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.

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)

Oh-reos

A while back, I promised to transport a pile of treats to a friend for his birthday. Now, if I were meeting up with someone for a cup of tea or a visit to grandmas I would bring something like biscuits or scones. But for a celebration you need icing!!! Unfortunately, getting anything frosted from point A to point B in mint condition is nearly impossible unless I plan on lugging some oddly shaped piece of Tupperware back home….a chore I am not fond of.

So I went on a hunt for a tasty transportable treat and stumbled upon this recipe for homemade Oreos! I’m not a huge fan of Oreos, but these cookies have changed my mind. They were so fun, quick, and easy to make that I want to bake them all of the time.

How to make Pie to-go!

I spent my holidays with my family of friends…and their friends…and their sisters. Point is, it was a big pot luck feast where we didn’t sit down and pass the gravy, but we all made a delicious finger food, set it on the table, and plucked at them through out the day.

So instead of making a big messy pie, I made pie pops!

How To Make Some Bad Ass Brownies

I don’t recall ever being a huge fan of brownies, growing up. Probably because growing up with a less than domestic mother, I always assumed that the kind I made from the box were just how they were supposed to taste. It was kind of like eating a texture-less soggy chocolate cake.

So when I began to learn about baking a bit more, I thought that there had to be a reason WHY people eat this stuff. I realized through my “ottering“* technique of eating that I only really cared for the top layer. That minuet layer between the papery flakey top and the gooey center. The upper crust, if you will.

Apparently, that thick layer of crunchy sugary goodness that clings to the dense warm gooey layer of chocolate is just a meringue*! So basically my idea of the perfect brownie is a meringue half-breed! The secret to that upper crust is this:

The longer you beat the eggs and sugar in the first step, the thicker your crust will get.

(ottering: When Chloe dissects her food into sections and pieces, eating the most delicious parts and discarding the rest)

(meringue: a light starchy cookie made by beating egg whites and sugar)

I followed a Martha Stewart recipe that required 10 minutes of egg beating. I don’t have the longest attention span, and I used a hand mixer. Hence, I only mixed for about 5-7 minutes before moving forward but they came out fantastic, anyway.

Here is how I made them:ingredients:

1. 1 cup of unsalted butter, plus more for pan
2. 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3. 5 large eggs
4. 3 1/2 cups sugar
5. 2 teaspoons instant espresso
6. 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
7. 1 2/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
8. 1/2 teaspoon salt
9. 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan; set aside.

Combine chocolate and butter in a heat-proof bowl or the top of a double boiler. Set over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate mixture has melted. Remove from heat; set aside.

Add sugar, eggs, and instant espresso to a bowl

n the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs, sugar, and espresso at high speed, 10 minutes.

Reduce speed to low, and add melted-chocolate mixture and the vanilla; beat until combined.

Slowly add flour and salt; beat just until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan

Bake until edges are dry but center is still soft, about 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut and inhale.