Pie Crust Cinnamon Rolls

Folks-

I was just going through my old recipes, and noticed in my recipe for Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls, I mentioned that I also make Pie Crust Cinnamon Rolls, and that I would post the recipe later.

Well, more than 10 years later, here it is.

A pie crust cinnamon roll is more like a coffee cake. I often make one along with a fruit pie out of the leftover pie crust dough for breakfast the next day. Unlike bread-dough cinnamon rolls, you don't slice this until after you've baked it. You also don't frost these. That would be gilding a lilly. They're pretty rich and filling on their own, so you don't want to add anything on them. Just slice the finished cinnamon roll into little cookies and serve with coffee!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 Tbsp ground Cinnamon 

1/4 to 1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 of a pie crust recipe like my mom's Foolproof Pie Crust

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Wisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Roll out the pie crust to about 4-6mm thickness (a bit less than 1/4"). Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the pie crust all the way to the edge. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the butter, trying to get it no more than 1mm thick. You don't want dry piles of cinnamon sugar. It should all be in contact with the butter all the way to the edge. Roll the pie crust up into a roll and lightly pinch the ends closed. Place in a baking dish/pie tin/casserole dish/jellyroll pan (something with sides) and bake at 350 F for about 20-40 minutes just until it's starting to turn a bit golden, or until the pie you're baking it with is done. This should be finished roughly at the same time as any pie you're making it with, and they make great "oven buddies."

Allow to cool until it's just warm to the touch or even room temperature before slicing. Slice into 1-2 cm disks, like cookies, and serve with coffee or tea.

Note: Do not slice before baking. The cinnamon sugar and butter will run out while it's baking and burn on the pan.

Apple Dumplings

Folks-

This year when we made our annual pilgrimage to Gizdich Ranch for the apple harvest, we discovered they now have apple dumplings in the pie shop. We got one for Aaron, and after trying a bite, we decided to try making them.

I found a recipe over at Allrecipes, and adapted it for our use.

This recipe requires a pie crust, and I recommend my mom's Fool Proof Pie Crust for it.

Here's my version of Apple Dumplings!

Ingredients:

1 14oz pie crust recipe or store bought, rolled out and cut into 6-8 equal squares

3-4 baking apples, Granny Smith or similar, peeled, cored, and cut in half

8 tablespoons (1/2 cup, or 1 stick) softened butter, divided

3/4 cup brown sugar (any darkness, your choice, or mix together 2/3 cup sugar and 1-2 tablespoons honey or maple sugar)

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 

3 cups water (2 cups unfiltered apple juice and 1 cup water tested well)

2 cups white sugar (reduce to 1 to 1 1/4 cup if using apple juice)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees and butter a large baking pan or casserole dish.

Mix together 6 tbsp of the butter, brown sugar, and spices. Divide the mixture into 6-8 equal amounts and stuff it into the apple halves where the core was. Place a stuffed apple half into a square of pie crust core down, dust the apple with cinnamon, gather the corners of the pie crust and stretch over the apple and pinch them together to seal. Place the encrusted apples into the buttered baking dish. 

Combine the water and apple juice (if using), sugar, and last two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and heat while stirring until the mixture begins to boil, then reduce the temperature to low and continue to stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

Carefully pour the syrup over the dumplings. Place the baking dish into the oven and bake until the dumplings are golden brown on top, about 45-65 minutes.

Raised Doughnuts

Yesterday I decided to try to make Raised Doughnuts for breakfast today, and knocked the ball out of the park! It turned out to be a project, but the results were well worth it.
This is going to be less than a doughnut recipe, because I used my Bread Machine Bread Dough Cinnamon Roll recipe I posted here back in April 2013 as the doughnut dough. This entry is more about process.
I am certain the cinnamon roll dough recipe can be adapted to handmade dough if you just look up some homemade yeast bread recipes online and adapt the ingredients to their method, so don't be upset or run away if you don't have a bread machine.
I will be including glaze recipes, though.
I mentioned that I first decided to make these yesterday. In fact, Aaron and I made the dough in the bread machine last night. We then put it in a bowl greased with cooking spray, and covered it with plastic wrap that was also coated with cooking spray on the underside, so if the dough should rise, it wouldn't stick to the bowl or plastic wrap. We placed the bowl into the refrigerator overnight.
This morning, I took the bowl out of the refrigerator, and prepared two cookie sheets by laying down parchment paper on them, and heated the oven just to warm it a bit (under 200 degrees F). I rolled the dough on floured parchment paper to about 1/3 of an inch thick, maybe 1cm, and cut it using a doughnut cutter, and placed the cut-out doughnuts and holes on the cookie sheets.  If you don't have a doughnut cutter, I would cut them into bars or sticks 1-2" thick. Once the sheet was full, I turned off the oven and placed it inside with the door of the oven cracked open to allow the doughnuts to rise for about 45 minutes.
I called Aaron over to help at this point. I had him put about 1/2-3/4 of an inch of oil into a large frying pan, and heated it over medium-low heat until a doughnut hole placed in the hot oil floated and fried to golden brown on the bottom in about 1-2 minutes. We then fried all of the doughnuts in the oil, flipping them once each, and let them cool on a cooking rack placed over more parchment paper in a large jellyroll pan to catch the drips.
This produced darn near perfect doughnut shop looking raised Doughnuts. Fluffy light. No joke.
We used a granulated sugar glaze because we were out of powdered sugar, and made the best sticky doughnuts you could imagine.
Here are three glaze or glazing/icing recipes I would use for these:

