Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

Daring Bakers Challenge June 2014 

This month the Daring Bakers kept our creativity rolling with cinnamon bun inspired treats. Shelly from CMomCook dared us to create our own dough and fill it with any filling we wanted to craft tasty rolled treats, cinnamon not required.

I haven't made cinnamon buns in ages and I had a recipe from Sweden passed to me by my dear friend Bilja, waiting to be tested for quite some time. So instead of trying new tastes I went for a new recipe aiming to check whether different shapes have any impact on your eating experience.

And the verdict is, yes. You can tell by the number of pictures I posted that the peaking, swirly, rose shaped individual buns for some reason tasted the best.

The recipe that follows is very generous, so you might want to half it, but I recommend that once you roll your sleeves to do it, make plenty and freeze them when they cool down, they will make you happy for many mornings to come.

Sweedish Cinnamon Rolls

500ml milk
50g fresh yeast
100g sugar, plus 3 tbsp
1/2 salt
250g unsalted butter
850gr plain flour, plus 3 tbsp
 plus 6 tbs sugar and 3 tbsp cinnamon for dusting
2 egg-yolks mixed with 2 tsp cinnamon for glazing
large sugar crystals for sprinkling

 Dissolve yeast in warm milk, add 3 tbsp sugar and 3tbsp flour, let it rise until frothy and bubbly.

In a separate bowl, mix 750 g flour ( reserve 100 g for dusting the dough) with 50 g soft butter ( melt the rest and set aside) and 100g sugar then add the frothy yeast.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each one into a  0.5cm thick rectangular. Brush it generously with melted butter, sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon  (you can use more or less, adjust it to your own liking) and roll into a sausage. Cut it into 1 cm thick pieces and place them cut side down onto individual cases that are not too big, which will allow the dough to rise vertically, rather then horizontally.

Beat the egg-yolks with cinnamon and glaze the buns then sprinkle with large sugar crystals.

Repeat the processes with the remaining two pieces of the dough, leave to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.Bake in an oven preheated to 180C/355F/gas 4.

Another option is that you can place the cut pieces close to each other onto a greased baking tray, or instead of rolling the dough, cut it into 1 cm wide ribbons and rolled them up individually for cute looking rolls as shown on the above picture.

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Campari and Grapefruit Cream Puffs

for more traditional option make them with a custard filling and with coffee or chocolate icing instead

I wanted to make fruit filled profiteroles and blackberries were my first choice. They were perfect, great in taste and texture, beautiful in colour that I could use to make icing as well. 

I opened the fridge to take them out and all I could see was a bottle of Campari.  It was 10 o'clock in the morning and I was not about to have a drink that early, although the sun outside was encouraging me to mix a few drops with some grapefruit. 

And then I realised, it was staring at me, calling me to eat it not to drink it. Forget the blackberries, they are so last season. I am having my Campari and pink grapefruit baked.

As much as I liked them, I knew that the family would appreciate a more traditional (read sweeter) option, so I made a selection of Campari, coffee, chocolate- praline puffs and I couldn't resist - I made a few with blackberries. I know, they are so spoilt.

Campari and Grapefruit Cream Puffs

For the Choux Pastry:
Makes 24 puffs

65g flour
50g unsalted butter
75 ml milk
75 ml water
1tsp sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs

Preaheat the oven to 200C/392F/gas 6

Heat the butter in a saucepan with the milk and water, sugar and salt, until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and quickly add the flour. Beat the mixture very hard, until the dough forms a ball and no longer sticks to the sides of the pan. Leave to cool for few minutes. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and beat a small amount at the time into the pastry.

Put the pastry into a piping bag and pipe small circles leaving  small space in between.

Sprinkle some water into the bottom of the oven to create steam which will help the pastry to rise. Don't open the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180 after 10 minutes. When they are done, turn the heat off and leave them in the oven with the door ajar for few more minutes.      

Cut them in half and fill with whisked double cream, place freshly sliced pink grapefruit over it and place the other half on the top. For the icing mix 100g of icing sugar with 1 tsp of Campari. Add the liquid carefully as different types of icing sugar absorb more (or less) of it. Spoon the icing over your cream puffs and leave in refrigerator for 1 hour if you wish, I certainly like them cold.

                  

Using the same method, make different flavoured icing - brew couple of teaspoons of strong espresso coffee and mix quickly with icing sugar. Instead of icing the puffs you can top them some melted chocolate and sprinkle with hazelnut praline if you wish.

If you fancy old fashion custard cream puffs, here is the cream recipe that I have been making for years simply because it's still simply the best :

3 eggyolks

150g sugar

40g flour

0.5l milk

70g unsalted butter

1 bag vanilla sugar

Mix the egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy, add the flour, vanilla stir and pour over with boiling milk. Place over a pan of simmering water and cook until it thickness. Leave it to cool then beat the butter in. 

