Sunday Morning Cinnamon Buns *No eggs required*

What do you feel is the best time to bake? Well honestly all times are the best time to bake , but morning baking is my FAV

You know the whole staying up late night , searching the multitudes of recipes on the internet to decide what tasty treat should you whip up , drooling, finding something you Absolutely Have To make and then falling into deep slumber. Well, I waste no time mulling over such things.

Wake  up, find recipe, cuppa tea in one hand and a whisk in another. Chop chop chop. 

So yesterday I found this amazing blog called Averie Cooks . Since yeast is my current obsession I head straight to her yeasted breads section and guess what I found ! Cinnamon buns * well that wasn't a tough guess considering that's exactly what the title says. Maybe I should work on building up the mystery . But chopchopchop*

Anywhoo she had an overnight cinnamon bun recipe and an instant 1 hour one. Guess which one impatient Soph picked *Yay . I kinda got the mystery part right*

Why This Recipe Stole My Heart ( just by reading , I hadn't baked it yet)

• 1 hour stuff. No long waiting
• Yeast. 
• No eggs. Although I don't have issues with eggs, I know a bunch of people who do . So it's always nicer to include them in food tasting
• Cinnamon ! I <3 cinnamon. I can sprinkle that goodness on all foods ever 
• CinnamonBun!  from Adventure Time -My favourtie cartoon.Yes I'm an Adult . Yes I watch Adventure time , and Futurama. But you must understand how deep these cartoons are. its about life and so many things that come with it . All the hardships, the lessons, the love. Something a person any age can relate to.

That being said I faced certain difficulties regarding the dough . It was quiet sticky and just couldn't hold it together. I was afraid that adding too much flour would make it very chewy , so just worked my way around the dough .With a few changes and faith in the God of Baked Goods, everything worked out great!Oh itssooooooyummy , you're gonna want seconds and thirds and fourths.

My search for cinnalove does not end here, but it's a great place to start , and satiate instant cravings.

Dough Ingredients 

Spread the dough, spread some butter

Srpinkle some sugars

Rolled and cut

Lovely and baked

I did a Google search on cinnamon buns and found some fun paraphernalia( I don't know why I'm doing this , but it's interesting!)

Cinnamon Bun Hairstyle

Cinnamon Bun Cartoon clips

Cinnamon Bun Latte (yummy yummy)

Cinnamon Roll cake flavour (I own it. It smells like heaven dipped in maple syrup)

Here's the Original Recipe. I omitted the cream cheese Icing cuz well, don't wanna OD on sugar just yet. But you totally can!

Kay now Bakey time

Cinnamon Buns *egg free*

Ingredients

Dough:

3 cup flour

1 cup buttermilk(I didnt have buttermilk so I took 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/3rd cup milk and remaining water)

1 tsp dry active yeast

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence(this is optional but  always a great choice)

Filling:

50 gm softened Butter

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup White sugar

1 stick cinnamon ( variable.depends on how much cinna does your palette craves)

Method

• Mix yeast & 1 tbsp sugar in 2 tbsp warm( 30-40  C) water . Let it stand for 15 minutes.
• Take all the dough ingredients along with yeast and mix. Now knead a lil ,cover and let it rise for 1 hour.(till doubles in size)
• Sprinkle a cling wrap sheet with powdered sugar. 
• Spread the dough on the sheet to make a rectangle of around 1 cm thickness.
• Spread the butter on the dough. leave a 1/4 inch margin on the sides
• Blitz together the sugars and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly on top of the butter. Reserve 2 tbsp.
• Roll the dough . Cut in 1 inch thick slices .Place in a cake-pan.
• Sprinkle the top with remaining sugar cinnamon mix 
• Cover and let it rise for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat oven to 180C
• Bake for 30 -35 minutes , untill a fork inserted comes out clean

Let it stand for 10 minutes after. There are buttery juices at the bottom that your buns need to soak up.

Now cut and devour.

Legends of the Fall: Pumpkin Pie

I am on a pie spree! This has been the Pie-y-est weekend ever. To be fair it has been my only pie weekend .
So I ticked off another item from my bucket list ( That is a lie I made up to make this post interesting . Such lies should not be bought).No  seriously I was standing in the kitchen for so long my back hurt but as they say , Time you enjoyed wasting is time well spent.

This one seemed pretty lengthy but as I had LOADS of leftover pie dough from the apple pie so I made two! Which turned out to be a good thing considering I learnt so much from my mistakes make with the first one( Which was pretty damn awesome just btw)

The First Pie

The Awesomer Second Pie

As I am now a pro at rolling dough and my friend came over and did all the dough rolling , the filling was a bigger challenge.The pumpkin took a while to cook, the first pie was burnt on the outside and raw inside( i microwaved it and it became better) and the filling got all eggy . But worry not you friends and lovers, for this mistress of all things sugar has a hundred and one tricks up her sleeves.Although it was more time consuming than the apple pie it was definitely worth the effort .

A friend who'd come over made fun of the fact that I made a vegetable pie but from the first bite , she was sold .She even took a piece home for her mum.

The Verdict: Everyone in their life must try this pie at least once. It is sweet ,warm, mellow like a soft feather pillow. Its Drool-a-licious and so comforting with a nice flaky crust and a luscious creamy filling. It's the Best-est.

Pumpkin Pie

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease a pie dish.

