Superior Cinnamon Rolls

I have been on a personal culinary quest for several months. My mission has been to find the very best cinnamon roll recipe ever. I can even name the date that this mission began. December 29th. Very important date. My mother's birthday.

You see, her friend Denice made her a batch of truly scrumptious cinnamon rolls that day. They were just so perfect, I had to have the recipe. But as it is with most great cooks and their creations, there is no recipe. It's some of this, a little of that, maybe cook it for this long and see what happens, then maybe a little bit longer if... you know how it is. So we tried to organize a little cooking class so Denice could teach me how she does it. It has never materialized and so I have spent nearly 6 months trying to perfect the cinnamon roll. And today, I think I may have done it!

I have made lots of batches of these yummy treats and while none of them has been inedible, none of them had been to-die-for either. Now you may wonder how some white bread spread with cinnamon and sugar could be worth dying for, but that just means you've never had a truly amazing cinnamon roll. Take a regular Pillsbury cinnamon roll. It's decent. Now take a Pillsbury Grands cinnamon roll. It's pretty tasty. But take a homemade cinnamon roll and you've got died-and-gone-to-heaven. That's what I mean when I say to-die-for. And yes, it's still an overstatement. But welcome to the world of a foodie.

Anyhow, today's recipe was fantastic! I brought the batch to a friends house for coffee talk time and we all ate two. That is acceptable when something is truly scrumptious. (I confess that I keep thinking of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I continue to write off course...) One of us is pregnant, the other three of us have no excuse... We did share with the kids.

Before sharing the recipe, which honestly has far more to do with technique than ingredients, I will share the most important things I have learned:

1) Do not roll the dough too thin. It will make crispier rolls and I think most of us would agree that we want a super-soft, fluffy roll.

2) Most recipes don't call for enough cinnamon and sugar filling. You are going to lose some during the baking process (it'll ooze out with the butter) so more is better.

3) Most recipes call for baking the rolls for 30 minutes- too long! Unless you cover them with foil while baking until the last 5 minutes or so. Again, they will come out overbrowned and crispy if you don't do this.

4) Unbleached flour yields a really soft and silky dough. Regular flour is fine too, but I have noticed a real difference using the former.

Now, any white bread recipe will work for these rolls so if you have a favorite, use it. You can even use frozen dough. Here is my recipe.

1 and 1/4 cups warm water

1 tsp salt

3 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP butter

4 cups unbleached white flour

2 tsp baker's yeast

I use a bread machine to make all my dough so I have zero tips on how to make great bread dough from scratch. I know it takes a lot of kneading to get a really great dough and I swear by using a little sugar to help activate the yeast and gain a silkier dough. Silky dough is a beautiful thing.

When the dough has risen, punch it down and, on a floured surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle. Again, not too thin. Mine was a bit bigger than a cookie sheet.

Now the filling can be tricky too because if you use too much butter, it will all melt and ooze out of the rolls. This will inevitably happen, but this seems to help:

Mix 1/4 cup of room temperature butter with 1 cup of sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon. Use a fork to mash it and make a paste. Spread and pat this over the dough.

Roll up the dough carefully, into a long log. Using a very sharp knife, slice the dough into about 1.5 inch pieces. I got 12 pieces out of mine and this was perfect. Lay each piece on a greased cookie sheet (I recommend using 2 pans so the rolls have room to rise and spread). Allow to rise in a warm place (I use a slightly warmed oven). When they have doubled in size, they are ready to bake. Cover loosely with foil. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil. Bake for about 5 more minutes. Don't allow them to get too golden- just a hint of color.

I am not especially fond of powdered sugar icing, but today I made a thick batch that worked well.

I softened 1 TBSP of butter in the microwave, almost melted. I added some powdered sugar, perhaps a cup (see, starting to work without a recipe) and added a bit of milk. Mix with a fork. If too thin, add some more sugar. If too thick, add just a tinge more milk. Mine was about as thick as cake frosting. When I applied it to the warm rolls, it didn't melt off for being too thin and glazed up very nicely.

It's hard to believe that a few simple ingredients and a bit of technique can produce something so sublime, but I challenge you to give it a whirl. It's so easy and, my cooking wives counterparts agree, delicious!

