Tag Archives: Cooking

Cinnamon Rolls, take two

Cinnamon Rolls Cinnamon Rolls

Jason and I are spending the night in Boston so, of course, I had to leave some extra provisions for the boy. These cinnamon rolls turned out perfectly now that I’ve tweaked the recipe. I start by splitting my sourdough start and feeding both halves so that I have two cups for this recipe. I do let it get happy for an hour or two before I begin.

2 cups sourdough starter
1 cup milk
2 TBSP honey
2tsp vanilla
2 TBSP melted butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
4 TBSP melted butter, for brushing dough
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
Powdered Sugar Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 TBSP butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch tsp salt
2 to 4 tsp milk

Directions

Mix together the starter, milk, honey, vanilla and melted butter. Stir in salt, baking soda, and enough flour to make the dough stiff enough to handle. Knead dough for 4-5 minutes, with dough hook, in the bowl of a mixer, adding more flour if necessary.

Place in an oiled bowl and turn once. Cover tightly and set in a warm place to rise 4 or 5 hours, or until doubled.
Punch down dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out into a 9×18-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter then sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dot with pecans. Roll up and cut into 1-inch slices. Arrange in a 9×13 pan. Cover and let rise overnight in the refrigerator. Let warm up 30-60 minutes before baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Drizzle warm rolls with glaze

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

I tried this cinnamon roll recipe earlier in the week but I think it needs some serious adjusting, at least in my hands. My dough rose too much during the night so that it didn’t have much oomph left for the second rise. I think next time I’ll go for a 4-6 hour rise then assemble the rolls and let them do the second rise overnight in the fridge. My starter must be a fair bit more active than hers. That could fix all the problems right there but it didn’t seem like I had enough dough for a 9 x 13 pan so I might try increasing the dough recipe by about 30%. Clearly, more experimentation is necessary!

The chicken soup cure?

sourdough bread chicken soup

In an attempt to stave off a summer cold, I made chicken soup this week. I never seem to make chicken soup the same way twice. This time I addeed ginger, garlic and serrano peppers for a cold fighting boost. It sure cleared out my sinuses! The bread is a sourdough recipe from King Arthur Flour that I’ve been using for awhile. I’m finally getting a feel for how stiff to make the dough and what shape loaf works best. I’ve discovered snipping the loaves works a lot better for me than slashing. My only modification to the bread recipe is to add a tablespoon of honey along with the starter, water and yeast.

 
Chicken Soup

1 whole chicken, abot 5 pounds
3 carrots, peeled and diced
4 ribs celery, diced
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 bunch chopped parsley
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 serrano chilis, chopped
cold water, to cover
1 cup orzo pasta

In a large Dutch oven, saute carrots, onions and celery in olive oil, over medium-low heat, until they begin to soften. Add garlic, ginger, and serrano,  and saute another minute or two, stirring so it does not burn. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in the pan atop the veggies. Add thyme, half of the parsley, and enough cold water to cover. Put the lid on and bring to a simmer. Simmer 30 minutes then turn off and let stand 60 minutes. Drain chicken into the pot and remove it to a cutting board. Add pasta to the pot, bring it to a boil for 60 seconds and turn off heat again. Remove all meat from the chicken carcass and return meat to the pot, discard carcass. Add remaining parsley, taste, and adjust seasonings.

Sunday morning breakfast

Raised waffles Vermont Bacon

Yesterday I pulled out the last of our delicious Vermont bacon and baked it off while I made raised waffles. We don’t do this sort of breakfast often so it’s a real treat when it happens.

 

C is for Cookie

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I never used to bake chocolate chip cookies because it was something special between Dan and his dad. Now that Keith’s gone, it falls to me and his window kindly sent me a copy of his recipe.

Keith’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups Nestle chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together sugars and butter until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and then beat into wet mixture just until combined. Fold in chips and nuts. Bake at 375F for 12 minutes or until just beginning to brown around the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chard and garlic scape pesto

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The chard in the garden is slowing down but I harvested that along with some garlic scapes and sugar snap peas for a delicious pasta this week. I used the chard and scapes to make this pesto and I sauteed the peas with some orange bell peppers and tossed it all with pasta and fresh mozzarella. It’s a much gentler sweeter version of pesto than that made with basil and garlic.

Palak Paneer

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I’ve been cooking vegetarian more often of late, especially this month since we missed our CSA pickup and I avoid meat at the grocery store. This Palak Paneer was really delicious! I made a side of zucchini and sliced peppers (left over from the crab cakes) with crushed red pepper.

Birthday Fixin’s

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Someone turned 21 yesterday and a crab fest was requested for dinner as well as a Pomegranate Chocolate Torte, roasted corn, and roasted asparagus. I made crab cakes and crab rangoon and was pleased to find Louisiana crab at the market. As usual, I added a good bit of bell pepper and some parsley to my crab cakes and I used fresh minced ginger in my rangoons. I think both recipes were a hit and so far this is the best crab cake recipe I have tried.

Cinnamon Bread

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Today is baking day here at Stoneview because I’m off for a weekend in Vermont with friends and I want some goodies to bring along. I’m trying out this cinnamon bread recipe. Later I would like to try and convert it to sourdough but at the moment I’m going to stick with it as written.

Peanut butter sandwich cookies

peanut butter sandwich cookies

Our anniversary is coming up in a few days so when I found the latest Cook’s Illustrated with a recipe for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, I snapped it up. I’m not much of a fan of sweet and peanut butter together but Jason sure is so this would be an excellent anniversary gift. I followed the recipe almost as written except that I found I needed much less confectioner’s sugar than called for in order to get a filling that was still spreadable and not too stiff. I also found I love the cookies themselves unfilled so I kept just a couple plain ones for me.