Cinnamon Rolls and Chocolate Cake!

I know my posts on this blog have been sporadic at best lately. Feel free to click here to see my other blog and an excuse for my poor food blog habits lately. A few weekends ago I was feeling very ambitious, a little too much so, and made homemade cinnamon rolls for my brother and his fiance and a very tasty chocolate cake for my friend Mary's b day. They were both delish although the pics are terrible!

Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls- from Food Network

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

Filling:
8 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 cup packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
3/4-ounce unsalted butter, melted, approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons

Icing:
2 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened, approximately 1/4 cup
3 tablespoons milk
5 1/2 ounces powdered sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups

For the dough:
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough, add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.
Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes.

While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

The Best Chocolate Cake- from this blog

The frosting on this cake was by far the best part and I could have done without the chocolate chips. I usually don't cheat with box mixes when I bake cakes but this looked too good to not try. It was a very tasty, moist cake and it was oh so easy!

Ingredients:

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 package Jello instant chocolate pudding mix (not the sugar or fat free kind!)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
t2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Put everything but the choc. chips into a mixer and blend well (how easy is that)? Stir in the choc chips. Pour your batter into a cake pan of your choice. I used 2 9 in. round pans but a bundt would work well too. Cook per instructions on the cake mix box.

Frosting
8oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups powered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
In a mixing bowl cream the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Add the whipping cream and beat on high unitl light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and frost the cooled cakes!

A long awaited yummy meal!

As well as all of my holiday baking today (see below) I also made a pretty tasty dinner today with some yummy homemade quick bread. My Husband really liked this one and I thought it was pretty tasty too!

Basil Cheese Bread
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 cup grated, sharp cheddar cheese
1 ½ tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon grated onion
¾ cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well a 9x5x3” loaf pan.Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese, onion and dill weed; mix well. Combine milk and beaten egg; pour into flour mixture and stir just to moisten. Turn into prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes and turn out onto wire rack to cool


Stuffed Shells
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced finely
1 15 oz ricotta cheese - I used low fat
1 egg
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (divided)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (divided)
1/2 cup of fresh spinach, chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (divided)
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3 cups of tomato sauce
12 jumbo pasta shells, cooked per instructions


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the mushrooms and onions and sauté until golden brown (about 5-6 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, 1/4 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the egg, the spinach, 1/2 the parsley, fresh basil, the nutmeg, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly then add the mushrooms and onion sauté and combine. Taste mixture and re-season if needed.

Pour 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Place the 12 cooked shells in the pan. Stuff each shell with the ricotta and mushroom mixture.
Pour the remaining sauce over the stuffed shells. Add the last 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Sprinkle the dried basil on top.

Holiday Baking

Ok, so I know I have been an awful food blogger by neglecting it for the past several months. I do have a good excuse, click here for my other blog that explains the circumstances. I do feel bad and since we had a huge snow storm today and I couldn't go anywhere I did some serious holiday baking and I decided I'd actually get an update on here. So here we go!

Caramel & Chocolate Covered Pretzels

1 pkg. pretzel rods
1 pkg. caramels
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
2 squares premium white chocolate

Break rods in half. Melt caramels according to directions. Dip rods into caramel about half way. Place on greased cookie sheet. Freeze about 15 minutes to set. mix both kind of chips and melt; dip cold rods into chocolate to cover caramel. Place on greased cookie sheet. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over chocolate rods. Refrigerate to set.

White Chocolate Trail Mix

Peanut M&Ms
Pretzel Sticks
Rice Chex
Corn Chex
Dry Roasted Unsalted Peanuts
White Chocolate Chips

Combine 1 large bag peanut m&ms, half a bag of pretzel sticks, 1/2 box each of the chex cereals, and 8 oz. peanuts in a large bowl. Stir all together. Separate into four batches. Melt four squares of almond bark for each batch according to the package directions. Pour over trail mix. Working quickly, spoon out clumps of the trail mix onto wax paper. Let sit until chocolate has set.

Rice Crispy Treats (at my Hubby's request)!

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

I saw this recipe with Salmon in it on a different blog (thewaythecookiecrumbles). I thought I'd try it with shri and it turned out well. I really liked it but Jimmy didn't love the lemon flavor. It was easy to through together and I'll make it again for sure.

