Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls w/Cream Cheese Glaze

This past Saturday was gorgeous, unfortunately I could not say the same for its weekend counterpart Sunday. The weather report called for rain and a chill. A little bummed about what to do stuck inside on a rainy Sunday, my thoughts turned to food. What better way to brighten a rainy Sunday than with a batch of fresh, warm and gooey cinnamon rolls! Sunday brunch means happiness. There has never been a time I have not looked forward to brunch plans. You really can’t lose, the best of breakfast and lunch on the menu, lots of breads, jams, sweets and decadence.

It had been a few years since I had made these rolls and was eager to impress my friends with a fresh batch. They are fun to make, the swirls of cinnamon and sugar smell amazing, and they look very VERY impressive. The only downfall to yeasty rolls like these is the need to prepare the dough the evening before. I planned on making the dough Saturday night and leaving it in the kitchen to double in size. I’m psyched how these came out, even with a few cocktails beforehand. Unfortunately I was out of brown sugar and had to substitute white, which worked out fine. I also love raisins, so I threw those in and sliced almonds as well. You can really mess around with the filling. I’ve made these before with cocoa powder and chocolate chips as well.

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Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting (by the way it’s vegan)

If anyone out there is saying eww…vegan cake, please keep reading.  This cake is really, really good.  And this post isn’t even about vegan baking, it’s about bikes.  Aside from baking my other passion is biking.  For two years I was commuting to work nearly every day.  If it was snowing I might take the train, but sometimes not even then.  I love riding my bike.  I’ve had some knee problems lately so I had to take a few months off and now I only ride three days a week, but hopefully with continued physical therapy I’ll be riding more soon.

Being a bike commuter influences what I bake.  I gravitate towards foods that are sturdy, portable, and can be served the next day.  There are a lot of beautiful desserts out there, but if I can’t share a dessert with people then I’m much less likely to make it.  Cookies and bars travel well by bike.  You just put them in a Tupperware and place them at the bottom of your backpack.  If you put your work clothes and lunch on top it will minimize how much the container moves and keep the cookies from breaking.  Cupcakes, however, are not transportable by bike.  The cupcakes will bounce up and down, the frosting will get smeared everywhere, and they might break.  This doesn’t mean that your coworkers won’t devour them, but they will not look pretty.

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Peanut Butter Fudge

I began baking in college, but it was after I graduated and had a real kitchen that I started baking a lot.   Inevitably when I meet a new person and start talking about baking they say, “I could never make all those treats.  I’d eat them all.”  I understand why people say that.  I love sweets too, but it would be impossible to eat two dozen cookies, a cake, and twelve muffins all in the same week, all by yourself.  It’s just too much food.  When you bake a lot you need to have friends, family, or coworkers to give all of the food to.

That’s where my office comes in.  I’m very lucky to work in an office that has between 30 and 50 people in it everyday.  That means that I can put out whatever I’ve baked the night before and it will be gone in less than an hour.  And no matter what it is, and no matter how bad I think it has turned out, everyone is so nice and thankful.  And it makes me want to bring them more sweets.  This recipe is the first thing I ever brought into work.  Everyone raved.  I never told them that there was Velveeta in the fudge.  At the time I’d only worked there for 3 months.  I thought they would be disgusted and think I was a weirdo.  This week I made it again.  And I told everyone was in it.  And they ate it anyway.  And raved.

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Braided Raspberry Bread

I can’t believe I made this.  When I saw this recipe posted on the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Banter blog I few weeks ago I really wanted to make it.  But I doubted I could.  I’ve only made two recipes with yeast – ever.  And this isn’t only a yeast bread, but it’s also braided.  I figured it was beyond my skill level.  But then I realized that I shouldn’t not make a recipe because it might be a failure.  What do I have to lose?  Well to be honest half of my day off and about 5 cups of flour, but I’m never going to learn to make bread if I don’t practice.  And much to my surprise it came out really well.  So good in fact, that I saved the whole loaf for me and Pat.

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Chocolate Caramel Slices & PB Banana Oatmeal Cookies @ the Food Bloggers Bake Sale

On Saturday Joanna and I participated in the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, a charity that fights to end childhood hunger.  The New York sale took place at the Brooklyn Flea and was organized by the lovely Jacquie at the JHL Life.   The bake sale raised over $1100 dollars!

Joanna made her gorgeous Heart Shaped Linzer Tarts.  One woman was so impressed by the tarts that she bought five.  I made Chocolate Caramel Slices and Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies.  I chose the caramel slices because they are by far the most popular thing I’ve ever made.  I really wished I’d made a triple batch.  They were gone in half an hour.

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National Food Bloggers Bake Sale – Visit us this Saturday!

Joanna and I are participating in this bake sale on Saturday.  It’s from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm at the Brookly Flea in Fort Green.  Joanna and I will be at the table from 11 am to 12 pm.  All proceeds benefit Share Our Strength a nonprofit fighting to end childhood hunger.

Please come and enjoy the Brooklyn Flea, meet us, and support the fight against childhood hunger.

Salted Cashew Oatmeal Cookies

I love cashews.  They are by far my favorite nut.  I actually like them so much that I can’t have them in the house.   Whatever quantity of cashews I have on hand, I’ll eat.  And then I’ll feel sick.  I noticed this recipe the first time I flipped through the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book over a year ago.  I’ve been meaning to make it ever since.  I finally got motivated this weekend.

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Corn Fritters (aka corn nuggets)

After the fried mac & cheese appetizer at The Cheesecake Factory, the corn nuggets at Igloo Ice Cream Café in Astoria are my all-time favorite appetizer.  They look like a large tater tot and have a very sweet corn center.  Igloo serves them with ranch dressing for dipping.   The first time I ordered them Pat declared them “disgusting” before they even arrived at the table.  I convinced him to try them, and now he likes them even more than I do.  I wanted to make a homemade version for him on his birthday, but ran out of time.  I finally got around to trying today.

When I first googled “corn nuggets” I didn’t find much.  It seems they are more commonly known as corn fritters.  This recipe calls for really simple ingredients.  You probably have most of them already.  I would recommend substituting frozen corn for canned corn.  I hadn’t eaten canned corn in years, and forgot what a distinctive “canned” taste it has.

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Gingersnap Truffles

This Wednesday was over 80 degrees in New York City.  So naturally my mind wandered to no-bake desserts on my bike ride home.  I do bake over the summer, but definitely less, so I’m always on the look out for tasty no bake desserts.  Another great thing about no-bake desserts is that they’re very accessible for people who don’t bake very often.  When me and Pat did the cookie experiment it really got me thinking about how expensive baking can be if you don’t have all of the ingredients in your pantry already.  This recipe only contains 3 ingredients and doesn’t require any special equipment.

This is all you need.

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Maple Walnut Cupcakes (and some soapy madeleines)

My friend Emily was having an Easter brunch this weekend.  Originally I was going to make something lemon or coconut flavored because they seemed the most seasonally appropriate, but then I spotted the Maple Cake with Maple Syrup frosting recipe in the “Great American Cakes” article in this month’s issue of Bon Appétit.  It reminded me that I’ve been meaning to make the Maple Walnut Cake in Sky High Triple Layer Cakes since I bought the book over a year ago.  And maple is also seasonally appropriate though maybe a bit less obvious.  Sap is collected from maple trees in February and March or whenever the daytime temperature gets above freezing and the nighttime temperature stays below.  In northern New England and Canada smelling sap being boiled into syrup at a sugarhouse is one of the first signs that winter is transitioning into spring.

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