Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath

Posted by Lindsey @ Baking Bytes in Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Celebration/Holiday, Dessert, Pastries, Quickbread and tagged with ,

Hello and Happy Holidays friends! Hope you’re having an appropriately white or warm season depending on your location. I am visiting my family in Alaska for the holidays and it’s been pleasantly snowy here – quite the change from last year’s raining nonsense. Apologies for the late post, time at home always seems to go by much more quickly than real life.

In any case, this morning I have another easy pastry recipe to share. The overwhelming popularity of my Cream Cheese Danishes led me to try another style. A few months ago I saw a braided Nutella bread that looked beautiful. As you may now be aware, I am not a fan of Nutella but I really loved the idea of a twisted bread with a contrasting filling. Filing it away for future reference, several months passed before I took up the project.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath {{Baking Bytes}}

I love cinnamon rolls any time of year but for some reason I always crave them even more around Christmas. The homemade version is quite a bit of work which makes them extra special (and extra tasty) so we don’t make them very often, except sometimes for Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast. Pillsbury makes actual cinnamon rolls, of course, which are surprisingly good, but feel somewhat commonplace as far as excitement goes.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath {{Baking Bytes}}

The idea for twisted bread returned to me and twisted cinnamon rolls were born. Using an easy cinnamon sugar filling and the pre-made dough makes for a super quick breakfast or pretty dessert without the hassle and tediousness of dealing with yeast and rising times. Small enough for the family or simple enough to make several for the office, these are a pretty way to switch up the traditional and delicious flavors of a cinnamon roll.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath {{Baking Bytes}}

Sure to please both the kids and the coworkers, this is a great holiday option for all the busy people out there.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath

Makes 8 small servings

Ingredients

1 package Pillsbury Crescent Rolls1

2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1-3 Tbsp milk (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper.
  2. On an extra sheet of parchment paper, unroll the dough and pinch the seams together. Put face down on the prepared baking sheet and then gently peel off the parchment paper. Pinch the seams together from this side also.
  3. Spread 2 Tbsp butter over the dough.
  4. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon until well mixed, then sprinkle evenly over the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch clear on one long end.
  5. From the other long end, gently roll up the dough and then pinch closed.
  6. Carefully cut down longwise down the center of the rolled dough (a plastic pizza cutter works great, and won’t damage your silicon mats or your baking sheet). Gently turn the cut side facing up.
  7. Carefully lift one side and place it over the other dough strip, repeating on the same side to form a twist. Gently move into a circle and pinch the ends together.
  8. Bake for about 18 minutes. It should be browned on the top and not doughy in the middle.
  9. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting: beat together cream cheese and 2 Tbsp butter until fluffy, then beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired consistency – less milk for spreading, more milk for drizzling.
  10. Let the cinnamon roll cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer to your serving plate and spread/drizzle with the frosting. (You will likely have frosting left over, so feel free to halve the recipe if you don’t like lots of it.)
  11. Serve immediately with coffee for a lovely snack, or eggs and fruit for a more well-rounded breakfast.

Notes

1 Any of the styles should work, although they may all bake up slightly differently, so watch carefully and adjust the baking time accordingly. For example, the “big and flaky” version would probably need a couple more minutes in the oven.

Perfect Dinner Rolls

Posted by Lindsey @ Baking Bytes in Baking, Bread, Side dishes

Hello, hello. Today we break with tradition and enjoy a non-dessert recipe. Who even knew that was a thing this time of year? Joking aside, I have a wonderful dinner roll recipe here for you.

Perfect Dinner Rolls {{Baking Bytes}}

As someone who is not super proficient with yeast breads, I am typically too intimidated to give them a try. Last year my mom tried to cure me of this by helping me make dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls and sandwich bread. They all turned out edible and so this year I decided maybe I’d venture into the arena alone.

Perfect Dinner Rolls {{Baking Bytes}}

I had previously made this recipe a couple of times with limited success. The first time we made it (using a little whole wheat flour) we didn’t realize the original recipe makes 24 rolls and so ended up with 12 delicious monstrosities. Unfortunately the large size meant they weren’t quite cooked all the way through. They were great for leftover cranberry cream cheese turkey sandwiches though (my favorite!).

