Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

For those fans of Alton Brown's Good Eats, here comes my rendering of his Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, from Good Eats 2, the Middle Years.

Why buy mass-produced cinnamon rolls at the grocery, filled with who knows what "extras", when it's fairly simple to make at home, especially if you're fortunate enough to have a stand mixer? 

I'm not going to list out the quantity of ingredients separately, but will include them along the way, including photos.

 Make the dough:  Combine 4 eggs yolks plus 1 whole egg with 2 oz sugar (slightly less than 1/4 cup), 6 T of melted unsalted butter (3/4 stick), and 3/4 cup of buttermilk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted w/the whisk attachment on medium speed.  Add 10 oz of all-purpose flour, along with one envelope of instant dry yeast and 1-1/4 tsp salt; whisk until moistened and combined.

Remove the whisk attachment and replace it w/the dough hook.  Add 6 more oz of A-P flour and knead on low for 5 minutes.  Check the consistency of the dough, and add up to 4 more oz of flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist, but NOT sticky.  Knead on low for 5 minutes more, OR until dough clears the sides of the bowl.  

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead by hand for about 30 seconds.  Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oiling the top of the dough.  Cover, and allow to rise until doubled in volume, about 2 to 2-1/2 hours.

Make the filling by combining 8 oz light brown sugar with 1 T ground cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl, mixing until well incorporated.  Set the sugar mixture aside, along with 1-1/2 T melted unsalted butter.

Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  When your dough has risen, gently use your knuckles to "punch" down the dough, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you.  Roll it into an 18 x 12" rectangle.

Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2" border along the top edge.  Sprinkle your brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4" border along the top edge.  Gently press the sugar mixture into the dough.

Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder, and firmly pinch the seam to seal, then roll the cylinder seam side down.  Very gently squeeze the roll to created an even thickness.  Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into twelve 1-1/2" rolls.

Arrange the rolls cut side down in the baking dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge overnight, or up to 16 hours.

When you want to bake the rolls, allow approximately 90 minutes before you wish to eat.  Remove the rolls from the fridge and place them in a turned-off oven.  Fill a shallow pan 2/3 full of boiling water and set it on the rack below your rolls.  This becomes your proofing oven, which will allow the rolls to rise further.  Close the oven door and allow the rolls to rise until they look slightly puffy, roughly 30 minutes.  Remove both the rolls and the water from the oven, and preheat the oven to 350.

Bake the rolls on the middle rack of the oven until they are golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 190, about 30 minutes (mine were ready after about 23-25 minutes).  Remove from oven and allow to cool while you make the icing.

Whisk 2-1/2 oz of cream cheese until creamy (I used 4 oz, or 1/2 block).  Add 3 T milk (I used orange juice, tho I may use Grand Marnier or Amaretto next time...), and whisk until combined.  Sift in 6 oz of confectioners sugar, whisking until smooth.

I put my icing into a squeeze bottle, and set that into a glass of warm water, for ease of covering the rolls.

These are very tasty, and next time I may cut dried cherries into slivers and scatter them over the dough, along with dark chocolate pieces, before cutting them and proofing.

Alton also does these with lemon zest and candied ginger, with an apricot jam glaze, which I've made before.  Tasty, but one member of the family is not a fan of ginger, so cinnamon it is...

CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD WITH CACAO NIBS AND SEA SALT

(Recipe from page 87 of The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg - contributed by Elizabeth Falkner)

NOTES:  I've made these twice, reducing the salt mixed into the shortbread to only 4 g the second time, and dropping just a few teeny chunks of pink, black, or white sea salt on top of each cookie before baking (courtesy of salt I schlepped home from Hawaii).  IMO, you could reduce the amount further if salt is an issue for you, but the salt just furthers the chocolate flavor from the cocoa powder and cacao nibs.  Additionally, the second time I made them, I did NOT crush the cacao nibs with a rolling pin (I couldn't justify the amount of effort it took to crush the nibs, even using a marble rolling pin) - just whirled them a few seconds in a mini food processor. Honestly, I think next time I will try placing the nibs in a bag and using a mallet on them - it doesn't bother me to have the crunch of the nibs - gives them a different texture besides the melt-in-your mouth feel of shortbread.  The only downside is that you may wish to check your teeth in the mirror for bits of nibs - small price to pay for this addictive deliciousness!

