Cinnamon Buns

So what do you do when you make too much cream cheese frosting? You bake more ridiculous things. And then take forever to blog about it.

I have been reading A Cracking Good Egg ever since I started this blog and I just love it. I also love her personal challenge to cook one recipe out of every one of her cookbooks before she buys a KitchenAid. I have taken a quick look at mine and I am fairly sure I have done that, but some are a bit more explored than others. In any case, when I saw her post for cinnamon buns, I just knew I had to do it and not just to use up that frosting.

These are beautiful and scrumptious and I have already had a request to make more.

Cinnamon Buns only slightly modified from A Cracking Good Egg:

Makes about 16

3 tsp yeast
1 c. warm milk (about 100-110 degrees)
½ c. sugar
½ c. melted butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 c. plain flour (I ended up doing ½ all-purpose, ½ whole wheat)
1 c. brown sugar
2 ½ tbs cinnamon
1/3 c. butter
Cream cheese frosting

For the dough, mix yeast and 1 tbs sugar into warm milk. Leave in a warm place until frothy. Sift flour, salt, sugar and make a well in the center. Add yeast mix, eggs and melted butter.



Mix to a dough and knead in a bread machine, using a dough hook or by hand until smooth and elastic.

Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour to an hour and a half.

Punch and roll out until approx ½ cm thick.



For the filling, beat butter until creamy, add brown sugar and cinnamon and mix until smooth. Spread over the dough.





Roll up lengthwise. Cut into slices. Place on a cookie sheet and cover and leave to rise for an hour.



Bake for 10-15 minutes in 375 degree oven until brown around the edges.



Make the frosting if you don’t have a bunch left over. Spread over the buns while still warm. Try not to eat all of it.

And then eat, give some away, and eat some more. These are sooo good. So good.

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I actually turned my oven on Saturday night, but only because a) the high temp was about 10 degrees lower than it had been Tuesday/Wednesday and b) I had bananas that were practically black and needed to be used. When I saw this post in Bread and Honey, I mentally filed it away in “to make” and Saturday turned out to be the day. Well, Sunday too. Since I already have an amazing banana bread recipe (although the one in the original is very similar), I just went with mine and used their frosting recipe. And it was worth turning my oven on, that’s for sure.

Banana Cupcakes modified from Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Bread and Honey:

Makes 12 cupcakes and 8 mini ones

Banana bread batter
6 oz. (or ¾ package) of cream cheese. Mine had nice markings on the package to make dividing it a snap
1 tsp. vanilla
4 oz. (or ½ stick) room temperature butter
2 c. plus 2-3 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Or, in my case, line and reline the same cupcake pan because you only have one regular size cupcake pan. And line a mini one too because mini cupcakes are cute!



Make banana bread batter. Scoop into liners (I usually go about halfway) and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine were perfect at 20.

Meanwhile, or in my case the next day, combine cream cheese, vanilla, and butter and beat until creamy. Gradually add the 2 cups of powdered sugar. Add 2-3 more until desired consistency is reached. Beat well. I added 2 more. This makes a ton, by the way, and I have at least a cup leftover so either make more cupcakes or frost something else or give it to someone so they can go frost something. It’s delicious, so find something to do with it.



When the cupcakes have cooled, frost them however you desire. I went for a straight up frost this time, unlike the dollops on my Irish cupcakes. And they are fantastic! I have been struggling to not eat these for breakfast. We had friends over Sunday and they went over well and my coworker got one as a present this morning and she loved it. I need to give these away fast or I will eat all of them. And maybe the frosting in my fridge too. It’s just so creamy and delicious. So make these when it cools down enough at your place, but be careful. These are dangerous.

Grilled Salmon

It has been very hot in Portland. Very, very hot. There were rumors that it might get to 108 degrees in some parts of Portland yesterday. I also heard 111. As a result, I have not been cooking very much. Or at all, really. Aaron's been cooking and grilling, but now it's just too hot for any of that nonsense. So rather than bore you with what I've been eating (mostly Otter Pops), I've got a short post about grilling salmon and why it is wonderful.