Chicken Divine!- Jamie O's Roast Chicken Recipe

When I bought Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook, I made a vow to "pass on" at least one recipe from each chapter of the book. He kinda makes you sign a promise to do so in the front of the book. He's on a mission to get people cooking at home from scratch again. Most of the recipes are of typical weeknight foods: chili, stir-frys, fajitas, stews. All are simple. This is the third recipe I have made from the cookbook and all I can say is "wowza!"

Roast chicken is awesome for many reasons: It's cheap, makes a lot of meals, is simple to make, and the big one: my kids will eat it! It's a classic dish that I suspect anyone would eat. But if you can take this simple bird and take it from good to divine (and still get your kids to eat it) I'd say it deserves a try.

The most important thing about this dish is what I'm going to tell you right now: make what Jamie calls a "vegetable trivet". All this means is, wash a few carrots, a few stalks of celery, and an onion or two and throw it in the bottom of your roaster with some garlic cloves. You don't even have to peel the veggies (not even the onions!). Drizzle some oil over the veggies.

Next, you are going to rinse your chicken, take out the guts which are most likely in a bag, and set it right on top of the veggie trivet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little oil. Take a lemon and pierce it with a knife all over. Stuff it in the chicken's cavity and add some fresh herbs. I used rosemary. Delish.

I covered the bird with foil and baked it at 400. Uncover to brown the skin after 2 hours or so. The pop-up timer on my chicken may have been defective because it never popped. I baked a 7.5 lb bird for about 3 hours and just couldn't stand waiting anymore. It smelled so good and everything else was ready. So we may have eaten undercooked chicken, but it sure tasted good.

Anyhow, about 20 minutes before the bird is done, or when you take the foil off to let it brown, scoop those yummy roasted vegetables in the trivet out and put them in a saucepan. Take out all the drippings so far and add them too. Place the saucepan over medium heat and add enough chicken broth or water to cover the veggies. Bring the mixture to a boil and carefully mash the veggies as they cook. It will be lumpy- no big deal. Cook for about 10 minutes. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar while it cooked. The mixture was a gorgeous brown color. When done simmering the sauce, pour into a course sieve over a bowl. Use the masher to press the veggies to extract as much broth as you can. DON'T chuck those veggies. Return only the broth to the pan.

Add some more chicken broth or water to the pan (up to a quart total). Bring back to a simmer. Mix 2 TBSP corn starch with 1/4 cup cold water and add to the broth mixture. Reduce heat and stir. It should thicken up into a lovely gravy. Season with salt and pepper. This gravy is wonderful! Complex from the roasted veggies, vinegar, and chicken drippings!

Hubby's leftovers to take to work- that gravy is gorgeous!

I have always cooked my roasters in an oven bag so I was afraid I was going to end up with a dry chicken. Not at all! This dish was simply delicious! There were quite a few dirty dishes to hate afterward, but everything else was to love!

I added the leftover veggies from the trivet to the chicken stock I prepared with the bones and leftover meat. Can't wait to try that in some homemade soup!

Arroz Con Gandules

My Puerto Rican friend from New Jersey taught me how to make this classic dish a long time ago. I didn't do it justice.

Arroz Con Gandules (Spanish Rice)
Chopped up ham.
chopped onion
chopped green pepper or red.
about 2 garlic cloves
1 15oz can Goya Green Pigeon Peas, do not drain.
1 packet of Sazon.
some Adobo.
1 small can of tomato sauce (8oz)
3 cups water
2 cups rice(Goya medium grain is the best, I didn't have any just jasmine it came out okay so use the Goya)
green onion for garnish.

Use a good pot like cast iron or a good heavy one for this dish. Heat it up add ham, onion, and pepper cook a couple mins. Put in garlic and cook a min longer. Add the remaining ingredients except rice to boil. Stir in rice;cover. Turn heat down, check on it to make sure it doesn't stick, takes about 30 mins. Fluff with fork not spoon. I love green onion so I added to the end for garnish my own flair not really in the recipe.
Everyone liked it in my house but John John(no surprise)

Ultimate Berry Cobbler W/ Vanilla Bean Creme Anglaise

I don't have a lot of "ultimate" recipes in my repertoire... but this is one of them. And here I go sharing my secrets for which I could be famous someday... yet I succumb to the CWC creator's request for another dessert recipe. This is a keeper.