1 cup all-purpose flour (4-1/2 oz)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (72 g)

1/4 cup + 2 T cacao nibs, crushed with a rolling pin (45 g)

1 tsp fine or coarse sea salt (5 g)

12 T (6 oz OR 1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar (4 oz)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

You will get better results, especially when undertaking a new recipe, if you do your mise en place - gather all your ingredients, measure them into separate bowls or cups, and prep your utensils - baking sheets, spatulas, spoons, etc.  This enables you to proceed smoothly from one step to the next, without having to stop to look for your next ingredient, only to possibly find you do not have it.

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of your oven, and preheat to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with Silpat sheets or parchment paper.  I baked the first batch using each type, but chose the Silpat the second time I made the recipe.  Personal choice. 

Here's what your nibs look like before AND after crushing.  I thought that certainly I must resemble the (please don't kill me if I'm incorrect here) Aztec or Mayan women who use what I believe is basalt 'rolling pins' (metlapils) on the hard surface (metates) to break cacao down into smooth chocolate.  Lots of effort, and one I refused to use my family heirloom large-diameter rolling pin that I'm fairly certain my grandfather, a carpenter by trade, made for my grandmother.  I couldn't bear leaving dented impressions of nibs in the pin, and killing the smooth texture of the wood. 

Here's a fun website with info on the effort used to hand make chocolate:

 http://www.themijachronicles.com/2010/08/grinding-chocolate-on-the-metate-the-traditional-mexican-way/ 

Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Combine the cacao nibs and sea salt in another small bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed ~5 minutes, until light and fluffy, stopping periodically to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  

Mix in the vanilla.  Add about half of the flour/cocoa powder mixture and mix on low speed.  Scrape the bowl, then add the remaining flour-cocoa mixture, incorporating on medium speed 1-2 minutes.  

Mix in the nibs and salt.  At this point, you may refrigerate the dough, well wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week or freeze it for up to 2 months.  I chose to immediately proceed to the following step, tho next time I make this, I may wrap it for 30-minute stay in the fridge for possible easier handling, especially if it is warm in the kitchen already.

Gently form the dough into a square and place between two pieces of parchment paper, or on a lightly floured countertop, and roll to a 1/4" thickness.  Cut into 1" x 2-1/2" rectangles or other desired shape, by hand or with a cookie cutter, and place on your prepared sheet pans about 1" apart.

As you can see, the first time I used a knife (and a ruler, but I'm a bit of a nerd).  The second time I used a pizza cutter, and still made them 1" wide, but cut them a bit longer - say closer to 4" long.  They don't spread much, so 1" apart is plenty.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway thru baking.  If you begin smelling cookies baking in the air, they may be done.  When gently nudged, they shouldn't feel soft, but the bottoms should seem crisp.  The 1st time, I did the 15 minutes, but reduced the time for the next batch, and liked them even more.  

Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies (gently) to a cooling rack to cool completely.

The next time I do these, I am rolling them slightly thicker, more along the 3/8" to 1/2" thick.  I prefer them just a smidgen softer.  

While the original instructions indicate you should get about 3 dozen cookies, at 1" x 2-1/2", your batch will render less than 30 should you choose to make them longer, as I had in my second batch.

So, what are you waiting for?  While it's not quite immediate gratification, they are so worth the effort.  If it's the lack of cacao nibs, I believe you could get away with finely chopped nuts, but quite honestly, these cookies would rule even without the nibs!

It's so difficult to begin to fathom just how much has taken place over the past year for my family.  If you're a loyal reader, the last post you've read would have been on my alternate blog - BartlettTastestheWorld! - in which I discuss the horrifying 2 weeks my 87-year-old father had spent by that point in the hospital after breaking his femur in THREE places.

Unfortunately, he ended up back there a third, and tragically final time, passing away on 9/22/16.  We had a lovely memorial service for him (and my mother, who'd passed away in October of 2012), and will be honoring their request to be scattered over Beartooth in the future. 

Life is finally beginning to become my own again, as quite a few things tend to fall by the wayside when your family faces struggles such as his initial brain surgery in November of 2015, then finding a lovely retirement community that nurtured the last year of his life, one where he found many new friends, helping take care of his finances, medications, doctor visits, etc., and his passing. 

On those days when I spent way more time on things for his benefit, and he'd come out of his room during the time he stayed with us and make comments about the amount of time I was on the computer (nearly always taking care of his affairs), I'm so fortunate I always reminded myself that maybe, just maybe, at times during his life when he was working 60 hours or more per week, walking across 100 acres thru hip-deep snow to get to the Turnpike so a snowplow could pick him up to transport him to work, where he worked 30 straight hours during the blizzard of 1978, maybe he'd have liked to have a few hours off, but he was a dedicated family man, providing for our family.  I'm glad I was able to spend so much of his final year making sure his life was as fulfilling and enjoyable as possible.  