Perfect Dinner Rolls {{Baking Bytes}}

We later tried it again, this time halving the recipe for 12 normal-sized rolls but still using a whole wheat flour in place of some of the white. Much better outcome given the size issues from before, but although substituting wheat flour for part of the whole amount resulted in a lovely flavor, it seemed also to result in a rather denser texture than expected.

Take three, a year passes: Given my inexperience, I wasn’t positive the substitution was the culprit and figured I should probably make the recipe to the letter before determining what issues I may have with it. This year M and I were invited to a potluck Thanksgiving house party which seemed a perfect excuse to attempt this recipe yet again. I followed the recipe as directed and lo and behold: perfect rolls. Light and fluffy with a delightful buttery taste, they are the perfect addition to any dinner.Perfect Dinner Rolls {{Baking Bytes}}

They have a wonderful flavor all on their own but dressed up with honey or butter and jam they are a perfect side dish and a delightful snack. Fantastic addition to a holiday meal but easy enough to be a fairly regular guest on the table. Also great for sliders or small sandwiches if you have a few leftovers the next day.

Perfect Dinner Rolls {{Baking Bytes}}

The only downside is they do not keep particularly well, so it’s best to eat them all on day one or two. It’s possible you could freeze them and thaw as desired but I haven’t tried this yet, so if you do please let me know how it works for you! On the other hand, if you have a crowd to feed the recipe is easily doubled from the yield of a dozen I have below.

I still hold out hope for the whole wheat version, so stay tuned for sometime next year when I finally figure it out.

Perfect Dinner Rolls

Adapted from The On-Call Cook
Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients

1 cup milk (2% or whole)
1/4 cup + 1.5 tsp sugar, divided
1/6 cup butter (about 2 and 2/3 Tbsp)
1 tsp salt

1 package dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (~110 degrees Fahrenheit)

4-4.5 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 eggs, beaten1 

1 Tbsp butter, cold (optional)

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan combine milk, 1/6 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt. Heat over medium until the butter melts, then place in the fridge to cool.
  2. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl, if you don’t have a stand mixer) gently stir the water, yeast, and 1.5 tsp of sugar. Set aside for ten minutes – if the yeast has not foamed do this step again until it does. If the yeast doesn’t foam, the bread won’t rise.
  3. Add two cups of flour to the cooled milk mixture (I just did it in the saucepan) and whisk by hand until completely combined.
  4. Add the flour-milk to the yeast, and stir on low with your stand mixer until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Stir in eggs until combined, then add 1 more cup of flour, and stir on low until combined.
  6. Switch to dough hook attachment. Add 3/4 cup of flour and mix on low until combined. Add additional flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough starts to pull away from the sides into a ball. It will not all pull away – that’s normal. (It should total between 4 and 4 1/4 cups of flour or so.)
  7. Remove dough hook then cover bowl and place in a warm area to rise. Let rise 30-60 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size. (The rising time can vary drastically depending on how warm or drafty your house is.)
  8. Grease a 9×13″ baking dish, set aside.
  9. On a floured surface with floured hands, pat dough into a rectangle about 1″ thick. Use a pizza cutter or very sharp knife to cut into twelve equal pieces.
  10. Pinch each piece into a ball and place seam-side down into the baking dish. If, like me, your balls are not all the same size, put the two smallest ones in the middle.
  11. Cover and let rise again 30-60 minutes, or until balls have doubled in size. They should all touch each other with maybe just a little space where the corners are.
  12. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  13. Bake rolls about 15-20 minutes. (With my oven 19 minutes seems to be correct.) Rolls should be golden brown on top and reach an internal temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I highly recommend using an instant-read thermometer here as they will look done on top before they are done in the middle. Pro-tip: check a middle roll if you can.
  14. Let cool about 10 minutes, then rub the tops of the rolls with cold butter (optional, but it makes them pretty and shiny and extra tasty.)
  15. Serve plain or with your favorite toppings. They are also great for sliders! You can store leftover rolls on the counter for a couple of days, but they are definitely best on day one.

Notes

1 To measure half an egg, beat in a liquid measuring cup then use half of that. Save the rest to add to a veggie scramble. In future iterations I will try it with two eggs and one egg, and update the recipe with my findings.

