This months challenge was hosted by founders Lisa from La Mia Cucina and Ivonne from A Cream Puff In Venice, and co-hosting with them Fran of the blog Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of the blog Whiskful.

Our posts this month are dedicated to Barbara of Winos and Foodies . She hosted an event titled A Taste of Yellow to support LiveSTRONG day. To that end it was decided to change the traditional flavors and colors of the L’Opera cake to make it lighter.

The recipe is very involved and long.

For the joconde

(Note: The joconde can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept wrapped at room temperate)

What you’ll need:

•2 12½ x 15½-inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans (Note: If you do not have jelly-roll pans this size, do not fear! You can use different-sized jelly-roll pans like 10 x 15-inches.)
•a few tablespoons of melted butter (in addition to what’s called for in the ingredients’ list) and a brush (to grease the pans)
•parchment paper
•a whisk and a paddle attachment for a stand mixer or for a handheld mixer
•two mixing bowls (you can make do with one but it’s preferable to have two)

Ingredients:

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds (Note: If you do not want to use almond meal, you can use another nut meal like hazelnut. You can buy almond meal in bulk food stores or health food stores, or you can make it at home by grinding almonds in the food processor with a tablespoon or two of the flour that you would use in the cake. The reason you need the flour is to prevent the almonds from turning oily or pasty in the processor. You will need about 2 cups of blanched almonds to create enough almond meal for this cake.)
2 cups icing sugar, sifted

6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1.Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.

2.Preheat the oven to 425?F. (220?C).

3.Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.

4.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.

5.If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.
6.Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).

7.Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

8.Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Place one jelly-roll pan in the middle of the oven and the second jelly-roll pan in the bottom third of the oven.

9.Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold.

10.Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

For the syrup

(Note: The syrup can be made up to 1 week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan

Ingredients:

½ cup (125 grams) water
? cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. of the flavouring of your choice (i.e., vanilla extract, almond extract, cognac, limoncello, coconut cream, honey etc.)

1.Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

2.Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

For the buttercream

(Note: The buttercream can be made up to 1 month in advance and packed in an airtight container. If made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days after making it. To use the buttercream simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.)

(Update Note: The recipe for the buttercream that is listed below was originally based on the original but we had some typos. It’s all very confusing (we’re good at confusing ourselves) but here is the short of it: When testing the buttercream, we tested a modified version (we’re crazy like that!!!) that had 2 cups sugar, ½ cup water and 1¾ cups butter. Yes. That’s right. 1¾ cups of butter. The eggs remained the same. We ended up with a very creamy buttercream. VERY. CREAMY. But we don’t want anyone to be afraid of our modified version so you have the option of using the original version listed below or the quantities we’ve listed here in this note. If you are still confused and want to cry, then please e-mail us and we will comfort you!!! We promise!!!)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan
•a candy or instant-read thermometer
•a stand mixer or handheld mixer
•a bowl and a whisk attachment
•rubber spatula

Ingredients:

1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 grams) water
seeds of one vanilla bean (split a vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds) or 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract (Note: If you are flavouring your buttercream and do not want to use the vanilla, you do not have to. Vanilla will often enhance other flavours but if you want an intense, one-flavoured buttercream, then by all means leave it out!)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
flavouring of your choice (a tablespoon of an extract, a few tablespoons of melted white chocolate, citrus zest, etc.)

1.Combine the sugar, water and vanilla bean seeds or extract in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.

2.Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225?F (107?C) [*Note: Original recipe indicates a temperature of 255?F (124?C), however, when testing the recipe I found that this was too high so we heated to 225?F and it worked fine] on a candy or instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.

3.While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg and egg yolk at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk them until they are pale and foamy.

4.When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!

5.Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).

6.While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.

7.With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.

8.At this point add in your flavouring and beat for an additional minute or so.

9.Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

For the white chocolate ganache/mousse (this step is optional – please see Elements of an Opéra Cake below)

(Note: The mousse can be made ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to use it.)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan
•a mixer or handheld mixer

Ingredients:

7 ounces white chocolate
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. heavy cream (35% cream)
1 tbsp. liqueur of your choice (Bailey’s, Amaretto, etc.)

1.Melt the white chocolate and the 3 tbsp. of heavy cream in a small saucepan.
2.Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Add the tablespoon of liqueur to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.
3.In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.
4.Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse.
5.If it’s too thin, refrigerate it for a bit until it’s spreadable.
6.If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

For the glaze
(Note: It’s best to make the glaze right when you’re ready to finish the cake.)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan or double boiler

Ingredients:

14 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream (35% cream)

1.Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Whisk the mixture gently until smooth.
2.Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake. Using a long metal cake spatula, smooth out into an even layer.
3.Place the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.

