flour on her nose

Monday, February 8

Snowpocalyptic Cinnamon Rolls

Okay, so if you live in the the eastern United States, especially the mid-atlantic, you're well aware of the chaos that occurred outside.

It snowed.

I know, crazy, right?

No, it didn't JUST snow. It was ridiculous. I don't know the last time Virginia's gotten this much snow. It was definitely at least 2 feet in places. With my mother heading off to work in Maryland at 2 AM, I knew I'd have to help my poor old father (haha) shovel the aftermath.

At around 3 am, I got the brilliant idea of starting some cinnamon rolls to surprise him.
While I waited for the dough to rise, I got some pictures of the sunrise (okay, well a little off, since the sun rises to the right of our house, where there are no windows haha) through the snow covered trees.

I shoveled from the front door to the garage, then posed for a picture

It's okay, you're allowed to think I'm kinda awesome.

Then I complained a lot and went inside. I have a short attention span when it comes to menial labor XD Luckily for Dad, a neighbor has a snowblower that he let him borrow. Yay, neighbors! :)

ANYWAY, I suppose you would like a recipe and some pictures of cinnamon rolls, yes? Fine, fine.

I halved this, by the way, since it was just me and Dad

Cinnamon Rolls:

6 tbsp granulated sugar
5 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp yeast
3.5-4 cups of flour
1 cup of milk (either room temperature, or slightly warm..not hot!)

2-4 tbsp of melted or very soft butter
1/2-3/4 cup of cinnamon sugar mixture (you can combine them in any ratio you want, and you can add as little or as much as you want, really)

Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. Add in the egg and beat until smooth.
Add in the yeast, flour and milk. Mix it until it forms kind of a ball.
If you have a standing mixer with a dough hook, switch to that afterward and let it go on medium speed for about 10 minutes. If not, well, oil or flour your hands very well and knead, because this dough is a bit sticky.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover, and let it rise for 2 hours, or until it's doubled in size.

Roll out the dough(thickness is up to you :) ) and spread the melted or softened butter on it. Sprinkled the cinnamon sugar all over it, and tightly roll it up. Cut 1-2 inch rolls, depending on the dimensions on the pan you bake them in. Let them rise for another hour to an hour and a half. Alternatively, you can wrap them and let them rise in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake the rolls for about 20-30 minutes
Drizzle (or drench, hehe) a glaze made of milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla over them. (It's difficult to give a recipe for the glaze, because I swear, I can use the same measurements each time and get a different consistency. Just make sure to add the milk to the sugar little by little. It's very easy to get a glaze that's too thin)

Enjoy! :)

Smoked Sea Salt Caramels

Oh my gosh.
3 attempts at making caramels in as many days.

The first time, I tried to make pecan caramels, and when I went to cut the pieces, I discovered that the candy was rock hard.

THUD!

...is the sound it made hitting the bottom of the trash can.

The second time, something went HORRIBLY WRONG, and I ended up with a grainy caramel sauce.
Down the drain that monstrosity went.

So today (well, yesterday, as it's 2 AM as I'm writing this) I decided to spend money on a digital thermometer (I had a simple dial one before) before I wasted any more sugar and cream.

And guess what....
SUCCESS.

I figured I had temperature issues, but I'm just glad I finally figured it out, because now I can experiment.

I really wanted to get this right,because I've been neglecting this poor poor blog,and I needed SOMETHING to tell y'all.

:P

Anyway, onto pictures and the recipe.

The various stages of the caramel.

Dad begrudgingly helping me cut caramels. :P

SALT!

SO MANY PICTURES :D

Smoked Sea Salt Caramels:
2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp salt (regular table salt)
4 tbs butter

and a couple tablespoons of flaky sea salt for decoration (I used smoked, but you can use any kind, really)

Prepare either an 8x8 or 9x9 pan (depends on how thick you want them) by lightly coating it in nonstick spray, and then placing a long strip of parchment paper in the bottom (like in my picture)

Put the sugar, corn syrup, table salt, and 1/2 cup of the cream + 1/2 cup of the milk into a heavy pot.
Stir this constantly over medium heat until it boils.
Once it boils, and the rest of the cream and milk in a really really thin stream (If you dump it all in, it'll lower the temperature too quickly, and you'll have to wait for it to get back up to a boil again).

Reduce the head to medium-low and boil for about 5 minutes. DON'T STIR IT.
Add the butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring the mixture to help it melt.
Clip your thermometer to the side of the pot at this point.
Continue to boil it, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
While this is happening, take a wet pastry brush and wet down the sides of the pan to prevent those pesky seed crystals from dropping in and ruining your caramel.

I really hope you have a reliable thermometer, but if you don't, check the caramel, by dropping a bit into ice cold water. When you pick it up, if it's a ball that holds it's shape, but does give when you press it, it's ready. If it's hard...well, you've gone too far :(

Anyhoo, this should take about 30 minutes. Don't be tempted to turn the heat up higher to make it faster, it's really easy to burn caramel (I should know >___>)

Once it's at 250, pour the caramel into the pan, but don't scrape the sides into the pan. Let it cool for 4 hours and then cut with an oiled knife, press into the salt (put in on a plate) and wrap. :D

Now try not to give yourself cavities :P