As I begin to gain control of my life and do a few more things that I enjoy, like scrapbooking, Photoshopping vacation photos, and traveling, I am once again cooking and baking more often, so my plan is to post weekly, and a great recipe to being with is for the Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Cacao Nibs and Sea Salt that I baked recently.  Look for this post this week - these cookies are seriously addictive!

September 17, 2016

Readers, please go to my other blog, BartlettTastestheWorld!, to learn why you haven't been seeing any posts.  It's a very stressful time, but I promise, for my own sanity, and the love of culinary creations, I will be posting again.  

Until then, hug your family, tell them what they mean to you, create a meal together, and share the love...

Jumping Back Into My Life - Kick-Start My OWN Health!

The time has finally arrived, when I'm just SO tired, literally and figuratively, of how I feel, and of allowing myself to make excuses - why I don't eat more healthy foods, why I don't seem to care enough about my own health that I'll let everyone else's wants and needs come before my own, why I'll sit down at the computer to "just check my email" and get sucked back into still sitting there an hour later, responding to communications about my dad's medical and financial requisites, and why I can't workout (someone else is in the house, and I don't want people watching me, it's too cold, it's too hot, I don't want to spend half an hour on the road to go to the gym, etc).

I've reached the point where I have to put on my big girl pants, and place my own physical and mental well-being ahead of jumping to do something for someone else.  Similar to being on a flight, and the attendants say, "Put on your own mask before assisting others", I need to follow thru with that myself. 

I hate to risk saying it for fear that the universe overhears it (fingers crossed!), but I believe I've finally gotten all of my father's affairs in order after his brain surgery - medicines ordered, bills all being automatically paid, change of addresses/phone numbers for various bills, and multitudes of official forms (licenses, deeds, banking info, etc.) copied for our planner to send to the VA office for some assistance, etc. 

I need to keep in mind this question:  how much good will it do for my father that I've spent the equivalent time I would have spent at a paying job, getting his financial and medical affairs in order, if I end up mentally and physically weak from the stress of not taking time to tend to my OWN body's requirements, and thus eventually can't be of assistance any longer for him or the rest of my family?  

And if I care so much for my family's well-being, why in the world don't I care about my OWN enough to do whatever I can to maintain my own health?  I want to be able to slide into the grave, fully spent from accomplishing all the adventures I wanted to undertake in life, with a drink in one hand, and the other waving high in the sky.

So, greedily, I'm clinging to maintaining this feeling that I WILL proceed with this endeavor, THIS time, to improve my own health, both physically and mentally, by eating more nutritious food, exercising more regularly, and doing yoga/meditating for better mental clarity.  

With all that in mind, yesterday I downloaded My Fitness Pal onto my phone (tho I had it on my laptop, I never used it).  I was greatly surprised by the ease of use, particularly with having the ability to scan food items and have the nutritional info for each serving easily accessible to log into my diary.  I enjoy the ability to scan a package, or type in a food search, then log in my food choices without having to read over the package info (or in a book - ew!), or have to calculate what 2-1/2 servings would equate to in calories, protein or fat grams, etc., plus have the freedom of not physically writing them down on paper or typing them into a homemade log on my computer.  

Using this app also offers me a much simpler way to log in my exercises - it even spurred me into taking that walk yesterday that I haven't been doing over the winter - I actually wanted to do something so I could record it.  And I enjoy the ease of recording time spent exercising, without checking for a list of calories burned while doing a particular activity - it's all there in the app.  

I'm one of those people who feel they need some kind of record to be able to look back over, and logging them into the computer or writing them down ends up taking too much time, so I give it up after a couple of days.  With this app, I feel more of a sense of hope that I can maintain a sense of forward movement and accomplishment of goals, without getting frustrated over paperwork.

When having lunch with my father at his senior living center one day a couple of weeks ago, the first course was a barley soup, which was almost entirely just barley in a light broth with a bit of onion.  I guess I'd forgotten how much I like that kind of toothy, more firm texture that barley typically has, as opposed to the less nutritional choice of rice or pasta.  

