Oatmeal & Almond Crisp/Cookies

My sister gave me this awesome recipe a while back and I finally tried it out. It’s really good!! Trust me, we have been baking this on a weekly basis. It’s become our favourite snack. Hubby said it reminds him of the yummy CNY biscuits back home. Give it a try and I am sure you will love it. Try to roll it as thin as possible to get a nice crisp.

Ingredients:

50 g (9 tb) Oatmeal
85 g (1/2 cup) Almond, minced
40 g (5 tb) Icing sugar
1/2 tsp Baking powder
90 g Butter, unsalted, room temperature **
1/3 tsp Salt
15 g (1 1/2 tb) Plain flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Steps:

1. Mix together oatmeal, almonds, flour, baking powder, icing sugar & salt.
2. Pour beaten egg, melted butter & vanilla into (1) and mix.
3. Roll into 2 or 3 very thin sheets between baking paper and wax paper (on top).
4. Remove the top paper and bake at 150 C/310 F in the oven for 7mins, rotate and bake for another 6-7mins or until it turns golden brown.

**Can substitute with 50g butter + 2tb vege oil.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin

I always love to bake muffin as it is easy to bake, freeze well and taste good with my favourite cup of coffee. I normally bake a batch of muffin, eat some and store some in the freezer for the following week. For this week, I am baking the oatmeal chocolate chip muffin obtained from allrecipes.com. We really love the toppings – pecans and brown sugar! In the near future, I plan to do a hybrid of these toppings with our all time favourite Awesome Banana Muffin. Watch out for my next post

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

1. Combine oats and milk and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease each cup of one 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Stir egg, oil, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pecans into the oat and milk mixture.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add oat mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Fill each cup of one 12-cup muffin tin 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with the remaining brown sugar and pecans.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Date-Banana-Walnut Muffin

This year Autumn has been the most beautiful Autumn that we have witnessed ever since being here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The beauty of the foliage seems to have transformed the city that we live in into a Magical Land. Last month alone we have had 2 hiking trips just to take in the beauty of the Mother Nature –Cape Split and McNab Island. Having that said, I have lesser time to bake in the kitchen now. Probably will do more baking in the Winter time. This week I have tried a new muffin recipe using date. We bought a big bag of dates from Costco and since then, I am looking forward to using it in my baking. I have selected this healthy Fat Free Banana-Date-Walnut muffin recipe. However, I have made some modifications to the recipe as follows:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour 

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup white/brown sugar

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/3 cup natural apple sauce

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, mash the banana with the sugar, almond milk, vanilla essence and apple sauce.
2. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add in the dates and walnuts, and pour into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

The muffin is nice to be served with some whipping peanut butter/butter. It is good for freezing as well.

Peanut Butter Banana Muffin

We have lots of ripen bananas and I was thinking of baking a different type of banana muffins instead of the standard Banana Walnut Muffin. Since hubby really loves peanut butter, I have decided to try the Peanut Butter Banana Muffins instead. The recipe is pretty simple.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 ripe bananas, mashed

STEPS

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the peanut butter, oil, eggs, milk and bananas.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
5. Spoon the batter into 12 well greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

As compared to the banana walnut muffin, the taste of banana is more mild in this recipe. Overall, it turns out good and we love it. The above recipe yields about 13 muffins.

Banana Walnut Muffin

For this week tea-time snack, I have decided to bake banana walnut muffins since we got some good and cheap banana from Pete’s Frootique yesterday . This recipe is pretty simple and yield about 12 muffins. Sorry for not having any photos but you can view it from here. The only modification I made to the original recipe is to reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup as I figured out that banana is sweet in its own way. And this is absolutely true!

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

STEPS:

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Chinese Peanut Cookies (Hua Sheng Bing)

This time round I am baking something that have been sitting on my to-do list for months (since CNY 2012). Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I wasn’t able to bake it for this year CNY despite I already have all the ingredients on hand.

This Chinese peanut cookie is a staple for every Chinese New Year since I was a kid. I remember helping my mum to shape the cookies when I was young. Back then, we used lard instead of peanut oil. Of course, it is much tastier with lard but at the same, it is bad for health. Over the years, my mum has changed the recipe to use peanut oil instead.

