Daring Bakers: Cinnamon Rolls with Peach Preserves & Cream Cheese Icing

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I made these rolls, took pictures and began this post a couple weeks ago since I was expecting a baby mid-June.  I cannot believe I am actually posting this month!  Special thanks to my amazing friend, Carrie, who held my sweet baby boy and also entertained my toddlers and therefore made it possible for me to finish this post this morning!  You’re amazing 🙂

Our baby’s due date was June 19, so I knew I had to get this challenge completed before my typical completion of a Daring Bakers challenge, a day or two before posting.  The day I made these rolls I thought, “It will be good to have these for our house guests after the baby comes.” thinking that this baby would be early like our other two.  But over a week passed before our sweet baby arrived and we’d already finished off a pan!  I froze the other pan after baking it so we did have some for grandparents when they came to see the baby.

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And here he is!  Christopher was born on June 23 and we love him.

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

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This challenge had me excited from the moment I read it!  I love cinnamon rolls, both the making of and the consumption of them.  But I’ve never ventured beyond the traditional cinnamon sugar filling.  This challenge encouraged creativity from the Daring Bakers.  I know some people got incredibly creative, and I admire those people for not only having creative minds but for being brave enough to try something new!  I played it pretty safe and just added peach preserves to the rolls.  I know, it’s kinda lame.  But it’s still  super delicious!

I used a sweet dough recipe from America’s Test Kitchen as the base for the rolls.  In the cookbook this dough is also used for hot cross buns and sticky buns.  It comes together nicely, rises well, is easy to roll out and handle, and bakes into a lovely sweet bread.  It’s a keeper.

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Peach just seemed like a good summer choice, but you could use any kind of jam or preserves in these rolls.  Add in nuts if you like.  Or leave out the jam and make a simple cinnamon roll with a traditional cinnamon and brown sugar filling.

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The icing is sweet with just enough tang from the cream cheese.  You can make it more icing-like by adding less milk, or more like a glaze by adding a little more.  The recipe below makes a generous amount for the 2 pans of rolls.  Ice these when they are still a little warm so that the icing can seep in between the layers and get all wonderfully gooey.  Or you can ice them individually to control the amount of icing on each roll since some people are big icing lovers and others are crazy not so much.

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Peach Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Ingredients

Dough

  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1  1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 3/4 to 1 cup peach preserves

Icing

  • 5 tablespoons cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3-5 tablespoons milk

Directions

Dough

  1.  Whisk the buttermilk, butter and eggs in a small bowl.
  2. Mix 4 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in stand mixer fitted the dough hook.
  3. Add buttermilk mixture to flour, mix on low until dough comes together.
  4. Increase speed to medium low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.  Add extra flour if dough seems sticky, one tablespoon at a time.
  5. Turn dough out onto clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth round ball.
  6. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until doubled in size.

Fill, Shape and Bake Rolls

  1. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
  2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and dust lightly with flour.  Pat the dough fat, and then use a rolling pin to roll dough out into a 12×16 inch rectangle.
  3. Brush dough with melted butter, then spread with peach preserves leaving a 1/4 inch edge all around.  Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the preserves and spread out.
  4. Roll dough into a long cylinder, as tight as you can get it.  Pinch the edge of the dough to seal the roll.
  5. Use a serrated knife to carefully cut into 14-16 buns.
  6. Butter 2 round cake pans and place 7 or 8 buns in each.  Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and let rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Rolls should be pressed up against each other.  To Make Ahead: Pop them in the fridge after covering, before they rise.  Keep them there for up to 16 hours.  When you’re ready, take them out and let them rise at room temp for 1 1/2 hours, then bake as below.
  7. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  8. Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.
  9. Let rolls cool for 10 minutes before icing.

Icing (make while rolls are baking)

  1. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until mixed well.  Add in milk, a tablespoon at a time until the icing is the consistency that you like.
  2. Ice rolls in the pan or turn rolls out and ice on a platter.

 

Perfect Chocolate Cake & Frosting

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As with much of my spur of the moment baking, this was the result of perusing Pinterest right after my kids went down for naps.  I saw this amazing looking chocolate cake and had to have it.  Now.

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

As luck would have it I had all the ingredients (and you probably do, too!) which makes this a terrific cake to make at the last minute.  I decided to make it around 2 in the afternoon and it was cooled and frosted and ready to consume by 5.  Both the cake and the frosting come together so quickly.  Making this cake was a great use of nap time.  It was also a great way to take my mind off of the fact that my due date was going to come and go without meeting our new babe!  If only chocolate cake induced labor…

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

I’ve had this cake before and remember asking who made it and if I could get the recipe.  For some reason I was surprised to find out it was a Hershey’s recipe.  I shouldn’t have been, I guess.  The best oatmeal cookie recipe is found on the top of the Quaker oats container, after all!  I didn’t use Hershey’s cocoa, though.  I had just enough Guittard cocoa left, so that is what I used.  The cake is moist and chocolatey and comforting, as chocolate cake should be.  The frosting is sweet and rich yet light and not dense.  I added a layer of crushed Oreos in between the layers of cake and also pressed some into the sides of the frosted cake and sprinkled some on top.  It adds some nice texture both in appearance and in your mouth, but it also helps to disguise a sloppy frosting job…which mine definitely was.

