Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

So, I know its summer and all and making a pumpkin anything is a bit taboo, but hell, sometimes we want it, don't we? I'm 6 months pregnant, and even though I'm fighting a chest infection and have no appetite, I wanted to make these babies. You'll want to make them, too.

told ya.

Now, first a note. I'm in Ireland and I know some of my reader's won't have access to canned pumpkin. I simply roast up a butternut squash. Same taste-- some would argue its even nicer than pumpkin. Most canned pumpkin, you'll be interested to know, is actually squash anyways. Simply cut your squash in half, and cut each half in half (that's four pieces)-- scoop out the seeds and place flesh down in a pan. Fill that pan with 1/2 inch of water. Put it in your oven, HOT. I'm talking 400F/200C or so. Cook for 30-45 minutes (until the skin starts to brown and pucker a bit). Then you scoop out the innards, voila, you have your pumpkin/squash. You'll want 1/2 cup of that so you'll have lots left over for a nice bowl of soup or some muffins.

The Rolls
Dough Ingredients
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup pumpkin (canned or fresh) or butternut squash
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 package active yeast
3 ounces (or 2-3 packages) of instant vanilla pudding/custard

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cup bread (or strong) flour


Filling Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp margarine

Directions
Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted, remove from heat.

Mix pumpkin/squash, salt and sugar.
Add in vanilla pudding/custard powder
Add in milk/butter
Add beaten egg
Mix in yeast

Sift flours
Slowly add flours to your mixture to form a dough.

Leave this to rise in a greased bowl in a warm place for about an hour.

Roll dough into a rectangle however thick you like, mine ends up a little less than 2 ft long by 12 inches.

Take your butter and margarine (I'll be honest, I don't measure this out I just take a small handful of each, but the estimate is probably close. You can't really have too much. Margarine will help keep the filling gooey as butter will be somewhat absorbed into the dough as it cooks) and smears it all over the dough. I use my hands. Get messy. Then I use the butter/margarine on my hands to grease my pan.
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle all over the dough.

Now roll the dough up longways to make more rolls (if that makes sense). I use a piece of string to cut the rolls so they don't smush down, but of course you can use a knife-- about 1 inch thick.

Place them in your greased pan and allow to rise for 30 minutes. You'll get maybe a bit more than 12 rolls.

Bake at 350F/180C for 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter, room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered/icing sugar, sifted
dash of lemon juice, optional but helps lift that tang!

Directions
Mix butter, vanilla and cream cheese... and lemon juice if you want.
Slowly add in powdered/icing sugar, add more if you want a thicker icing. This will be glaze like.

Smear all over the hot, delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

Devour them.

Homemade Spinach Pasta with Garlic Parmesan Sauce and Battered Chicken

Homemade Spinach Pasta and Battered Chicken Breast

Okay. I have a confession. With as much as I've baked and cooked I've never made my own pasta. I was intimidated as I have no pasta roller or press. I have made plans to buy the attachment for Big Red (the kitchenaid), and I may well ordered from amazon now to have delivered to the states during our visit (have I mentioned we are about to head off to Florida for a month to visit my family? Sun tan, here we come).

I don't even need to write up a recipe, this was so easy.

For each person you are cooking for, mix
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt

In my case, I added in 1/2 cup of spinach (not per person) and a heavy handed sprinkle of garlic powder.

Mix the egg and spinach first, then add your flour. Either use your dough hook or knead by hand into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut the ball in half or thirds, and rolling out the dough (or use your pasta roller, lucky you!). Let it rest for another 30 minutes or so. Then cut into slices. I was impatient and busy baking cookies at the same time, so I just cut it after I rolled it.

Then, lay it out to dry for an hour. When you are ready, boil it like you would your dry pasta! It cooks much quicker.

Now. Sauce!

Garlic Parmesan Sauce

Another quickie. I cooked for three people, so I cut one head of garlic in half, chopped off the top end to expose the bulbs, smother in olive oil and wrap tin foil around the bottom. Sick it into a hot oven (200C/400F), and cook until the garlic starts to brown/caramelize.
I than squeezed out the cloves into a garlic press and it oozes straight out. I added about 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 cup milk. Simple and much healthier than whipping up an Alfredo sauce. I would have loved to have Alfredo, but I thought in combo with the battered chicken I was about to make, I'd take it easy.

Battered Chicken

Now, I use Sunflower Oil. I convince myself this is healthy. I put on about 1/2 cup to heat up in a pan on medium-high heat.

I pounded out two chicken breasts and cut them into large pieces. Salt, Pepper, White Pepper the pieces.

For the batter:
1 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Adobo seasoning (you can just use a smashed up chicken bullion or well, omit, but it gives a nice taste)
1 tsp ground black pepper.

Add milk until you get a batter consistency.

-Dip the pieces into the batter, and carefully place into the oil once the oil is hot. Cook a few minutes on each side. MAKE SURE the oil is hot BEFORE you put the chicken in. If its not hot, your chicken will be very soggy, nasty and oily.

I like to dry freshly fried items on newspaper. This drains the oil out of the chicken like nothing else, and it just tastes crisp.