As I didn’t have the time to obtain the recipe from my mum, I have decided to try the recipe from Viet World Kitchen. Strange isn’t it!! It should have from a Malaysian/Singaporean website. Anyhow, what we can tell from here is that Chinese in South East Asia do have some food in common.

Anyhow, the outcome is good and hubby loves it much. Never did I know that peanut cookie is one of his favourite cookies.  This recipe is definitely a keep and I shall bake it for the next CNY! Perhaps, I shall try mum’s secret recipe next time round.

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsalted, roasted peanuts
1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
10 3/4 ounces (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour, bleached or unbleached
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup fragrant peanut or canola oil
1 egg, beaten 

Steps:

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325F degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

2. Put the peanuts in a food processor and grind into the texture of coarse crumbs. Add the powdered sugar and process until there is a mixture of fine crumbs and powder, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl if needed. Do not over process or you'll end up with peanut butter.

3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Dump the peanut mixture into bowl and stir until well combined.

4. Drizzle melted butter and the oil into the bowl. Use your hands to mix and knead the ingredients to form soft dough. It will soften as you knead it. The dough texture feel a bit like coarse play dough. If the dough becomes too soft to handle and feels oily, refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes to firm up. If the dough feels dry, add oil by the tablespoon.

5. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and put them on the baking sheets, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. If you like, put a little decorative stamp on top. I used the top of a clean and dry Sharpie pen cap!

6. Brush the tops with lightly with beaten egg, then bake for 20-22 minutes until light golden in color. Transfer to racks and let cool completely before eating or storing in an airtight container. These cookies are very delicate and can smudge easily. Be gentle with them.

Chewy Granola Bars

 

Granola bars have been our favourite snack as it is so handy to bring around. We have been buying granola bars on a regular basis especially the “Sweet and Salty” chewy types as we don’t really like the crunchy type. Having watched some cooking programs which include granola bars making, it seems fairly easy after all to make your own granola bars. I have decided to try the recipe provided by Eggs on Sunday blog. The good thing about making your own granola bars is that you are in control of what go into the granola bars!

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey/maple syrup
2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola
1 tablespoon water

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″x8″ pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Stir together all dry ingredients (oats through fruit & nuts). Separately, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine the melted butter, honey or maple syrup, oil and water. Add the nut butter if using, and microwave for about 1 minute at 30% power to soften (this makes it easier to mix into the liquid ingredients.) Whisk together to combine, then stir in the vanilla.

Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine. Transfer the mixture to the baking pan, using the back of a spoon (or your hands) to firmly press the mixture into the pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let cool completely in the pan.

Use the parchment paper as handles to lift the baked mixture out of the pan, then slice into bars with a sharp knife.  (If the mixture seems to crumbly, try chilling in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.)

For the dried fruits and nuts, I used a mixture of raisins, mini chocolate chips, walnut, flaxseed and sunflower seeds. Overall, it tastes good but just a bit crumbly. I kept some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Probably I would try using different mixture of dried fruits and nuts in the future. I would say omit the raisins and chocolate chips if it is for adult consumption. 

The Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

It has been a while since I last bake any new cookies. Being more adventurous and heath conscious nowadays, I prefer to bake healthier goodies. This time round, I am looking for recipe that calls for chocolate chips as I have some sitting on the shelf for a while. As hubby and I were shopping for grocery at the Atlantic Superstore, I came across the Robin Hood Large Flake Oats (100% whole grain). Hubby and I have been going on “oat” craze lately and we have been taking stainless steel cut oats for our weekday breakfast. I will post the recipe for that the next time.

Today, I am baking the Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies based on the recipe provided at the back of the Robin Hood Large Flake Oats packaging. The cookies turn out to be very delicious. I brought some of the cookies to a friend’s house and everyone seems to be loving it.

