Buttery Cinnamon Rolls

Soft, buttery, sweet and soaked in cinnamon goodness. Here it is, simple yet so gorgeous cinnamon rolls.

Add this comforting warm bread in your breakfast menu or just serve them with a hot cup of tea or coffee. These are super delicious and tad easy to make at home. I have been dyeing to make few types of bread from quite some time. So what was stopping me? It’s a shame to say, but a reality..I don’t get good yeast in the area where I live. It makes me cry. What a fuss for such a simple thing. If get a good one and buy in bulk they will die off eventually. Every time I open a pack and do the test, my heart beats faster and I pray to have a good yeast to continue my endeavor with bread. Of course I was lucky and went on to bake these beauties which are my current favorite (So yummm!!!)

I have mentioned before in my earlier post on bread here the most important thing in bread making is your humble yeast and step to test that your yeast is alive is just not to be skipped. In this recipe all you need is all purpose flour, butter, sugar and cinnamon. Yeah some water and milk as well, and you can have a winner after the process.

2 and 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Milk

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 and 1/4 teaspoons Instant Yeast

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

FILLING

3 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon Ground cinnamon

1/4 cup Sugar

For dough:

In a large bowl, toss the 2 and 1/4 cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Keep ½ cup flour for later use.

Heat the water, milk, and butter together until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot enough to touch. Pour this butter mixture into the flour mixture. You may add the reserved flour to make soft dough, if the mixture is too wet. I just used a spoon more. Your dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.

Lightly flour the surface and knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rest for about 10 minutes.

For Cinnamon filling: 

After the dough is rested, roll the dough out in a rectangle (approx 12x6 inch). Spread the softened butter on top. Sprinkle it all over the dough. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar.  Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 8 even pieces and place in a lightly greased the pan. I used a rectangular pan.

Cover the pan with cling film and allow to rise in a warm, for 60-90 minutes. After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 180 °C. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned.

You can make Vanilla glaze by combining 1 cup of icing sugar, with 1 table spoon of Vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix well and spatter over the rolls.

Plum Pudding Cake - Sweet, Fruity and Spicy Treat

It’s a gorgeous sweet, fruity and spicy treat – great as a pudding or with evening tea.

I find baking with fruits is very exciting and quite challenging. Getting a good texture and keeping the flavours of fruits alive is quite tricky if you ask me.  So when I got my hands on some lovely ruby red plums I thought of trying this cake. The heart and soul of this cake is good sweet plums so please taste your plums before taking the plunge. I came across this recipe long back on a BBC show and it’s just got stuck in my head. It’s not like I did not try it before, that warning above is coming from there. You need beautiful and sweet plums, ITS A MUST.

Other thing which I would insist on is brown sugar. Brown sugar not only uplifts the flavors of fruits in the cake but it does wonders to the texture. So get ready to bake a rich, buttery and gooey cake with me.

2 Cup Flour

1 lightly heaped Tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 lightly heaped Tsp ground Cinnamon

1 lightly heaped Tsp Ground Ginger

4 Tbsp of Honey

1 Cup Butter

¾ Cup Brown sugar

¼ Cup Granular sugar

 2 Cup Plums

2 Eggs (Replace with 1 Cup curd, if not using eggs)

1 Cup Milk

Pre heat the oven at 180C. Line a square baking tray with baking paper.

Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger into a bowl.

Warm honey, granular sugar and butter very gently in a pan until the butter and sugar melts. Stir in the brown sugar. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Halve the plums, or cut them into quarters if they are very large, and remove the stones.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and whisk lightly to mix.

Pour the honey butter syrup mixture into the flour and mix with a large spoon. Pour in the egg and milk and continue stirring till you have almost sloppy batter without any lumps.

Tip the mixture into the lined cake tin, drop in the plums and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Server this pudding cake with a dollop of whip cream or just a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and see the magic.

