Super Scrumptious Cinnamon Scrolls

POSTED ON APRIL 25, 2011 BY MMMM, SUGAR

3 I have recently returned from a trip to America where I spent a few weeks in Seattle with my dad and stepmum. I will bring you some of the food highlights (and lowlights) in a later post, but for now Id like to present to you the cinnamon scroll, as made by my dad. Just looking at the photos again are enough to make me salivate!

On a previous trip to the states, I tried a Cinnabon scroll, but they were WAY too sickly sweet, even for me and thats saying something because I have a pretty high tolerance for sugar! In making this version, we forgo the cream cheese frosting which really allows you to enjoy the sweet cinnamon taste. My dad emailed me the recipe for this a while ago, but in it he had written 1/2 cup salt and 2 cups yeast! Needless to say, I knew that to be wrong so I waited until I got there to see how they were really done. They are super simple and super yum, but there is a fair bit of butter and sugar, so they arent for the faint heart ed In Seattle, we made the dough using a bread maker, but Ive adapted the recipe below for them to be made by hand, which I have tested and works a treat. If you are lucky enough to have a bread maker feel free to use it to make the dough. Ingredients 150ml water 300g plain flour 155g unsalted butter

7g salt 7g yeast Cinnamon sugar 1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon mixed with 6-8 heaped teaspoons of white sugar 1 cup brown sugar Method Warm the water and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Cover with glad wrap and set aside for 10-15 minutes to activate. Ensure your water is warm too cold or too hot and it wont activate the yeast properly. Sift the flour twice and rub in 30g of the butter to make a breadcrumb like texture and add in the salt. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the activated yeast mixture. Working from the centre, slowly start to incorporate the dry ingredients to form a dough. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover with glad wrap and set aside in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.

Knock the dough back and roll it out into a rectangular shape, about 5mm thick. Melt the remaining 125g butter and brush about 75-80% of it over the dough, saving the rest for later.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar equally over the buttered dough. Then sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the cinnamon sugar. I have suggested one cup of brown sugar but feel feel to add more or less to suit you.

Roll up the dough, but not too tight (as modelled by my dad) and cut the roll into slices about 2cm thick, starting from the centre.

Place the slices into a well buttered/non stick dish with enough space between each scroll to allow them to expand. Place a moist (not wet or dry) towel over the pan, and again, place in a warm place for about 45 minutes. I like to sit it over a bowl of boiling hot water, re-boiling the water every 10 minutes or so.

Heat your oven to 180 degrees and, just before putting the dish into the oven, brush the top of the scrolls with the remainder of the butter. It may seem like a lot of butter to add to the top, but I have made the mistake of not using it all and the scrolls were a bit dry. Cook them in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes. As soon as you take out the cinnamon scrolls, cover the dish with a plate, flip it over and let the liquid sugar goodness run all over the rolls.

Eat as soon as possible

Toll House Cookies

POSTED ON JULY 3, 2012 BY MMMM, SUGAR

They need to be chewy on the inside. So weve stopped buying them in favour of making our own. In amongst some well -worn recipes that she brought with her was one for Toll House Cookies. Id never heard of them before, but they are essentially a choc -nut cookie that supposedly originated at the original Toll House Inn in 1930. Ive only tried them the way the recipe suggests, but Im hoping to soon try substituting more chocolate chips for the nuts and seeing how they turn out.

Toll House Cookies (makes between 50 and 60 cookies):

250g butter at room temperature 2 cups plain flour 1 tsp bi-carb soda 1 cup white sugar 2 cups breakfast oats, processed in a food processor until they resemble breadcrumbs 2 cups chocolate chips (feel free to make them dark, milk, white or a combination) 1 cup dark brown sugar tsp salt 2 eggs at room temperature

1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla 1 cups chopped nuts of your choice we chose to use cup walnuts, cup pecans and cup salted peanuts

Heat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Cream the butter and both of the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bi-carb soda, salt and baking powder. Stir in the processed oats and then slowly mix to dry mixture into the butter/egg mixture until all combined and a dough is formed. Remove the dough and hand knead in the nuts. We divided the dough into three portions one for each of the three kinds of nuts. Scoop out tablespoon-sized chunks and roll them into balls. Place 7-10 on a tray, spaced well apart as they will spread. Place them in the oven for about 9 minutes. The original recipe had 10 minutes, but I found my first batch a little firm so I adjusted the time slightly. Leave to cool on the tray before peeling off (and eating!).