Finally a Cinnamon Roll Success

I don’t give up, I am not a quitter, never have been, it might take me forever but eventually whatever it is I have decided I want to do, I will do.. I have always been that way, I don’t like to feel as though something has got the better of me. So there was no way I was going to let the cinnamon rolls get the better of me. I’d already decided that I would try every single cinnamon roll recipe I own, if that’s what I took – this one turned out really well. I am of the opinion that it has everything to do with the method.

Cinnamon Rolls

125ml/4oz milk

100g/3 ½ oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

2tsp dried yeast

50g/1 ¾ oz caster sugar

550g/1 ¼ lb plain flour sifted, plus extra for dusting

1tsp salt

1 egg, plus 2 eggs yolks

Vegetable oil for greasing

For Filling and Glaze

1tbsp cinnamon

100g/3 ½ oz soft light brown sugar

25g/1oz unsalted melted butter

1 egg

4tbsp caster sugar

 

1. In a pan, heat 125ml/4floz water, the milk, and butter until just melted, take it off the heat to cool a little and then whisk in the yeast and a tbsp of sugar, cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
2. Place the flour, salt and remaining sugar into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Then pour the warm milk into the well of the dry ingredients. Whisk the egg, egg yolks together and add them to the mixture.
3. Combine all the ingredients to form a rough dough and place onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding a little extra flour if it is still too sticky.
4. Lightly oil a bowl and place your dough in it, cover with a cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours until well risen.
5. To make the filling mix the cinnamon and brown sugar together.
   
6. When the dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it back.
7. Roll the dough out into a rectangle of about 40x30cm and brush with melted butter, sprinkle over the filling, leaving a 1cm edge at one end and brush the end with egg, pat down the filling to make sure it sticks to the dough.
8. Roll up the dough but not too tightly, towards the edge and cut it into equal pieces, using a serrated knife being careful not to squish them.
9. Grease and line a 30cm/12” spring form cake tin, pack in the rolls, cover with cling film and prove again this will take about another 1 or 2 hours, until well risen.
10. Preheat your oven to 180˚C/350˚F, brush the rolls with beaten egg and bake for 25-30 minutes. Gently heat 3tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of sugar, until the sugar has dissolved. Then brush the rolls with the glaze.
11. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

 

 

A festive ham

For me Christmas is all about family and I love doing a really special Christmas feast. The Americans know exactly how to do a festive ham and both Christmas’ we were out there; we bought one of their beautiful hams. For our first Christmas in Germany we bought a prepared ham, well it was a gammon joint to be honest which isn’t quite the same thing. I cooked it according to the package directions and was most disappointed, it was almost inedible, and there was no way I was about to start fridge picking at the cold meat in the middle of the night, after all what is the point in cooking a massive ham if you aren’t going to pick at it, for the whole Christmas period?

The forth Christmas was spent at my Mum’s and a usual the ham, gammon, was cooked to perfection, she always gets Christmas dinner spot on. Christmas 2012 I did this one and to be fair we all really enjoyed it, I would have picked at it for days, but my sister requested left overs to take home, so that she could pick! I don’t mind too much because money is tight for everyone and if I can afford to give her a little extra so that she can have something tasty too then why not……. I did miss having the cold ham in the fridge though that year. This recipe does take several hours to make and is probably best spread over the space of two days.

 

Festive Ham

3.5kg gammon

2l cranberry juice

2l apple juice

2 cinnamon sticks, halved

2 onions, halved but not peeled

1tsp juniper berries

2 star anise

For the glaze

4tbsp cranberry jelly

1tbsp runny honey

1tbsp English mustard powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1. Place the gammon in a large saucepan, cover it with cold water and bring it to a boil. Drain the water away and rinse the gammon under running cold water.
2. Put the gammon into a crock pot, along with the cranberry and apple juices, and all the spices, on a high setting and allow to cook for about 4 hours.
3. Remove the gammon from the crock and allow to cool completely. Then use a sharp knife to remove most of the fat, leaving a very thin layer over the ham. Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F.
4. Score the fat into diamond shapes. Heat the remaining ingredients into a smooth glaze and let it boil into a syrupy like consistency.
5. Line a roasting pan with foil, put in the ham and pour the glaze over the top to cover the ham, baking for 40 minutes.

  

A Little Time For Breakfast

Before I begin with the recipe and my usual quick bit about it. I want to say that I have sort of had an epiphany. A lot has happened and the stress of the last six months, has taken it's toll on my mental health. As a consequence everything that makes me, ME, has suffered, cookbooks have remained on the shelf, collecting dust, recipe apps have sat on the iPad unused and taking up memory. Dinners have been a hotch potch of thrown together food with none of the structure and forethought, that I used to put into my meals and my life. Some people probably think that's quite sad, that I sit at the weekends trawlling through recipe books, reading and picking out monthly recipes, researching the dishes and ingredients. Maybe it is, but nothing gives me greater pleasure than relaxing on my couch, with a glass of vodka and cranberry juice, Glen playing on his Xbox and me doing my thing! My blog is also important to me, I don't always get it right, but it's mine and I put a lot of thought into each post. I try not to go on a raving tangent too much because given the chance I could write for hours about each and every individual blog, but that's not what I want, I don't want to bore people, I want to share what I love, in a fairly concise format. I also haven't done any of my writing course since I got here, not because I haven't wanted to but for the same reasons as everything else it too has taken a back-burner. I've hit rock bottom, worried about everything all of the time. Like I said to a friend the other day I am waiting for that rope to come down so I can climb back out, I guess the fact that I am writing my blog again that rope has been dropped and I am beginning to climb back out already.