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ChocoRum and Walnut Squares

because Mums know best

An old  recipe that stood the test of time through generations in my family. It contains a few drops of rum, but good quality extract could be used instead. It's my preferred choice anyway, probably because it resembles that authentic taste and smell that comes from my Mum's kitchen.

What I like about this recipe is that it gives you one great taste and has so many presentation faces  - it can be a simple everyday tray bake, creamy muffins, could be turned into a chocolate rum cake, or you can have individual serving  pieces, which I did.

My Mum's ChocoRum-Walnut Squares

120 g sugar

3 eggs separated

70 g lard

90 g flour

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 tsp baking powder

Topping:

10 tbsp sugar

8 tbsp water

150g ground walnuts

60gr chocolate

100g soften butter

1 tbsp rum,or few drops of rum flavour - optional

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4

Grease 30cm x20cm baking tray at least 5 cm deep.

Mix and cream eggs yolks with sugar, the beat the soften lard  until creamy and combine. Add flour, lemon zest and baking powder and the end slowly fold in egg whites beaten to form firm peaks. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden in colour and the cake stick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

Topping: Make sugar syrup with sugar and water, add ground walnuts, take off heat then stir in the chocolate broken into small pieces. Set aside to cool down, stirring it occasionally, then add the butter and mix to combine. Spread over cooled  cake base and decorate and serve as you wish. I used crinkled cutter and ruler to cut my squares and decorated them using simple stencil and hot chocolate powder. 

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Oozing Mozzarella Focaccia

This is one of those Sunday breakfast bakes when the family is brought downstairs by the smell coming from the kitchen, very eager to open the oven. Needless to say that they don't care very much for my food photography routine either. I tried to argue my case, but gave up 30 seconds later- it looked and smelt sooooo gooood - nobody fancied eating it cold. It disappeared within minutes, in-spite of the piping hot cheese burning our mouth.

Oozing Focaccia

250g 00 flour
6 tbsp warm water
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to glaze
5 balls Mozzarela cheese
6 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
sea salt

Mix the flour, the warm water and the olive oil to make an unleavened dough, knead until elastic and smooth, cover and leave to rest for one hour.

Place a heavy baking sheet( or baking stone) on the lower shelf and preheat the oven to 220C/425f/gas 7.

Divide the dough into 2, one piece slightly larger then the other and roll  the larger piece as thinly as you can, using plenty of flour for dusting, into 30 cm circle directly onto baking paper so you can transfer your focaccia onto the hot baking sheet(stone) easily.

Cut the mozzarella balls in half, squeeze the extra moisture out  and dip each one in the dried breadcrumbs. Arrange the cheese halves, cut side down over the pastry. Roll out the remaining dough  very thinly and slightly larger than the base. Place it over the cheeses and press the dough down around each piece to seal the edges. Make sure there are no holes for the cheese to escape. Twist and crimp the edges of the Focaccia together, brush with some olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. 

Place it quickly onto the hot baking stone and bake until golden for 10 -15 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Rainbow Sugar

If you try to make this coloured sugar, one thing is guaranteed, the child in you will have a great time. Every so often you see recipes that call for sanding sugar, which is nothing but coloured coarse granulated sugar.  The larger the granules, the better the results as it  holds up better through baking. If the child within you is not quite satisfied with the colours of the rainbow,  adding some glitter is always an option.

Rainbow Sugar

100g granulated sugar
 2-3 tbsp vodka or gin
few drops water based food colouring of your choice

Mix the vodka or gin with the food colouring until the colour is evenly distributed and pour it over the sugar, to wet it. Mix it thoroughly with the end of a teaspoon, then spread it out on a try covered with grease-proof paper. Stir it occasionally, and leave until the sugar is completely dry. Store it in an airtight container. I used 300g of sugar and 6 tbsp gin to get 6 different colours. Work it out yourself, all depends how much you will need for you next baking adventure. 

Recipe adapted from Mastering the art of chocolate

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Pink PralineTart

because Lyon is far away

There are so many places that I still want to visit, but there are few that I have a burning desire to visit next week if possible - please! Lyon is one of them. I sometimes open a map and study the road trip options from London and imagine driving through the French country side, making small detours to the villages along the way for coffee and lunch breaks. I've learnt the names of all the bouchons and boulangeries by heart, that brought to the city the title of the Food capital of the world, studied their menus and of course  marked  their locations on the city map. So yes,  I am well prepared in case the Universe decides to grant me a sudden opportunity to go. 

This tart, well, not this, but the Tarte au Praline Rose is an institution of Lyon's gastronomy. The other day I watched a TV programme about how it's made in one of the best boulangeries in Lyon, Maison Jocteur. After that I just had to give it a go. The recipe that follows is a combination of a few recipes found online, and Eric Lanlard's recipe.