I skimmed thru a few of my cookbooks, looking for pearled barley recipes (yes, I'm aware that pearled has been abraded, and is slightly less nutritionally valuable than hull barley, but surprisingly it hasn't lost that many nutrients).  Following is the recipe I chose, Hamburger-Barley Soup, page 82, from The Big Book of Soups & Stews, by Maryana Vollstedt.

NOTE:  I made a few slight changes, due to not having carrots, and having a larger quantity of barley that I wanted to use up, along with more meat in my package.

I will most definitely prepare this soup again, and would probably add even more vegetables - maybe leeks, zucchini, or even sweet potatoes or butternut squash.  I might also change it up by switching the broth choice to either chicken or vegetable, or use ground turkey or chicken meat.  Quite possibly, I could see omitting the meat entirely.  

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I use EVO)

1 pound lean ground beef (I used 1-1/2 pounds)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (I omitted)

2 stalks celery, chopped (I used 4 stalks)

2 carrots, chopped (omitted, but I would use them if I had any)

1 can (14-1/2 oz) whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice (I used a 28 oz can)

1/2 cup pearl barley, thoroughly rinsed (I used 1 cup)

4 cups beef stock or broth

1 cup water (I added probably an extra cup, since I had double the quantity of barley)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Place a large pot over medium heat, and add oil, then meat, onion, garlic, celery, and carrots.  (I sauteed my onions before adding meat, etc.).  Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until meat is no longer pink, 5-10 minutes.  

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until vegetables and barley are tender, about 1 hour (I only cooked mine about 45 minutes, and it had a nice toothsome texture).  Remove bay leaf and discard.  Season to taste with ground pepper.

I stirred in a few grinds of parmigiano-reggiano cheese, to add just a bit more saltiness and a touch of umami flavor.  This was a bit hit in my house - even the 'trying-to-be-a-vegetarian' older daughter liked it, meat not withstanding.  

Please do me this favor - if you enjoy reading either of my blogs, ku-ku4cookbooks OR Bartletttastestheworld! (the adventures of my friend Bartlett, an adorable stuffed moose who's on a quest to savor life's flavors), pass them along to others you think might enjoy them - while I began these blogs as something for myself, I'd still love to have others read them, outside of my family and a few friends...

I'm back ???

Happy New Year to one and all!

In finally sitting down to work on my new, much larger computer, I decided to finally revisit this blog, which was my first blog.  I knew it had been quite some time since my last post, but WOW!  My new blog with my moose friend, Bartlett (Bartletttastestheworld!) took precedence over this one.

Now, I've been cooking a lot along the way, but very little from cookbooks, and that has increased recently.  You see, my father fell while in the hospital for a quick carotid check on, of all days, Friday, the 13th, in November, and ended up having to have two holes drilled in his skull to drain off accumulated blood and other liquids.

After the surgery, he was in a rehab facility for 3 weeks, and now he's been living with us for the past 3 weeks, so I've tried to alter our typical all-over-the-world outlook on our meals to one a bit more senior friendly.

That being said, you can expect me to delve back into my cookbooks very soon, so hope to read your comments!  

Gnocchi alla Romana - a variation

Finding myself with still nearly a gallon of the more expensive organic milk with an expiration date of July 19th, it was time to come up with a recipe that would utilize a good deal of it.  Recalling that my younger daughter had just two days prior found an unlabeled bag of some type of powder in the pantry, I knew what type of recipe I was on the lookout for - gnocchi alla romana, or gnocchi in the Roman style, which uses semolina, instead of potato or ricotta, or even goat cheese.  BTW - the "powder" was semolina.  

I was hep to try this out, as last Friday hubby and I went to an Italian restaurant we hadn't dined at yet, and I'd chosen two smaller portions of handmade pastas - my "main" course of thick tagliatelle with ragu alla bolognese, and my "primo" or first course of semolina gnocchi with kale (which I had them omit), braised oxtail, and creme fraiche.  Both pastas were quite delicious, and I was pleasantly surprised that the gnocchi didn't leave me feeling stuffed afterward.

I began measuring ingredients according to The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia, cross-referencing also Marc Vetri's Mastering Pasta, and it's a good thing I did, as once again, if I'd followed the first recipe's cooking directions verbatim, the gnocchi would have been severely overcooked, dried, burnt - good only for the garbage can.    

Your basic recipe that renders enough for 4-6 more-than-generous servings calls for 4 cups (1 quart) of milk, brought to a boil, then seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.  Note:  when heating milk, you don't actually want it to boil, and you need to warm it gradually over a medium or lower flame, or you'll end up with burnt milk solids in a ring around your pan - very difficult and time consuming to remove.  