Enjoy!

Soft-Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from fellow expat Laura English Painter's recipe!



1 1/4 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (if you use salted butter leave this out)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I was low so I threw in a few tbsp of cashew butter)
1/2 cup sugar (I used half splenda, so we can all get cancer)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (I'm known to be quite generous with vanilla when it comes to cookies)

optional:
Maybe, 1/2 cup chocolate chips? More? Whatever you'd like.

Directions

Preheat oven to 190C/375F

1. Sift flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars.
3. Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture.
4. Throw in your chocolate chips now (I just crushed up a bit of a left over dark chocolate bar)
5. Slowly add the flour mixture.

I used a small scoop to make the perfect small cookies. Just remember these make better small cookies, so don't be too generous when scooping on to your pan.

Bake for 6 minutes (mine needed 7, could be my oven).
Take then out of the oven and leave to cool for 1 minute on the pan. Then move to cooling rack.

I think these are best the next day. They will seem as though they are not done on the inside. If you leave them, they will be like soft bake the once they are entirely cooled!

Pepperoni Pizza with Mushroom Sauce

Pepperoni Pizza with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:
Jamie Oliver's Basic Bread Recipes:

• 1kg/just over 2lb strong bread flour
• 625ml/just over 1 pint tepid water
• 30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3 x 7g/¼oz sachets dried yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 30g/1oz salt

This will make enough dough for three large pizzas. This is a great bread recipe, and its very very versatile. Thanks Jamie, you stud.

Sauce
6 plum tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup water
1 heaped tsp oregano
1 heaped tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp black pepper and a dash of salt
4 chopped chestnut mushrooms

I would normally use a can of tomatoes but I didn't have any left. Thus the puree- but it worked out so well! Puree the tomatoes and garlic, add to sauce pan with the rest of ingredients, adding the water little by little until you have the consistency you like.

Topping
Whatever you want.
I used a layer of sauce, a fine layer of parmesan, a layer of torn up fresh spinach, a layer of large thin pepperonis, a layer of shredded and soft mozzarella (I was cleaning out the fridge with these pizzas!) and more parmesan. I added more mushrooms and onions to Cormac's pizza.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375F/190C or until its as crispy as you like it. The best pan for pizza is the kind with holes in the bottom, I find, or straight on the rack!

Sultana Scones

Buttermilk Sultana Scones

Ingredients
2 cups (225g) plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup of butter
2 tbsp of sugar (preferably caster sugar, fine grain)
1/3 cup of sultanas/raisins/cranberries/blueberries whatever you fancy
2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions
Sift together flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until its crumbly.

Stir in the sugar and fruit of your choice.

Slowly add the buttermilk and mix together-- just until its mixed. Don't over mix. If you over mix, they will not be as delicate and tasty. I'm warning you now.

Knead until a soft dough, and roll out the dough a little less than an inch thick. I like them on the thicker side. Cut them out with cookie cutters-- I use a round cutter, or the top of a cup will do. I get about 12 out of this recipe.

Bake on cookie sheet at 230C/450F for 8-10 minutes

Chicken Curry with Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato Curry with Chicken
adapted from Vegan Planet

1 small chopped onion (which I omitted because I hate onion, to Cormac's dismay)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 large red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 3/4 cup stock (I used fresh chicken stock from Easter roast chicken)
1 can of tomatoes
2 medium sized sweet potatoes, cubed.
dash of sea salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
Approx. 1 cup shredded chicken.

Directions:
Heat some oil in a pan, saute onions for 5 minutes. I skipped this part.

Add curry powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne.

Add red pepper, garlic and ginger. Stir around for 30 seconds.

Add tomatoes and chicken stock.

Add sweet potatoes. Cover.

Simmer for around 30 minutes. I took out my trusty hand blender and smoothed out the mixture. Add in the chicken, dash of salt and brown sugar. Simmer another 20 minutes (I put on the rice after this). I served this over brown basmati rice. Delicious!

Cake for Twins

I had a first birthday cake to make for twins this weekend. This was complicated by the fact that I had to go from Friday-Sunday to a La Leche League conference. So, time had come for me to employ some of the tactics of my busier counterparts. After being very reluctant to freeze my cakes, but reading many a baker saying they often freeze on PURPOSE to improve taste, I went for it.

Baked Thursday night, froze, removed on Sunday, layered and crumb-coated with buttercream and covered with marshmallow fondant. I found clear vegetable shortening, and my god, the difference it makes in handling the fondant is unbelievable. It's ever more delicate, however. I was so tired but honestly having split up the days for decorating it wasn't as big of a task as I had thought. Each cake is three layers- one is vanilla/chocolate/vanilla and the other is chocolate/vanilla/chocolate.

The rainbows nearly came out too light, but I brushed darker royal icing over the fondant and the colors came out just how I pictured them. I really hope the customer liked the cake as she had a very clear idea how she wanted them to look and I'm unsure how close I came to what she had pictured. They are not exactly the same, but they flow together, and they are each special in their own way.

