SINnamon Rolls with White Chocolate Buttercream

There are a lot of foodstuffs out there that I prefer the smell of over the taste, luckily. To name a few, there are things like caramel corn, coffee, licorice, cotton candy, most fruit pies, coffee cake, and then there are cinnamon rolls.

I made these cinnamon rolls this morning and boy I wish I could smell the kitchen when they were baking. I could wear it as a perfume, but I'm not really crazy about the taste of cinnamon in sugary foods. This is a very easy recipe, and I use a delectable frosting on the top, similar to that place in the mall, only a little better. ;) There are no nuts in the mixture, but you can easily add them in if you want. I like them almost ground up into crumbs. Almonds are a terrific alternative to pecans as well.



Dough:
1/4-ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup brown sugar, plus more for pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs or 3/4 cup ground almonds, chopped pecans, or chopped walnuts
(You can also add raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, or even mini chocolate chips.)

Frosting:
1 stick butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbs triple sec
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp orange zest
3 tablespoons warm milk
1/2 cup melted white chocolate
Dash of sea salt (if using unsalted butter)

Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in a buttered or well-oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I put the bowl of dough in my laundry room while the dryer was on, and it facilitated the rising dough quite nicely.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, chips, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12-15 slices. Remember, these are just estimates, roll out and cut the dough to your liking... ;)

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Meanwhile, make the frosting by mixing the softened butter and sugar together. Microwave the milk and white chocolate together to melt the chocolate. Be careful of burning the chocolate, so melt it 5 seconds at a time while stirring. Add your extracts to the milk and chocolate, then pour the chocolate mixture into the butter and sugar. Don't forget that bit of salt if you are using unsalted butter. Spread frosting over still slightly warm rolls. They are best enjoyed this way!

Tahoe Cabin Brownies

This past weekend, I went on my boyfriend's work retreat with him to Lake Tahoe. We stayed in a huge house and made dinner for everyone on Friday night. I did my spin on Mexican food, two huge chicken and beef mixtures, black beans and corn cooked in cilantro and cerveza, fajitas, CC handled preparing a massive salad, and homemade salsa and guacamole. The only thing we did not make was dessert. This came as a disappointment to some, and so the next day while everyone was at the work portion of the retreat, I stayed behind and made something for dessert Saturday night. I was looking to make something gluten-free, but had no wacky ingredients like xanthan gum. It was all going to have to be devised from pantry items.

I used sushi rice I found in the cabinet to make rice flour. All I did was mill the raw rice in a blender until it was a powdery texture. I recommend using a coffee mill if you have one. I did not.

I also was lucky enough to have sugar, cocoa, honey, bananas, Frangelico, whipped butter, a stick of unsalted butter, salt, eggs, and the rice. No problem.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups rice flour
3/4 cups Rodelle cocoa
1/2 tsp salt

1 or 2 bananas
2 eggs
1 Tbs Frangelico

3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs honey

1 stick unsalted butter
1/8 to 1/4 cup oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mill enough rice to yield 1 1/2 cups of rice flour.
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa to that. I used Rodelle brand. It's some of the richest cocoa I have tried recently and the results are spectacular.
Add about 1/4 tsp salt to that.

Pulse 1 or 2 bananas in a food processor. You can use 2 and use less oil or use 1 and use 1/4 cup oil instead of an 1/8 cup below. Add 2 eggs to the bananas and pulse a few times to mix them in.

Soften 1 stick unsalted butter, and add 1/8 to 1/4 cup vegetable oil. All I had was corn oil, so that will work ok, too.

Add 3/4 cup sugar to the butter/oil mixture. Then add 3 Tbs honey, and 1 Tbs Frangelico (this takes the place of vanilla in the recipe, because I didn't have any vanilla with me). Mix until combined, then add the rice flour/cocoa mixture alternately with the banana/eggs mixture. Mix until incorporated.

Pour into a non-stick loaf pan and bake for 30 mins. Reduce heat to 300°F, and bake for 20 more minutes or until the batter is drying on the edges and is set in the middle.

Icing:
3/4 cup whipped butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp Franglico
1 Tbs honey
1 Hershey fun size bar
1/4 cocoa
pinch salt

Set out the whipped butter to soften a bit, then pulse the sugar in a blender or food mill until it is superfine. Then add the butter to the sugar in the food processor. Melt the Hershey bar and the honey together in the microwave 5 seconds at a time and mix it until it is syrup consistency. Set aside. Add the Frangelico, cocoa, and salt to the mixture in the food processor, and pulse to blend. Lastly, add the chocolate and honey to the icing and pulse a few more times to incorporate. Wait until brownies have cooled, and frost.

Challenge Butter Recipe: Onion & Parsnip Tart with White Truffle Oil

The key to making spectacular food is quality ingredients.




Challenge Dairy has rounded up some of the most yummy food blogs around, and I was lucky enough to be included. They asked each blogger to make a dish for the course assigned to them. I was asked to create an appetizer with one of their butter products.

In this recipe I used Challenge European-style Butter & Sabatino Tartufi White Truffle Oil from Marx Foods to create a rustic Onion & Parsnip Tart.

The European-style is a Grade AA butter with 83% butterfat versus 80% for regular butters. It is made by churning cream slower and longer in the age-old tradition of fine European butters. It has a creamier taste and a silkier texture and is preferred by many chefs because it makes flakier pastries, which is why I used it in the pastry for my tart.

I created the pastry with a bag of beer bread mix that my boyfriend had in this pantry (gift from last year, I suppose). This mix had spices and herbs already mixed in such as garlic, parsley, onion powder, etc. The recipe I am going to give you, I suggest that you boost your flour with some of these spices to result in a more flavorful pastry. You can also make the pastry with a compound butter by melting the butter, adding the dried spices, heating through, straining the butter and re-solidifying it. It all depends on the time you want to take.

Alternatively (to save time), you can just buy a puff pastry or a pie crust dough, and place the onion and parsnip filling in it before you bake it.

Onion & Parsnip Tart with White Truffle Oil

Begin by preparing the crust for your tart with:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 1/2 cups beer bread mix from pantry, as boys who do not bake have no flour on hand).
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted Challenge European-style butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
9 to 12 tablespoons ice water

Mix together flour, and salt in a bowl then incorporate butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender. The mix will resemble coarse meal. Pour the water evenly over the butter/flour mixture, blend in and be careful not to overwork the dough.

Chill the dough for 1/2-1 hour. In the meantime, prepare your filling.

1 yellow or red onion, small diced
1 parship, coarsely grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 380°F.

Sauté the onions in a skillet. Add salt and sugar to the onions to aid in Caramelization. When onions begin to turn translucent, add the parsnip and the minced garlic. Cook until parsnips and onions are softer. Add the wine to flavor and give the vegetables a liquid to continue their cooking. When mixture is au sec, remove from heat and add 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Stir in and allow to cool a bit. Then add one slightly beaten egg. Thoroughly mix in and then set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator, and roll out into a pie pan or on a flat cookie sheet. Place filling onto the tart and roll edges around and crimp however you wish.









Bake in oven until filling is set and the crust is browned. Remove and allow to cool. To serve, slice and top with more grated cheese and a drizzle of the white truffle oil. The truffle oil I used is from Marx Foods, and is basically a fine olive oil infused with the flavor and aroma of white truffles. This truffle oil should be used as a finishing touch to plated dishes because heat can alter the flavor of the oil.

This is a great appetizer to enjoy during holiday parties and would pair wonderfully with your favorite sparkling wine for New Years!

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