain in the fall! Suuuper excited!) I knew once I saw homemade Elephant Ears I had to make them.

My office this morning is going to alternatively love me for bringing in free cookies and hate me for bringing in cookies.

My mother, on the other hand, is probably going to send me a strongly worded email after she reads this post. You see, Palmiers, or Elephant Ears as I grew up calling them, are probably one of my mother’s favorite cookies. And I was supposed to go home this weekend to watch the Olympics since I don’t own a tv. Even though she didn’t know then I was going to make these cookies…she does now and I’m fairly certain that she’s going to be miffed about missing out.

Why didn’t I go home this weekend you ask?

Better plans with friends in Sacramento, perhaps?

Nope. I got lazy half way through packing and decided to go shopping. Which leads me to hating Target. I go in to Target for a $10 plastic bowl and leave $63 later. Stupid Target. They should employ an anti-personal shopper whose sole job is for me to tell them what I’m there to buy and then not allow me to buy anything else. Forcibly if needed.

Anyway, back to cookies. These were SUPER quick to make. Seriously. The longest part was allowing the cookies to chill after rolling. I totally used store bought pastry dough though. I was just too lazy this weekend to make my own. If you want to go the store bought route, find a brand of puff pastry that uses only butter! It’s soooo much better! I used Dufour which can be found at Whole Foods, and I’m sure at restaurant supply stores. There’s only one sheet of puff pastry per box though – so plan accordingly!

I got about 30 Ears out of one box and boy are they delicious and bake quickly! They only need 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven and they burn quickly. Although those are still delicious. I may have burnt the last batch of 6….and may or may not eaten them all…someone had to right?

The cookies are overly simple to make and like Ros, I also did a cinnamon sugar version of them. I was kinda hoping they’d taste like baked churros but no dice. Oh well. Disneyland will still have to be my churro dealer.

I’m seriously going to have to keep a box or two of puff pastry in my freezer now to make these up for when I go to party or bbq and don’t have time to make anything involved! I wonder if you could make these up and then pop them back in the freezer and then just bake them as you need them?

These were so much better than store bought Elephant Ears, I think I’d rather make them then buy them in the future! Go, try them! You won’t be disappointed! Thank you Ros for the recipe!

Homemade Palmiers (Elephant Ears)

From More than an Occasional Baker

1 box all butter store bought puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together sugar and cinnamon.

Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar onto a clean work surface. Unfold the puff pastry and roll out to about 8 (or 10)x12. So a little bit larger than a piece of paper. If you’re using Dufour, your puff pastry is just about this size. It only needs a little bit of rolling.

Once the puff pastry is rolled, sprinkle the other half of the cinnamon sugar onto the puff pastry. Starting at the longest edge, roll towards the middle. Once you hit the center point stop rolling. Repeat this process for the other edge. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for about an hour or until the puff pastry is chilled.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep your cookie sheet: silicon mat, parchment paper, or greased and floured. Slice the now chilled puff pastry into half inch slices. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes every minute or so! The go from delicious to burnt in a blink of an eye! The bottoms should be golden brown.

If you greased your pan remove your cookies immediately from the pan and place on cooling rack. If you’re using parchment paper or a silicon mat, you can let them cool on the pan.

Yikes, another month has already gone by?! Yikes. I thought I had no time during busy season. Ha! Jokes. Now I’m studying for the CPA exam and still working full time (obviously) and I really really have no time. I’ve been living off of oatmeal for breakfast and then PB&Js for lunch and dinner since the office always has the fixins for it and I study after work…at work. I’m fairly certain I spend more time at work still than at my apartment.

Last month I’d decided I wanted to make something sweet for SRC so I could bring it in to work, but after living off of the aforementioned PB&Js I wanted something savory so I could make it and bring it into work for lunch/dinner. And I definitely found a winner!

I got assigned Fried Ice and Donut Holes by Melissa and I had so much fun looking through her recipe index! I finally settled on her Lemon Thyme Chicken, and boy am I glad I did!

Even though I’m a total sucker for lemon anything, this was absolutely delicious. Melissa was completely right when she said it was something straight out of a restaurant. It was delicious and I followed her advice and also made the baked garlic rice pilaf, and I’m so glad I did, the whole meal was delicious. Lemony and garlicky.