Grandma’s Chocolate Fudge

Posted by Lindsey @ Baking Bytes in Candy, Celebration/Holiday, Dessert and tagged with , ,

Grandma's Chocolate Fudge {{Baking Bytes}}

As we carry on through December, I imagine many people are working on finding holiday gifts. Food is a great gift, especially for people you don’t know very well or just want to give a small token of appreciation (teachers, coworkers, etc). My mom and I often prepared small bags of almond roca or other goodies for my teachers all through middle school, and she still prepares platters of almond roca, spritz, clothespin cookies, or other treats for family friends and business associates.

Grandma's Chocolate Fudge {{Baking Bytes}}

My grandma always made this fudge every Christmas, although she also always put walnuts in it. Delicious chocolatey fudge surrounding silly crunchy walnuts. Clearly I don’t care for nuts in fudge (or really much of anything besides almond roca) and so I have omitted them from this recipe. Feel free to add them back in if that’s your style.

Grandma's Chocolate Fudge {{Baking Bytes}}

Fudge seems to go over well with most people and so is routinely included in our line-up. This recipe is based off my grandmother’s recipe, as is probably obvious by the name. It has taken a little bit of research to get it right as the her recipe specified two packages of this and a package of that, and the size of “packages” have changed quite drastically over the last few decades. Nonetheless, we prevailed and have come up with the one below.

Grandma's Chocolate Fudge {{Baking Bytes}}

Last year we hand-stirred the recipe, as is tradition, and not only was it an immense amount of work but we had to enlist my dad to finish the job. We have changed the proportions a bit so it might be manageable for one of less than Herculean arm strength, but in spite of that I still opted to use my stand mixer. It worked beautifully and is much, much less effort to get that velvety chocolate experience you’re looking for. But if you’re looking for a workout while you make piles of decadent treats this season, feel free to stir by hand.

Grandma's Chocolate Fudge {{Baking Bytes}}

Grandma also used margarine instead of butter, I imagine largely because it was cheaper. I’ve made it both ways and honestly I can’t much tell the difference with regards to flavor, but the batch made with margarine turned out a decent amount softer. I imagine this is mostly because margarine has a lower melting temperature, but beating in an extra couple minutes could help too. I personally don’t like a sticky fudge so I put that batch in the freezer, which makes it perfect in my mind. Choose your own adventure here, or just use whatever you have on hand – it’ll be delicious regardless.

Grandma’s Chocolate Fudge

Adapted from my grandmother’s recipe
Makes a lot

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate chips
2 sticks (1 cup total) salted butter, each cut into fourths
20 large marshmallows
2 T vanilla

4 cups sugar
12 oz can evaporated milk

Directions

  1. Line a baking dish or lipped cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.2
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add chocolate chips, margarine or butter, marshmallows, and vanilla1. Set aside. You must do this before boiling the milk otherwise it’ll cool down too much and won’t mix completely.
  3. In a medium-large saucepan, whisk together sugar and evaporated milk (make sure you have a fair amount of extra space, it’ll grow).
  4. Over medium-high heat, bring milk mixture to full rolling boil, stirring often.
  5. Continue to boil for 6 minutes (I recommend setting a timer), stirring constantly.
  6. Add hot milk mixture to remaining ingredients (don’t scrape the pot too vigorously or you will end up with sugar crystals in your fudge), and beat on low with the normal beater attachment (or by hand) for at least 5 minutes (again, set a timer), until marshmallows are completely dissolved. Scrape sides every minute or two during this time to ensure an even mix.
  7. Pour into foil-lined pan, smooth out the top, and let cool completely. An unheated garage or porch if you don’t have fridge space is great for speeding up this process.
  8. Remove from foil and cut into cubes. I suggest moving it to a cutting board or you will have many small squares of foil to peel off later.
  9. Package as desired and give as much of it away as possible so you don’t eat it all.

Notes

1 If you like, you can add up to two cups chopped nuts or hard candy. Personally I do not like uneven texture in fudge or baked goods, but it’s certainly an option if you’re into it.

