cinnamon rolls

So my husband and I have just two weeks to go until we get to eat desserts again. I am dying for buttery yellow cake with chocolate frosting; soft, chewy, still-warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies; and really, anything that has chocolate and sugar. So far we have not broken down and had dessert, but several times we have been really close to caving. This weekend, we were tempted by a chocolate ice cream cake and gooey butter cake. I was willing to give in, but my husband managed to resist, so I held firm as well. It wouldn't be any fun to indulge if he doesn't do it too. The competition between us is probably the only thing that is keeping me going.

In keeping with the agreement that we can have breakfast foods, I have made cinnamon rolls a couple of times. Since I never thought to make them in time to let them rise, I have been using a quick cinnamon roll recipe from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. The first time I made them, I foolishly thought I didn't need to read the directions thoroughly, so I spread too much melted butter on the dough before adding the filling, which made all the cinnamony sugar run out of the rolls when I baked them.

The second time though, I followed the directions exactly and the cinnamon rolls turned out better. (Of course.)

After the first batch, I realized I missed the yeasty taste found in regular sweet dough cinnamon rolls. This recipe uses baking powder as a leavener, and is almost more like a biscuit dough than a sweet dough.For the second batch, I increased the sugar in the dough by 1 tablespoon. I probably could have put even more in (because there is never a thing as too much sugar), but this little bit seemed to make the entire dish sweeter. One of the best parts about the recipe is the addition of cloves to the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture of the inside of the rolls. The ground cloves really sets off the cinnamon and is delicious.When I was growing up, my parents made cinnamon rolls for Sunday breakfast each week. While everyone else was digging in, I patiently unrolled the finished roll, put butter between all the layers, then rolled it back together to douse it with powdered sugar icing. That treatment is just as good now as it was back then.

There is just one roll left in the house. I wonder which one of us will get to it first.

no cookies for 6+ weeks

We always seem to have something sweet in the kitchen--usually cookies, but sometimes cake and brownies, too. We almost always spend at least one weekday evening baking in the kitchen. Lately, to maximize our time, we've taken to making triple and quadruple batches of cookies, meaning that since we don't start baking until after the girls are in bed around 8:30 pm, we are up half the night trying to use up all the dough.

Well, not anymore, or, at least, not for six weeks--I have given up desserts for Lent.

I didn't come by the decision lightly. I remember the last time I gave up chocolate for Lent, in 2006, and had to pass on some wonderful ice cream cake that my mother-in-law had gotten for Valentine's Day dessert. I still remember how hard it was to say no that day, when my pregnant self only wanted sugar and chocolate. But, as my husband pointed out, since we seem to have gone through two (three?) tubs of Crisco (the all-important fat component in our favorite cookie recipe) in as many months, it was probably time to cut back, if only for health reasons. (I just have to say in our defense that a lot of baking was given away around Christmas time, so it’s not like we really consumed all that lard. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.)

And I hope I’m not seeming disrespectful towards Lent with my sweets ban. Since it’s something I need to cut back on anyway, I figured I might as well use this as a major push towards cutting back permanently. I once read something about Lent that said how the whole idea of fasting for Lent is that you give up something you shouldn’t be doing anyway, and that after Lent you should keep abstaining from it. To give something up for Lent just to pick it back up on Easter Sunday is completely pointless. So while I do plan on eating dessert again, I really want this to be a line in the sand that I won’t be doing it every day, that it will be in moderation (something I’ve been lacking for awhile).

In order for me to be successful, I roped my husband into this as well, which he was totally up for, because I knew if he kept baking cookies, I would keep eating them. I also laid some ground rules for myself, so that I could still have a little sugar and not go crazy. For instance, I can still have breakfast sweets like cinnamon rolls and waffles, and I can still drink chocolate milk and hot chocolate, things which I don’t have every day. But I cannot eat cookies of any kind, or any desserts in general.

For the first few days, I was really hungry at night. I had a bowl of cereal one night and some toast another to help me through. At work, I’ve just had to turn from the homemade cheesecake and cookies that my coworkers have brought in. But after the first couple of days, it has been getting better. I’ve been drinking tons of water (a holdover from being sick last week) and am coming to enjoy the hungry feeling at night, knowing that I’m not going to give in.

the wonder that is Silpat

I have heard about them for years, I have longed from afar, and now I have Silpat baking mats. I don't understand how they work (something about their compostion that I haven't read carefully enough to remember), but these beauties work great. Since I received them for Christmas, I've raved about them so much that my little brother wants one for his first apartment.