Assembling the Opéra Cake

(Note: The finished cake should be served slightly chilled. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day).

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.

Working with one sheet of cake at a time, cut and trim each sheet so that you have two pieces (from each cake so you’ll have four pieces in total): one 10-inch (25-cm) square and one 10 x 5-inch (25 x 12½-cm) rectangle.

Step A (if using buttercream only and not making the ganache/mousse):

Place one square of cake on the baking sheet and moisten it gently with the flavoured syrup.

Spread about one-third of the buttercream over this layer.

Top with the two rectangular pieces of cake, placing them side by side to form a square. Moisten these pieces with the flavoured syrup.

Spread another third of the buttercream on the cake and then top with the third square of joconde. Use the remaining syrup to wet the joconde. Spread the remaining buttercream on top of the final layer of joconde and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).

Make the glaze and after it has cooled, pour/spread it over the top of the chilled cake. Refrigerate the cake again to set the glaze.

Serve the cake slightly chilled. This recipe will yield approximately 20 servings.

Step B (if making the ganache/mousse):

Place one square of cake on the baking sheet and moisten it gently with the flavoured syrup.

Spread about three-quarters of the buttercream over this layer.

Top with the two rectangular pieces of cake, placing them side by side to form a square. Moisten these pieces with the flavoured syrup.

Spread the remaining buttercream on the cake and then top with the third square of joconde. Use the remaining syrup to wet the joconde and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).

Prepare the ganache/mousse (if you haven’t already) and then spread it on the top of the last layer of the joconde. Refrigerate for at least two to three hours to give the ganache/mousse the opportunity to firm up.

Make the glaze and after it has cooled, pour/spread it over the top of the chilled cake. Refrigerate the cake again to set the glaze.

Serve the cake slightly chilled. This recipe will yield approximately 20 servings.

 What we did:

We choose lime, ginger, (that was the syrup) mango and peach for our flavors. Mango in the glaze and mango in the buttercream.

I hate almonds so we went with oat flour that I made myself.

Verdict: yuck! The texture was okay but the taste was not what I’d call wonderful. Though a few of the kids liked it.

I hate buttercream…alot! Tastes like, well, butter and more butter of course. So to me the buttercream tasted like buttered mango’s….not a favorite.

 While I had no problems at all making the buttercream, it was fluffy and was quite pretty before using it, I did have issues with it sliding all over the place after placing it on the cake. As you can tell, it’s a bit lopsided and the buttercream is slowing working it’s way out of the cake.

None of us like white chocolate either so I left that out as well and just went for the glaze topping.

 The glaze was okay, I had one child who wanted me to make just that for dessert one night but the rest said it was just okay.

Before placing it in the fridge until we could enjoy it the next day, it was so pretty! After bringing it out of the fridge and letting it come to room temp, the cake was soggy and not very tasty. I’m sure the heat played a part in all of that. We had a heat index of 106 and humidity, I felt hot and sticky, so it’s no surprise that my cake did. I have got to learn how to control the heat and humidity in my house if I want to continue doing this. I’m not sure how else I could bring it up to temp and keep it from becoming mush. I’ll take pointers!

I will never make this again and I learned a few things. One, my kitchen is too small, seriously. Two, I don’t like making substitutes that I haven’t tried before. Three, I am not a fan of mango’s as much as I thought I was. Four, even when it goes wrong, I still love baking!

So I’m up in the middle of the night and of course the first thing I think of is how needed a new menu is because we seem to be in a rut.

 Looking in the freezer I see we have:

Fish
Chicken
Ground Beef
Sliced Ham
Beef Roast
Pork Chops
Boudain
Smoked sausage
Andouille

I also know that we have dried beans consisting of:

Northern
Black eyed Peas
Large Lima’s
Lentils
Kidney
Anasazi
Pinto

Basic veg’s of

Onions
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Green onions
Carrots
Celery
Frozen Okra
Frozen Shoe peg Corn
Tomatoes, canned, jarred and fresh

A ton of olives, cream cheese, eggs, milk, cream, sour cream, 7 different blocks of cheeses, flour, cornmeal and related sundries. Plus deli ham, turkey, chicken and about 40 cans of vegetables shoved way back in the pantry.

So why do the kids insist on tacos twice a week? And where does all this food go if they are just eating tacos?

We will eat better this coming month. I have family coming to stay soon and it’s getting warmer, which means the kids are more active. Active in this house means they eat about double their body weight a day I think. Out came the laminating machine and word perfect. I’ve spent the better part of my time sitting here going through recipes. I think I have next weeks menu all done. I’ll just have to sit down with the kids and we’ll add other things for the next few weeks menus this weekend.

