Budyń o smaku (raspberry pudding)

I heart trying new things. And being a food-hearter (apparently the word "foodie" is taboo now), I especially heart trying new foods. It always amazes me when I discover foods that are a simple (and perhaps common?) pleasure from one culture and how that food can be completely unknown to everyone else.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to try budyń o smaku (which I think, roughly translates from Polish to English as raspberry pudding...apologies if I got the translation wrong). The pudding mixture comes prepackaged (the one I tried was made by Nestlé) and starts in powder form.

I watched my friend make this dessert, and from what I gather, the cooking process goes like this: heat up milk, add powder to milk (mixing constantly), stir, wait for the mixture to thicken, pour into bowl, serve hot or cold (the instructions I've found online are in Polish, so I'm strictly pulling this from my memory).

The process reminded me of making Jello - except it was faster and dare I say it? Yummier.

The pudding tasted milky/creamy and the consistency was nice and thick (in many ways, it reminded me of steamed Chinese egg custard). There was a subtle taste of raspberries (though I'm told it comes in many different flavours) and the best part of it? It was just the right amount of sweet.

I ate the bowl of pudding with wonder, savouring every spoonful and marveling at the wonderful consistency. It was warm and soothing - good for when the nights are cold. And the best part of it all?  I got a doggy bag (bowl?), which is now sitting in the fridge. It's supposed to be even yummier when it's cold...I can't wait until tomorrow...is it okay to have dessert immediately after breakfast?

Bake it in a cake (a.k.a pumpkin pie baked in a cupcake)

Seriously delicious

So a good friend of mine found this insane web site that - get this - collects ideas on what can be baked into cupcakes. With the intense cooking from Thanksgiving, I decided to take a break and bake strictly for fun: hence Bake it in a Cake.

I tried out this recipe, and it was AMAZING. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cream cheese for the icing so tried this Martha Stewart recipe instead (warning: I found it WAY too sweet - even though I only used 2 cups of icing sugar).

I have to admit, it did take awhile to make the mini pumpkin pies, and then the cake batter, and then the actual cake. Oh...and then the icing. But the end result was worth it. Special thanks to SMC for finding this cool web site. The recipe is as follows (just in case the site ever goes down, I'll always have a copy of the recipe).

This recipe should make 24.

For the pumpkin pies you’ll need:

- 1 batch of your favorite pie crust dough 

- 1 15 oz. can pumpkin pie filling, prepared according to the can’s directions.

For the cupcakes you’ll need: 

- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

- 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

- 3 eggs (room temperature)

- 2 t. vanilla

- 2 t. baking powder

- 1/2 t. baking soda

- 1/2 t. salt

- 1 1/3 c. whole milk

- 2 1/2 c. flour 

For the buttercream you’ll need:

- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

- 2 c. powdered sugar

- 1 c. Hershey’s cinnamon chips (or any cinnamon chips you like)*

- splash of whole milk 

*Not available in Canada - substitute cinnamon and brown sugar

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (F).

First ingredient: mini pumpkin pies

First, prepare the pumpkin pies. Mix up the pumpkin pie mix according to the can’s directions (or make your

own-fancy!). Roll out the pie crust dough and cut it into small circles that are large enough to cover the bottom and sides of mini cupcake tins (I used the opening of a small juice glass as a cutter). 

Press the dough into the lightly greased mini cupcake tins, and then fill them with the pumpkin pie mix. (Don’t go all the way to the top, the filling will expand a little while baking.)

Bake the pies for about 7 minutes at 425 degrees (F), and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees (F) and bake them for another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is brown and the filling is completely set.

After taking them out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan and allow them to cool further while you mix up the batter.

Pies in the batter

For the cupcake batter, combine the butter and the cream cheese together on medium speed for about 90 seconds—you want the ingredients to be well incorporated. Then mix in the sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then mix in the milk and the flour, alternating between the two ingredients. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, to make sure everything is getting well-mixed—beat again on med-high speed for about a minute. It should be smooth and creamy.

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into regular-sized, paper-lined cupcake tins. Plop a cooled pumpkin pie 

Covering the pies

into the center, and press gently into the batter. GENTLY. You don’t want it to touch to the bottom of the pan. 

Cover the pies with another heaping tablespoon of batter, so the top and sides are completely covered.

Bake at 350 degrees (F) for about 25 minutes, until the cake is set and the edges and tops of the cupcakes have turned golden brown.

Allow them to cool in the cupcake tray for atleast 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack—they’ll be a little fragile at first. 

Once the cakes are cool, frost ‘em! 