Granulated Sugar Glaze (Sticky Doughnuts)
Adapted from a recipe found at Our Everyday Life.

1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup water
A few drops vanilla extract

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat to a simmer over a medium-low heat while stirring, and simmer for about 5 minutes after the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes, then add vanilla extract and mix it in. Allow to cool to room temperature, then glaze doughnuts by dropping them into the glaze and flipping them once before returning them to the cooling rack. These will crust like a traditional glazed doughnut, but it takes much more time-about an hour, compared to a couple of minutes for a powdered sugar glaze. If you want to eat these doughnuts warm, like any sane person, they will probably be sticky, and almost certainly delicious.

Powdered Sugar Glaze
Adapted from a recipe at epicurious.

1-1/2 Cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
2-3 Tbsp water or milk (water is used at most doughnut shops, and by me)
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
A small pinch of salt

Put sugar into a mixing bowl and add water, salt and vanilla. Mix by hand until it is no longer seriously lumpy. Dip doughnuts into the glaze and coat them by flipping once, and return them to the cooling rack. The normal glaze crust should form in a minute or two.

Buttercream Icing
Adapted from a recipe at allrecipes.

1/2 Cup softened butter
2 Cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 Tsp vanilla
1/4 Tsp salt

Optional: 2-3 Tbsp cocoa powder for chocolate icing
1/2 Tsp Maple Extract or Mapline for Maple icing
1/2-1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon for a cinnamon frosting

Cream the softened butter by hand or using a mixer in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually mix in the sugar until thoroughly incorporated (add in cocoa powder or ground Cinnamon to the sugar if using them). Mix in the salt and vanilla (and Maple Extract if making Maple icing). Pour in the milk and mix for 3 or 4 minutes. If the icing is too thick to slowly sheet off of the spoon, add more milk 1/2 Tsp at a time, mixing it in thoroughly until it does sheet off.. Drop doughnuts into the icing on one side, and return to the cooling rack icing side up. The crust should form in one to two minutes. If you want to spread this icing instead, use less milk and mix to a spreadable consistency.

All three of these glaze/icing recipes can be used on cakes, or Cinnamon rolls, or other pastries.

Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds

I took my family to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in Daly City for the first time this year, which I heartily recommend. I called it "The Christmas Renaissance Fair", which it resembles in its cosplay aspects. You can get in some shopping, watch fun stage plays, and eat food you don't find just anywhere, such as meat pies, or bangers and mash.
One thing we all enjoyed were freshly roasted Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds, served hot in a paper cone. If course I wanted to find a recipe for it, and I did at "The Chunky Chef".
Altogether now: and then I modified it...
Here's my version:

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 egg white
3 Cups raw almonds

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine vanilla and egg white, and then whip to a froth using a wire whip or hand mixer. Mix in almonds, thoroughly coating them with the egg mixture, and then add the dry ingredients and stir to coat thoroughly. Turn out the mixture into the cookie sheet and spread out into a single layer. Bake for one hour, stirring them every 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to eat them. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.

Pumpkin Juice

Yes, another two recipes in one day.

A couple of years ago, my family visited Universal Studios Florida, and visited the then new Diagon Alley, and older Hogsmeade sections of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Besides the food at The Three Broomsticks, our favorite drink was (no, not Butterbeer, even the kids found that too sweet) Pumpkin Juice. It's served all over the Harry Potter section of the park, and only there. In fact, you can't find the standard Pepsi products there. Everything in those sections of the park reinforce the theme, but are exclusive to those areas. Unlike Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans, you can't get many of the foods sold there at places like Honeyduke's, outside the park.
That means you have to make them.
I found a recipe for the cold and refreshing Pumpkin Juice online at the now-inactive but archived foodie site, The Disney Diner. I've made it for several years, but found her recipe unnecessarily complicated, and have streamlined it, removing one ingredient and changing the proportions of one ingredient at the kids request. Here's the version for fixing it by the batch:

Ingredients:
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
2-1/2 cans of water
1/2 cup of canned pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pour apple juice and water into blender pitcher. Add canned pumpkin, vanilla and cinnamon. Blend on high until well incorporated. Pour into glasses and serve cold.