Monday

Breakfast

Banana Granola Pancakes with fruit jellies and syrup

Lunch

Kraut and sausage
Onion rolls
Peaches

Supper

Court bouillon
Long bread

Tuesday

Breakfast

Poached eggs on whole wheat toast
Bacon

Lunch

Chef’s Salad pita’s
Sweet Potato baked fries
Yogurt with dried apricots

Supper

Lemon pepper baked chicken
Roasted potatoes and carrots
Steamed broccoli

Wednesday

Breakfast

Pain Perdu with pear preserves, muscadine jelly and syrup

Lunch

Deli meat tortilla roll ups
boiled eggs
Blueberry yogurt parfait

Supper

BBQ pork chops
Potato salad
Pinto beans
Tri veg of squash, broccoli and onions

Thursday

Breakfast

Nutella pancake wraps with apple butter, pears and strawberry jam

Lunch

Pasta salad with shrimp, tomatoes and hearts of palm

Supper

Gumbo with ham, chicken and shrimp
Rice
Long bread

Friday

Breakfast

Oatmeal with raisins and pecans or granola

Lunch

Meatball subs
Salad
Orange muffins

Supper

Glazed baked ham
Cauliflower mash
Twice baked potatoes
Succotash with green lima’s, corn, okra and tomatoes

Saturday

Breakfast

Daddy makes

Lunch

Pizza

Supper

Chicken stirfry

Sunday

Breakfast

Daddy makes

Lunch

Roast turkey with gravy open faced sandwich
Zapp’s chips
Carrot sticks with ranch dressing

Supper

Alligator boudain sauce piquante
Long bread

I’m sure I’ll hear some grumbling from the teens but I’ll just not listen as I enjoy not hearing “I’m hungry” for the 100th time in 5 hours.

It all began with a roux! Or so the song goes. Don’t believe me? Well, just listen

For us down here in the land of gators and crawfish, a roux is the beginning for many meals. It’s how you use said roux that makes the meal. It’s something you have to practice before you get it right every single time.

Sure you can use powdered or bottled roux, and I have. But nothing tastes the same as one from scratch.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is a roux? A mixture of flour and oil. That’s it. It’s used for binding, thickening and flavor. The period of time you cook it determines it’s color, how much of a thickener it is and the type of flavor it has.

There are three main types of roux.

White, or blond, usually made with flour and butter. Cooked only until the flour taste is gone. It is a heavy thickener.

Peanut butter, or med, roux, usually made with meat fat, or vegetable oil, and flour. This is just what it seems to be, a medium thickener with a medium color.

Then there is the dark roux. Meat fat, or vegetable oil, and flour again but cooked a long time. It’s the color of a dark chocolate bar and def has nutty, chocolate undertones. It’s a good roux to practice and to experiment with different meat fats, duck and bacon fat are two of my favorite bases to start with. A dark roux is the thinnest roux and barely thickens your dish.

To begin you want your ingredients to be fairly equal, 1:1. Though I use a bit more flour than oil. You’ll need a heavy pan, I use cast iron. Now, you’ll need to find time, lots of time. You will have to stand and stir the entire time you make a roux. No walking off, no distractions. It can go from med to burnt pretty fast. Just remember to adjust your heat as needed and even remove from the fire if needed if you think it’s getting too hot too fast.

Start on med heat, add your oil, then your flour. Combine well. Keep checking your heat. It will seem like a long time before you get from thick blond to a looser med peanut butter color. Stay with it, just keep stirring. Again, check your heat….can you tell my teacher repeated that to me often? No shame in dropping the flame, better a longer stirring time than burnt roux!

This is a medium, or peanut butter, roux. A few shades lighter and darker, yep, still a peanut butter roux.

At this point you can either add your trinity (that’s onions, celery and peppers y’all) and continue with your cooking, or remove from the heat, let cool and put in an air tight bowl to use later. Personally, I’ve never stored it as I make it fresh at the beginning of my Gumbo.

The amounts of flour and oil is based on how much you are cooking. Generally the rule of thumb is:

1 cup vegetable oil and 1 cup flour =

6 cups stock to a thick brown sauce consistency.

8 cups stock to a thick gumbo consistency.

10 cups stock to a medium gumbo consistency.

12 cups stock to a light gumbo consistency.

Oh and those ain’t burnt flakes in my roux, I had already added some seasoning before I remembered to take a pic.

Tags: Gumbo, NOLA, Roux

 

 This was our first challenge and we were both very excited, we love cheesecake around here. The younger kids were more excited about eating them off of sucker sticks. Makes everything taste better don’t ya know.