To make the buttercream, melt down the cinnamon chips with a splash of whole milk. Pop ‘em in the microwave for about 45 seconds on high. Stir until all the chips are melted, and allow it to cool a bit while you whip up the rest of the frosting (you can put the bowl in the fridge, it’ll cool faster that way, and the milk will keep it from solidifying). 

1 down...many to go

Cream together the butter and cream cheese until they’re well incorporated. Then whip in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the cooled cinnamon chip “ganache” (if it’s too hot it’ll melt the buttercream and ruin it—you don’t want that). Put in about half, then stop to taste it and decide if you’d like to add more. Some like it strong, others like it milder. 

If  you have any pie crust left over, roll it out and cut smaller discs and sprinkle them with a little bit of 

cinnamon and sugar. Bake ‘em for about 10 minutes at 350 and look at that, a cute and tasty cupcake topper!

You can also try candied pecans or a drizzle of caramel on top. Tasty!

This recipe was created by Megan Seling for Bakeitinacake.com

Apple pie cake

Mom says add vanilla ice cream

The fall harvest is one of my favourite times of year. Especially when it's apple season. Apple cider, apple pies, apple sauce, the list goes on and on. I went apple picking last year, but didn't have time this year. Luckily, my cousins M&C went and treated me to some apples (empire and cortland).

Not being entirely sure what to make, I turned to Martha Stewart and tried her recipe for apple pie cake.

This recipe was easy-to-follow and the results were very tasty. Though it took nearly 7 hours for the cake to completely cool down (if you try to remove the cake from the pan while it's hot, it will fall apart).

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing (i.e. my first successful cake!)

I love Alton Brown. Seriously, he's smart, entertaining and generally comes across as a really nice and quirky guy. Nerdy chic might be the correct term. His recipes are also really people friendly - i.e. he tells you to check for the internal temperature of a cake to see if it's done, instead of just eyeballing it. Which is exactly what I did using his carrot cake recipe.

Carrot cake in the raw: not that pretty

I've never made carrot cake before (or for that fact, successfully baked a cake), so this was a brand new adventure for me. I grated the carrots by hand and then followed the recipe. After I mixed the flour, eggs, spices and carrots together I did a double take. Why? Because it DID NOT look appetizing. To be honest, it looks like the remnants of too many drinks the night before. But I did continue on and placed the cake into the oven.

The result? A delicious one.

Oh, and the cream cheese icing was to die for. (Though I did reduce the icing sugar to one cup).

Carrot cake complete: it was a hit!

Also, the cake looked way better after it was done.

------


Carrot Cake
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

Prep Time:40 minInactive Prep Time:1 hr 0 minCook Time:1 hr 10 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
- 1 (9-inch) cake

Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, for the pan
- 12 ounces, approximately 2 1/2 cups, all-purpose flour, plus extra for pan
- 12 ounces grated carrots, medium grate, approximately 6 medium
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/3 cups
- 2 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup firmly packed
- 3 large eggs
- 6 ounces plain yogurt
- 6 ounces vegetable oil
- Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 9-inch round and 3-inch deep cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

Put the carrots into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process for 5 seconds. Add this mixture to the carrots and toss until they are well-coated with the flour.

In the bowl of the food processor combine the sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and yogurt.

With the processor still running drizzle in the vegetable oil. Pour this mixture into the carrot mixture and stir until just combined. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and bake for another 20 minutes or until the cake reaches 205 to 210 degrees F in the center.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow cake to cool 15 minutes in the pan. After 15 minutes, turn the cake out onto a rack and allow cake to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting after cake has cooled completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 9 ounces powdered sugar, sifted, approximately 2 cups (1 cup is more than enough)

In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese and butter on medium just until blended. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. With the speed on low, add the powdered sugar in 4 batches and beat until smooth between each addition.

Place the frosting in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Yield: approximately 2 cups

Another butter tart haven - Le Pain Quotidien

So maybe I lied when I said butter tarts are only for bad days.  They can be for good days too.  Maybe it's the type of butter tart I have on bad days.  On bad days, I like ooey gooey goodness - even if it's slightly too sweet.

On good days, I want small butter well...tarts?  Cue an example of a good day: my Big Brother and I went out to lunch and decided to have some dessert.  We stopped at Le Pain Quotidien for dessert.  And there, in the display window, was a somewhat Parisian version of a butter tart.

We both had one each and split a pot of green tea.

And boy, am I glad we each had our own.  The entire thing was lighter and much less sweet than other butter tarts I've had. Despite the fact that I know it was loaded with calories, it didn't taste like it was loaded with calories.

Now, the picture I posted with this entry doesn't do the tart justice.  I'm not in the habit of carrying a camera with me, so I had to rely on my Blackberry (and as much as I love this phone, the camera on it just isn't that great).  The tart shell was a golden brown, and the filling was actually not dark brown, but a sunny yellow colour - very different from a traditional butter tart.  And the taste?

Heaven on Earth.

And you know what?  It actually tasted buttery.  Silly, but I've never had a butter tart that tasted buttery.  The shell, yeah, but the filling?  Never.

Would I go back again for another butter tart?  Oh yeah.  Can I go back often?  Not if I'd like to fit in my pants.

(Le Pain Quotidien also serves an awesome sandwich and other baked goods.  It's a favourite lunch spot of mine.)

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.

Butter tarts are good for the soul

I love butter tarts.  What's not to love? Oooey-gooey, sticky goodness, with a flaky buttery shell and crunchy maple pecans (apologies to all the butter tart purists reading this). To me, butter tarts are perfect.  But I'll only indulge on certain occasions.  Like when it's been a particularly stressful day (rarely do I crave a butter tart on a good day).

There's something about a butter tart that demands my full attention. Maybe it's because the flaky crust will break apart and leave a long trail of crumbs, or the sticky filling will drip onto my shirt as I take that first bite.  A butter tart is so rich, so complex to make and so difficult to eat, that it needs time and respect to properly enjoy.

By focusing solely on the butter tart in front of me, any worries or stress are temporarily shelved.  It gives me a few minutes to re-focus and re-group and hopefully, gain a different perspective on whatever is bothering me.  Butter tarts are sweet, calming and comforting.  Butter tarts help soothe the soul, or at the very least, this blogger's soul.

Did I have a butter tart today?  Yes.  Do I plan to have a butter tart tomorrow?  Absolutely not.

Crema Coffee Co. at Yonge/Bloor serves a mean butter tart.

Butter tart rating: satisfaction level, 10; guilt level, 7.  Okay...maybe the guilt level is closer to a 4.

On my way to cake...

So I tried this Martha Stewart brownie recipe (again) - being careful to pre-beat the eggs before adding to the chocolate mixture (this way, you don't risk over mixing the batter and ending up with a rock) - and it was a success!  Feedback has been extremely positive, and I'm encouraged enough to start looking for a very simple cake recipe (please feel free to send me some links).

I also substituted semi-sweet chocolate chunks for semi-sweet chocolate chips and reduced the sugar slightly.  Below is the recipe with some of my own adjustments.  

  -------------------------------------------------------------

  

Makes 9 large or 16 small squares

FOR THE BATTER
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for pan
- 2 ounces good-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (SUBSTITUTE: SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (2/3 CUP)
- 3 large eggs (ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS: BEAT THE EGGS BEFORE ADDING TO THE BUTTER)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (not overhang).
- Make batter: Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk granulated sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs, and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.
- Make filling: Stir together butter, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.
- Pour one-third of batter into prepared pan; spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Drop dollops of peanut butter filling (about 1 tablespoon each) on top of batter, spacing about 1 inch apart. Drizzle remaining batter on top, and gently spread to fill pan. Drop dollops of remaining filling on top. Gently swirl peanut butter filling into batter with a butter knife, running the knife lengthwise and crosswise through layers (ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS: MAKE SURE YOUR KNIFE TOUCHES THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN).
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 45* minutes.
- Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. (TIME: AT 325, I NEEDED TO BAKE THE BROWNIES FOR APPROXIMATELY 50 MINUTES THE CENTRE OF THE BROWNIE SOLIDIFIED)

The brownie is cake like!

...too bad I over-swirled the peanut butter and reduced the sugar too much.  Beautiful texture - on the inside - but the outside bubbled and cracked, and the flavour was extremely bland.  The result?  Into the composting bin...

The road to cake is paved with brownies...

I cannot bake cakes.  If my life depended on me making a cake that didn't resemble a brick, I'd be in deep trouble.  I don't know if it's because I over or under beat the eggs - I've done both - but my cakes never turn out.  So a few months ago,  I decided I'd take a step back and try something in between a cookie and a cake.

The answer?  Brownies.  And who better than Martha Stewart (crazy, high-strung perfectionist that she is) to teach me about brownies?

To date, I've made cake brownies, fudge brownies (the fact that there are different types of brownies was news to me), rocky road brownies (they were either extremely loved or met with lukewarm enthusiasm), and something called blondies.  Today, I tried making peanut butter brownies.  (The recipe can be found here.)

As I type this, I am waiting for the brownies to bake.  The house smells like a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup - flavourful chocolate mixed with peanut butter.