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

For the pesto:
¼ cup pine nuts
5 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 cups fresh packed basil leaves, rinsed thoroughly
2 tbsp. fresh parsley leaves (optional)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of table salt
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

For the pasta:
1 bag frozen, cooked shrimp
12 oz. salmon
salt and pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
5 oz. evaporated milk
grated Parmesan, for serving

To make the pesto, toast the pine nuts in a small skillet, stirring frequently until just golden and fragrant, 4-5 minutes. Transfer the nuts to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the unpeeled garlic to the skillet, shaking the pan occasionally, and toast until fragrant and the color of the cloves deepens slightly, about 7 minutes. Let the garlic cool, then peel and add to food processor bowl. Process the nuts and garlic until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients except the cheese; process until smooth, stopping as necessary to scrape down the bowl. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl, mix in the cheese and adjust salt, if necessary. (Can be covered with a sheet of plastic wrap directly over the surface or filmed with oil and refrigerated up to 5 days).

In a medium bowl mix the shrimp with the lemon juice, zest and olive oil and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil and cook pasta till al dente; drain. Pour evaporated milk into the empty pot and simmer over medium heat until reduced to ¼ cup. Add cooked pasta to the pot and stir to combine. Add the shrimp to the pot and stir over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto. Top with grated Parmesan.

Fruit Tarts

These are such an easy little dessert to make and are always impressive at a summer dinner party. They are oh so tasty too! I like to make individual tarts but 1 big tart is beautiful also. You do have to get a little down and dirty with the crust but it's worth it!

Fruit tarts

Preheat oven to 350

For the crust-

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cubes butter, softened and sliced

In a large bowl mix the flour and sugar together. Make a well in the center and add the butter. Using your hands mix in the butter into the flour mixture until incorporated. The dough will be loose but when you squeeze it in your hand it should stick together.

Press the dough into your tart pans making sure to reach into the grooves in the edges. The crust should be about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the crust is lightly browned.

For the filling-

1 80z package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients together with a wish or electric mixture until smooth. Spread evenly over cooled crusts.

For the fruit-

Use whatever fruit you like and that is in season. Slice and lay in a pattern on top of the tart filling.

For the glaze-
1/2 cup Fruit preserves

Use whatever fruit preserves you like. In this case I used blueberry. Heat the preserves in the microwave for about 30 seconds until they are warm and spreadable. Brush the top of the fruit with the preserves.

Cover and chill for 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Polenta Bites

I've made these a few times as a quick and tasty appetizer. They are very tasty little things and they are very versatile because you can add any topping on them you like. Last night I topped them with goat cheese and olive tapenade but they would be great with feta and tomatoes or mozzarella and pesto, the possibilities are endless!

Polenta Bites

1 tube polenta, cut into 1/4 inch think rounds

1 T olive oil

1 4 oz log of goat cheese

1 jar of olive tapenade- or whatever suits your fancy

Preheat oven to 400. Cover a baking sheet with foil.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over med. heat. Add the polenta rounds and fry until they are slightly crispy, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from the oil and place on foiled baking sheet.

Top the polenta rounds with the goat cheese and then the tapanede. Heat in oven until cheese is melted, about 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Fake OUT...

This is a variation of the old classic Beef & Broccoli. It came from Rachel Ray. I really liked it, we hardly ever eat beef in our house so it was a nice little change although it would be good with chicken too. I served this over brown rice.


Orange Beef & Broccoli

1 bunch broccoli- cut into florets
11/4 cups beef broth
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T soy sauce
2 T plum sauce
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 orange, peel grated and juice of 1/2
1 3/4 pound boneless sirloin steak- sliced into 1/4 inch think pieces
1/4 canola oil
1 jalapeno chile, thinly sliced

In a large skilled bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and boil until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain the broccoli and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the broth, hoisin, soy sauce, plum sauce and 1 T cornstarch. Stir in the orange peel.

Toss the steak with the remaining corn starch. In a large skillet heat the oil over med-high heat. Add the steak and jalapeno and cook turning until the meat is barely pink, about 2 minutes. Transfer the meat to a paper towel lined plate, discard the excess oil. Add the broth mixture to the skilled and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the meat, broccoli and orange juice and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve with orange wedges over rice.