The good news is I had Cormac taste test the cakes when I cut them to shape and he said they tasted just fine (he may as well be an expert at these sort of things). I'm off sweets, as we are expect spawn #2 and they are making me feel pretty horrible. So much for the worry that all this cake making would pack on the weight!

Stir fry-like chicken and rice

This was a creation of necessity, as are many of my dinners. I open the cupboards and the fridge and pull out what I've got. This time I threw on 5 cherry tomatoes halved, and cut one red pepper into cubes, tossed them in olive oil and put them in the oven to roast.

I put on rice to cook with 1 cup rice to 1 cup chicken stock(homemade from the freezer) and 1 cup water. I slowly added more water as the rice cooked, and some of that Goya seasoning I mentioned earlier. Dash of white pepper, sea salt, and dumped in the tomatoes and peppers when the rice was cooked and the peppers and tomatoes were roasted. Add a big lump of butter. Handful of baby spinach, stir until softened. Done.

Chicken. Chop into cubes. 1 tbsp of white vine vinegar. Cover the chicken in a tiny coating of flour. Few lugs of Worchester sauce. Dash of white pepper (I love white pepper, god help me) and a good huge dash of garlic powder (or some minced garlic but I was feeling lazy). Lob of butter (yes, I used up a lot of butter in this recipe. I had butter sitting out left over from making cakes and felt, why not?).

Consume.



Lucky I remembered to take the picture, I was halfway done inhaling this before I remembered to share it with all of you ;)

Baked Bean Chili and Roasted Potatoes

I am aware how difficult it is to make beans look appetizing in a picture, so I made sure you could get a good glimpse of those deliciously crisp potatoes.
We're going away to England next week, so this was a meal of "use up all the stuff in the fridge so nothing will go off" necessity.

I made roasted potatoes and a beefed up version of American-style baked beans, and it was gorgeous. I got a thumps up from Cormac, my measure of delicious, so I thought I'd share it here-- in spite of the fact that the photo doesn't do the taste justice.



Baked Bean Chili

2 cans of beans (I used pinto and kidney, you can use anything you've got in the cupboard)
1/2 cup BEER (I used Guinness left over from my chocolate cakes!)
1/2 cup bbq sauce OR ketchup (I had bbq sauce so it was a bit zippy)
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup dijon mustard
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp Worchester sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red pepper
3-4 tomatoes (I had vine tomatoes, medium sized)
2 strips of bacon
3 slices of ham (can you tell I was using up the contents of the fridge? Obviously, adjust this to suit yourself. I'd say a 1/2 lbs of bacon would be awesome, or a chuck of ham chopped up)

Directions
1. Cook up your ham/bacon in a large pot. Add garlic.
2. Remove from and lower heat, add your beer, molasses, ketchup/bbq, dijon, brown sugar, worchester sauce and stir well.
3. Return to heat, add chopped tomatoes and chopped red pepper. Add rinsed beans.
4. Let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer, the better-- but keep stirring so nothing sticks to your pot (or maybe you have such a nice non-stick pot that its none of your concern, but I don't, so be forewarned).


Roasted Potatoes in Bacon Fat
That left over bacon I used in the beans was left over from our Valentine's Day breakfast-- from which I saved the bacon grease. It was very little, and I'm sure if you replace that little bit with more olive oil these will turn out just fine.
Ingredients
4 potatoes
3 pinches of sea salt
several large glugs of olive oil
optional: approx 2 tbsp animal fat
polenta/corn meal

toss it all together on a pan, sprinkle potatoes with a tiny bit of polenta, cook 30-45 minutes at 180C (350F). Stir them around occasionally to keep them from sticking. If they are sticking too much, you need more oil.

Valentine's Day

Red Velvet Cake made for promotion at my last LLL meeting. Red marshmallow fondant, decorated with royal icing. Vanilla buttercream filling. The cake went down great and I ever got an order from it!





Red Velvet Cake
3 ½ cups cake flour (you can use AP flour, minus 2 tbsp per cup + 1 tsp baking powder)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tbsp red food coloring
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (I've used regular vinegar without issue)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. This recipe can make 2 8-9" round cakes or ~24 cupcakes.

1. Sift the cake flour.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time.

3. In another bowl, whisk cocoa, red food colouring, and vanilla.
4. Add to creamed mixture.

5. Stir salt into buttermilk, add to your batter alternating with the flour.

6. Combine vinegar and baking soda and fold into your batter.

For cupcakes, bake about 20 minutes. For cakes, bake 30-40 minutes.




Cake Balls
adapted from Bakerella's Cake Balls

Red velvet cake crumbs (I used a whole 10" round cake)
8oz cream cheese
1 cup butter cream icing
(alternatively you can use one of those cans of premade cream cheese icing from the grocery store).

Mix together with your hands and refrigerate.

I melted a large bar of cadbury's milk chocolate in a double boiler, and used two spoons to cover my balls. I probably didn't use enough chocolate so they were sticking a lot. I don't like keeping extra chocolate in the house if you know what I mean!
The pink balls were melted strawberry chocolate chips from Ardkeen Food Stores.