I'll write a follow-up post to let everyone know how it goes.  Hopefully it'll turn out - bringing me one step closer to successfully baking a cake.  Stay-tuned.

Aunt Mary Dillion's Praline Cookies

To start: I DO NOT have an Aunt Mary Dillon.  However, I think someone from Martha Stewart's staff (or maybe event Martha Stewart herself) does.  I tried this recipe - it was really easy to make, but based on the amount of brown sugar called for, extremely sweet.

It's a yummy cookie, but for those who don't want a dessert toothache (or a sugar crash), reduce the amount of brown sugar used in the baking from 1.5 cups to 1 cup (since you'll be drizzling the sugared pecans on top of the finished cookies).

The cookies are actually pretty interesting - the time needed to bake these things varies from top rack to bottom rack.  The cookies on the top rack definitely needed an extra 2 minutes to turn golden, but the ones on the bottom only needed about 10 minutes at 345 degrees.

The difference in texture in just two short minutes is astounding.  They're either perfectly crisp to soft and doughy (which isn't bad in itself - it just doesn't work out so well for this type of cookie).

Rocky Road Brownies

As teenagers, my best friend and I used to take the bus to one of the local malls and hit up the Baskin Robbins. Instead of plain vanilla, my friend convinced me to try rocky road. The combination of nuts, marshmallows and chocolate bits, mixed in with the ice cream...absolute summer heaven.

But now that I'm a little older, my metabolism can no longer keep up with the calories...but it's still nice to indulge once in awhile - with a twist. Instead of ice cream, the chocolate is amplified using a chocolate brownie as the base.

Martha Stewart (scary genius that she is)'s web site has some amazing recipes.  I tried this one.  (No tinkering required).

And for those who still have an amazing metabolism,  serve the brownie with ice cream. 

Who knew brownies could be so difficult?

I don't think I have enough readers to call this short posting "long-awaited" - definitely a delayed one though.

Life has been busy the last month - with a family wedding and my professional life taking up much of my time, I haven't had a chance until this week to actually try new recipes...

This past Thursday, I decided to try making one of the hundreds of brownie recipes squirreled away in my recipe box.

Using this recipe, I attempted my first batch of brownies. Being me, of course, I had to substitute and mess with the recipe (1 cup less sugar, dark chocolate, etc). The result? I thought I had screwed up (but I actually hadn't!). I did learn the difference between cake brownies and fudge brownies...one is supposed to be light(ish) and fluffy. The other, thick and gooey.

I started with the fudge brownie and thought the end result too dense, so I tried making a cake brownie. The result? It was too dry (which, at 10:30 p.m., was NOT amusing).

But after reflecting (and getting some awesome feedback from a friend who's an amazing chef), the solution seemed simple: mixing the two recipes together to make the perfect brownie.

Have I tried to? Not yet...but I will soon.

But if I did...this is what the recipe would look like:

Ingredients
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup pecans/walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions
- Preheat oven to 345 degrees F.
- Spray a 13 by 9-inch pan with vegetable oil spray.
- Beat the eggs together and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together
- Melt the butter in a deep pot / pan on the stove (this will be where you actually mix all the ingredients together)
- Whisk in the sugar, eggs, cocoa, and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt mixture.
- Add chopped chocolate and nuts.
- Spread the batter in prepared pan.
- Bake about 25 minutes, just until brownies test moist but not wet.
- Cool completely before cutting.

Messing with Martha Stewart

I love changing recipes and making them my own once I'm familiar with them - especially cookie recipes. It's rare that I'll add or take away from a cookie recipe on the first try though - especially if it's by MARTHA STEWART (insert echo here). After all, she's the grand dame of cooking. Who am I to question the greatness of her words?(And to be honest, if I ever met her in an alley, I'd run the other way).

But I did...and I'm lucky. I've been meaning to try her Outrageous Chocolate Cookies recipe for awhile now...it looked relatively easy-to-make, plus there are quite a few people in my life who are, quite frankly, chocolate freaks.

To be honest, I find working with oodles of chocolate quite overwhelming. It gets everywhere, plus I find melting chocolate quite a tedious process (this particular recipe calls for using the microwave to melt the chocolate and butter together...let's just say butter EXPLODES).

But this particular recipe was...interesting. This recipe calls for very little flour, which had me questioning whether or not the cookie would ever solidify, or if I'm just making a very expensive chocolate pudding (luckily I wasn't). I also didn't like using semisweet chocolate chunks twice, so I substituted with bitter sweet chocolate. Plus, I added walnuts, changed cooking times and temperatures (my oven tends to run a little hotter).

