Beautiful Cinnamon Bread

Back in early 2014, the Daring Bakers group made something called Beautiful Bread.  Aptly named, right?  There were two recipes, one involving a cinnamon filling, the other a Nutella filling.  Above is the cinnamon bread.  I do intend to make the Nutella one some day, though. 

While I tend to make desserts that look sort of complicated but actually aren't, this one does actually have a lot of steps.  But it is SO SO worth it.  I mean, really, is that some beautiful bread, or what??  Essentially, you make a sweet dough that is divided into 4 parts and rolled out into 8-inch circles.  Each circle gets a layer of butter and cinnamon sugar, and then the next layer is placed on the top, ending with the 4th layer.  With some fancy cutting and twisting, you end up with the bread you see above.  Here is how it's done:

Beautiful Cinnamon Bread
adapted from Daring Bakers
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients:
Dough
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon cardamom, optional
 Cinnamon Filling
1/2 stick butter
4 TB cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
Topping
1/4 cup milk
1 TB sugar
For drizzling
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
Whisk the egg with the water, milk, butter and yeast, and set aside.  Sift the flour, salt and cardamom in a separate bowl.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and knead until the dough is smooth.  Brush a large bowl with oil and place the dough inside, covering with a damp cloth.  Leave in a warm place to double in size.

Once the dough has doubled, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal parts.  Roll each part into a circle that is at least 8-inches in diameter.  Mix the cinnamon and sugar topping together.  Brush the first circle with butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Place a second layer atop the first and repeat the butter and cinnamon sugar.  Do the same with the third circle.  Top with the last, fourth layer and brush with butter.  With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 equal triangles.

Now, make cuts in the center of each triangle that go 2/3 of the way down, not reaching the outer edge or the tip.

Take one of the triangles and gently fold the tip down and poke it into the cut you made, and then pull it down through the cut and back up so the tip is back on top.  I unfortunately did not photograph this step, but this is sort of a graphic to demonstrate how it will look:

It's dreadful, sorry, but if you are making this, hopefully this image will help out.  Do this with each triangle and arrange on a parchment covered baking sheet.  Now pinch the bottom corners of each triangle together, into the middle.  So they are not being pinched to the triangle on either side but rather it's own left and right corners are being pulled together and pinched.  While you are working on this, preheat your oven to 500F. 

Brush the dough with the sweetened milk topping.   Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes, then place into your hot oven (rack in center).  Bake for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400F and bake for 15-20 more minutes, or until the underside is golden brown.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack and drizzle with sweetened condensed milk while warm. 
Printable recipe

Bask in the glow of the most beautiful "cinnamon rolls" you have ever made!

Daring Bakers: Peppermint Whoopie Pies!

Well, I am a few days late for my whoopie pie post, but I promise, they were done on time!  I just got delayed with my posting, what with the holidays, lots of family in town, and a bit of sickness that kept getting me down.  But, I am feeling better now and ready to think about food again!

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

I can honestly say that I have never had a true whoopie pie - the kind you would get in the New England area with a vanilla marshmallow filling.  However, I have made them before for the clever girl's Halloween party at school.  That version was a pumpkin whoopie pie.  This time I thought I'd holiday-it-up a bit and do a peppermint/candy cane version.  Because chocolate and peppermint are meant to go together.  It is a match made in heaven!

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Coconut Pastel de Tres Leches (3 Milk Cake)

I am not very consistent with my Daring Bakers challenges, but I gave it a go this month for Pastel de Tres Leches!  How could I resist?  Inma was our September 2013 Daring Bakers hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious!  Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy, just plain delish!

Living in Houston, I have definitely had Tres Leches Cake (as we call it here) before.  The promise of an airy, not soggy version was very intriguing to me, but I also wanted to do something a little different than the "typical" Tres Leches.  Enter Inma's option of a chocolate coconut version!  Whooee, now we are talking!

To be honest, it is not a difficult cake to make, other than all of that FOLDING.  I am not a good folder.  There, I have said it.  It is something I do while holding my breath every time because I know I am not good so my confidence each time is in the toilet.  I need a lesson in folding.  Anyone know where I can get one?  Not an online video tutorial but someone who will stand next to me and help me do it right.  HELP!  Truly, I want to master folding!

