Kitchen Conundrum

Cinnamon Buns, A Mother’s Day Treat

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Cinnamon BunsYesterday I awoke to the scent of hot cinnamon buns wafting up the stairs to my room. That smell will send you deeper into dreamy bliss!  They were baking in the oven and soon arrived to my bedside on a plate drenched in a sticky, gooey glaze of sweet goodness.  Along with a fresh pot of coffee and three, very excited children bounding into bed with me armed with homemade cards and gifts, it was a perfect Mother’s Day morning. These were actually even better today once the glaze had time to soak in, making them even sweeter. Ten seconds in the microwave makes them extra gooey all over again.

This recipe begins with a Basic Sweet Dough that can be used for tasty coffee cakes or sweet buns.

 

Ingredients

 

Basic Sweet Dough

½ cup sugar

2 packages dry yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

7 cups flour

1 ¼ cup apple juice

1 cup butter or margarine

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. Spice Islands Vanilla Extract

1 tbs. vegetable oil

Filling

 

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup walnuts, chopped

2 tsp Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon

¼ cup butter or margarine

Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

4 tsp. water

 

Method for the Basic Sweet Dough

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the sugar, yeast, salt, 2 cups of the flour.

Meanwhile, in a 1-quart saucepan, heat the apple juice and butter until just warm.

Gradually add the warm liquid to the dry ingredients blending with the mixer at a low speed until just combined then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.

Add the eggs, the Spice Islands Vanilla Extract and 2 ½ cups of the flour. Continue beating for another few minutes. Add a final 2 cups of flour and beat together until combined.

Onto a lightly floured board, turn out the dough kneading for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add additional flour as necessary.

Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and turn the dough to cover in the oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

When ready, punch the dough down and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Method for Preparing the Cinnamon Buns

 

Prepare the filling in a medium bowl by combining the brown sugar, walnuts and Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. .

Place the dough on a floured board. Roll it out to form a 12” x 18” rectangle.

Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon and sugar mixture over the top.

Beginning with the long side (the 18” side) roll the dough, jelly roll fashion, pinching the seams to close it.

With the seam sides down, cut the roll crosswise into 18- 1” slices. Pinch the outer seam together on the bottom of each sliced bun.  This way the centers will puff up when baking, but the filling won’t spill out.

Place the rolls into a cake pan, either square or round.  Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake until light golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

While the buns are baking; prepare the glaze by combining the confectioner’s sugar and the water.

Remove the buns from the oven and pour the glaze over the top. Serve warm to grand applause and smiles!

 

Disclosure: We recently received several awesome spices from Spice Islands to try and review.  We have been busily creating recipes to go along with all the different varieties of spices and you will see them over the next few weeks as we post about them.

Today’s recipe was greatly enhanced by Spice Islands Pure Vanilla Extract made from beans grown in Madagascar. This vanilla extract is wonderful in that there is no corn syrup added and it is naturally sweet. David Lebovitz wrote an incredibly informative blog post about this extract and the process it goes through to become the great extract it is.

The other spice that graced these sweet buns is cinnamon, Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon. Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices.  It imparts a spicy sweetness and warm a aroma that not only enhances baked goods, but several meat dishes as well.  Spice Islands Cinnamon comes from the forests of Vietnam, which is known for its premium cassia (a cinnamon tree). Because this variety of cassia is high in volatile oils, the Vietnamese cassia trees produce a deep, reddish-brown cinnamon with an intense fragrance and a sweet but almost chili like flavor. I can not wait to make my Cinnamon Spiced Baked Chicken and Rice with it and share it with you! Meanwhile, I have to go reheat some Cinnamon Buns. They are calling my name!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

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We love the fine line between sweet and savory that an ingredient like pumpkin conveys. In our pumpkin soup, we created  a balance of sweet and spicy with the addition of curry and cayenne but added  honey and milk  for a rich, creamy soup. The sour cream added right at the end gave the soup a luxuriously velvety finish while the fried onions added a chewy and flavorful mouthful.

This soup is perfect for a cold snow day, like today!

 

Makes 1 quart of soup

Ingredients

3 tbs. olive oil

1 yellow onion, ½ chopped, ½ sliced for garnish

1 garlic clove, minced

3/4 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. coriander powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ cup honey

2 cup  vegetable stock

1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

½  cup whole milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Sour cream for garnish

Method

In a small frying pan over medium heat, add 1 tbs. olive oil. When hot, add the sliced onions and fry until crispy. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining 2 tbs. olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic. Sauté until softened. Add in the spices and the honey. Cook for another minute.  Add stock and pumpkin puree, mixing thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer soup for 10 minutes. Add the milk and continue to cook for 5 minutes more.

Into a small bowl, ladle soup and add a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of fried onions.

 

Molasses Spice Cookies

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Molasses CookiesThe scents of ginger, cinnamon and cloves are quintessential Fall aromas. I love filling the air with these smells and they just make the whole house seem extra cozy. These Molasses Spice Cookies encompass this sense of warmth and comfort and are soft and light. They just melt in your mouth.  You can omit the baking powder for a crisper, chewier cookie which is also a nice variation.

I like to think these cookies are more on the healthier side, since molasses is full of iron, calcium and potassium.  The anti-inflammatory properties of cinnamon have been well documented and ginger is good for colds and for your digestive tract. So, I think I will eat another one because I feel a cold coming on.

 

Ingredients

¾ cup Butter or Margarine, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

½ cup white sugar

Method

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together margarine, brown sugar and egg until smooth.

Add the molasses.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for one hour. If the dough seems overly sticky, add another ½ cup of flour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the dough into two inch balls and roll them around in the white sugar to coat.

Place cookies unto an ungreased cookie sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until the tops are cracked. For a chewier cookie, bake a little less. Cool completely on a wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen.