Roll With Me, Henry

Just to be ambitious, I figured I’d try making my own cinnamon buns. I wasn’t ambitious enough to do all the grunt work, though — I let the bread machine do all the rising and kneading. With a dollop of cream cheese icing on top, they made for some pretty amazing treats for my guest(s). Here’s the recipe I used, but I doubled the cinnamon mixture, and instead of the glaze I made some cream cheese icing that was equal parts cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar.

You know, I think I’ll eat one now.

More Cookies

It seems like I always pick the busiest times in my life to start baking. This time, I had a bad chocolate craving while studying for calculus, and the only thing I had that was chocolate was cocoa, so I found this recipe on Epicurious and tried it out. It’s a good one.

One commenter had good advice, which was to both make sure the butter/sugar mixture is creamed well, and to refrigerate the dough for a while before baking. The dough is really sticky, making it was hard to form into cookie shapes, so don’t be surprised if your cookies are ugly. That’s my only complaint, though; overall they’re pretty good. Not as good as Leah’s homemade Oreos, but still good.

(P.S. I used whole-wheat flour, and it didn’t seem to make a difference.)

Reconciliation

I found a new recipe for Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies that FAR outweighs my previous failure. In fact, at the rate I’ve been eating them I may have to make more tomorrow.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup oats (I didn’t have any; I used bran cereal instead)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter
½ cup honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 300°F. Blend dry ingredients in one bowl and other ingredients in another. Using biceps to their max, combine all ingredients together thoroughly. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes. Spoon tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (squish with a fork if you wish) and bake for about 15 minutes or until slightly browned. Makes between two and three dozen cookies.

Bad to Eat

Burnt Cookies

Note to file: Don’t try this recipe. It sucks. I’m an experienced baker (granted, with a dial oven and $2-pans), and I just wasted 3 dozen cookies’ worth of ingredients (you can see the mushiness of the top and blackness of the bottom, after just 6 minutes in the oven).

Popcorn Tasting Trio

popcorn trio

Ohh how sophisticated it sounds – a tasting trio.   Because it’s a shared joy for Doug and I to take a highbrowed approach to mere peasant treats, we have created a delectable culinary experience for you all.   Kidding ….. I love popcorn and Doug has learned to share my love of this microwavable delight.

We popped a few bags (the lazy approach) and then seasoned for three different flavors!  We highly recommend any or all of the following be enjoyed with a healthy sized glass of vino.

Frenchified Popcorn

Sauté the crushed garlic and butter then add the popcorn, tossing to coat.  Remove from heat and season generously with salt and herbs de Provence.

We really enjoyed this one, it was the least overpowering of the flavors and would be the perfect accompaniment to a movie or hockey game.

Maple Pecan Popcorn

Line the bottom of a pan with foil and toss popcorn with pecan pieces.  In a heavy sauce pan, melt butter and add maple syrup and salt.   Bring to a boil (w/o stirring) for about 15 mins.  Pour syrup over the popcorn/pecans and cool completely.

This one was sweet and delicious.  It also stores better than the other combos.

Parmesan Pepper Popcorn

This one is pretty self explanatory – just toss everything together!  We upped the salt and pepper amounts and tossed it in a saucepan to try and melt some of the parm.  This combo was the least unique in taste, but still a good twist on regular popcorn.

Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins

The other day I realized I needed snacks, and I looked through my fridge but all I could find were carrots and whole-wheat flour, so I took someone’s recipe, heavily modified it (originally there was pineapple in it, actually), and came out with these:

Here’s my recipe:

2 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs
⅓ cup cooking oil
1 cup milk
1½ cup grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, and the remaining ingredients in another. Stir just until blended and pour into muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or so.