The recipe has very few ingredients.  Eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, water and cocoa powder.  If you made the original version it would be identical but take out the water and cocoa powder.   That's it, people!  And the amount of sugar is quite low for a cake, just 1/2 cup, because of all of the sweet milk you'll be pouring over it.  The tricky part is this - you whip the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks and then beat the egg yolks until they are nice and fluffy.  Then you have to FOLD the egg yolks into the whites.  Scary part #1.  But wait, remember the ingredient of FLOUR?  Well, you then "shower" the egg white mixture with sifted flour, little bits at a time, and keep gently FOLDING it in.  ACK.  Seriously scary part # 2 through a zillion!  Now, mix the cocoa powder and water together into a paste, and FOLD that into the mix.  Horrifyingly scary part number zillion+!  That is lots of folding and lots of me holding my breath.  Thankfully I did not pass out. 

Pour that batter into a cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  In the mean time, make the 3 milk syrup.  The cake would not be Tres Leches without this crucial element!  Mix together a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of coconut milk, and a cup of heavy cream, and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes.  It needs to cool completely before you use it.  If you were making the original recipe, you would take out the coconut milk and use a can of evaporated milk instead.  And add in a cinnamon stick.

Cut the cake in half horizontally, poke holes liberally with a fork, and start soaking that bad boy with the milk syrup.  I brushed in as much as I could before it was just seeping out all over my platter, and then put the cake into the refrigerator overnight.  I covered the milk syrup and refrigerated that as well.  In the morning, I brushed in more syrup.  I did the same in the afternoon and again before totally constructing the cake that evening.  I still didn't get all of the syrup into the cake but I did the best I could!

Spread some whipped cream on the top of that cake layer, and sprinkle with some toasted coconut.  Then put the other cake layer on top, cut side up.  I drizzled more of the syrup over the top layer as well.  I was not sure if I was supposed to pour the milk into that layer or not, so I didn't at first.  Looking back, you should probably do the same to both layers but then I have no idea how you'd get that second layer off of it's plate and onto the first layer without it falling to pieces.  However, I am fairly sure this is what I was supposed to do!  Oh, well!  Spread whipped cream all around the cake and sprinkle more toasted coconut on the top and sides.  If you were doing the original version, you would use some sort of fresh or canned fruit here and in the filling.

DIG IN.  Yum.

One of my best girlfriends was over for dinner the night I made my Tres Leches cake.  She said it was "pure loveliness", like a blend of chocolate cream pie, coconut and tres leches all together.  She said the toasted coconut really "made" the dessert.  She cleaned her plate.  So did the rest of us!  Delicious.  Inma did not steer us wrong.  This was one super awesome cake, that really was airy and not soggy!  Thank you Inma for this "lovely" challenge!

Coconut Three Milks Cake
Serves 12

Ingredients:
Sponge cake
5 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup water
3 TB unsweetened cocoa powder

Coconut syrup
1 can (~14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (~12 oz.) coconut milk
1 cup heavy cream

Topping and filling
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar (I used a bit less, maybe more like 1/4-1/3 cup)
1 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened coconut, and used more like 2 cups total)

Instructions:
Sponge cake
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter a 9x9-inch square pan or 9x9-inch round cake pan, line the bottom with parchment, and butter the parchment.

Separate the yolks and the whites, putting the yolks in a small mixing bowl and the whites in a large mixing bowl.  Beat the whites on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, or until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the sugar and whip until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

Beat the egg yolks at medium-high speed until pale colored and creamy, about 5-6 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla.  Pour the egg yolks over the egg whites and gently fold until just combined, being careful to not lose any volume from the egg white mixture.

Fold in the flour little by little in the form of rain.  Mix until just combined.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely, then split the cake into two layers.  Flip the top of the cake onto a cake platter so the cut edge is up and liberally poke with a fork to help the cake absorb the milk syrup.

Coconut Syrup
Pour the three milks to a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Once cool, brush all of the milk syrup into all of the sides of the cake.  Do the top layer the same way if you want, though I have no idea how you'll get the soaked layer up onto the first layer when the time comes!  Rest the cake in the refrigerator overnight to complete the soaking process.

Topping and Filling
Put coconut into a dry skillet and allow to lightly toast.

Whip the cream, and when soft peaks form, gradually add the sugar.  Continue whipping until stiff peaks
form, about 2 minutes.

Layer some whipped cream onto the bottom cake layer and cover with a little less than half of the toasted coconut.  Put the top layer on and cover the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream and toasted coconut.