I love salmon. It's not just being from Alaska, although that does have a lot to do with my love, salmon is just wonderful. Correction, WILD salmon is wonderful. I don't eat farmed and I eat Pacific only and Alaskan when I can. Grilling salmon is so fantastic and it really lets the fish shine through. All you really need is a piece of fish, some butter, salt and pepper. I went an extra step last time and added basil and sage from my own garden (I love saying that!). It was delicious. Heck, you don’t even need that stuff if you don’t want to. Salmon is delicious in and of itself.



Either way, go get some delicious, tasty, wild salmon. And, if you feel like it, dot it with butter, a bit of salt and pepper and some herbs if you feel like it. Wrap it up in foil. Throw it on the grill and wait until it is cooked through and a beautiful light pink. You'll know when. It will be moist and delicious and you'll thank goodness for fish and summer. Unless it's like right now and you just wish you were a fish and could swim around all day.

Did I mention it's hot?

I've got some things up my sleeve for when it cools down, some of which involve my oven. I'm not touching that thing until I'm not on a steady diet of Poncho Punch and Sir Isaac Lime. See you on the other side.

Lemon Basil Pappardelle

It’s the 100th post! Woo! I would’ve liked to have gotten here sooner, but my laptop has died. Very sad. So there’s a reason for my even more sporadic than usual posting. I’ll try to compensate with Aaron’s computer/laptop and when my beautiful hot pink baby is fixed, I’ll post more. Promise!



So what better way to celebrate my 100th post than to use something I grew! I harvested my basil for the very first time the other day and I had to do something nice with it. We picked up some great pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe’s a while back and just waited for something to inspire me. I mean, look at this beautiful basil! How can that not make you want to cook something?

So this is what I did:

One package of pappardelle noodles
A bunch of basil
A few garlic cloves (4-ish), minced
Lemon zest and juice of one lemon, ½ reserved
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
A bit of sugar
Freshly cracked pepper
A pinch of sea salt

Boil noodles in slightly salted water.

In the meantime, cut up about half of the basil into strips. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add olive oil, basil, garlic cloves, lemon zest and juice from ½ the lemon. Heat for about 30 seconds. Add a bit of vinegar and sugar. Heat for a little longer, but not until the basil changes color (this is what I did and it bummed me out. I cut the time for these instructions). Put aside.



Drain noodles and throw back in the pot. Mix in the sauce. Chop the rest of basil and toss in with the noodles along with the remaining lemon juice. Serve in pasta bowls and top with freshly cracked pepper and a bit of sea salt.

So aside from overcooking the first bit of basil, this was so tasty! And my basil plant is so full again, so more tasties to come.

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Updating finally. Thanks for the reminder Steffani. I’ve had this ready to go for a bit now and just forgot to do it. Oh well.

It’s finally feeling like summer in Portland. The sun is out, everyone’s smiling, and the farmer’s market is filled with delicious, delicious berries (I told you I’d be coming back to this!). My beautiful, fantastic friend Renai came to visit two weekends ago and we decided to do a cross-blog extravaganza and focus around the farmer’s market. Renai’s blog involves a ton of cool, look what I’m cooking now recipes, especially some very neat vegan stuff I wouldn’t have ever thought of. It’s because she’s a fantastic lady.



So with berries in mind, we went down to the big Saturday farmer’s market at PSU and eventually picked up a flat of mixed berries, which included blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. We ate a good chunk of this before we even made it back to the house. Sitting in my dining room, looking over some of my fave cookbooks and the internet, we debated ideas back and forth. After rejecting pie for the time factor (sorry pie! We had dinner to make too!), we settled on a cobbler recipe from the Alice Bay Cookbook, which was featured last fall here. Going with the whole local berries, Pacific Northwest thing, we went for it.

And it was so worth it. I love cooking with Renai. She’s a great partner in the kitchen.

Mixed Berry Cobbler modified from Blackberry Cobbler from the Alice Bay Cookbook:

About 8-12 portions, depending on how berry crazy everyone is.

