Sticky Cinnamon Rolls with Pecan Icing

These cinnamon buns seem to have come to me in a dream or a vision of some sort and since then I couldn’t get them out of my mind! I just knew even though I have actually never tasted them before that they would be incredible. This is a typical example of the way in which I cook/bake purely based on my mood and my likes at any given time. 

They do take a bit of time and patience but they are very much worth the wait. They smell they create in your kitchen alone is well worth the time and effort. 

Cinnamon buns are a sweet pastry originating from Sweden, which are normally eaten at breakfast time but can be enjoyed at any time in my book. They don’t have a very long shelf life and do go stale quite fast however I doubt they will be long round enough to see this.

Ingredients: 

Dough: 

240ml milk 

50g butter 

14g active dry yeast 

475g strong flour 

50g caster sugar 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1 egg  

Filling: 

75g caster sugar 

75g light brown sugar

3 tablespoons of cinnamon  

100g really soft butter

White milk Icing: 

110g icing sugar 

2 tablespoons of milk 

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 

Luscious Pecan topping: 

110g melted butter 

75g light brown sugar 

100g chopped pecan nuts 

Method 

First I began by making the luscious pecan butter topping. You simply melt the butter in the microwave and stir in the brown sugar until evenly mixed. Next chopped the pecan nuts roughly and leave to one side. When you have lined your baking tin with parchment paper carefully spoon the butter and sugar mixture all over the tin and spread out all over the large rectangle tin. Next sprinkle the pecan nuts all over until they stick to the mixture. 

Now to create the dough. 

Mix the flour, caster sugar and salt together in a bowl and leave to one side. 

In a measuring jug melt the butter and milk together in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Stir and leave to cool until warm not hot. Once this has cooled stir in the yeast and mix. 

Add the yeast mixture to the electric mixer with the dough hook. Stir and slowly add small quantities of the flour mix at a time. When all of this has been added stir in the one egg. This should have formed a nice sticky easy to handle dough. Remove the dough from the mixer and knead for 5 minutes until firm. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp towel. Leave the bowl to rise in a warm area for up to 1hour. 

Next get onto making the sugary cinnamon butter filling. In a bowl mix together the sugars and the cinnamon. Make sure all is evenly mixed. Mix the butter with a knife to ensure it is palpable. Leave to one side. 

Once the dough has doubled in size, remove and begin rolling until it makes a large rectangle shape about 14inch by 10inch. Try not to flour the board underneath as it tends to dry out the dough. Once you have achieved the size you are happy with. Spread the soft butter all over the dough evenly. 

Next gently sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture all over the butter. Begin to roll up the dough into a long log. Half the mixture first and then divide it up until you make 12 equal size rolls. Place these rolls on top of the pecan mixture that we prepared earlier. Finally cover the rolls once more with the damp tea towel and place in a warm area again for another rise for 30-45 minutes until they are almost doubled in size. 

Bake in the hot oven for 15-20minutes. 

While the rolls are in the oven make the white icing. Simply sift the icing sugar, add the tablespoons of milk and the vanilla essence and leave to chill in the fridge. 

Once the cinnamon rolls are brown after 15 to 20 minutes remove the turn the baking tray upside using a wire tray underneath. This will allow the buttery sugar pecan top to drizzle and dry into the buns and create a beautiful glaze on top. 

Leave to chill for at least 20minutes before decorating with the white icing sugar mixture and voila! 

Enjoy! 

Be warned these are highly calorific and need to be enjoyed moderately. I have chest pains since consuming these! 

Peanut Butter, Hazelnut & Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These bad boys are just want you need for an injection of sugar and life! They can lift my mood in an instant. 

The roasted hazelnuts give them an extra lift and bite and with the recipe below making up to 18cookies you can enjoy for a few days! I tend to make the dough wrap them in cling film and make them in small quantities. The dough can also be easily frozen or kept wrapped up in cling film in the fridge for 2-3days. 

I whip these up in my kitchen aid and they're ready in minutes once you have everything weighed out and ready to go! 

Ingredients: 

75g crunchy peanut butter 

50g roasted hazelnuts 

75g soft butter 

100g self-raising flour 

25g cocoa powder 

75g chopped good quality chocolate (white & milk) 

125g soft brown sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 

1 teaspoon of baking powder 

1 egg  

Equipment list: 2 x baking trays, parchment paper, electric mixer/beater, wooden spoon, cling film, teaspoon, mixing bowl, chopping board, sharp knives, ovenproof dish. 

Begin by preheating the oven to 180DC. 

Arrange the hazelnuts on a oven proof dish and roast in a hot oven for 15-20minutes. Once roasted removed from the oven place on a towel, cover and roll to easily remove the skins. 

Next roughly chop the hazelnuts into small chunks. 

In the mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and peanut butter until soft and creamy. 

Add in the egg and the teaspoon of vanilla essence and continue to mix until dissolved. 

Next sieve in the flour in small batches. Toss in the chopped chocolate chunks and chopped hazelnuts and form the mixture into a dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 1hour to harden and set. 

Once chilled and harden roll the mixture into 18 equal size balls and divide between two baking trays leaving at least 2-3cm between each cookie. flatten the balls with the back of a spoon and bake for 10-12 minutes in the hot oven. 

Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

Feeling a little snuffly after being away in London town for a few days this week and since I do not enjoy lemsip or any hot lemony drinks, I decided to make a batch of lemon drizzle cupcakes! They should boost the old immune system and vitamin C level right back up! (Plus I have not baked in over a week and I’m starting to have withdrawal symptoms!)

I absolutely adore lemon drizzle cake. I first discovered it in Starbucks not long after I first moved to Dublin and it always reminds me of that exciting time. 

I like to think mine lemon drizzle cake is a lot more moist and delicate to other various types available in coffee shops.  Also I’ve recently decided to make the mixture into large cupcakes and decorate with lemon buttercream icing and a touch of grated lemon zest instead of tray bakes which I used to make.   My recipe is adapted from a few different sources and I tend to like to have a good dollop of lemon in the cake mixture to give the best flavour and moisture.  

Ingredients for cake: 

200g butter (soft at room temperature)

200g fine caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 

210g self-raising flour 

4 eggs (at room temperature)

2 teaspoons of baking powder 

grated zest of 1 lemon 

juice of 1 full lemon 

Ingredients for lemon buttercream icing 

100g soft butter 

220g fine powdered icing sugar 

juice of one lemon 

tiny drop of good quality lemon yellow icing 

rind of one lemon very finely chopped to sprinkle on top 

Method: 

Firstly I'm very critical when it comes to weighing ingredients properly so I do think it is vital to invest in a good digital weighing scales for your ingredients. I got my one in red to match my red kitchen aid in argos for a very reasonable €13! 

Next preheat the oven to 180DC and line a 12 hole muffin tin.  

Once everything is weighed I start by beating the soft butter first in the mixer until nicely soft and workable. Next add in the caster sugar and beat together till evenly mixed and smooth. While this is being blended I tend to grate the lemon rind and I also finely chop this as it can be undesirable to come across large pieces of lemon in the madeira mixture. 

Once the sugar and butter is nicely mixed next add in each of the four eggs one at a time and mix in-between to ensure curdling does not occur. 

After all the eggs are added in sieve in the flour in small quantities and mix again until all added. 

Finally add the lemon rind and the lemon juice and stir till evenly dissolved. 

Spoon the mixture into a muffin tin lined with 12 paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 16-20minutes depending on your oven. You know the cupcakes are done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Leave to rest on a wire tray for at least 20minutes before icing. 

Ready for the oven at 180DC. 

To make the Yellow lemon buttercream Icing:  

Beat the butter in the mixer until soft and slowly add in the icing sugar in batches. Add in the lemon juice and the yellow food colouring. Stir until you have a nice smooth thick icing. Add the icing to a piping bag with a nozzle. Decorate your cakes as desired and finally sprinkle with the finely grated lemon rind! 

Enjoy! 

Where do I start?

Hello Everyone,

My name is Tracy and it is about time that I finally start to write about my love for food and begin to  record my experiences of my love affair with good food.

I'm very lucky in that my job allows me to explore my creativity with food as I work with teenagers in a secondary school teaching the subject Home Economics. It's a fantastic job, one which I value very highly and one which I always knew would be the avenue best suited for me.

While I spend most of my day in my classroom school kitchen I tend to race home in the evenings to do the same thing in my home kitchen. I believe that in itself is testament to my love of cookery itself.

So what am I into and what do I bake/cook?

The answer is simple, it all depends on my mood. I find it very difficult to do a weekly grocery shop as I may not feel like eating half of the items in my fridge on a particular day and most days I tend to daydream about trying out new dishes for dinner or baking some new delight discovered that day in work. Of course this tends to be very expensive and does take it's toll on my wallet, but it's worth every cent in my eyes.

I look forward to developing this blog and posting some of my recipes and secrets and most of all I hope you enjoy it and take something away from this,

Thanks for reading,

Tracy