Enjoy!
Printable Recipe

Yum.  A mouthful of creamy delicious goodness.  If you have had tres leches before and thought it too soggy or too sweet for you, give this one a try.  It is perfect!

Daring Bakers - Swedish Prinsesstarta

Korena of Korena in the Kitchen was our May Daring Bakers' host and she delighted us with this beautiful Swedish Prinsesstarta!  Though I haven't been able to participate in a Daring Bakers challenge in a while, when I saw the June challenge, Swedish Princesstarta, I knew this challenge would have to be met.  It just so happens that my little princess, a.k.a the clever girl, turned 5 in early June I had a suspicion that she would really enjoy a princess cake.  So, I didn't do this challenge on time (supposed to be posted on May 27), but the challenge was met anyway!

I did offer the clever girl another birthday treat that I thought she would enjoy, but let's be honest, when she heard the words "princess" and "cake" together, nothing else would do!  And I am so glad this is what she chose because it was DELICIOUS.

Daring Bakers: Panettone

The December 2012 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina.  Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!

I was really excited to take on the challenge of making a Panettone.  It is one of those baked goods that has always intrigued me.  Before this challenge, I had actually never eaten one before, only seen them in stores in their pretty, tall boxes.  As someone with Italian heritage however, I felt I would have to make a Panettone sooner or later!

Some history about the Panettone, anyone??  Evidently there are a variety of stories and legends about Panettone, but the hostess of this recipe favors the recipe and story that follows:  Once upon a time, a young Milanese noble fell in love with the daughter of a poor baker whose name was Tony (Antonio).  The nobleman wanted to marry the baker's daughter, so he made sure that the baker had the very best ingredients at his disposal - eggs, butter, flour, candied orange peel, citron and golden raisins.  The baker then created a wonderful bread that became known as "pan di Tonio", Tony's bread.  The baker found his fame and fortune with this bread, and the nobleman honorably married the baker's daughter!  Though this story is sweet and romantic, others claim that this could not possibly be true as Italians don't shorten any name to be "Tony", this is something English-speakers do.  However, most do agree that the Panettone comes from Milan, and the word Panettone has a base in two Italian words:  "panetto", which means "small loaf cake", and the suffix "-one" which means "large cake".  I must admit, this cake comes out looking like a large loaf cake, so at the very least there is something to this etymology.

Daring Bakers: Empanada Gallega

September's Daring Bakers Challenge was an Empanada Gallega!  Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family's favorite recipes for Empanadas!  We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our empanadas as creatively as we wished!

I am a bit late with this post (was supposed to post on September 27) but I wanted to make the empanada anyway!  I have made empanadas before but they tended to use some sort of pie crust and though tasty, I could never get past the idea that I was eating a TON of pie crust with each piece.  So the idea of making my own empanada dough was too tempting to pass up!

Making the dough was downright simple!  The recipe is very straightforward and it creates a dough that is both tasty AND easy to work!  (Gotta love that combination!)

Empanada Gallega with Ground Beef
3 1/2 cups (500 gm) all-purpose or bread flour (I used bread flour)
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1/2 cup less 1 TB (100 ml) liquid fat  - oil, margarine, lard, etc.  (I used olive oil)
1 TB (15 gm) dry yeast or 1 oz (30 gm) fresh yeast
1 teaspoon (5 ml)(6 gm) salt
1 teaspoon (3 gm) sweet paprika

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle.  Add all of the ingredients.  If using fresh yeast, break it up as much as possible.  Mix with a wooden spoon until all of the ingredients have been incorporated.  Turn dough onto a floured board/counter and knead for 8 minutes.  Make a ball and place in an oiled bowl.  Allow to rise covered with a towel for about 1/2 hour before using. 

(make filling while dough is rising)

One risen, put the dough back onto a parchment covered, floured board/counter and divide it in half.  Cover one half with the towel to prevent drying.  Spread the other half of the dough using a rolling pin.  Depending on the shape of your oven pan or cookie sheet, you will make a rectangle or a round shape with your dough.  Roll the dough to a thickness that depends on your filling and the amount of dough you like in each bite.  For your first time, make it about 3 mm thin (about 1/10th of an inch) and then adjust from there in the next empanadas you make.

Filling
adapted from The Best Simple Recipes, America's Test Kitchen
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped fine
2 TB tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper

Cook beef and onion in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste, garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant.  Off heat, stir in cheese and cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper.  Allow filling to cool before putting it on the empanada dough.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

If you used the parchment paper mentioned above, place it with your rolled out dough on a baking sheet.  Place the cooled filling on top, leaving about an inch of dough around the outside.  (Note:  the reason for using cooled filling is so that the bottom layer of the empanada doesn't get soggy!) 