Ingredients:

¾ cup (175 mL) butter, softened
¾ cup (175 mL) brown sugar, packed
½ cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp (30 mL) water
2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (175 mL) Robin Hood® All Purpose Flour
1 tsp (4 mL) cinnamon

¾ tsp (3 mL) baking soda
3 cups (750 mL) Robin Hood® or Old Mill® Oats
1 ½ cups (375 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Cream first 6 ingredients together on medium speed of electric mixer until light and creamy. Combine flour,cinnamon and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until blended. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto greased or parchment paper lined baking sheets.
2. Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 12-15 minutes, or until light golden. Don't overbake.

You may choose to replace chips with raisins or other nuts. For those who prefers chewy type of cookies, you may shorten the baking time while for those who prefers crispy ones, do bake longer. Enjoy!

Homemade Thin Crust Pizza

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! For Thanksgiving dinner this year, hubby and I have decided to make our own thin crust pizza. It was a task that has been sitting for ages in our to-do list. I am glad we finally did it. Above all, we enjoy the pizza very much. We say no more to frozen pizza or Pizza Hut!!

It is so simple to make your own pizza. You are able to dictate what you want to go onto your pizza. We make a pizza with salami and another vegetarian pizza with long sweet red pepper.

I got this fabulous recipe from my dear sis. Thanks dear if you are reading this blog

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup warm-hot water

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

pizza sauce/tomato paste/pesto sauce

slices

your choice of pizza toppings

• pepperoni
• precooked bacon
• tomato, sliced
• green pepper
• mozzarella cheese, shredded
• chopped garlic
• spinach
• sliced black olives

Steps:

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in hot water. Let sit for 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile mix flour and salt.
3. Pour yeast mixture over flour mixture and mix well with a heavy spoon.
4. Turn onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes. Sprinkle some flour as you knead to avoid it sticking to your hand.
5. Cover the dough with wet clothes n leave to rise for 30 mins.
6. Divide into 4 portions and roll each into thin base for the pizza. Sprinkle some flour as you roll to avoid it sticking to rolling pin. (If you roll it out on a counter top, transfer to a greased/floured pizza pan, stretching to edges)
7. Cover with sauce, cheese and desired topping. Add some dried oregano (other herbs) and black pepper.
8. Bake at 500 degrees for 8-12 minutes or until edges are golden.

Source: http://www.food.com/recipe/thin-pizza-crust-95048#ixzz1KYD1H5Ur

Upside Down Rhubarb Cake

 

Spring is here and one of the favourite harvest here in Canada is the rhubarb. The leaves of this plant are toxic. However, the red coloured stalks are commonly used in jam or pie making. As our community garden has a dedicated plot for the rhubarb plant, we are lucky enough to have access to this plant for free.

For the first time in spring, I am putting back on my baking hat. Today, I am planning to bake the upside down rhubarb cake. I got the recipe from YouTube. If you are are visual person, you may want to click on this link to view the whole process.

Ingredients:

3 cups sliced fresh rhubarb (or frozen, thawed) 
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup strawberry or seedless raspberry jam
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each cinnamon & salt
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1/4 tsp each almond and vanilla (or 1/2 tsp vanilla)
1/3 cup milk

Steps:

1. Slice the rhubarb into 1/2 inch and mix it with the strawberry/raspberry jam.
2. Grease a round/square cake pan generously with butter.
3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar on the pan.
4. Pour the rhubarb and jam mixture into the pan on top of the sugar.
5. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Put aside.
6. In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and remaining of the 3/4 cup of sugar.
7. Add in one egg at a time and mix.
8. Then, add the almond and vanilla essence.
9. Mix in 1/2 of the dry ingredients and half of the milk. Stir well.
10. Add in remaining of the dry ingredients and milk.
11. Pour the cake mixture onto the pan and spread evenly.
12. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. At 30 minutes, check the condition of the cake. If it is browning too quickly, cover it with an aluminum foil.
13. Let stand 5 minutes on a wire rack. Turn out onto a serving platter; serve with ice cream if desired.

This recipe yields 8 slices of cake. My hubby and I love it much. The texture of the cake is just perfect. We will definitely bake this again. Next time round, I will add some nuts into it. (Thanks hubby for the brilliant suggestion!)

Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies

 

It has been a while since I last baked any cookies. Today, I have decided to bake our all time favourite cookies, the ginger molasses crinkle cookies. I am following a recipe that I found in the Canadian Living website Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups (300 mL) granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup (150 mL) vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) fancy molasses
• 1 egg
• 1-3/4 cups (425 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) ground ginger
• 1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

Steps:

1. In large bowl, whisk together 1 cup (250 mL) of the sugar, oil, molasses and egg until smooth.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt ; stir into sugar mixture.
3. Shape by rounded tablespoonfuls (15 mL) into balls; roll in remaining sugar to coat. Place 2 inches (5 cm) apart on parchment paper–lined or greased rimless baking sheets.
4. Bake in top and bottom thirds of 375°F (190°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until cookies spread out and tops crack, about 12 minutes. Let cool on pans on racks for 10 minutes; transfer to racks and let cool completely.

The cookies turn out perfect and we are loving it. Will definitely bake this again soon.

Cranberry Applesauce Muffin

 

It’s Munro Day today, a public holiday for Dalhousie University. Thus, I have decided to whip up some muffins with whatever I have on hand; applesauce and frozen cranberry. I started Google for cranberry applesauce muffin and found this interesting recipe: Cranberry Applesauce Muffin. It was pretty easy and I got it all done in less than half an hour. The only change I made was to substitute pecan with sunflower seeds. The muffins turn out awesome.

This recipe yields about 9 large muffins:

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together applesauce, oil and egg. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in egg mixture. Stir until just moistened. Fold in cranberries and pecans. Spoon into muffin cups, 2/3 full.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 2 minutes before removing.

For those celebrating the lunar New Year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all a happy, prosperous and healthy Rabbit year ahead. We have been quite busy lately and thus, not able to prepare much CNY cookies.

Big Peanut Cookies

It has been months since I last posted anything here as I have not been baking anything new. Life has been quite hectic for us for the past few months and will be for the coming months. Anyhow, it all happens for good and we are always hopeful for the future. I still hope I can still squeeze some time in between to bake in my kitchen. Today, I have decided to bake Big Peanut Cookies as hubby loves the same cookie from Second Cup very much. For the past 2 weeks, we have been patronizing the Second Cup in our CS building during tea break for a cup of coffee and a piece of Big Peanut Cookie.

To my surprise, it’s fairly simple to whip up a batch of these detectable treats from scratch. I have mine done while hubby was taking his afternoon nap (about half an hour). I got the recipe from here: Peanut Butter Cookies. The recipe yields about 9 big cookies. Now we can have these cookies anytime and anywhere we like with our favourite espresso. Enjoy!

Simple English Scone

It must has been a much awaited update and finally it’s here! My apology for all the delay as it has been a roller coaster ride for me and hubby for the past few months. Anyhow, let’s bygone be bygone. Let’s be happy now and live every moment to the fullest.

For this time round, I am planning to bake the English scone which is different from the previous Cranberry Scone (American biscuit) that I made previously in terms of the following:

• Shape - the English scone is round while the  American biscuit is triangular.
• Texture - the English scone is denser while the American biscuit is lighter and fluffier especially when it is hot.

The English scone recipe is introduced to me by my dearest sister and the recipe is as shown below. In addition, my sister also introduced me to clotted cream which is a perfect match for scone. Clotted cream can be found easily in UK but not in Canada. After some search, I finally manage to get it from Pete's (our favourite grocery store in Halifax).

The scone turns out perfect in terms of taste but not the shape as I wasn’t able to shape it nicely with my hand. Anyhow, I have learnt the right way now by watching How_To_Make_English_Scone in YouTube. I would recommend anyone who wants to try this recipe to watch the video before trying it out. It will give you a better idea on what to expect. Oh ya, the clotted cream tastes good too. I find the uniqueness of the cream in the sense that it gives a nice blend to the scone without overpowering the taste of scone. For those of you who are unable to find the clotted cream, you can always eat it with butter. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

In the previous blog, I made some banana muffins and hubby suggested that we can make it in the form of banana cake (those just like back home). Today, I have decided to try it out and it turned out good. We just the same recipe as Awesome Banana Muffin with the exception of replacing half the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. In addition, I have increased the baking time to 35 minutes. Do try it out and bake it in the shape that you would enjoy. Have fun!