I started the rice first, since that took the longest and once that go into the oven, I cooked the chicken in batches. I can happily report that the recipe scales up nicely – just make sure you cook the chicken in batches! Everything was very simple and very delicious. I’m totally looking forward to having this for lunch or dinner next week in the office!

The recipe called for butterflying the chicken breasts which I didn’t do. Instead I pounded it flat because there’s something therapeutic about pounding those things flat. Too bad I can’t do it with my financial accounting review book. That would have been way more therapeutic. Le sigh. The only other change I made was to add capers to the pan sauce, because I love capers!

So, while I go back to living under the rock that is the CPA exam – go make this for dinner tonight! You won’t regret it!

Lemon Thyme Chicken

From Fried Ice and Donut Holes

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, butterflied or pounded flat
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup Flour
1 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 teaspoons Fresh Thyme Leaves, minced
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
1 tablespoon capers
3/4 cup Chicken Broth
Juice from 1 Lemon
3 tablespoons Butter (I used about 1 1/2 and it was just fine)
Either butterfly your chicken breasts or pound them flat until they’re about half as thick.

In a large skillet (or sauce pan, just make sure it has sides, you’ll be making a pan sauce!)  heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

Salt and pepper each breast and then dredge them in the flour, shaking off the excess flour.

Place chicken breasts in the pan  — if they’re large chicken breasts (like the ones from Costco) you’ll want to do them separately – and cook for about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken breast over and cook for another three minutes. In the thickest part of the chicken breast insert a thermometer to make sure the chicken as reached 160 degrees. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, cut the chicken at the thickest part and if it’s white all the way through it’s done.

After the chicken has been cooked, remove the pan from the heat and pour in the wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release the yummy bits of food. Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Add in the chicken broth.

Cook for another 4-5 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce. Add in butter and lemon juice and stir until the butter has completely melted. Salt and pepper if needed.

Spoon over chicken and enjoy!

In case you make your dinner plans based off of what cats like to eat; I give you a cat approved meal:

Although, he does like green beans so I don’t know if we should trust him. His taste buds seem a bit off for a cat.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but if not I’ll mention it again, I’m horrific at making decisions. If life came with a flow chart complete with “if <x> do <y>” my life would be so much easier. Compounding this problem is that I desperately love planning. I tend to over think things. So when it comes to picking recipes to do it can definitely be a chore. Generally, when making recipes for The Secret Recipe Club I take three weeks to decide on something (and more often than not I narrow it down to about six and then email a friend saying “Which one do I choose?!”) and then the Saturday before the post needs to go up I make the recipe.  Well that’s just what happened with this recipe.

Have I mentioned I thrive on short deadlines? Doing everything and completing the task by a quick upcoming deadline always gives me a overwhelming sense of triumph.

This past Saturday was one of my closest friend’s, Molly, birthdays, so naturally I sent her Easy. Everyday. Eats. by Erin a blog with sections for food, crafts and bits about her life. She has cats. I adore her already. And please go look at her new kitchen, the amount of envy I have is overwhelming.

Anyway, I sent Erin’s blog link to Molly to have pick out a recipe for me to make. Delegation – totally worthwhile. So Molly then, who also can’t make decisions (watching us try to pick some place to eat drives her boyfriend crazy), sent me back some links. Five links. Le sigh. Once we figured out that Molly, another friend of ours – Jordann, and I were going to watch what’s perhaps one of the best song contests shows ever – Eurovision – together I knew we’d need a meal before the actual party started so I settled on the chicken pot pie.

One of the best things about this pot pie was that all three of us  made it. We used Erin’s recipe for Chicken Pot Pie as a starting point. We ended up adding two Granny Smith apples, some cinnamon, mushrooms and some sage to the mixture. One vegetable that I always look forward to in pot pies, was the one vegetable I forgot about  – the peas! So sad. Although, clearly not that sad since I didn’t remember they hadn’t been added until I saw the bag of frozen peas still in the freezer…the next day.

The Granny Smith apples and cinnamon really added a nice sweet touch the pot pie which was a nice complement to the savory basil and sage. We used store bought puff pastry, and a  store bought rotisserie chicken as time saving measures. Both worked wonderfully.

While making the filling part we thought that there wasn’t going to be enough gravy, so we added some more water but completely forgot to up the amount of flour to help thicken everything as it cooked. So the filling part wasn’t  all that thick and creamy, but it was still delicious and made a wonderful soup to dip bread into; which is exactly what we did!

Even though none of my favourite countries (France, Malta, and Ireland) won, Eurovision was a fun 3 hour diversion capped off with a delicious pot pie that made the house smell like heaven. Even one of the housemates mentioned that even though she wasn’t hungry in the slightest the smell was making her want to eat some. Next time California experiences some unseasonably cold weather I’m going to whip this up again because it really doesn’t take very long at all!

Chicken Pot Pie

From Erin at Easy. Everyday. Eats.

3 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 large chicken breasts (about 3 cups shredded)
1 1/2 carrots, diced (about 5 carrots)
1 cup celery, diced (about 3 stalks)
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 large granny smith apples
1/2 a large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, mined
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch sage
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
olive oil
extra salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large pan over medium heat add a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Add the mushrooms, onions, carrots, salt, pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and apples. Cook until the apples have begun to soften, but are still firm when poked with a fork. About another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and mix in celery, and chicken. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish*.

In a microwave safe dish, heat the heavy cream for 20 seconds.

In a sauce pan, over low heat, melt the butter and then add in the flour whisking constantly for about two minutes. Add in the heavy cream whisking until smooth. Slowly pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes.

Pour over the vegetable mixture. Place thawed puff pastry sheet over the casserole dish and cut off the excess leaving about an inch all around the edge. Gently pinch the edge to seal the casserole dish.

In a small bowl mix together the egg and a few tablespoons of water. Brush over the top of the puff pastry.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

*I found it helpful for placing and removing to have the casserole dish on a baking sheet.

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned K&K Test Kitchen by Kim and Kelsey – a mother/daughter duo! How fun! I had such a hard time deciding on what to make! I must have booked marked at least a dozen things.

But, I decided that since Busy Season (aka tax season) was over it would be fun to bring in something to the office so I settled on their Brownie Cookies. What an amazing idea. And yes, they do actually taste like a brownie only they’re cookies! How amazing is that? I love making brownies but they’re so difficult to bring to events; there needs to be a spatula or knife for everyone to cut them. But cookies? Just set them out and everyone can easily grab one. They were a total hit at the office, and then I made them again — yes I liked them so much that I made them twice in one week — for a family gathering on Sunday and they were a hit there too.

The batter for these cookies is extremely thick, and I have on good authority from my eldest sister that the batter is absolutely delicious. She may or may not have “pre-washed” the mixing bowl once I was done. I used a medium cookie scoop to dish out the batter and that seemed to be a good size. The cookies are very very rich, so I think anything larger would be too much. But who knows, I’m not a huge chocolate person so I could be totally wrong :)!

For the office, I made a double batch and the cookies came out more like cakey brownies than fudgey brownies. The second batch was a single batch and those came out a lot more like fudgey brownies. But I think that has more to do with the oven in my apartment vs. the oven in my parent’s house than anything else.  I forgot to count how many I got from the first batch, so I counted the ones I made yesterday and I had about 3 dozen cookies.I’m definitely keeping this recipe around for parties.

On top of that the recipe is super simple and it very easy to double, so it’s perfect for small gatherings or big gatherings! For the record, there were no cookies left over from either my office for my family gathering yesterday. As fun note, one of my very good friends who lives in England told me she was making brownie cookies last week as well and without knowing it we used the same recipe. We’re totally the same person. And if they win the approval of two different groups in California and one across the pond? Pretty sure these are keepers!

Brownie Cookies

From K&K Test Kitchen

½ cup butter
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium sized saucepan combine butter, unsweetened chocolate and half (1.5 cups) of the chocolate chips. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly. Once melted remove from burner and allow to cool while prepping the next steps.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my kitchen aid) mix together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Scrape the bottom of the bowl. Next, add in the salt. Then, add in the baking powder. Slowly add in the flower (I did three 1/2 cup measures). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Add in the melted chocolate and the rest of the chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl one last time to make sure everything is mixed.

