In Search of the Perfect Cinnamon Bun

I love bread. All kind of bread.

 Unless it's filled with whole grains and it's good for you . . . Then, not so much.

If it's made with white flour, and butter and eggs happen to be involved, I know I'm going to love it. I am not a third generation baker for nothing . . .

I've been making bread for years and over time I began to make a simple cinnamon bun as a treat, using some of my bread dough. They are pretty yummy.

But . . . by no stretch of the imagination can they be called the perfect cinnamon bun!

And that's what I began to crave.

Jesse's idea of a perfect cinnamon bun would be a Cinnabon cinnamon bun. I find them too spicy. I like my cinnamon in moderation. In Henry and Jesse's opinion, it's too moderate . . . To them, my idea of moderate is their idea of bland.

And so, the search for the perfect cinnamon bun recipe began . . .

My first stop is chef Michael Smith's cinnamon roll recipe. He starts with sweet dough which I haven't done up until now. People . . . he uses 2 tablespoons of vanilla and a stick of butter! How could you go wrong with that?? And just to note: I always use butter when I bake, never margarine. It's more expensive for sure, but I figure if I'm going to take the time to bake I may as well use the good stuff. (that said, when my kids were little and I went through a lot of baking I used margarine and saved the butter for special occasions)

Chef Michael's recipe is a little involved, and it takes longer than my bread recipe, but oh my, is it worth it! So, so yummy!

I did tweak his recipe a bit though. He used an icing glaze on his rolls but, since I'm in search of the perfect rolls, I substituted my own recipe for butter icing. And yes, I use real butter in that too. ;D

You can find chef Michael's recipe here: cinnamon rolls

And this is my recipe for Butter Icing:

 Rosa's Butter Icing
1 cup softened butter
2 2/3 cups icing sugar
1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla (to taste)
2-3 tablespoons milk or unwhipped (35%) cream

Beat butter til nicely softened. Add in icing sugar, vanilla and milk. Mix until icing sugar is incorporated.  Beat 3-5 minutes on high. Icing gets light and fluffy and increases in volume. (Of course if, like me, you go off to work on a new fantasy piece on your computer and then lose all sense of time, you will come back to overly warm, rather thin icing. Still yummy, but not perfect.) *The one pictured is just about right though.

Enjoy! We sure did . . .

Do you have a better recipe? Is it your idea of the perfect cinnamon bun?? I'd love to try it out if you're willing to share.

Apple Cupcakes . . . The way to a teacher's heart.

You all know the phrase 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach . . .' ?

That actually applies to all of us doesn't it? I mean, is there anything better than something delicious and homemade, that's been cooked or baked for us by someone else??? I don't think there is. Or at least, very few things are.

Kim and I wanted to do something fun and tasty that kids could bring to school for their teachers or that moms or dads could make for their kids, to brighten up the long school day.

Kim found some cute ideas on Pinterest which we adapted to our liking and made some really fun, yummy cupcakes.

I used the 'Classic White Cake Recipe' from Rosie Dyakin's 'Butter Baked Goods' cookbook as well as her 'Butter's Famous Butter Cream' icing recipe.

Click to go to Butter's website

I hate to say it (because I love Rosie's recipes) but I think I still like Martha Stewart's 'Italian Cream Wedding Cake' recipe better. (But I love Martha too, so it's all good!)

Click to find cookbook

I love my cake to be soft and moist and Martha's has buttermilk in it so the flavour's a little more complex as well. But, that's all about personal taste.

So, without further ado, I give you my 'Apple cupcakes' . . . video tutorial.

Enjoy! And if you make them, I would love it if you would head over to my Facebook page and post a picture or two or your creations!

It's time for a change of pace . . .

There's been a lot of photography stuff going on lately and I thought it was time for a change of pace.

It's been ages since I've posted about baking and I figured today was the perfect day to remedy that. (aside from the 27C temps.)

When I know I want to get baking done on a hot summer's day, I make sure I get up early and open all the doors and windows to cool things off before I get started.

It's been busy around here and there have been a few too many spontaneous trips to the grocery store for goodies, so the other day I was determined to do a little baking.

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law years ago and it's one of my favorites. I get three loaves at a time, they stay nicely moist for a few days and, as with most homemade goodies, they satisfy you for a lot longer than a couple of cookies out of a box.