To make this as a frozen mix for quick fixing it:
1-15oz can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Measure out in 1/2 Cup quantities, put into small plastic containers or freezer bags, and freeze them. To make pumpkin juice, in a blender add together pumpkin juice mix, one can of frozen concentrated Apple juice, and 2-1/2 cans of water, and blend until thoroughly combined. Serve cold.

Avocado Milk Shake and Cinnamon Smoked Pork Chops

Folks-
I've got one recipe, and one new grilling trick to relate to you today. Both are the result of looking ingredients up on Wikipedia.
In the first case, I looked up Cinnamon, and discovered an interesting story. According to what I read, the Roman Emperor Nero burned an entire years supply of cinnamon for the city of Rome to mark the death of his first wife. I wondered what that would smell like, thinking it might be sort of incense-like, so I tried burning a stick. I found it didn't smell like incense, but the smell was unique, and I wondered how it would add to grilled meat. Tonight I tried it, grilling pork chops on my gas grill. I soaked an ounce or two of cinnamon sticks in water for an hour and a half, drained the water, and wrapped them in aluminum foil in two bundles. The bundles of cinnamon sticks went directly onto the gas flames in the grill. Everyone in the family liked it at least as much as hickory smoking, with me liking it more for pork. I recommend trying it!
The second experiment I tried on my family (Zhenie went shopping before she had a chance to try it) is also the result of reading Wikipedia. I was looking up Avocados, and discovered that Avocado milkshakes are popular in Brazil. My kids all liked it, until I told them what it was. The flavor is very subtle, but good. Here's the recipe:

Avocado Milkshake
2 Cups Vanilla Ice Cream
1 1/4 Cup Milk
1 Avocado, skinned, pitted, and diced

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Ed's Coffee Spices

Folks-
For years I've been adding this combination of spices to coffee grounds before brewing. I find that they turn a rather average coffee into something special. You only need about 1 t for a full pot of drip coffee. I personally use one of the cheaper name brands of coffee with this spice blend, whatever is on sale at the supermarket. Here's the recipe!

2 Parts Ground Cinnamon
1 Part Ground Nutmeg
1 Part "Other Ground Spice" (Cardamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, Ginger have all tested well.)

That's it! For one or two cups of coffee, I just put it in a shaker and shake it over the grounds a couple of times. For a full pot I use from 1 t to 1 T and add it straight to the grounds.

Enjoy!

-Edly

Ed's Truffles

Folks-
The main reason I'm writing this recipe blog is to keep track of the recipes I use and like. Since it's Christmas week, I'll post two today, and perhaps more later this week. I'll start by posting my Truffle recipe. I got it from the Betty Crocker's cookbook, and then started fiddling with it to make it my own. The secret is in the notes at the end (hint: This is a versatile recipe!)

Ingredients:

6 oz Chocolate (Semi-sweet, dark, or milk)
1/4 C Whipping Cream
2 T Melted Butter
1 C Chocolate Chips (Semi-sweet or milk)
2 T Vegetable Shortening

Melt the 6 oz of chocolate over a double boiler or in a glass bowl in a microwave oven (run the microwave starting at 30 seconds and then progressively shorter time periods, stirring between each heating cycle.) Mix in the melted butter and whipping cream until the mixture is smooth, and pour into a buttered baking pan. Refrigerate until hard, and then cut into 1" cubes. Melt 1 C chocolate chips and mix in shortening. Dip chocolate centers into the melted chocolate and fish it out with forks, placing them on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until hard. Best served at room temperature.

Notes: This recipe is very versatile. You can change the flavor by changing the kind of chocolate, or by adding flavorings. One thing I have noticed is that white chocolate tends not to harden as well as other kinds, I recommend halving the amount of whipping cream and melted butter if using white chocolate.
Mocha Truffles: Use semi-sweet chocolate and add 2 T Instant Coffee crystals to the whipping cream.
Mint Truffles: Add a few drops mint extract to the whipping cream. Seal finished truffles in a container. DO NOT MIX WITH OTHER TRUFFLES! The flavor is so strong that it will overpower the flavor of other truffles and you can easily end up with your box of mixed truffles being a box of mint truffles.
Orange or Strawberry: Add up to 1/2 t flavoring to the whipping cream before mixing it into the chocolate.
Mexican Chocolate: Add 1/4 t Cinnamon and 1/2 T finely chopped almonds to the melted chocolate before adding in the melted butter and whipping cream.
Conversion tip: 1 Cup of chocolate chips is 6 oz. Feel free to use baking chocolate, eating chocolate, or chocolate chips in this recipe!
The coating for these truffles is so good that I use it for almost all candies that need a chocolate coating. I have never had it separate out or bloom.

I'll be posting my dad's Chili recipe soon, and then I'll start posting the recipes from the cookbook I compiled with my old co-workers (The Zap 190 L.O.S. Cookbook!)

-Edly