Easy and Fun - Cinnamon Sugar doughnuts

Doughnuts for me always been an exotic treat as in India good doughnuts can be tasted only at fine bakeries or café unlike west where they are everywhere. Always great in taste and quality. I remember how I treated myself with variety of doughnuts during my stay in Australia. My sweet tooth which loves all not so sweet things got soaked in doughnuts and tarts.

I use to wonder how these things are made and never in my dream, thought that these are deep fried items. Seriously I did not know till I saw in Masterchef Australia that doughnuts are fried.

So now you can imagine what my thoughts must be for considering them as a dish could be made at home. “It’s a store brought thing” was encrypted in my subconscious mind, till I ran into Krispy Creame doughnuts some time back. Off course they are yummilicious. Soft as clouds and super tasty.

It rang a bell inside me asked why don’t you at least try give it a try.

So with newly found motivation I turned to take up this battle.

With some doubts and lot of determination I stared making them and before I could doubt more they were there on my plate. I did not know a home cook can make doughnuts in a humble kitchen and its not a rocket science.

I am in so much love with these fluffy, fragrant and sugary babies that I want to make them again and again. It feels like dream to me.

All you need is:

2 tsp active dry yeast

1½ Tablespoons Lukewarm Water

½  Cup Lukewarm Milk

4 Tablespoons Superfine Sugar, plus extra, for dusting

50g Unsalted Butter, melted

2¼ Cups (335g) Flour

1 eggs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Place the yeast, water, milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl and set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

Add the butter, flour, eggs and another 1 tablespoon sugar to the yeast mixture and use a spatula to mix until a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

 Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

 Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Make a ball of dough and roll out 1cm-thick.

 Use a 6cm-round cutter to cut around the dough to make 6 rounds. Use a 2cm-round cutter to cut holes from the centre of the rounds to make rings.

Place rings on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside for 30 minutes or until risen.

 Place the oil  in a large and deep pan over medium heat until temperature reaches 180°C.

Cook the doughnuts, in batches, for 1–2 minutes each side or until golden.

Drain on absorbent paper. Dust with the extra sugar and serve immediately.

Ta-da , crispy on outside and fluffy soft from inside doughnuts are ready.   

Verdict – If I can make doughnuts at home, you can make them too and with sooooo.. much less worries.

Chocolate Cinnamon Wonton Donna Hay Style

Wontons are dumpling dish which is made in various ways in south east Asian countries. There are both boil and deep fried version with various different fillings. Earlier the shell was made by rolling out very thin wonton sheets but now days most of the Super markets have got ready made wonton sheets. In Indian we get it like Spring roll sheet as well.

I am a big fan of Donna Hay; she is an Australian food stylist, author, and magazine editor. I love her “Fast, Fresh, Simple” series. She does magic using just couple of simple ingredients and cooks stunning dishes.

Another reason for my love for her is our common love for white color. She is an extensive user of white in all her enamelware, crockery and kitchen equipment. Even her food styling and photography is heavily based on white themes. So, I decided to do my wonton photograph in white theme too.

Wonton sheet is one of the produce she has used to present a range of dishes and Yes, savoury as well as sweets. Chocolate cinnamon wonton is my favorite because it’s really really really: Fresh, Fast and Simple. 15 minutes all you need to pull this out of your magic box. All you need are following for this recipe:

8 Wonton Wrappers or 2 Spring Roll Sheets

20 gm Butter, melted

8 Small Squares of Dark Chocolate

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 tbsp caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven at 180 ºC

If using spring roll sheet fold it from middle to divide in half and then fold one more time from middle. Cut from these fold mark to divide one sheet in 4 small squares

Brush the edges of the wonton wrappers with a little butter and fold from middle to make a rectangle

Place a chocolate square in the middle of the rectangle and press to seal the edges.  You will make 8 rectangles

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush wontons with butter and bake for 8 minutes or until golden
 

Sprinkle with combined cinnamon and sugar. Your Chocolate cinnamon wonton is ready

Serve warm

These small nibbles are great for any time, have them with tea (Again?? Yeah), serve with your favorite ice-cream to add panache in your dessert or just have them just like that…crunchy, warm chocolaty treat anytime