I decided to also add a handful of chopped thyme for a little extra flavor, and I'd definitely recommend choosing any variety of herbs for just this reason.

Once your milk is seasoned, you add your 8 ounces of semolina in a steady stream, whisking until combined.  Here's where the recipes vary DRASTICALLY.  The original said to whisk about 15 minutes, until the mixture is very thick.  Ooh, big mistake there!  Checking Vetri's book reveals that it only takes about 30 SECONDS, NOT minutes.  

Pull the pan off the heat, add 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano, along with 2 eggs, plus an extra yolk, lightly beaten beforehand.  

Book 1 says to pour the mixture into a greased baking tray to a thickness of about 1/2", or spread it over a dampened work surface.  Unfortunately, you have absolutely no way of knowing what size pan this will cover to just a thickness of 1/2".  I spread mine into a 1/4 sheet pan, only to see that it was pretty much a full inch thick.  You let it cool completely, then cut out 1-1/4" discs with a cookie cutter.  

I ended up cooling it, flipping it out onto a cutting board, and using a 2-1/4" cutter, rendering about a dozen discs and enough leftover scraps that probably would have given me another dozen.  An easier way would be to just cut it into 2" squares.  

While your oven is preheating to 350 degrees, you layer the discs in a buttered baking dish, dotting each layer with a sprinkling of Parmiggiano (another 1/2 cup total), along with flakes of butter (the recipe called for 5 Tablespoons, which probably would be okay for the entire recipe, but remember I ended up only baking half).  Bake the gnocchi for about 15 minutes, until browned on top.

Okay, I baked mine more like 20 minutes, because it was 1" thick, but I'd also topped mine with sauteed onions (1-1/2 large, cut into slices) and a bit more grated cheese than called for.  

Recommendations:  Make HALF this amount, season generously with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and lots of minced herbs, and use the FULL amount of cheese, topping with sauteed onions or red peppers.

FINISHED DISH:

In this case, I believe I'd just stick to polenta - far more flavor, even with adding extra seasonings and herbs.  

Ciao!

Cookbook info next week - please read Bartlett

Hello friends.  Next Monday I'll be posting a cookbook recipe review.  But, in the meantime, I encourage you all to check out my other blog, Bartlett Tastes the World, where Bartlett tells the tale of, ooh, I shouldn't spoil it for you...Just please read what he has to say, and keep it in mind next time you are considering your vacation plans.  You'll make him a happy little moose!

Cross-blogging - Bartlett!

Just a note to let my regular readers for kuku4cookbooks know to check out Bartlett's posting today, so you can get to know him a bit better.

bartletttastestheworld!

Announcing my new blog, BARTLETT TAKES THE WORLD!

The Launch of my 2nd blog: BARTLETT TAKES THE WORLD!

Well, the poll from this blog, kuku4cookbooks, revealed that my new blog about the adventures of Bartlett, my lovably small plush moose from Alaska shall be named:  Bartlett Tastes the World!  Now, the greatest majority of the new blog's content will start off being a locale to display photos of the world travels that we, his newly-adopted family, have already taken, but along the way, Bartlett will gradually shine in more and more adventures along with us, traveling and tasting the world (and of course being photographed!).  

Taste:  to eat or drink a small amount of, to distinguish the flavor of, as in dining.  But, it doesn't have to be limited solely to food or drink.  Taste can also mean to have an experience, like a new adventure, meeting new people, seeing areas of the world you've never seen, enjoying a new experience.

It can involve getting just a small taste, or sample, of something, whether food, or the landscape of a country, or its people.  Taste may be the ability to appreciate an object that may be beautiful only in your own eyes, whereas others might shun such an item, and say it wasn't "to their taste".

Here's hoping your tastes run along the same line as my own - that you enjoy photography, travel, food, landscapes, and this ADORABLE moose named Bartlett (full name:  Bartlett Cove, or BC for short, as we brought him home from Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay, Alaska).

Until I fully get into the groove, after choosing just a few photos out of the 7,000+ I shot while in AK, WA, and OR this month, keep reading my original blog, kuku4cookbooks, where I pull out one of my well over 200 cookbooks and critique a recipe, revealing what changes or tips I feel you might like having passed along to you.

Ciao for now!

P.S.  Please anticipate seeing the layout of Bartlett's blog morph over time, as I add more gadgets, etc. to refine the experience for you.  By July 1st, I will have subscribe/follow buttons up and going.