All I can say is that it turned out really well. I'd love to say it was because I'm an amazing cookie chef, but to be honest, I think it was just dumb luck.

The full recipe can be found below. I placed asterisks where I made changes. Happy baking.

Ingredients

Makes 2 dozen (I actually made 30)
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar (*I only used 1/3 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks (*substitute with bitter sweet chocolate)
- 700 grams chopped walnuts

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until almost melted; do not overheat.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate.
- Mix in flour mixture until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chunks * and walnuts.
- Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets.
- Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Cool on sheets 10 minutes (*20 minutes)
- With a thin metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely.

Whole new appreciation for Iron Chef...

In my last posting, I mentioned that I'd be cooking a few dishes for my almost sister. I had a lot of dishes to make in a short period of time, so I had to come up with a battle plan. Namely, a work back schedule. Up at 7:00 a.m. to light the fire place so that the dough for my cinnamon buns would have a warm place to rise. 7:15 - 7:30 mixing dough (which, is AWESOME with my red KitchenAid mixer). The ultimate goal was to be done cooking by 11:45. Let's just say that when I was done, I had a whole new appreciation for Iron Chef. Cooking quickly is one thing, but to cook, plate, and then transport...let's just say that my own version of Iron Chef took much longer than an hour.

The end result? Foods that brought a smile to my baby sister's face. Which made the five hours of non-stop cooking completely worth it.

I used this recipe from the Food Network as a base for the cinnamon buns. However, I did change one thing - I mixed brown sugar with white sugar.

Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup plus 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For the Filling:
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

For the Glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions
Make the dough:
- Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until it reaches about 100.
- Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar (don't stir). Set aside until foamy, 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the melted butter, egg yolk and vanilla.

- Whisk the flour, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the salt and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture.
- Mix on low speed with the dough hook until thick and slightly sticky. Knead on medium speed until the dough gathers around the hook, 6 minutes. (Add up to 2 more tablespoons flour if necessary.)
- Remove the dough and shape into a ball.
- Butter the mixer bowl and return the dough to the bowl, turning to coat with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 hour 15 minutes.

See how to form these Cinnamon Buns

- Roll out the dough, fill and cut into buns (see instructions below).

- Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan; place the buns cut-side down in the pan, leaving space between each.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325.
- Bake the buns until golden brown, about 35 minutes.
- Cool in the pan 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:
- Sift the confectioners' sugar into a bowl, then whisk in the cream and melted butter.
- Transfer the buns to a rack and spoon the glaze on top while still warm.

How to Form Cinnamon Buns
1. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-by-14-inch rectangle with the longer side facing you.

2. Spread with the softened butter, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the far long edge. Mix the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the butter.

3. Brush the unbuttered far edge with water. Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder and press on the long edge to seal.

4. Cut the cylinder with a sharp knife to make 6 equal-size buns.

My nemesis: the cake (or maybe even the egg)

I’ve been toying with the idea of talking about foods I’ve made that haven’t turned out so well. Do I only share my culinary triumphs or talk about foods that haven’t worked out, or plain failed? Afterall, I’m sure not even Bobby Flay gets all his dishes perfect the first time he makes it.

I guess my concession will be to not post any recipes that don’t work, but to talk about the dish itself.

I once said that cakes are my culinary nemesis. This is true. I other over beat or under beat the eggs, which makes the texture either too hard (think meringue: those white peaks are made by beating the eggs into submission), or too soft (think egg custard: you want to keep the texture denser and you don’t want it to rise). In this case, I didn’t beat the eggs enough, for fear of overbeating them.

I tried to make coconut pound cake (the cake in the picture is pink because of Chinese New Year). The taste is amazing, but the texture was just weird.
Will I try this recipe again? Most likely. But it might not be for awhile.

Chocolate hazelnut cookies

I love the taste of hazelnut and chocolate, but I often find the combination to be too sweet. I came across this recipe on Foodnetwork.com, but have since modified it to have less sugar. One of my favourite cookies to make (and give away over the holidays).

- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup chocolate hazelnut spread (originally 1/2 cup)
- 1/3 cup sugar (originally 1/2 cup)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar (originally 1/2 cup)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl combine the butter, chocolate hazelnut spread, sugar, and brown sugar. Using an electric mixer, cream the ingredients together, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the hazelnuts and stir until just combined.

Using a tablespoon measure, spoon out the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, spacing the mounds about 4 inches apart. Use the tines of a fork to flatten the cookie dough. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, about 8-10 (12 minutes max, because it'll start to burn). Use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.