Scoop the cookies out onto ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about a minute or two on the sheet then remove to a cooling rack.

Thank the Lord for the Secret Recipe Club; it makes sure I post at least once a month! Which, is sadly all I seem to have time for. Not that I’ve been cooking a whole lot lately. If I don’t eat dinner at work I get home late enough that all I eat is popcorn. I just keep reminding myself: 3 weeks left! I do, however, still love my job. I’d just like to be able to cook/bake more! :).

This month I assigned the blog Enriching Your Kid by Shirley. I was caught by her post about eating the rainbow; the photograph of the pasta just looked too good to pass up! Sadly, it didn’t have a recipe so I went with the idea of the post and did my own pasta recipe.

Shirley talks about how foods that have different colors are rich in different vitamins and you should “eat the rainbow” as often as possible in order to get the biggest benefit form the foods. I do try to eat as many different colors in a meal as I can, since it also makes it interesting to eat! Especially when I make savory dishes, it tends to start in the produce section of a grocery store and I just grab what looks good. Generally that means when I do cook, I cook with lots of different colors. If pinterest is any indication, people are always looking for ways to eat more healthily and I think this is one very easy way to fill up on vegetables. Instead of just reposting all of Shirley’s information, you should wander over to her blog and check it out.

For this recipe, I had corn, an onion, asparagus, chicken, an orange bell pepper, garlic, marinara sauce, basil and cheddar cheese on top.  I used the basic seasonings; salt, pepper and then for kicks I threw in some Cajun seasoning. It turned really well and it worked wonderfully for lunches at work!

I had wanted to put mushrooms in this dish and I even bought them, but I forgot to put them in! I was so sad after the dish was done. It still tasted delicious though. If you like mushrooms I think they’d make a wonderful addition!

Eat the Rainbow
inspired by Enriching Your Kids
As with most savory recipes I make, the seasoning amounts are estimates. I really need to get better about measuring things before I throw them into a pan.

Serves 8-10

1 lb of pasta of your choice
2 tbsp oil
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bundle of asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium onion
4 gloves garlic minced
2 cups of frozen corn
2 orange bell peppers cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of basil, sliced thinly
2 tbsp Cajun seasonings
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 jar of marinara sauce
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to your package instructions.

In a large pan eat oil over medium heat and add in the onions and garlic. Once the onions have become translucent add in the bell peppers and asparagus, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the chicken breast along with the Cajun seasonings, and Italian seasonings and cook until the chicken has turned opaque and the pink is gone from the middle. When the chicken is about done, add in the frozen corn.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in pasta, basil and marinara sauce once the chicken is done. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the dish and cover with aluminum foil or lid for a few minutes and allow the cheese to melt.

Serve into bowls or plates and enjoy!

I’ve finally done it. I finally branched out and joined a cooking club! I’m so excited! I’ve wanted to join a food blogging club since I started blogging but always thought I wouldn’t have the time with school. So now, I decided to join the Secret Recipe Club which assigns you a blog to cook from and then reveal what you made on a due date. Once a month.  I can totally handle that! It also reminds me of monthly secret Santa and who doesn’t love a good secret Santa?

For my first round with the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the nifty blog Rhubarb and Honey. After looking through Kimberly’s recipe list I decided on her spicy roasted olives. I love spicy foods and olives. Perfect for me!

I decided to make the olives when my parents were coming up to Sacramento so my dad could help me put together an Ikea dresser. Does anyone else hate Ikea directions or is it just me? I’m just not visual enough for only pictures. I need words with my picture instructions thankyouverymuch. Luckily my dad is good with Ikea instructions so the dresser went together easily enough.

