Raspberry Sweet Rolls

My cinnamon roll baking a few weeks ago has put me into a bit of a sweet bread baking kick.  The arctic temps might have something to do with it too.    

I'd pinned these raspberry breakfast rolls from Food & Wine a few months ago along with an orange sweet roll recipe and now that my oven is constantly on each weekend, I took the opportunity to finally whip something up.  I couldn't decide between the orange rolls or the raspberry rolls though so I combined the two.  Why not right?

My mom gave me this bowl right before she moved to Vegas.  It was my grandma's bread bowl --it's even engraved with the shop info and "Macomb, IL" right on the bottom.  I'm struck by how I purchase new bowls or even replace perfectly usable bowls with new ones based on color or design, and my grandmother used the same bread bowl from Macomb for so many of her baking years. 

See the little flecks.  Kind of?  Sort of?  Zest of one grated orange definitely gave the rolls a nice citrusy balance to the sweetness of the rolls and the icing.

I was a little worried at this stage as I was convinced these would fall apart during rolling.  I even pushed them into the dough just a bit before rolling them up into a log. 

So far so good.

Turns out my fear was for naught.  You do want to work quickly so the raspberries don't melt before you get it all into the pan for rising.  As the dough rises, the raspberries do release quite a bit of juice all around the rolls.  Turns out, that's not a problem. All of that juice goes somewhere during baking...don't ask me where though. 

I also swapped out the icing recipe for the one I used on the Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls.  I thought that recipe using heavy cream hit the icing needs spot on.

These rolls are more like a sweet danish than they are like cinnamon rolls.  I didn't really think that through so was a little disappointed when the smell of cinnamon rolls didn't fill the kitchen.  One bite though and all disappointment faded.  These were filled with lots of raspberry goodness and definitely a make again recipe.  I think this dough would also be phenomenal filled down the center with a sweet cream cheese filling, topped with the raspberries and then braided up as a more traditional braided pastry.  

Raspberry Sweet Rolls
adapted from Food & Wine Magazine Jan 2011

Ingredients
1 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
One 10-ounce package frozen raspberries, not thawed
1/3 c sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

GLAZE
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan or microwave, warm the milk gently until it's warm to the touch or about 95-100°. 
2. Pour the warm milk into the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and stir in the sugar and yeast. Let stand about 5 minutes until mixture becomes foamy. 
3. Add the softened butter, eggs, grated orange zest and sea salt. 
4. Add the flour and beat at medium speed until a soft dough forms, about 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is no longer sticky, about 6-7 minutes
5. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly buttered bowl. 
6. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
7. Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to extend up the short sides. 
8. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using a rolling pin, roll it into a 10-by-24-inch rectangle.
9. In a bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with the sugar and cornstarch. Spread the raspberry filling evenly over the dough and gently press into dough. 
10. Tightly roll up the dough to form a 24-inch-long log.  Cut log into quarters. Cut each quarter into 3 slices for a total of 12 rolls.   
11. Arrange them in the baking pan, cut sides up.  
12. Cover the rolls and let them rise in a warm place until they are puffy and have filled the baking pan.  This will take longer than other rolls because the frozen berries lower the temp of the dough.(about 2 hours to rise)
13. Preheat the oven to 375°
14. Bake the rolls for about 20-25 minutes, until they are golden and the berries are bubbling. 
15. While the rolls are baking, whisk the powdered sugarsugar with the butter, zest and heavy cream until the glaze is thick.
16. Remove rolls from oven and glaze immediately.

Cherry Pecan Biscotti

It's almost time to get fully into Christmas baking mode....woohoooo!  While I'm still stockpiling my baking ingredients, I decided to whip up a quick batch of biscotti to start off the baking season. 

Biscotti doesn't get enough attention if you ask me.  It seems that baking is all about more ingredients, over the top combinations and excess.  While I'm definitely on board with joining in on the super charged up cookies and baking, deep down I really love simplicity.  I'll bake the 24 layer Magic Bars or the cookie with the snickers crust, Reese middle layer and brownie cookie top because it's just plain fun, but place a tray of cookies near me and I'l almost always grab shortbread or cookie with the least amount of things happening. 