So. . . without further ado, I give you Cinnamon Loaf . . .  (a big thank you to Idelle Peters for the lovely ('recipe card'!)

And, if,  like me,  you like to see how a recipe's supposed to come together you can check these out . . .

Ta Da!!!

Enjoy!

A Peaceful Winter Afternoon.

I had big plans yesterday afternoon.

6 pounds of butter softening on the counter, eggs coming to room temperature and a new 20 kg bag of flour resting on the island.

I was going to bake up a storm.

First things first though. It was time to make a little strawberry jam. I wasn't able to pick strawberries last year because of my leg but I was able to get just enough local berries to make a small batch of jam. As usual I ran out of time and just threw them in the freezer.

I had taken them out to be thawed on Monday and it was now or never.

The smell when I unzipped the bag!! 

It was summer in January. Pure bliss.

I made 3 jars of freezer jam in no time flat.

After all that work though, I needed to take a bit of a break. I made myself a nice cup of tea, snuggled into my comfy chair and basked in the sun streaming through the window.

I woke up a couple of hours later to discover Jada and I had shared this peaceful afternoon. Me snoozing in my chair and she in hers.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow. . . ( and not to worry Cindy, I'll be posting a recipe for the Monkey Bread next week. ;D )

The Best. Sugar. Cookies. Ever.

I made my all time favorite sugar cookies yesterday.

Real butter . . . white sugar . . . real vanilla . . . and a hint of lemon, courtesy of finely grated lemon rind.

I came upon this recipe in a rather strange way. I was at a farmers market one Saturday and a lady selling prepackaged bean soup and cookie mixes offered me a sugar cookie sample. I took it with no great expectations, after all, even if she had put the mixes together herself, it was still a mix. . . right?

Seriously? Best. sugar. cookie. ever!

A bit of crunch on the outside, soft and melty on the inside and a hint of lemon.

I walked away with a bag of cookie mix.

Every so often I would indulge myself with a bag. But people??? It did not come cheap! And I like to bake stuff from scratch so it just killed me to pay good money for a mix when I was sure I could figure it out myself.

Except, I wasn't all that sure that I could.

One afternoon I gave myself a firm talking to.  "Was I, or was I not, my father's daughter?"
He would be horrified to know I was paying good money for a mix when all it would take was a little research and a lot of trial and error to recreate this cookie. "What was I waiting for??"

Thankfully, I still had the ingredient and instruction list from the mix to start with.

Flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda were in the mix.( Can you see why it made me crazy to pay $7 to make 3 dozen cookies?) I hadn't even added my own butter yet! I had to add soft butter, an egg, vanilla and the finely grated rind from a lemon. That's it. But what were the proportions???

I started googling sugar cookie recipes with that ingredient list. It wasn't easy. Almost all the recipes had salt in them. I didn't want salt!

I finally found one that was close. I tried it out. Not bad, but . . . not the best sugar cookie ever. I fiddled. I read through all the comments on the recipe. I fiddled some more and . . . at last . . . The best. sugar. cookie. ever!

I'll show you . . .

Lemon Sugar Cookies.

1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup soft butter
fine zest from 1 lemon
1 egg
 1 1/2 tsp real vanilla
2 3/4 cup of flour (I start with 2 1/2 and add extra if needed to make the dough rollable)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

• Cream butter and sugar very well. This is extremely important. The butter and sugar must be very light before you move on to the next step. Beat it until you think you're done and then beat it a little more.
• Add lemon zest. Beat well.
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
• Blend in dry ingredients  Do not over beat as your cookies will become tough  Mix just until all the ingredients are blended into a softish dough. (It still works if the dough is a bit stiff as well)
• Put some (extra) sugar on a plate.
• Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls and coat with sugar.
• Place on ungreased cookies sheets. (I line them with parchment paper)
• Bake for 8 minutes exactly. Don't worry about whether they have browned or not. They wont. If you bake them for too long they will become hard. 
• Take out of oven and leave on tray for 2 minutes.
• Remove from tray and cool on wire racks.
• Store in cookie tin.
• They dry out very quickly, so I always put the majority of them in a freezer bag and hide store them in the freezer.
• Makes approx. 75 small cookies. 

Are these a little fiddly?