So where does this leave my epiphany? Well I'm going to start organising my time better, again, write lists of things to get done and I'm going to set goals and achievements, so I have something to aim for. I'm going to post at least one blog a day, start working on my coursework again. I am also sick to death of my own joke, "Rubbish at baking" hahaha! My cake sunk, the edges burnt, my scones and biscuits/cookies are rock hard, it was funny for awhile, but it's not anymore, I want to be good, I want to bake something people want to eat, I want to be able to make pretty/cool cakes that several of my friends can do, in particular I am thinking of two women, behind some really cool cake businesses, Goff's Goodie Galore and Loopy's Cakes, both women are absolutely amazing and you can find them on Facebook.. I want to be that good, but I realise you only get that good by practice... So to begin with I am going to bake 2-3 times a week maybe four there by getting in the practice I clearly need. Hopefully one day I will be able to eat more of my baking than goes in the bin.

So now onto the recipe part, of this blog. The joys of work leave little in the mornings for a decent breakfast - I rarely eat breakfast during the week, unless I'm on painkillers which require eating first. Every morning though, when we were in America and Germany, I would get up and make Glen two slices of toast sometimes scrambled eggs, when time allowed. At the weekends though, when time was on my side, I liked to make Glen something a little more special. Whether it was a full English, American Pancakes, a nice big bowl of warm filling porridge with a big glug of sweetened condensed milk, or this, French Toast with Cinnamon Apples, I try to make sure that weekend breakfasts are always delicious and hot.

French Toast With Maple and Cinnamon Apples

For The Apple Topping

1 medium sized apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

French toast

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 slices of bread

1 tbsp butter

maple syrup

1. In a small skillet, sauté the apple, brown sugar and cinnamon in the tablespoon of butter, until the apple is tender.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla, pour into a shallow bowl.(You can whisk in the shallow bowl, rather than making two bowls messy, but I would rather whisk in a deeper bowl as I can be a bit messy when whisking) Dip both sides of the bread in the egg mixture.

3 In a large skillet, melt the butter over a medium heat, cook the bread on both sides until golden brown. Serve with the apple mixture and lots of maple syrup.

Karma Or Food?

People keep going on at me about karma, which often leaves me asking the following questions. What is karma? When is it going strike? And last but not least, how? I often wonder how things would be or how I would feel if my EX got his? I mean for more than half my life I have let him make me miserable. When will that stop, when will it be enough?

Am I paranoid when I believe that he does things on purpose to make me miserable, if I'm honest I would have to say no. He does it all too often for it to be ignorance on his part.... And therefore in the karma logic, eventually he should get his. I can't help but feel, that although, I sometimes wish he would come to an untimely rather painful and miserable end, that it makes me no better than him. Hate is such a nasty thing, it consumes your heart and any good, turning it into bitter and twisted-ness, certainly no good can come out of it.

So what's karma and do I really want him to get his? Probably not, in truth I just want to be left alone, I want to be able to live my lifethe way I want to live it. I don't want to feel as though I'm being spied on, or made to feel that choices I make are wrong or stupid, because he thinks they're wrong and stupid! I want to be able to journalise I my life on facebook, sharing ridculous notions, or the silly thing I did today, or the mischievous nonesence I got up to, without getting a telephone call asking why I did it.. Prime example was when I posted about wanting chickens, within five minutes of that post I got a phone call telling me that I was being stupid, why would you want chickens?

I do some silly, ridiculous, mischievous things at times simply because it makes me feel good to not conform, at 34 I should be able to do things, without being made to feel guilty.... Or having to apologise!

So what does all this have to do with a recipe..? Well aside from my many phobia's, obsessive compulsive personality disorder, bad knees, bad back and sudden and unexpected bouts of hysterical "drama" I am also a comfort eater, I don't go over board and eat until I burst, but a tasty treat when I'm feeling blue sure does perk me up a bit.

FRENCH TOAST WITH APPLE TOPPING

Apple Topping

1 medium sized apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1/4 Tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp butter (not margarine)

French Toast

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

4 Slices of bread (I prefer white in this recipe)

1 Tbsp butter

maple syrup to top

1. In a medium sized frying pan/skillet melt the butter and sauté the apple, with the brown sugar and cinnamon, until the apple is tender. I've found that the times vary every time I make this recipe, sometimes it happens quite quickly and other times it takes a little while.

2. In a shallow dish, (I have rectangular pyrex dishes which are perfect for this, they are only about an inch and a half deep) whisk the egg, milk and vanilla, now dip your bread in the egg mixture coating both sides in the mixture.

3. In a large frying pan/skillet, melt the butter, it should be a medium heat. Fry the bread on both sides until golden brown. Once cooked serve with the sautéed apple and plenty of maple syrup.

I also like to make American style pancakes (so much better than the British ones) and serve the same apple mixture over the top. It's all very yummy and perfect, pick me up food!