For those cookie makers out there, nothing can beat the Silpat. Nothing will stick to them, and they aid with even baking. As a longtime user of Airbake pans, I've already accomplished the bake evenly part, but cookies always stuck to the pan. We have been using parchment paper for over a year, but we invariably run out when it's 11 pm and "we have to get the cookies baked tonight." We will have that problem no more. Silpats can be washed and reused, as long as they are stored flat or rolled (never folded so the insides don't break).

They are a wonder, and not too expensive, considering all the parchment paper they are saving me (and let's not forget about the environment--I don't think you can recycle used parchment paper with cookie bits on them).

Christmas baking

For Christmas this year, A and I baked up a storm.

For the kids' Mothers Day Out teachers, we made two breads:

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Marble Bread

and America's Test Kitchen Pumpkin Bread (from their Family Baking Book). I didn't make the ganache for the Chocolate Marble Bread, as the bread is good enough without it. Having made this recipe before, the bread actually tastes better the second day. The Pumpkin Bread was drizzled with powdered sugar icing, which ended up soaking into the bread. Oh well, it looked nice.

We also made dozens and dozens of Chocolate Rolo Cookies

and Cake Mix Cookies to give to work and church friends.

Cookies, cookies everywhere

I hope to post pictures soon of our cookie-baking adventures this Christmas season. Until I do, ponder this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/magazine/21food-t-000.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tough%20cookie&st=cse

She is my role model!

K

More cookies

I don't know why we have been so fixated on cookies lately, but we have been experimenting with all sorts of new recipes.

Because of a surplus in cake mixes, I tried out a couple variations of Cake Mix Cookies, first with chocolate mix and second with swirled chocolate/caramel chips:

After these inital first successes, we excitedly made more batches, only to yield completely disappointing results. We don't know what we did differently, but now we cannot get this recipe to work! So I've basically thrown out this recipe and have gone back to the standard Tollhouse recipe.

K

Christmas baking--a bit late

Although we didn't decorate for Christmas besides putting up the tree, we did quite a lot of baking around Christmastime.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Three Layer Bars for Mother's Day Out teachers:

Shaped Chocolate Pretzel Rods (using Wilton candy molds) for Aaron's work colleagues:

Somehow we didn't take pictures of our favorite new recipe, Caramel Chocolate Drops. These take a bit of work, but they are awesome cookies!!

K

happy valentine's day

now reading...

Today, I was desperate. It was my lunch break and time was ticking away but I needed something to read before starting my meal. I went to the New Books shelves to find something quickly before I was spotted in the stacks and asked a question. My eyes flew over the spines, searching for something pink. It seems that in the book work, pink equals chick lit, just my kind of book. Shelf after shelf went by and there was nothing that caught my eye. I was starting to worry--what if I couldn't find a book? What was I going to read? Last week, while in the same predicament, I had read the new issues of Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens--what would I read today? Then my eyes set on Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston. This title has been on my to-read list since it came out last year.

I loved this author's first book, Good Grief. I think I read that about two years ago when I was engaged. I figured it was okay to read a book about one's husband dying before I was married, but not after, so I remember trying to finish it quickly before too much wedding planning got underway. While I remember so many great moments from that book, what stands out the most in my memory is how the protagonist creates savory cheesecakes and opens her own shop. I thought this was great--savory cheesecakes!

I dream of starting a dessert catering business--I'm not sure I want a storefront that I would have to maintain, but I love the idea of baking things to order in my own kitchen. I have been thinking of it quite a bit over the past few days because of the cookbook I've been reading (Buttercup Bakes at Home). My friend Kate B once told me of a woman who baked for the rich ladies in her neighborhood, since none of them had time to do it themselves, but yet wanted homemade baked goods.

Of course, this is all part of my plan to be able to stay home with my baby. But I realize (with the help of the Food Network) that starting a home-based business wouldn't give me more time with her, it would probably take up more time than I am away from her now, besides all the hard work that would have to go into running a business. I'll be honest, I have no idea how to run a company. I knew I should have majored in Business!

K