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

You can make this in 9-inch cake pans, like I did, or in a 9×13 pan, 3 8-inch pans, a bundt pan, or you can make cupcakes.  I can easily see this becoming my new go-to chocolate cake recipe.

ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

The next time I post I hope it’s to announce the birth of our baby, but I might just find myself doing some more baking if this baby decides he or she is just not ready!  Happy weekend!Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

Perfect Chocolate Cake

From Hershey’s

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

Frosting

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Optional: Crushed Oreos for topping (about a sleeve and a half)

Directions

Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans.  Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  4. Add in oil, milk, eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.
  5. Add in the boiling water and mix to combine.  The batter will be very thin, and that’s ok!
  6. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for 30-35 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
  7. Let cool in the pans on wire racks for 15 minutes, then turn out onto the racks to let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

  1. Measure cocoa into a medium sized bowl.  Melt butter and pour into the cocoa and whisk to combine.
  2. Using a mixer, beat in powdered sugar and milk alternately in 5 batches (sugar, milk, sugar, milk, sugar).  Add in more sugar if you want the frosting to be a little thicker.  Stir in the vanilla.
  3. Frost the cake, layering some of the Oreos in between the layers and press some onto the edges.  Serve immediately or let chill in the fridge for an hour if your house is especially warm (like mine was!).

 

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake

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With the birth of our 3rd baby fast approaching I’m finding myself trying everyday to accomplish things that will make the transition easier.  Having all the laundry cleaned and put away, keeping the kitchen well stocked (and relatively clean) for our older kids for when we’re in the hospital and someone else is watching them, washing newborn clothes for a girl and a boy, checking my hospital bag daily to be sure I haven’t forgotten anything, and going through my lists of baby names to narrow it down.  But what do I decide is the most important?  Making this coffee cake, of course.  Baking is a great way to procrastinate, don’t you think?

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake | Hottie Biscotti

I saw this recipe for cream cheese coffee cake from Shugary Sweets on Pinterest and immediately knew I needed to make it.  With a pint of beautiful blueberries in the fridge it became blueberry cream cheese coffee cake because there was just no other option.

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake | Hottie Biscotti

So I put this together, baked it, and let it cool.  No big deal.  And I had a little corner of it in the evening before I went to bed.  It was delicious.  In the morning I cut myself another square for breakfast.  Something wasn’t right.  It seemed a little underbaked.  I had baked it 5 minutes longer than instructed, so I was surprised.  As I cut a little more into the center I saw that it was mostly raw goo.  I was real bummed about it.  I tried to save what I could around the edges, but then I had to do one of the hardest things a sweets loving girl can do.  I had to scrape all of that goodness right into the trashcan.  Heartbreaking.

Later in the day I restocked on blueberries, cream cheese, and butter and came home and did it all over again.  Because I’d originally misread the ingredients and messed up the streusel topping I was glad to have a second chance at it.  So I guess it was kind of a good thing that I underbaked it the first time?  Regardless, I wound up with this lovely cake when all was said and done and that makes it all worth it.

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake | Hottie Biscotti

This breakfast dish is delicious and quite decadent, but the blueberries make it good for you!  It’s fruit!  The berries also add a nice pop of color and a lovely tartness to each bite.  The cream cheese filling is amazing, and the crunchy streusel topping is the perfect counterpart to the smooth cake and creamy filling.  Enjoy!

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake | Hottie Biscotti

Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake

Ever so slightly adapted from Shugary Sweets

Serves 12-16

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 2 packages cream cheese, room temperature (low fat is fine)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 pint of blueberries, rinsed and dried and tossed with a tablespoon of four (the flour keeps them from sinking all the way down in the batter)

Streusel Topping

  • 1 stick of butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour

Directions

Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F
  2. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
  3. Beat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt with the softened butter until combined.
  4. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.
  5. Add in buttermilk and vanilla.  Cream for 3-4 minutes until mixture lightens in color and is fluffy.
  6. Spread half of the batter in to the prepared pan.

Filling

  1. Beat cream cheese, sugar and egg together until creamy.
  2. Spread evenly over the cake batter.
  3. Sprinkle the berries over the cream cheese layer.
  4. Spread the remaining cake batter over the berries.

Streusel

  1. Combine both sugars and cinnamon.
  2. Add in the butter and mix to combine.
  3. Add in a cup of the flour and, using clean hands, mix together until crumbly.  Add in up to 1/2 cup more flour if it seems too wet.
  4. Spread evenly over the batter.

Bake

  1. Bake for 1 hour, until toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached.
  2. Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

 

Caramelized Pineapple Ice Cream

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I had an excess amount of pineapple in my fridge last week (a situation I’ve found myself in more than once) after cutting up a fresh one to eat with dinner. Even after we’d had our fill with dinner and I’d done some snacking on it through the week I still have enough left over that I needed to do something with it.  So I started brainstorming what to do.  Pineapple ice cream.