What makes this cobbler the ultimate is butter, for one, coconut for two, and real vanilla bean for three. The cobbler is excellent by itself, but the creme anglaise (say it like this, wives- crehm ahnglez) brings it to a whole new level.

You'll need about 8 cups of any kind of berries you like. I used a mixture of frozen strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries (I really like Wymans). You could use peaches, apples, whatever kind of fruit is in season. Make it yours (but give me the credit- LOL).

Step 1- Mix 8 cups of fruit with 1 cup of sugar (you can lessen the amount of sugar easily! The topping is very sweet so don't hesitate to cut down on the amount used on the berries) Also mix 1/4 cup instant tapioca in with the fruit. Pour it into an 8x8 or 9x13 pan- deep dish or standard cobbler- it's up to you.

Step 2- The topping! Combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup shredded coconut, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp baking power, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 stick of cold butter (cut into pieces). Mix it with a pastry blender or your hands until course. (I've made the mistake of mixing this in the Kitchenaid and it comes out like cookie dough.) Blend in 1 egg, using the same method.

Step 3- Sprinkle the fruit with the topping. It's not meant to cover every little bit of fruit so don't worry if it doesn't. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until the topping is golden and fruit is bubbling. (Put a pan underneath your baking dish in case it overflows). As it cools, the juice will thicken.

Now, the creme de la creme! (Isn't this gorgeous? Vanilla bean happily floating in cream? Wait till you smell it!)

Step 1- Separate 5 eggs, keeping the yolks for the sauce. Combine yolks with 3 TBSP sugar, and a pinch of salt

Step 2- Warm 2 cups half and half, 2 TBSP sugar, and 1 vanilla bean in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. You're going to want to split the vanilla bean in half and scrape out the black insides. Then cut the pod up into pieces and throw them in the pan too (trust me).

Now, a vanilla bean is an investment. I paid $10 for 2. Trust me... for this special dish, it's worth it!

Step 3- Once the half and half mixture is steaming slightly, pour just a little into the egg mixture and whisk it. This tempers the eggs so they don't curdle (you do not want scrambled egg anglaise). Then pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and return it to medium- low heat. Stir constantly! Wait for it to thicken, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a blender.

Step 4- Blend the creme. You're going to pulverize the vanilla bean pod. Strain over a bowl, toss the vanilla bean pod remains, and chill the creme.

Step 5- Eat the creme like soup!

You could. But it is excellent served with the above cobbler, pudding cakes, pies or fresh fruit.

Voila! My secret is out. I must go in search of some more ultimate recipes!

Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients

1-2 lbs of split chicken breast
1-2 lbs of ground beef or turkey
For the soup: chopped onion
chopped celery, chopped carrots,chopped potatoes.
Add chicken breast,onion,celery,carrots,adobo,salt,pepper,bay leaf,basil, garlic powder,onion powder, and poultry seasoning in pot. Cook on low few hours, remove chicken take meat off bone put back in pot discard any skin and bone. Add potatoes and your favorite chicken stock to pot. Mine is Rachel Ray's chicken stock. You may need to add a few more seasonings.
Meatballs: Take ground turkey or beef and parm cheese, bread crumbs, egg, and ketchup mix together. Get bake sheet and roll little balls and put on the sheet bake on 350 degrees like 20-30 mins. Remove add to soup let cook on low.
Clean kale and trim add to soup last 15 minutes of cooking.
I think that's it, it's very delicious.

Monterary Jack Chicken

I of course made this and did not think of putting it on the blog or getting a pic. But some asked for the recipe so I thought why not put it up. Very easy and healthy looks pretty too.

1-2lbs of boneless chicken breast
salt and pepper
of course Adobo seasoning
EVOO(extra virgin olive oil)
scallions
couple tomatoes diced
Monterary jack cheese

get pan hot with some evoo, season chicken breast with salt, pepper, and Adobo. Pan fry for 7-8 mins. Put oven on 350 degrees either use your fry pan of oven safe dish put chicken in oven and let continue to cook. Last five minutes of cooking put cheese,tomatoes, and scallions on. My husband loved it and it was pretty healthy for the Robinson household.