No doubt about it. I save them for special occasions. (Sometimes I make up special occasions . . .)

After all, these are the best. sugar. cookies. ever. Better even, than the ones I started out trying to recreate.

As we speak? Two luscious cookies are thawing out on the desk in front of me. 

Oh my.

Dad would be proud.

If I'm Bald The Next Time You See Me . . .

It's all because of Google Apps!

I know I'm not super tech savvy, but . . . when I go to make a simple change, a change I've made before, it should not have been hijacked by Google Apps in the mean time and changed into something requiring some real computer knowledge.

Without the option of talking to a live person on the phone . . . arghhhh!

Although, I think the guy I found on the Google forum after two hair pulling days is real . . .

He just tells me  to do things I don't quite understand . . .

Sigh.

I've spent the last few months doing a little thinking between feeling sorry for myself and reading every book on my book shelf.

I've been re evaluating.

Dreaming.

Lecturing. (myself)

I'm a follow the rules, do things right, take your responsibilities serious, kind of girl.

While I can't help but make the things I do fun or interesting whenever possible, there is always that niggle of guilt.

Because life is serious business people!

Work before pleasure.

You know . . .

Dishes before seed starting. Laundry before taking 100 pictures of the cake I just baked. Scrubbing the bathroom before hand crafting the new tags for my April sale . . .

Let's face it  though  . . the fun stuff almost always won out. And thus the niggling guilt.

But as I sat for all those months, unable to do any of the important, serious, stuff, I started to realize that it still all got done. Somehow.

That, even though I couldn't do all of those important, serious, things, I was still worthwhile. God loves me for who I am. Not what I do.

My family and friends love me for who I am, not what I do.

I began to wonder if in fact my desire to make things, grow things, photograph things, and . . .  and . . . write about things . . .  was so very strong because  those were the talents God intended me to focus on.

Without that niggle of guilt.

But . . . still scrubbing the bathroom once in a while. ( Because otherwise. . . well . . .  that would just be gross. . .)

So, some changes are coming.

One of which I would have shared with you tomorrow . . .  if Google Apps hadn't stopped me in my tracks . .

I finally gave myself a time out late this afternoon and did this instead . . .

Nothing cheers me up like a fresh, apple struesel coffee cake! Or taking numerous pictures of one . . . 

I'm going to get a good night's sleep and tackle the dragon that is Google Apps, again tomorrow.

It's a good thing I'm too stubborn to give up.

 Now if I could just remember where I put that armor . . . I think I'm gonna need it!

An Even Better Recovery Nest Than The Last One!

I had a nice little recovery nest after the last surgery.

But this time my recovery will take quite a bit longer, so of course my little nest needed to be quite a bit better.

The best way to achieve that?

Call in my sister Lisa of course!

I phoned her about three days before she was supposed to fly up and asked if there was any possibility of putting together a simple quilt while she was here so I could spend some of my recovery time hand quilting the top and bottom together?

I was thinking something like large nine patch squares.

She remembered some special prints blocks she had put away and got to work then and there.

We spent the Monday evening after she arrived doing a massive grocery shop.

Tuesday she started cooking. We called in Rebecca for reinforcements.

I went to get my hair done. They kept cooking.

This is what was put in the freezer. . .

3 full sized lasagnas and one half sized. 13 1 pound bags of fried hamburger. Some spiced for spaghettis and soups and some plain for tacos. (One of Morgan's favorites)  18 hamburger patties, 1 small bag of meatballs and 6 bags of chopped soup veggies. Lisa also baked a box of chicken breasts which were sliced and portioned out into bags for stir fries and pastas. . . and about twenty individual sized container with both cream of cauliflower and cream of broccoli soup.

This just simplified things so on the days I felt up to cooking I wouldn't have to think too hard.

Or plan ahead. Because I'm terrible at that at the best of times. . .

The next day I did a bit of baking and Lisa started another sewing project. . .

A custom housecoat with matching pajama pants.


But you will have to wait for a picture of the finished product because I didn't want to wear it until I was actually in the hospital.

I told you I was a dork!

Thursday she had to fly back after lunch but she worked tirelessly until the very last minute to finish the quilt.

And she did it!

Whoo Hoo!

Told you this nest was way better than the last one!

Love you Lisa. . .