Awesome Banana Muffin

It has been quite a while since I last posted any new recipes as we were away for summer holidays. Not to worry, we are back to our home sweet home and lovely kitchen. We will slowly catch up in our cooking and baking.

For a start, we have decided to bake some banana muffins and found the Awesome Banana Muffin from catcancook.com. The photo looks great and the recipe seems easy to follow.

The muffins turned out great and we truly savour every bite of it. It reminds us of our banana cake back home. Hubby suggested that next time we shall bake it as a rectangular cake rather than as muffins. That’s a brilliant idea. I shall try it the next time round.

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I used 4)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts/chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together.
4. Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 20 minutes.

The recipe yields about 12 large muffins. The muffins are soft and flavourful even after 3 days.

My New Baking Gadget – Scooper Dooper

I have always like to shop for new kitchen tools or baking gadget. While we were watching the Canadian Best Recipes Ever, the chef was using a scooper dooper all the time. It seems to be a super convenient tool. However, we were unable to find it in Halifax. Thankfully, I found it in Seattle University District last week. I stated using it and found it to be really useful especially in cutting my cookie dough and biscotti dough. For those bakers out there, this is definitely a good tool to have!

 

Cinnamon Raisin Scone

 

Finally, I have gotten back into my baking mood. I am inspired to bake some goodies for my sisters and nephews. I have been baking Chocolate Chip Cookie , Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti and Cranberry Scone for the past 2 days. However, as I am running out of cranberry, I have replaced the cranberry in the scone with 1/2 cup raisin and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. The texture and taste is just as great. Check it out!

Baking is so inspiring and my whole house is filled with the aroma of baking. Above all, baking for your loved ones made it even more fulfilling. Hope they will love it as much as I did baking for them.

Cinnamon Rolls

 

 

                   BEFORE                                                       AFTER

It has been a long long time since we last did any baking. Baking is not fun when you have no one to share the joy with. Hubby was down for few weeks after his dental surgery. It wasn’t a good experience and hope he will be fully recovered real soon.

I actually baked this cinnamon roll few weeks back when hubby was sick.  I had some and kept some in the freezer. The taste was good but the outlook could had been better. We decided to give the recipe another try this time but using a different method for folding and placing the dough on the tray. Make sure you roll out the dough till it is really thin and remember to place the rolls on the tray with minimum space in between the rolls. Most importantly, remember to press the dough down to compact it as you do not want your cinnamon roll to spiral upway in the center.

I found the Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls recipe from allrecipes.com. The recipe is definitely a keeper as it’s just the perfect recipe for a cinnamon roll. You just can’t get enough with one…….

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine and then the sugar mixture. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from muffin cups to cool. Serve warm

We love the cinnamon roll much more than those outside as we know what is inside it. Despite those bought from bakery may be slightly tastier, the amount of sugar and butter is much much more. Trust me…you never know how much calories in one cinnamon roll out there until you start baking your own one!

Burger Bun

 

We bought some burger patties some time back and they are still sitting in the freezer. Hubby has always wanted to make our very own burger bun to go with it. We really enjoy DIY everything nowadays as it is healthier and tastier (may be not!). Last night, we made our own pork chop with Parsley-Garlic Chimichurri Sauce. It turns out very delicious.

I found this beautiful burger buns recipe from Beautiful Burger Bun. For the toppings, instead of using plain sesame seeds, I used a mixture of sesame seeds, poppy seeds and sunflower seeds.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

Steps:

1. Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to make a soft, smooth dough.
2. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 hour, or until it's doubled in bulk.
3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 6 pieces. Shape each piece into a round 1" thick (more or less); flatten to about 3" across. Place the buns on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until very puffy.
4. If desired, brush buns with melted butter. Or brush lightly with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water), and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
5. Bake the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, till golden. Cool on a rack.