Baking Day Cinnamon Buns

Yesterday was a huge day of baking......sometimes that's just how things work out.  I needed to get my Daring Cooks Challenge out of the way (and I was pretty excited to make and eat my first souffle)......I needed to use up some more cream cheese......so I made some more Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes........and someone has left a comment saying that they used the Air Bun recipe to make Cinnamon Rolls.......So I just had to give that a try too!  Needless to say, we did a lot of sharing with the neighbours.  And......I'm happy to report that the Air Bun recipe did make fantastic cinnamon buns.  If you'd like to try a batch......go here for the bun recipe and fill with the Filling Recipe below.

Cinnamon Bun Filling
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Mix first three filling ingredients together and cream until smooth.  Pop it in the microwave for just a few seconds if it isn't going to be easily spread....careful not to melt it though.....just to soften.  Add optional ingredients and set aside.  Move dough to counter and roll out 10"X20" in as much of a rectangle as you can.  Spread filling and roll up along long edge so you have a 20" long roll.  Slice with a sharp knife into 12 -15 equally sized rolls and set in a pan to rise.  Let rise in a warm place for 30- 45 minutes until doubled in size.  Bake for about 20  minutes at 350F or until internal temperature reaches 200F.  Remove to rack and cool slightly before icing.

Cinnamon Bun Glaze
1/4 cup butter melted
2 cups icing (confectioners) sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp hot water
Mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until mixed in well.  Add water 1 tbsp at a time while beating...just until the glaze reaches a spreading consistency....Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Back with a Daring Cheese Souffle

I was a little sad to miss out on last months Daring Cook's and Baker's challenge...but things were really just too hectic to do them.  But I am back at it with this month's daring cooks Challenge.  There is lots on the go here as always seems to be the case....it's actually a very busy day of baking here as I will post about later.  But for now...here is the November Cook's Challenge.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

Now I was pretty excited to learn that the November Challenge was to make a souffle.  This is my first and hopefully not my last attempt at a souffle.  It was the perfect accompaniment for a lunch with the early winter weather we have been having. I  wavered back and forth on what kind of souffle to make....and in the end decided to make a basic cheese souffle to start out with.  There seems to be no end of sweet baking going on here so a savoury concoction was most definitely in order.  We had the souffle for lunch this afternoon with a nice bowl of tomato soup.  I chose to try a recipe off the internet from Alton Brown.

Cheese Souffle
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1 1/2 oz or 3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/3 cup hot milk
4 egg yolks
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese
5 egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Grease an 8 inch souffle pan with softened butter and coat with grated parmesan cheese, by dumping the cheese in to the greased pan and turning the pan.  Preheat oven to 375F (you will be using only the very lowest rack in the oven).Heat butter and add flour, dry mustard, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper to make a roux.  Cook 2 minutes.  Whisk in hot milk and bring to bubble for two minutes.  Remove from heat.  In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and temper them by beating in a few tbsp of hot roux into them.  Pour egg yolk mixture into the roux and whisk constantly.  Add grated cheddar and whisk to incorporate.  In a large bowl whip egg whites and cream of tartar to firm peaks.  Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the roux base and fold in well.  Add the remaining egg whites in thirds, folding gently.  Fill pan to within 1/2 inch of top making sure edges are clean and buttered.  bake 35 minutes until cake tester poked into the center comes out clean.

A Month of Cookies-Something Different for the Cookie Tray-16

When gathering recipes for your holiday cookie offering, it's nice to have some drop cookies, some shaped cookies, and some rolled cookies.  I also like to throw in some of these Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes in the mini muffin size as shown above.......since: 1) I love them.....2)They are quick to make ...3)They freeze well...4)Did I mention they are delicious??

Now, I make these so often I'm sad to say that the recipe is pretty much committed to memory.....and if you try them....I bet you'd love them too!  These ones are on their way to the Remembrance Day ceremonies here in Prince George.  Ike is excited to take part in the parade with all the other Cub Scouts even though I doubt he can fully grasp it's significance.  So just in case I've convinced you to try them....here is it......the recipe.

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
Dump all of the above into a large bowl and whisk together, set aside while making topping

Topping:
1 ( 8 oz pkg) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
pinch of salt

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar, add egg and salt and combine till smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 18 muffin tins with paper liners.  Divide chocolate batter equally into each of the 18 muffin cups.  About a rounded tbsp for each.  Top with a rounded tsp of cream cheese topping. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the cream cheese topping begins to brown in a few spots.