dinner rolls that can be cheese rolls that can be cinnamon rolls....

Miss E asked me for my dinner roll recipe today.  I realized I had two.  I am posting this one because I think this is the she ate at a party.  But it might be the other.  I based this on the cinnamon and cardamon buns in Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.  I really like how it turns out.

Dinner rolls

Note:  Instead of the sourdough starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water you can use 1 package dry yeast.

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water 

1 cup hempmilk or other milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

4 plus cups flour (can be up to 5 1/2)

butter, cheese, or cinnamon sugar for filling

The night before, put the starter, water, and 1 cup flour in a large bowl.  Let sit for at least eight hours until bubbly.  In the morning, remove some starter for next time.

If you are not using starter, dissolve the yeast in the milk and let sit for about five minutes until a bit bubbly.

Add the milk to the starter if you are using starter.

From this point on, everything is the same.  Mix in the sugar and egg.  Mix in the butter and salt.  The butter will be in chunks.  Mix in the flour one cup at a time into the yeast mixture.  You will get a stiff dough.  Dump out on the counter and knead until smooth.  You will probably need to add flour as you knead to make the dough not sticky.

Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise until double in a warm place.  

Once risen, turn out on to a counter.  Roll the dough out until it is about 1/4" thick.  It is easier if you make this a rectangle shape.  Spread with butter.  At this point, if you wish, you can also sprinkle with cheese and/or herbs, or a cinnamon sugar mixture.  Roll up along the long edge. 

Put cut side down on a baking sheet covered with silpat or parchment paper.  ( I ran out rising surfaces in the picture.)

Let rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake rolls in oven for 20-25 minutes.  The edges will be golden.

This is a picture of the baked cinnamon rolls.  The plain rolls go wonderfully with soup.  I have not tried them with many other savory dishes just because that is a mainstay for dinner around here when it is chilly.

crackers for traveling

We were traveling again last weekend.  I have to admit that I get very tired of out food whether restaurant or the snacks that can picked up at a grocery store or a gas station.  This time I tried to plan a little bit.  I wished some crackers to go with cheese.  Tartelette posted a recipe for herb crackers recently.  I decided to use that as a starting place since I have not made gluten free crackers before.  I have to admit that I changed them a bit.  More like they were the idea and then I went a different way.

Crackers

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground ancho chili pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground chipolte pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground paprika

1 cup millet

1/4 cup teff

1/2 cup sourghum

9 tablespoons sweet rice flour.

Cream the spices into the butter.  Then mix the eggs into the butter and spice mixture.  Mix in the flours. Gather into a ball and let sit the refrigerator for about two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

Between two pieces of parchment paper.  Put the cracker dough.  Flatten it out and then roll it until it is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.  Move this to a baking sheet or large pizza stone.  Take off the top layer of parchment paper.  Score in the shape of the crackers you want.

Bake for 17 minutes or until they are as golden as you wish.

 

There is just a hint of a bit to these.  They complemented a smoke cheddar very well.  

When I crave crackers, I would go for these.  I could see sprinkling them with a touch of salt.  Especially if you add a bit of cheese in the dough.  I may have to go there.  I obviously occasionally crave crackers.

brownies with caramels on top

Here is the rest of the birthday present.  I took my favorite brownies and dropped the caramels I made on top.  My favorite brownie recipe I found in the NY Times:  New Classic Brownies  by Alice Medrich.  I have to admit that I tweaked them a bit because I found the original was much too sweet for me.

Brownies with Caramels on Top

3/4 cup cocoa (the best you can find)

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 cup caramels (unwrapped if purchased, chop up of if you like - next time I am going to use my Dad's caramel sauce recipe)

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a 8" x 8" baking pan with parchment paper.

Put the butter and cocoa in a medium to large saucepan.  Melt the butter and combine the cocoa in.  Remove from the heat.  Mix in the sugar and vanilla.  Mix in the salt and flour.  Mix in the eggs.

Pour the batter in the pan and drop the caramels on top.  Bake 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when stuck into them.

The bits I had when I transferred them into a carrying box where pretty yummy.  I hope Miss E liked them!

making the ingredients (caramels)

I had a friend whose birthday was today.  Her two favorite flavors are caramel and chocolate.  I decided to combine the two in a brownie.  My Dad makes caramels so I followed his recipe.  I think next time I would make his caramel sauce for ice cream to use instead but this was decadent.

Caramels

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup Karo syrup (you can use a 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup Karo syrup (light corn syrup))

2 teaspoons vanilla

a pinch of salt

In a heavy sauce pan, mix corn syrup, sugar, and 1/2 cup whipping cream.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.  Bring to a boil and cook slowly to 234 degrees.

Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup whipping cream.  Return to heat and cook to 234 degrees.  Remove from heat and add remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream.

Return to heat and cook to 246 degrees.  

Remove from heat and add the vanilla and salt.

Pour into a buttered pan or pan lined with parchment paper.

Cut into pieces once firm.  I am living someplace where it was a 100 degrees today, so I actually put the caramels in the freezer to cool.

I took a small container of caramels to work.  I was told that Thursdays was now homemade candy day.  It made me smile.  

for a birthday: lemon blackberry cake with icing

Can I say that family is interesting?  On Monday, we drove to celebrate my Beloved's Grandmother's birthday.  I baked a cake but it did not get eaten.  I really wished to make this with raspberries but we had no raspberries in the house.  It was a last minute trip so going to the store just did not work.  I also wanted to make a layer cake with frosting but with three hours in the truck and 96 degrees outside, I could not figure out how to do that.

My Beloved and Tall Short person are very happy with this cake.  So happy, I think they are glad they did not have to share!

Lemon Blackberry Cake

1 cup plus two tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest from four small lemons

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, milk, or hempmilk

10 ounces frozen blackberries

4 small lemons (used for their zest) sliced

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, put the lemons, water, and 2 cups sugar.  Bring to a boil and then turn the heat under them so that it will simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat after 15 minutes and let cool with the lemons in the syrup.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 9 in springform pan.  Flour the greased pan.

 In a large bowl, cream the 1 cup sugar and the butter together.  Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest.   Mix in the eggs.  Mix in the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  A little bit at a time, mix in the cream or hempmilk.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Smooth is out with a spatula so it is even.  Top with the blackberries.  Bake for 1 hour.  Test with a knife.  The cake is done when the knife comes out clean and the cake is golden brown.  I actually had to bake for another 30 minutes but I covered it with aluminum foil so it would not get too brown.

Let the cake cool for about a half hour.

Strain the lemons out of the syrup.  Take 1/3 cup of the syrup and drizzle over the cake while the cake is still warm.  Let the cake cool completely in its pan.

For the icing, put the powdered sugar in a bowl (mine worked for traveling).  Add enough lemon syrup to make a thick icing.  

Remove cake from pan.  Drizzle icing over it or drizzle icing over each slice.

This is one of those cakes that is good cold, room temperature, or warmed.  But I do not make anything different because I really do not like sponge cake!