Like biscotti.  Crisp firm cookie that holds up well to extra hot and strong coffee?  Good stuff if you ask me.  My favorite biscotti recipe uses only egg whites which makes it a perfect pairing to make with my grandmas butter cookies--which only uses egg yolks.  

And of course, the great thing about biscotti is that you can take the core recipe, and swap in any dried fruit and/or nut you want.  I have a particular affinity for pecans and cherries.

The best thing about biscotti is how simple it is.  It is the perfect thing to kickoff the holiday baking. It's also the perfect thing to enjoy while starting off the holiday wrapping sessions.  I love packages under the tree so much, that I have to admit I'm a little disappointed when it comes time to unwrap them.  I'd leave them there for months if I could. 

Puppies like Christmas too. 

Cherry Pecan Biscotti

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp orange zest
3/4 cup toasted and chopped pecans
1 cup dried cherries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, soda and salt. Mix with the paddle attachment until blended - about 30 seconds. 
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, oil, zests, vanilla and almond extract. Add the egg mixture to the flour and oats and mix until it forms a dough. Add the cherries and pistachios and mix until incorporated.
4. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of wax paper. Shape dough into log 18 x 2 inches.  Lightly flatten top.
5. Bake until lightly browned about 30 minutes. Carefully slide log onto a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. 
6. Reduce the oven to 250 degrees. Transfer the biscotti to a cutting board. Cut each strip diagonally into 1/3" thick slices using a serrated knife. 
7.  Arrange slices, cut side down, on the baking sheet. 
8. Bake the biscotti about 40 minutes, flipping cookies half way through. 
9. Transfer to a rack and allow the cookies to cool completely.

Bananas Foster Breakfast Strata

I love bananas foster.  There's just something about that brown sugar goodness that is irresistible. I'm not the world's biggest ice cream fan but throw some bananas foster on top and I'm there.   

Needless to say, when I saw this bananas foster breakfast pin on Pinterest, it went straight to the front of baking line.  It makes a lot of breakfast though so I'd recommend making it for a crowd--I made it at my sis's house when I was out there for Thanksgiving.  The Mountain Dew bottle is the dead giveaway.  Where my brothers are, the Dew abounds.  

I'm not delusional enough think that using whole wheat bread will somehow make this kind of healthy.  It was a firm bread though and held up in the strata well. 

The result?  It was good, full of banana and brown sugar flavors and definitely reminiscent of bananas foster. I'm not gonna lie though...it was ridiculously sweet.  Of course I acknowledge that my sweet tooth rarely wants play in the mornings.  I think this would be a phenomenal bread pudding type dessert after dinner with a big scoop of ice cream.  If you don't mind your sweets at breakfast, then this is one to try.

Bananas Foster Breakfast Strata

adapted from MyRecipes.com

Strata:
1 tablespoon butter
4 medium bananas, sliced

1/3 c OJ
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 c half-and-half

1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 (12-ounce) cans fat-free evaporated milk
1 (1-pound) French bread baguette, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Streusel:
1/3 c all-purpose flour (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare strata, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
3. Add 1 tbsp butter and swirl until foamy. 
4. Stir in bananas; sauté 1 minute. 
5. Add OJ, 1 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook 1-2 minutes until bananas are soft. 
6. Spoon the banana mixture into a large bowl, and press bananas with a pastry blender or fork until chunky. Combine half-and-half, sugar, eggs, and evaporated milk in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add banana mixture and bread cubes, tossing well to coat. 
7. Place bread mixture in a 13 x 9-inch lightly greased pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
8. To prepare streusel, combine flour, brown sugar, oats and salt and mix well with a whisk. 
9. Stir in 1 tablespoon melted butter and toss well to coat and form crumbs.
10. Remove strata from oven; sprinkle evenly with streusel. Bake an additional 30 minutes or until golden and set. 
11. Remove and let set for 5 mins.  
12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Denver Bronco Whoopie Pies

I hate, hate, hate, white balance, especially on indoor photos using inside lighting.  I can never seem to master the color correction.  That's the number one reason natural lighting rocks if you ask me.  

