Recipes Discovered

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Our nephew’s were in town visiting Seth and I last weekend, and they are typically 13 year old boys – all they wanted for breakfast for cinnamon rolls. I suppose I’m a good aunt though (or maybe just looking for an excuse to have cinnamon rolls) because I pulled out Alton Brown’s recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls and went to work. I started by making the brioche, a very rich and sweet bread dough. Once it raised, I rolled it out fairly thick, brushed it with butter, and sprinkled it with a lot of brown sugar and cinnamon. The dough is then rolled up, sliced, placed in a baking dish, and allowed to set in the refrigerator overnight. I liked the idea of having everything done the night before (I’m not a morning person by any means), but the rolls do need to raise for 30 minutes in the morning and then bake for 30 minutes. Once they were baked to golden brown, I mixed up cream cheese, sugar, and milk to make a creamy icing. I inverted the rolls onto a serving plate, drizzled the icing over them, and gave them to the boys. I’m glad I grabbed one first though, because they cleaned the plate off in about 5 minutes. I can’t really blame them – they were really good cinnamon rolls. I suppose we’ll have to have the boys over again so I have another excuse to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Spinach, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Although it sounds like an odd combination (to me, at least), this salad has become one of my favorites for lunch. It’s easy to put together with just a few ingredients, and the flavor is just insanely good. The spinach is a little bitter, the orange is sweet, the avocado is creamy, and onion is tangy, and the sunflower seeds add just a little bit of saltiness. It’s delicious and easy, which is always good in my book.

Caramelized Onion Tartlets

For New Years last year, I made a couple different small appetizers. Basically just mini phyllo shells filled with different fillings. Apparently the caramelized onion filling was a huge success though. Everyone really enjoyed them, even those who don’t like onions, and I was asked to make them again for my aunt’s wedding last weekend. The filling is similar to french onion soup and can be made a day ahead of time. Since the phyllo shells are already made (buy them in the freezer section), it’s a really simple appetizer to put together. If they are going to be sitting for awhile, it’s best to bake them for 5 to 10 minutes, just to make sure they stay crisp. Otherwise, just fill the shells with the hot filling and serve. The filling is really sweet and savory, and I think most people are surprised how good the tartlets are.

Blueberry Buckle Recipe

Blueberry Buckle is fantastic cake made with fresh blueberries and a crumb topping. The name supposedly refers to the cake engulfing the blueberries and then buckling on top to make a dimpled appearance. Although my cake has a dimply top, the blueberries weren’t engulfed by the cake, but they did make a rather yummy blueberry goo on top. To me though, the cake was a tad dry, so I will definitely fold the blueberries into the cake batter next time to spread them out more and to give the cake some moisture. The cake also burnt on the bottom, and I’m not quite sure if that was because of my cake pan or the oven temperature. The cake does bake quite awhile (at least 45 minutes), so I will probably lower the baking temperature to 350 next time. And there will be a next time – this cake, even with it’s problems, is delicious. It may not be Blueberry Delight, but it definitely ranks up there.

Once summer comes around, all Seth wants to eat is peach pie and strawberry shortcake. I still haven’t figured out how to make a perfect peach pie, but I can make strawberry shortcake. Or at least I thought I could, until last night when he told me it tasted funny. Did I use a different recipe? Did I change something? Probably. So tonight we set out to set the record straight and to find the recipe for the best shortcake. Paula Deen’s recipe uses a little more butter than Dorie Greenspan’s. My mom uses an egg in her recipe. Alton Brown uses butter and shortening. There is also the debate of milk or cream. I made each of the recipes, plus a chocolate shortcake (I had to try it), and divided them up using cream in half and milk in half. Seth did a blind taste test, having no idea what the differences were between the shortcakes, and I was really surprised by his comments. >> Read more