But, I digress. This was supposed to be an early afternoon appetizer since they were supposed to get up here around 1pm. Well, as life happens they didn’t actually make it up to Sacramento until around 5pm, so this became a feast of roast olives, fruit, salami and cheeses. It was really quite filling and the olives were really the star of the show. Everyone loved them. They were spicy without being overwhelming spicy and the thyme and basil added some nice flavors to the olives too. The original recipe called for parsley and I really just can’t do parsley. It takes like soap to me, but I love love love basil so I always switch out parsley for basil and haven’t had it ruin any recipes yet! :)

I bought the olives from Safeway’s olive bar that were marinated for a Greek-types salad so the roasting only enhanced those flavors and I probably could have cheated and only thrown in garlic and crushed red chili flakes if I needed a quick appetizer for unexpected guests.  I’m definitely going to have to keep this recipe around and have olives on hand quite often especially after busy season for when I have people over!  They were delicious hot and I’ve even been munching on them cold. I love foods that are good hot and cold. Simplifies my life which I’m all for.

The only thing I need now is more people over so I can make copious amounts of these olives. In fact, I think I’m going to polish off the rest of these tonight as an evening snack. Hooray for healthy snacks! Another fantastic thing about these olives is that they’re really hands off. Put everything on baking tray, throw them in the oven for 30 minutes and then go back to socializing until your timer goes off. Easy and delicious. Fantastic. To make things even easier, I got already peeled garlic from Trader Joe’s which cut down the prep time by a few minutes. And I didn’t have to peel any garlic! I love garlic, but I’m not a fan of peeling it.  I also zested the lemon before juicing it over the olives because the zest has a ton of flavor and I  love lemons.

Spicy Roasted Olives

From Rhubarb and Honey

2 cups mixed green and black olives
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 or 3 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 350.

On a baking tray mix everything together. After the oven has preheated bake for 30 minutes.

Put in a serving dish and enjoy!

The odd thing about my Papa asking for a cake is that he doesn’t particularly like sweets. So I wanted a cupcake that when frosted wasn’t sweet. When I asked my mom what kind of cake I should make him, she said any cake would do.

…..  ….  …. ….

Friends, I’m horrific at decision making when it comes to creative things (or what to eat). I’m fantastic at someone saying “I want <insert dessert/food>” and then going forth to find a recipe and making it. But having to decide stuff with no input? I dither for daaaaays. And occasionally I go the way of Eeyore and dither for days, weeks, months…years. (Not really years but months – totally).

So one morning, on my three week break before starting work, I randomly woke up early and decided that I would make my Papa cupcakes, instead of a cake, because they travel more easily than a full cake. And they can be frozen and then defrosted individually.

I finally came across a white cake recipe from Andie over at Can You Stay For Dinner? the post has both white and yellow cake, but since I like the yellow cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen I decided to go with the white cake recipe.  I paired the cupcakes with my go-to chocolate ganache from Alice over at Savory Sweet Life which can be made three ways – whipped, glazed, and piped. I generally use the glaze version of the frosting since it’s the quickest way to top cupcakes. And they travel very well since you don’t have to worry about frosting getting everywhere.

I used dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s (the pound plus bars are amazing) for the ganache which added some sweetness but not a whole lot making the final cupcake a great balance of sweet and yet not coyingly sweet.

 The recipe from Andie only makes a dozen, which was perfect for my application (because really, who needs more than a dozen cupcakes to themselves?) could pose a problem if you wanted lots of cupcakes. Or it might just be a me problem is I dislike scaling up, or down, recipes.

All in all, the white cake itself was very airy and wasn’t very crumbly, it reminded me of a good bakery cupcake – or a good wedding cake. Its really the perfect blank canvas for all sorts of combinations. I’m definitely going to be using this in the future as my go-to white cake.

Yikes. Now that I have a go-to yellow and white cake recipes what do I need to search for now?

 White Cupcakes

From Andie of Can You Stay for Dinner?

Makes 12

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Preheat oven to 350, then line your cupcake tin with liners and spritz with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla together (not in your standmixer, please.)

In your standmixer, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt togther. Mix in the butter and beat on low speed until the mixture looks like moist crumbs. No large clumps of flour should be hanging around.

Add 3/4 of the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for about 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Then add the remaining milk mixture and beet for another 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides again and beat for another 20 seconds. (I also like to scrape the bottom just in case something is sticking there).

Distribute the batter evenly in the cupcake tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.

Once the toothpick is clean remove from tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

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!

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!