2 I like to use a cookie sheet so the fudge is a little thinner, but either will work. It may not fill a whole sheet so line it with foil and make a new edge about halfway, making sure you have extra foil sticking up. After you pour it in and start to spread it, you can adjust the edge to hold more or less fudge as necessary to keep it the right thickness.

Eggnog Ice Cream

Posted by Lindsey @ Baking Bytes in Celebration/Holiday, Dessert, Ice cream and tagged with ,

Welcome to December! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving; I certainly enjoyed my four days of freedom. Lots of baking and craft projects, running and hiking, and maybe a couple of chores off the never-ending list.

Eggnog Ice Cream {{Baking Bytes}}

I decided to start off the month with a delightfully seasonal item: eggnog ice cream. I actually “invented” this recipe last year but never got a chance to post it, so I’m sharing it with you now. It tastes exactly as you’d expect, like extra thick and creamy eggnog. Even by ice cream recipe standards it’s a super easy one with a super delicious outcome.

Eggnog Ice Cream {{Baking Bytes}}

Smooth texture and the eggnog flavor we all know and love (I’m assuming, otherwise you’d probably have stopped reading by now) join together in a slightly non-traditional dessert for the cold months. Personally I eat ice cream all year round, so if you’re like me this is a fantastic option to get your eggnog fix.

Eggnog Ice Cream {{Baking Bytes}}

If you’re a fan of alcoholic eggnog (I’m not, but to each their own) this recipe can easily incorporate that preference by adding a little White Christmas liqueur (or whatever you like) to the mix. Top with freshly grated nutmeg (or a sprinkle of the ground stuff) for a little extra flair.

Eggnog Ice Cream {{Baking Bytes}}

Eggnog Ice Cream
Makes about 1.5 quarts

Ingredients

2 cups full-fat eggnog (it’s the holidays, live it up!)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-2 oz White Christmas liqueur (optional)

Directions

  1. Whisk together all ingredients until completely combined; refrigerate overnight.
  2. Place a glass, lidded bowl in the freezer.
  3. Freeze eggnog mixture according to your ice cream maker’s directions.
  4. Pour directly into chilled bowl, then return to freezer to chill at least another 4 hours, or overnight.
  5. Serve with a dash of freshly grated nutmeg, if desired.

Veggie Scrambled Eggs

Posted by Lindsey @ Baking Bytes in Breakfast, Entrée and tagged with ,

Happy Wednesday everyone. The two recipes I originally had considering sharing this week (and baked last weekend) both require a second iteration, so instead I am sharing my favorite quick breakfast. On the days I am not racing out the door to the gym (mainly Fridays), I like to treat myself to something different from my usual toast with peanut butter and cinnamon. Scrambled eggs with veggies has become my go-to weekday treat so I thought I’d share this fast and easy recipe with you today.

Veggie Scrambled Eggs {{Baking Bytes}}

Recipe might be a bit of a generous term considering just how easy it is, but it’s a great thing to have in the repertoire. Eggs are great for protein to keep you full longer, and veggies round out the meal nicely. Steak seasoning adds a little extra something without any extra work. My favorite veggies to add are bell peppers and zucchini, but you can absolutely use whatever your favorites are. Just bear in mind that some things will take longer to cook (e.g. potatoes) and others will cook much more quickly (e.g. spinach) and adjust steps 2 and 3 according to your choices. You can also easily add some shredded cheese if that’s your style; I like to add it about one minute before the eggs are done cooking so it stays in slightly larger chunks while still getting melty.

Veggie Scrambled Eggs {{Baking Bytes}}

This super simple recipe doesn’t need much talking up so I’ll end here. Enjoy!

Veggie Scrambled Eggs
Makes 1 serving

Ingredients

olive oil
1/2 cup diced veggies (e.g. zucchini and bell pepper)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp steak seasoning (I use the larger amount, but it may be more than some people want)

2 eggs
3 Tbsp milk (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat a splash of oil in a small frying pan over medium heat until it thins and is easy to swirl in the pan.
  2. Add veggies and steak seasoning (no need to pre-mix) and sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until veggies are heated through and softened to desired texture.
  3. Meanwhile, beat eggs and milk in a small bowl until combined.
  4. Add eggs to frying pan and use a spatula to gently stir them until cooked through.
  5. Serve immediately, solo or with a side of toast and coffee.