With that off my chest....let's talk about orange cookies.  

Game day eats often means food coloring.  Ridiculous amounts of food coloring actually.  I ignore all my food coloring concerns when it comes to game day--football food really just needs to be in team colors right?

Chipmunk got into the baking spirit with us while we prepped for the Bronco's game.  Dad is working on his fake-out here.  I don't think he's ever baked in his entire life...but he did stand near the bakers long enough to help Chipmunk pick out blue and orange food coloring and find the football cookie cutters. 

I made a pretty basic vanilla whoopee pie.   The original plan was to make two batches--one orange, and one blue.  Naturally right?  I still know that blue and orange whoopie pies would have been perfect.

I lost steam after the orange batch.  But look how very Mile High, Orange Crush Magic it looks.

My brother asked to pipe some.  In my heart of hearts I knew better but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  

It started off well enough. 

Starting to go awry.

And voila, brothers will always be brothers. 

Sisters on the other hand, are fantastic pipers.  My sister completed one of my 101s which is to make royal icing and frost up some cookies.  I hear it doesn't count for my goals if she made these cookies. 

Despite the impish sibling stuff, Chipmunk thinks the baking was quite successful.  

Denver Broncos Whoopie Pies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butterButter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk
about 1 tsp food gel food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. 
3. In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 
4. In large mixing bowl beat the butter on high speed until creamy. Add in sugars and beat until light and fluffy. 
5. Beat in the egg and mix well. 
6. Combine vanilla,  buttermilk  and food coloring together in a measuring cup. 
7. Beginning with flour mixture, add half flour mixture, half butter mixture to the sugar and egg mixture making sure to beat after each addition until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.
8. Spoon batter into a piping bag and pipe whoopie pies onto your cookie sheets. 
9. You can also use a mini cookie scoop to create 1 inch mounds.  Allow at least an inch between cookies.
10. Bake 7 to 9 minutes for 1-inch cookies or 9 to 11 minutes for 2-inch cookies, or until tops are set. Cool completely before filling. 

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Filling

1 8 oz block of softened cream cheese

1/2 cup marshmallow fuff
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Beat cream cheese on high speed for 30 seconds. Add in marshmallow fluff and vanilla, and beat for another 30 seconds until combined.
2. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until until well combined.
3. Use a piping bag and top bottom side of one cookie with about 1 tsp of filling.  Top with bottom of second cookie.  

Thanksgiving 2013

Back from a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Vegas with family.  As we all know, the time flies by all too quickly.  I carried all of my lenses with me and ended up getting so few pics this time.  I don't actually know why that is. 

Oh how I miss my little Peanut and Chipmunk already. 

Yes, I set my camera settings and then handed it over to my sister.  She has many talents.  I'll just leave it at that. 

The biggest bummer of the whole trip was that Peanut is in school and running turkey trots and doing all of those big girl things and so I saw very little of her.  :(  Chipmunk and I however, got to spend quite a bit of time together though. 

Seriously, can she be any cuter? It still surprises me that anyone in our family can have hair this light, but then I remember that this kiddo is only 1/4 Thai.  That's almost not asian at all. 

My cousins and I loved spending time together as kids. Peanut and Chipmunk are the same way...when they are together, the rest of us do not exist.  I had to put a Pez dispenser on my hot shoe mount in order to get them to notice me.  They are really just smiling at the idea of candy to come.

My parents now lives few houses down from my sister.  I kid you not.  While I waste away all by my lonesome here in Denver, my family is walking up and down the street for daily visits.  

Not quite over the river and through the woods,  but to Grandmother's house we go. 

Look how I was able to get my sister in the frame when I took the photo.  

And of course my favorite Little Man.  So delicious. 

Hope your Thankgivings were full of friends, family and lots and lots of good eats!!! :) :) :)