 First off, the cheesecake. While it did take longer than the recipe stated, I was prepared for it to. I’ve never baked a cheesecake for less than an hour. It is creamy, tart and just right. One of the best recipes I’ve ever used for cheesecake.

 We used wafer chocolate because I have a slight addiction to buying it. We had a few different colors to choose from. Brie was the chocolate picker this go around. She loves chocolate dipped strawberries so that’s how we did them. The red chocolate is flavored with strawberry flavoring and the chocolate is bittersweet dark chocolate. Man, they are goood! The bittersweet cuts back on the really sweet and rich flavor of the strawberry and cheesecake. A perfect match for us.

 The actual making of the cheesecake balls were easy. I used my handy dandy scales to make sure they were as close to the same size as I could get them, 2 oz each, and made them while dh cooked breakfast this am. (yes, I was late making it. I kept waiting on the rain to stop. Finally realized it may not do that until June and got on with it.) They were a bit large and I’m glad I bought the med sticks, but I think the smaller ones would have been too little for my brood.

 We had to work really fast, in small batches. It’s monsoon season here and the humidity is sky high, even with vent fans and the air on. Everything starts sweating badly the second you take it out of the freezer. The chocolate does not want to stick to wet things obviously. That part took us the longest.

All in all, I’d so make these again. I’ll get the other kids involved and we’ll make a big ol’ mess!

Brie’s Input:

Was not as easy as I thought it would be. Trouble with the double broiler… as my mother put it “cramps my style” < Thats lame though.

Making the cheesecake itself was messy.

It tastes gooooooooooooood. : )

Our thanks to Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms  and Deborah of Taste and Tell for picking a great recipe!

Cheesecake Pops

Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’ Connor

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionery coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Go see what other wonderful takes on this recipe our DB mates have done!

Tags: cheesecake, Daring Bakers, dessert, pops

So I had two bananas left (and anyone who knows me knows I LOVE bananas. I eat one a day) Dh was gone for a few days and I had no way of getting any more. But, she’s a good beggar and I gave in. She doesn’t even eat banana bread! At any rate, it was delicious and I made my piece stretch two days, you know one banana a day lol

Short and sweet recipe.

 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
Two bananas, kinda mashed up
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
one pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix butter into the bananas in a large bowl. Mix in Sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add the baking soda and salt. Mix in the flour.
Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake for one hour.

First let me say, it was a dark, gloomy morning. That means that my pictures aren’t the best in the world, but also that I was craving something hot from the oven. I decided on cinnamon rolls. The first thing I always think of is cinnamon rolls

 Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 C whole milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
4 C flour
1/2 C flour
1/2 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 scant tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp salt

Filling:
1 C melted butter
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C cinnamon

Frosting:
1/2 bag powdered sugar
1/4 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp melted butter
pinch of salt

Mix whole milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan, stir to dissolve sugar. Scald to 150 degrees. Let cool until lukewarm. Sprinkle in yeast and let sit until fluffy. Then add 4 C flour, stir mixture together. Cover and let sit for one hour. Add 1/2 C flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir mixture together.

Sprinkle surface generously with flour and form into a rectangle, roll the dough thin, maintaining a rectangular shape. Drizzle melted butter over dough. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll the dough toward you. Pinch the seam to seal it. Grease pans. Cut rolls 3/4 to 1 inch thick and lay in greased pans. Cover the rolls and let sit for 30 minutes. Bake at 400 for 15 to 18 minutes.

Combine all frosting ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Generously pour frosting over warm rolls after they come out of the oven.

Never worry, I did take out an extra stick of butter to soften after this picture.

This is after mixing the milk, oil and 1/2 cup sugar in a pan then scalding the milk. I then let the milk cool to lukewarm and added the yeast. I let it proof for about 5 mins, until it was fluffy. I then added the 4 cups of flour. Your dough will be very wet at this point.

Set your dough aside, away from drafts for 1 hour. It should be nice and fluffy. I went ahead and cut up my butter so it would be much softer and quicker to melt.

 Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a rectangle. This was my 9 year old sons version. Not bad for a short dude.

Sprinkled with lots of sugar and cinnamon

We then rolled it up and I cut it into 1 inch rounds. He buttered the pans.

Here they are after sitting for 30 mins.

While they were resting I made the frosting.

After cooking for 15 mins. Cooling off with children breathing down my neck in anticipation.

Enjoy!

Brie and I joined a baking group and we’ll be documenting our journey here.

I don’t know about Brie but I’m pretty excited.  I’m hoping we both learn a lot!

Of course, since I love food and we spend a lot of time baking, there will be plenty of other things to see as well.