Roll out the other half of the dough on a second flour-covered parchment paper.  This "top" dough needs only to cover the filling, so it will be smaller BUT THE SAME THICKNESS as the bottom dough.  This is a good opportunity to trim off some of your dough to use for decorating the top of your empanada!  Carefully flip your top dough over the filling and peel off the parchment paper. 

Using your fingers, join the bottom and top dough, pinching the top and bottom together with your thumb and index finger and turning them half-way in.  This is how you end up with a rope-like border.  If you desire a video on this technique, check out http://youtu.be/CNpB7HkTdDk.  When the border is complete, make a 1 inch hole in the middle of the top layer of dough.  This helps hot air exit the empanada while baking.  Use the left over dough to decorate the empanada!

Prick the top layer of dough with a fork and cover with an egg wash.  Bake for 45 minutes.
Printable Recipe

As you can see in the photo above, my empanada opened up a little bit on the bottom edge, so my rope making skills were not spot-on.  Oh well!  The empanada itself was delicious!  The filling is very tasty, especially with the fresh cilantro.  The dough was great!  The flavor is really good, and that sweet paprika really makes it perfect.  I like the thickness I rolled, which was probably about the thickness of a quarter.  Though the dough recipe says it serves 6, and the filling recipe says it serves 4, I would say mine would serve 8! 

This seems like a long recipe but really it is quite simple.  The filling is made while the dough rises, so you could make this well in advance and just roll out the bottom layer when you are ready to bake!

Definitely a keeper for my family!  Many people in the Daring Bakers group made sweet empanadas, using fruit fillings, which is another great option!

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers: Pate a Choux Swans!

Yes indeed, I made a pate a choux swan!  Truly, I am as shocked as you are.  

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun creating pate a choux shapes, filled with creme patisseire or Chantilly cream.  We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

In case the fancy French words are throwing you off, pate a choux is the basis for pastry part of cream puffs and eclairs.  It is the puffy dough that you then fill with yummy cream.  Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I could create a pate a choux swan, but looky there, I did it!  It really is much easier than it looks!

Daring Bakers: Crazy for Crackers!

Our Jully 2012 Daring Bakers' Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers!  Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged us to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

While I knew it was possible to make crackers, I must admit it was not something to which I had given much thought.  So when the July challenge was announced, I was intrigued!  Crackers!  Hmmm.

There are several methods for making crackers, and part of our assignment was to try two different methods.  Crackers can be made by hand rolling, using pasta rollers, and by putting them in the icebox and slicing.  While I do own a pasta roller, I opted to use the two other methods for my crackers:  hand rolling and icebox.  Crackers are surprisingly easy and fun to make!  Why didn't I think of this sooner? 

I was thrilled to discover a recipe for homemade Ritz crackers.  We eat a LOT of Ritz crackers, or "circle crackers", as the clever girl calls them.  To make my own without the bizarre unpronounceable ingredients from the packaged Ritz would be fantastic!  Stef, of the Cupcake Project, went on a mission at one point to create the perfect Ritz cracker.  Yahoo, because she baked about a zillion crackers before figuring it out!  I benefited from her mission!  Thanks, Stef!

The Daring Bakers June Challenge: Battenberg Cake

Hello, readers.  I have joined another baking group!  This one is called Daring Bakers.  The group started in 2008  with just a couple of people challenging themselves to make a particular recipe each month, and the group has grown to over 9000 at last count!  There are Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks, which started in 2009 (and whose numbers are included in the totals above).  I found this group when checking out a blog of another TWD baker, Mireia of Baking in Spain.  Thank you, Mireia!  So after you read about my take on this month's challenge, click over to Mireia's blog and see what she is up to!

Daring Bakers has a new challenge each month, which is secretly revealed on the first of the month (to members only!)  There are recipes and details provided as to what are mandatory parts of the challenge and what variations might be allowed.  Then everyone posts on their blog about the challenge on the 27th of the month.  The amount of information provided for each challenge is massive!  This month I printed 13 pages!  I am super excited to be part of this new group!

For the Daring Bakers June Challenge, Mandy of What the Fruitcake?! came to our rescue at the last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge!  She highlighted Mary Berry's techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.