 Did I have pralines - no; did I buy them - no; I couldn't wait a few days for them to be delivered, and although I knew that home made ones won't give me the same results, I decided to make them any way. Lucky for me that the difficulty level was - easy and I only had to come up with two ideas of how to recycle my ruined batches before I got something that resembled  the real thing. But, I was determined to do it.

Once I got my  pink pralines out of the way, the rest was just straight forward baking.

The result that I got after the tarts were left for a few hours to chill, I have to admit, surprised me - in a good way. Since I haven't tasted them before, I didn't have anything to compare them with. So it was all down to the first bite and it was all thumbs up. We all liked it. If Lyon and a boulangerie that sells them are far away from you, here is how to satisfy you curiosity:

Pink Praline Tart

For Praline:

100g sugar

10 drops red food colouring

100g almond kernels

15 table spoons of water

Place sugar and water in a pan over low heat, until sugar dissolves, then bring it to boil and cook until sugar reaches 135C, about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, add almonds and food colouring and stir until sugar starts to look like wet sand and crystallise around almonds. Break up all the clumps of almond and turn out onto a lined oven tray, leave to cool. They can be stored in an air tight container for up to one month.

Pastry:

300g flour

4 tbs caster sugar  

200 g unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp cold water

2 tbsp vanilla paste or extract

Make and bake the shortcrust pastry  in 6 individual 10 cm pastry cases. Leave them to cool while you make the praline cream:

200 ml single cream

25 gr icing sugar

pink praline you made earlier, crushed - reserve a handful for decoration

Place the crushed praline in a saucepan with single cream and icing sugar, bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Pour into the baked pastry, allow to cool again and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Use the remaining crushed praline to decorate the tarts.

If you find them a bit too sweet, serve with some crème fraîche on side.

Praline recipe adapted from the Feast magazine

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Raspberry Madeleines with Lemon Curd

By Rachel Khoo

This is another of my favourite ideas of how to use your home made lemon curd in desserts. I wish I thought of this, but I didn't, Rachel Khoo did, and with the first bite I took, all I knew about Madelines vanished. These cookies are in the Premium League. They possess the best Madeleines have to offer plus the added value of sweet raspberries and fresh taste of cold lemon curd. 

Raspberry Madeleines with Lemon Curd

• 3 free-range eggs
• 130g sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 10g baking powder
• 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest only
• 20g honey
• 4 tbsp milk
• 200g butter, melted and cooled
• punnet of raspberries
• icing sugar, for dusting
• 
  

For Lemon curd follow this link

Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and frothy. Put the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and 

add the lemon zest.Mix the honey and milk with the cooled butter, then add to the eggs. In two batches, fold 

in the flour. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Butter and flour a 12-shell madeleine tin. Put the lemon curd into a piping bag fitted with a small, pointed nozzle and place in the fridge.Put a heaped tablespoon of batter into each madeleine shell and press a raspberry deep into the batter.Bake for five minutes and turn the oven off for one minute (the madeleines will get their signature peaks), then turn the oven on to 160C/325F/Gas 3 and bake for a further five minutes. Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and leave for a few minutes until cool, then repeat the baking as for the first batch.While the second batch is baking, pop the piping nozzle into the mound in each baked madeleine and squirt in a teaspoon’s worth of lemon curd. Repeat with the second batch, then dust with icing sugar.

Although they are best served straight away, comparing to the plain ones, they stay fresh for much longer. 

Enjoy them now when the raspberries are in season.

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Lemon Daisy Tart

My lemon curd was in the fridge, pastry shells baked and all I was missing was the decoration. I was considering meringue, whipped cream, white chocolate, nope -  didn't fancy anything that would hide that beautiful lemon curd. I wanted something that would show how good (and pretty) it was. Going through cupboards and the fridge didn't help, however, one look through the window and a realisation that my husband was about to cut the grass and all daises with it, did - and my Lemon Daisy Tart was born. 

I also spared few for my small vase. It's so odd, they were there right in front of me all these years, treated as a pretty weed, or a decoration on my garden table, and all of a sudden one look through the window changed that prospective. I did a bit of  research afterwards and apparently they are high in vitamin C and very effective for treating indigestion, coughs and for stopping bleeding. We should definitely take advantage of the fact that they are found in abundance and if nothing else, toss few flowers  into a salad bowl from time to time.

Lemon Daisy Tart

Pastry

100g cold butter

200g flour

2 tsp caster sugar

1 large egg

Filling : lemon curd

Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles  fine breadcrumbs, then add the sugar, stir in the egg, and knead until dough comes together. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerator for 1 hour. Roll it out about 4mm thick slightly bigger that the tart tins you are using and press the pastry into the tins. Put them back into the fridge for an hour ( or freeze for 10 minutes), cover with grease proof paper, fill with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes on 180 C, remove the beans, lower the temperature to 150C and bake for further 10 to 15 minutes, or until shells are baked and light golden brown.Let them cool, fill with lemon curd and decorate with washed and dried daisies or flowers of your choice. Serve cold.

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