Perfect Cinnamon Buns

My all time favorite breakfast treat is the cinnamon bun. I grew up eating those Pillsbury ones in the airtight tubes that you had to whack against the counter to get open.

I had a friend whos mom, would place them in a pie tin and they would expand. Being what I thought cinnamon buns should be, this was illusive concept to me. I only ate them once and have been trying to find ones that compare, ever since.

Heres what ruins anything that has ever come close to those homemade cinnamon buns that I have spent a lifetime dreaming about:

• the weak cinnamon to bun ratio
• not enough frosting
• raisins. gross. Why do people find the need to add pruned grapes to something so perfect?

I realized that in order to do something right, I would just have to do it myself. Baking with yeast is still pretty new to me, so I was a bit scared of it. My baker dad informed me that yeast and humans live comfortably in the same temperatures:

• If you add yeast to something that is about the same temperature as a warm bathtub, it’ll flourish.
• If you add it to a liquid that is too hot, you’ll kill it.
• If you add it to something cold, it’ll hold out on expanding until the temperature is warm enough or it’ll just take longer.

With this, I began skimming through cinnamon bun recipes, plucking what I liked about each one to concoct my idea of the perfect cinnamon bun.

It was so good, that my appetite almost didn’t give me time to take a good photo of the final product.

Make Monday: Chocolate Covered Popcorn

I used to be really intimidated by popcorn. Thats right…..popcorn.

The thought of making it outside of those pre-buttered microwave bags or pre-buttered aluminum tins, seemed impossible. I thought I hated popcorn, but turns out that I just hated that weird butter. Ever since someone showed me how easy making your own popcorn could be, I’ve been eating it pretty much every day.

My teeth may hate me for saying this, but I LOVE popcorn! I love it so much that over the summer, I’ve tried 12 different kernels and several kinds of salts to add to them. After extensive research, my favorite popcorn combo is the plain ole’ popcorn drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with corse salt.

Turns out its really simple to make!

Start by heating up a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a large pot with about a cup of popcorn kernels.

when one starts to pop, put a lid on the pot while occasionally shaking the pot to make sure all of the kernels are getting heated at the bottom of the pot.

Keep the heat on until there  is 2-3 seconds between popping sounds.

Pocket Notebook!

This week, I’ve started coming to terms with the fact that if I don’t write things down, I’ll forget about them. Yes. I’m getting old.

SO,  for this edition of Make Monday, I thought it would be a pretty good idea to keep a pocket notebook handy.  This not only will help me remember who I’m supposed to meet up with but will also help me get rid of some stationary scraps

and unused paper in my archived journals.

Lavender Lemon Cookie Sandwiches

My sacred book of lists and scribbles (also known as my journal)

A new year means a couple of new goals (not resolutions). Here’s a few from the list, that I plucked from my journal:

• have at least 250 “highlight of the day’s” written by the years end
• send out more postcards
• draw more often
• get a photo of mine put into a gallery show
• have a weekly reason to update my blog
• do a cartwheel in a different country
• try recipes with ingredients I’ve never used
• learn two new trades
• find an excuse to wear fake eyelashes, weekly
• order something on a menu with ingredients that I can’t pronounce
• learn to write with my left hand
• learn a magic trick thats more impressive than “I’ve got your nose”
• teach my dog a new trick

This morning, sick as a serial killer, I made cookie sandwiches. I used lavender as an ingredient, for the first time ever.

This just knocked three things off of my list of goals!

my lemon lavender cookie sandwiches!

My friend Bea, had a grand plan to create something called Make Monday. I loved it! It got me excited to look at her blog every Monday. Even though she hasn’t updated since May, I still go back hoping that she’ll pick it up again. Until then, I’m taking this idea from her.

So, every Monday, plan on me making something. Perhaps a craft, a meal, or if I can’t get it together, you may end up seeing a video of me making my bed.

Heres my recipe and a photo tutorial on how to make lemon lavender cookie sandwiches. (note: you’ll see I just started playing around with my new Wacom tablet, and went a little crazy)