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I found a few recipes, but this one with pineapple cooked down with sugar and cinnamon sounded so delicious.  The blog where I found the ice cream recipe had a great set of pictures showing how to cook the pineapple.  She even includes are warning about being careful not to leave it cooking while you go do something else.  Well, even with the warning I left it cooking over low heat while I spent some time outside with the kids and it cooked a little too much.  After cooling it some of the sugar had hardened on the bottom of the pan.  I kept going with the recipe and was glad I did because the deep caramel flavor with the pineapple and cream was spectacular.

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I wound up using the raw egg version, but here are some cooked egg custard vanilla ice cream base recipes that you could easily substitute.  Just stir the cooled pineapple puree into the cold custard and freeze in the ice cream maker.

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This ice cream is rich, which isn’t hard to predict without trying it when you see the ingredient list!  With all that cream and milk a little goes a long way.   I really prefer to eat rich and creamy ice cream, it’s so much more satisfying.  I always wind up eating more of the light and airy stuff and it’s never as good as a small amount of the good stuff.

Caramelized Pineapple Ice Cream

From La Gringa’s Blogicito

Ingredients

  • 5 cups of fresh pineapple chunks
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 – 1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

  1. Place pineapple chunks in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add sugar and cinnamon and stir together.
  2. Cook, stirring occasionally and monitoring the heat so that it is just at a medium simmer, for 20-30 minutes.  The pineapple will release a bunch of juice at first and then start to thicken up.  Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
  3. Place pineapple and as much of the sugary stuff as you can scrape from the pan into a blender or food processor and mix until very smooth.
  4. Transfer to a bowl and let cool in the fridge until cold.  (You can also put it in the freezer to speed up the process without letting it freeze.)
  5. Whisk eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes.  Add in the cream and the pineapple puree (Add in all of it if you have 1 1/2 cups or less, if you have more than 1 1/2 cups, then save the excess for ice cream topping).
  6. Add in enough milk to make no more than 5 cups of ice cream mix.
  7. Place the bowl in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes for 1-2 hours, until the edges of the mixture begin to freeze.
  8. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
  9. Transfer to a freezer safe container and let chill in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Green Posole with Black Beans

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This is far from a summer recipe.  It’s soup.  It’s hot and comforting.  Not exactly what anyone is looking for when temps are rising outside.  The last thing you probably want to do is eat a bowl of something warm.  But my sister sent the recipe to me after trying it herself and I didn’t want to wait!

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This spicy vegetarian posole is super delicious.  I’ll definitely be bringing this recipe out again in the fall.  But even with the warm weather my husband and I still really enjoyed this soup and will be having leftovers tonight.

I topped this subtly spicy soup with chunks of avocado, monterey jack cheese, cilantro, tortilla strips, sour cream and a spritz from a lime wedge.  My sister recommends radish slices and shredded green cabbage.  Having all of those things as options would be a great way to serve this soup to guests.

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The recipe calls for a blender to puree some of the ingredients, but it just about filled my blender to the brim.  My sister used an immersion blender with great results, so use one of those if you have one.  A blender works fine if not.

I forget how much I love posole.  There’s just something about the hominy that makes me happy.  It has such a great texture, especially in soup.  The chiles and poblano add a nice heat, but it’s not terribly spicy.  If you like it hot, then don’t be so careful when seeding the peppers.  Be sure to check the seasonings after the soup has simmered.  Mine needed a nice dose of salt along with the lime juice.  You could easily add some cooked shredded chicken for a heartier version.

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Green Posole with Black Beans

From Martha Stewart adapted from Homesick Texan

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 1 poblano chile
  • 1/2 pound fresh tomatillos, husks removed
  • 2 serrano chiles, stemmed, quartered, and seeded
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro (extra for serving)
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 ounce baby spinach leaves, 1 large handful, about 1 cup
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 6 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
  • 2 cans (15 ounces) hominy, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
  • fresh lime juice from 1 lime (extra wedges for serving)
  • kosher salt
  • monterey jack cheese
  • 1 avocado, sliced or cut into chunks
  • sour cream
  • tortilla chips or baked tortilla strips

Directions

  1. Heat broiler with rack in top position.  Place a sheet of foil on the rack.  Broil the poblano until charred and skin is bubbling, 4-5 minutes per side.   You can also do this over a gas burner using tongs.  Transfer to a paper sack or zip-top plastic bag, close it tightly, and let steam 20 minutes.  Rub the poblano with paper towels to remove skin.  Stem, seed, and place in a blender.
  2. In a large pot of boiling water, cook tomatillos until soft, about 5 minutes.  Drain and transfer to the blender.
  3. Add serranos, onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley, spinach, cumin, oregano, and 2 cups of broth.  Blend until smooth.  OR you can put everything from the poblano to the broth to a pot and blend with an immersion blender.
  4. Pour tomatillo mixture into a large pot and stir in 4 cups broth, the hominy, and the black beans.
  5. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.
  6. Add lime juice.  Taste, add salt and adjust seasonings.
  7. Garnish with avocado, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, chips and extra lime juice if desired.