1½ c. sugar
½ c. unbleached white flour
1 tsp. salt
8 c. mixed berries (I’d go for a good mix of sweet and tart. Our blackberries were almost like jam, but the raspberries had a good bit of bite to them. Experiment and see what works for you).
3 Tb. lemon juice (fresh, if you’ve got it)
3 Tb. butter
Biscuit Topping-
2 c. sifted unbleached flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3 Tb. sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ c. butter
2/3 c. milk
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.



Mix together sugar, flour, salt, berries, and lemon juice. Pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, and dot with butter. Bake for 15 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Meanwhile, make biscuit topping. Mix together sifted flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add milk and beaten egg that your friend has kindly already mixed together for you, and stir with a fork until just blended.







While berry mixture is hot and bubbly, spoon biscuit mixture on top in 10 or 12 dollops (or be less specific, like Renai, and just glop it all over the place). Return to oven for 20 minutes, until biscuits are browned. My oven decided this would be about 24 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Top with ice cream or whipped cream. Or just eat it and enjoy.



This was a pretty fantastic dessert. The only thing I’d change is making the glops of biscuit mixture a little more spread out. But for a first time team-up, I’d say we did a great job. Everyone seemed to enjoy it quite a bit and it was a fantastic way to use a ton of berries.

We also made dinner, but there are no pictures of that. That’s okay because I mostly just chopped veggies for salad and opened up and emptied a can of Coors Light to poach salmon that was taking too long to cook. It was tasty and was perfectly finished off with the cobbler. I can’t wait to collaborate with Renai again.

Soft Pretzels

This one gets an Aaron made tag because it was his idea and he did about half the work. The normal Aaron made tag is when he does everything, but he definitely deserves some credit here.

When we came back from Germany, pretzels were on the mind. They are everywhere in Munich: with butter, with cheese, plain, the size of your head, whatever. Aaron had the idea of making our own and he searched out a recipe. This one comes from my FN buddy, Alton Brown. Who loves a food nerd? I do.

I loved this recipe. The dough came together so easily and only one step of it is harder than really easy. Plus, we got to use my beautiful new cutting board my folks got me for my birthday.

Soft Pretzels from Good Eats:

Makes 8 pretzels

1 ½ c. warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 Tb. sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast (or 1 Tb. active dry yeast if you don’t buy packets…which I don’t)
22 oz. all-purpose flour, approximately 4 ½ c.
2 oz. unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 c. water
2/3 c. baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 Tb. water
Pretzel salt (I’m not sure what this is exactly, so we used coarse sea salt and it was delicious)

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. I pulled it sooner because I love to finish dough off by hand. Feel free to not do this. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or a towel) and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.





Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside. I accidentally skipped the brushing with oil part. Do not forget this part. Or, do like we did on the other pan because we ran out of parchment paper: just oil the sheet. I think it works out better.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan. In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan. I ended up making mine a little shorter and really wrapping the ends around to make them stick. The first couple came undone in the boiling water.



Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. (This is the slightly difficult part. Props to Aaron for doing it). Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.



These are so, so, so delicious. We ate half of them before the day was out. See how happy Aaron is? It’s because he just finished a bite before I took the picture. I cannot wait to do this again.

To Market, To Market

This is an I love you to Portland. I love the farmer's markets here. They are so full of amazing produce and weird things you wouldn't have thought of ahead of time. I really enjoy looking at all the colors and shapes and think about how much hard work, time, and effort went into such tasty, tasty food. I think having parents who farm probably helps me in this regard.





Anyway, I went with Aaron last week (and I went again yesterday, but I'll be getting to that in a different post) and even though it was a bit cloudy and slightly cold, the place was packed and people were smiling. We sampled quite a bit (ILY Rogue Creamery) and picked up some produce. Something that is very important to me is not only supporting naturally grown/organic food, but also local farmers. I like that my food doesn't need to travel a zillion miles to get to me. It tastes better, fresher, and it's just good times.



I also picked up some starts from a farm in Forest Grove. They are currently living on my back porch area and (mostly) seem to be having a good time. We shall see.

Anyway, I love your farmer's market and I love you Portland.