Ingredients:

1/3 of this Pie Crust or Double this Pie Crust

1/2 Kg yellow Pumpkin- seeded and cubed

2 egg Yolks

1/2 cup Cream

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Honey

1 stick Cinnamon

A small piece of nutmeg

1 piece mace

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon orange essence( optional but recommended)

Method:

• Place pumpkins in baking tray . Bake in oven for 40-60 minutes at 220 C. Remove from oven , skin and puree
•  Roll out pie crust to a thickness of 1/8 inch/or just roll it out however. Nobody cares. Just make it big enough to fit the pie dish
• Place it onto pie dish, poke the base with a fork and bake it at 200 c for 20 minutes.
• Powder sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg and mace.
• Add sugar mix to the egg yolks. Add the essences and honey and mix until dissolved
• Heat cream in a bowl till it boils
• Pout hot cream in egg and stir vigrously so as to not let the eggs curdle.
• Get the mixture on low flame and keep stirring for about 4-5 minutes
• Strain and pour in pie base and bake at 180 C for 40-50 minutes

Let it cool for about half an hour before you cut it open and devour

Happy Pieing!

Pie Oh My : Rustic Apple Pie

Yeah yeah, rustic is camouflage word for bad presentation - which I provide in abundance- but to be fair I am only a novice. This was my First Ever pie and boy oh boy was it a success!  Why am I talking like an Enid Blyton character? It must be all the happiness.

It started with me overcoming my fear of shortcrust pastry and going beyond the territories of baby tartlets . I have finally hit pie-burty and entered the world of full sized adult pies *Music!* And this coming of age pie was none other than the good old apple pie.

Before making anything new I spend over 3 hours on the internet. Unfortunately I don't remember the exact sources but its more or less a compilation of my research.
   
*Important*: The crust is the most important part of this pie and the toughest to make. It needs to be cold at all times-   cold butter, cold yolks, ice cold water, freeze after making , freeze after panning- cold is the word. Also I added half whole wheat flour juts go give an ounce of health. If you're too awesome to be bothered , then don't bother.

The Verdict: I have to admit it was very popular. Gobbled and vanished within a single day :O .The pie itself wasn't perfect and I'm pretty sure I have leaps and bounds to grow , but I'm totally sticking to this crust for like , Forever. .

Pie Crust

This recipe makes 3 pies .Divide it accordingly

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups refined flour

200 gm COLD butter

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup cold water

*For EGGLESS Pie use my Basic Shortcrust Recipe doubled*

Method:

• Sift the flour
• Process butter and flour in food processor to attain bread crumb like texture
• Mix water and egg yolks. Pour in dough and process until just mixed 
• Place on floured surface and lightly knead
• Divide the dough in 3 equal parts , wrap in clingfilm and dump in freezer to hibernate
• To use , microwave on high for 15 seconds. 

Before I could bring a camera and take a picture , It vanished

Apple Pie

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Grease a pie dish , or any shallow ceramic or glass dish.

Ingredients:

1/3 of above mentioned pie crust ( or 2/3 if you want a covered pie. I didn't)

3 large apples- peeled, cored and chopped

1 large stick of cinnamon

1 orange( Can be substituted with a lemon)

Tiny piece of nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar(or regular sugar. I'm just acting fancy)

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

Method:

• Roll out pie crust between two sheets of cling film. Keep bringing the edges together when crack, don't worry . It'll all be fi-h-ne.
• Remove one side of clingfilm and holding the crust on the clinged side upturn onto pie dish.Using knuckles gently ease it into the dish . when set, remove the upper cling film.Chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
• Poke base with a fork or knife.
•  Put some parchment paper on the crust and fill it with pulses or nuts( I did not do this step because I was lazy. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT be lazy )
• Bake pie crust in the oven for 20 minutes

• Juice and zest the oranges. Place apples in this
• In a blender blitz sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour. Sprinkle over apples
• In a pan melt the butter. Add honey and the apples. Saute for a few minutes
• Place filling in pie crust and bake for 40-50 minutes at 180 C.

Let the pie rest for about an hour. Serve it warm with ice-cream.Or not

Gooey Cinnamon Cake

This was not a new year's resolution (at least not this year's) . This is the beginning of my food blog. Everything I make, eat, see, love shall find a home in this dwelling. Here goes nothing;

It was my friend's birthday on the 2nd of January .She is a MAJOR fan of Cinnabons.I wasn't gonna be in town, so in order to make up for my absence I made her a Cinnamon cake slightly adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything's  Cinnamon Roll Cake.

The Verdict : It was everything you could want from a cinnamon cake and more. Gooey , delish , cinnamony niceness .Everyone who ate it , loved it. Preferably served hot and fresh or microwaved for half a minute.

Bad photography , but great cake!

Gooey Cinnamon Cake


Ingredients:

CAKE:
2 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Sugar measured granulated 
3 Eggs
125 gms Butter
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 inch stick Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Powder

TOPPING:
10 Almonds
1/4 cup Instant Oats
1 stick Cinnamon
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
50 gm Butter

Method:

Preheat oven at 200 C.
Grease cake tin and line with butter paper

CAKE

• Cream butter and sugar in a bowl till pale.(This step is the MOST IMPORTANT in making any cake. So make sure you beat the hell outta it!)
• Add in the eggs one by one and beat. Add vanilla essence
• Sift flour and baking powder. Beat in batter alternately with milk starting and ending with flour

TOPPING

• Take all ingredients except butter and blitz in the food processor/ mixie.
• Cube the butter and blitz it in as well.

ASSEMBLY

• Pour half the batter into prepared tin.
• Take half the crumble mixture and sprinkle all over.
• Pour in the rest of the batter
• Sprinkle remaining topping around evenly
• Bake for 30-40 minutes or until  inserted toothpick comes out clean.