Showing posts with label Frosting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frosting. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Mom's Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls



These are the best cinnamon rolls you will ever have the pleasure of putting into your mouth. Nothing beats my mom's recipe. I know everyone loves Cinnabon in the airport and malls but, after you eat one of these, you will never want to waste your money on them again. No offense to Cinnabon of course. They just don't compare! These are soft and fluffy with the perfect amount of cinnamon and sugar. The rolls do take a little bit of time, but it's worth it! Cinnamon rolls have been a part of our family ever since I can remember. This recipe makes about 4 dozen, but they will be gone fast! Freezing the freshly baked rolls helps keep them from going stale and you can warm them up in the microwave for about 10 seconds, yum.

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough
1 Cube Butter
2 C Milk
2 Tbs Yeast
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 Eggs
~6.5 Cups Flour (no more than 7 cups)

Filling
~ 1 Cube Softened Butter
~ 2 cups Cinnamon Sugar
~ 6 cups Brown Sugar

Frosting
2 lbs Powdered Sugar
1 Cube Butter
A few Tbs milk or add until spreadable
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp salt if needed
Beat for about 5-10 minutes.

Directions

In your KitchenAid mixer:
Pour hot milk (~2 min in microwave) over 1 cube butter, sugar, and salt. Wait 10-15 minutes or until butter has softened and milk has cooled down. If the milk is too hot it will kill the yeast. Stir in the yeast and wait about 5-10 minutes for the yeast to get foamy.
Using the mixer, add the eggs. Add the flour a little at a time and mix until the dough is smooth. This should take about 1-2 minutes.
Cover with a clean dish towel and let the dough rise until it's double in size. The amount of time this takes can vary depending on the temperature of the room. Check it after 30 minutes, it probably shouldn't take more than an hour.

This is the part of the recipe that is really not exact...
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle about 10x5 1/2 inches. You just don't want to roll the dough too thin. It should be about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Spread softened butter with a spatula onto the rolled out dough. You can be pretty generous. Make sure it is even. Sprinkle about 1/4 inch thick of brown sugar on top of the butter, keeping it even; again you can be pretty generous. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the brown sugar, covering all areas.

To roll, take the longer side and fold about and inch in, and push down with your fingers to pinch the dough down. Then roll it up- be sure to pinch the edge on the last roll to seal the roll up and keep it from unrolling. Cut into 12 slices and transfer to a 12x17 inch pan with parchment paper. Roll out, fill, roll up, cut and transfer the next 3 portions of dough. You should end up with 2 dozen on each cookie sheet (12x17 in.) when finished. One dozen can fit on a 9x13 inch pan if needed. Cover the pans with a clean dish towel and let the rolls rise until they double in size. Check after about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 9 minutes. Let the rolls cool for a few minutes before frosting.
Cover and freeze immediately if saving for more than about 5 hours later; they defrost in the pan on their own in about 1 hour.

Sorry, parts of this recipe are an approximation, but that is what's great about it-you can add as much or as little filling as you like.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting


I grew up not really liking anything pumpkin. Not sure why, but I have had a hankering for it ever since, about a year ago, classmates of mine made a tofu pumpkin pie. I may post that recipe in the future, but for now, pumpkin bars. These are quite probably the most moist cake-like bars I have ever had (hmm did that make sense?). Especially now, during the fall season and Halloween, I think these are more than appropriate.

Ingredients

2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
4 beaten Eggs
1 15 ounce can of Pumpkin
3/4 cup Oil

For the Frosting:

4 ounces Cream Cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup Butter at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla
~ 2 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar - add more to thicken, up to 3 cups of powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all the dry ingredients well.
Add the wet and stir in well.
Pour into an un-greased 9x13 pan. If you want them thinner, feel free to put them in a bigger pan, but keep in mind they rise up when they are baking. Although, you should keep an eye on it in the oven so it doesn't over cook.
Bake for 25 min or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out dry.
Let cool completely.

As for the frosting, just blend the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar.
Spread on the bars. You can add either about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, walnuts or even cocoa powder sprinkled on the top. Or, eat it without the chocolate and nuts. Keep in mind, if you choose to sprinkle cocoa powder on the top, you should wait to do it just before serving because the powder eventually soaks into the frosting.

Enjoy

Monday, September 28, 2009

Lemon Drop Cupcakes with Meringue Buttercream Frosting

The world is currently in a craze for cupcakes. I thought I would join in. Last Christmas break my husband and I escaped to San Jose, California to visit my brothers family and just to get away from the cold for a while. We stopped by Santana Row to window shop and found this little cupcake shop called Kara's Cupcakes and had a Meyer Lemony Lemon cupcake for breakfast (breakfast of champions). Well, the cupcake was to die for! The frosting that they topped the delicate cake with was one of the best frostings I have ever tasted. I'm not even sure how they got it so light and fluffy but it was so good. Here is a picture of it... yes it was so good it was picture worthy.


Well, I attempted a lemon cupcake a few days ago and it turned out pretty good. I would definitely say worth making again and maybe again. I changed a Martha Stewart recipe and combined a different frosting to get the texture I wanted. Here she goes.

Lemon Drop Cupcakes with Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose Flour
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
2 cups Sugar
4 large Eggs, room temperature
2 tsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Buttermilk ( I just put a Tbs of lemon in a cup of milk and let sit until curdled to create the buttermilk)
~2 cup Lemon Curd

Directions

Sift together the dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar until pale yellow adding eggs one at a time until just mixed. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Alternate adding the dry ingredients (three times) with the milk (two times) until just mixed.
Spoon batter 3/4 the way full into lined cupcake tins. Add one Tbs of the lemon curd to the top center of each cupcake. It will drop to the center of the cupcake while baking.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Cool completely before frosting.

Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Sugar
5 large Egg Whites
2 cups Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces (next time I make this I am going to decrease the butter to one cup just to see and taste the difference)
1 tsp Vanilla extract

In a double boiler whisk egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer until they are very warm (about 3 minutes).
Remove from heat and continue whisking until it has completely cooled (about 10 min).
Begin adding the butter (continue using the whisk attachment) a little at a time and it may look curdled but just keep mixing, it will smooth out. 
Beat with the paddle attachment on low for a few minutes to release any air pockets Add vanilla and you are done!

Decorate as you wish :)