TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

I can’t believe its Tuesday again, nor can I believe the month of March is already ending.

How did that happen?

Oh yes, I’ve been covered in flour and frosting for the entire month so I probably forgot where and who I was.

I have been taking the Wilton classes for 2 months and all I have done is bake and endure hours and hours of making royal icing flowers. Flowers I was up cursing until 10:30 last night as I hurriedly tried to complete them before my final class today. I think I may have to take a break from making layered cakes for a bit…for sanity purposes.

Oh right…you are here for TWD…

We have had some great hosts for TWD this month! I have been eying this Blueberry Crumb Cake since I purchased “Baking From My Home to Yours” so I was rather excited when I saw it on March’s baking roster. A big “thanks” to Sihan of Befuddlement for hosting Tuesdays With Dorie this week. If you would like to see the recipe. You can also check out how the other bakers faired this week by clicking on TWD’s blogroll.

The cake was pretty straight forward and easy to make, and could even be split into parts to make it in (i.e. the crumb topping then the cake portion). I really played it boring this week and just followed the recipe because I love blueberries and didn’t feel it necessary to change up an already “good thing”.

My crumb topping wasn’t overly ‘crumb like’ that I would see on a coffee cake at a bakery so it’s possible I broke the crumbs into too small of pieces. I think I will try this with turbinado sugar next time. Maybe that would create a larger, crunchier crumb? Either way, I loved the extra crunch of the sugar and nuts on top. Overall the rest of the cake was moist and despite ‘flouring’ the blueberries, they still seemed to work their way to the bottom of the cake. *shrugs*

Both “Mr. Coco” and I loved this cake; he even asked to take a piece to work to eat while drinking his coffee. (Even for the sweet tooth man he is, he rarely takes any to work so I will take this as a job well done).

Thanks again Sihan for hosting!

Next week: Coconut Butter Thins!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls in the Bread Maker

I really love cinnamon rolls. When I was in high school, my girl friend and I would go to the mall every weekend to spend our babysitting money on new clothes. Without fail I always made my way over to the Cinnabun store and ordered a large cinnamon roll with a side of extra frosting. It was my favorite treat.

So for as much as I love cinnamon rolls, I rarely make them (ok, almost never—I think I made them once). Truth be told, making my own dough just scares me. Mainly because of how labor intensive I think it is and about 75% of the time, it doesn’t turn out. Plus, who has patience to wait for something to rise? Not me.

For some reason last night I got up from the couch and decided I was going to make cinnamon rolls. (This type of neurosis is absolutely no surprise from my half sleeping husband). I have been wanting to make these for months and I figured I had everything at my fingertips; I might as well make a trial run and get some practice. It’s all about facing my fears these days.
I used my bread maker for my rolls but you can certainly do this without a bread maker. I have provided directions for both.

The verdict: These turned out great! Nice and gooey in the middle, spicy cinnamon flavor, and the frosting had a great cream cheese flavor. I was surprised to find that these were not that difficult! I even saved half of them in the freezer for another day! My father-in-law stopped by this morning to sample one and told me they were the best he ever had. I think he is a little biased.

Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe courtesy of Recipe Zaar

Ingredients
1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (I used low fat and that worked just fine)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

FILLING
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons Saigon cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

ICING
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt


Directions

1. Dissolve yeast in the warm milk. Pour into bread maker.

2. Add flour, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla to the bread maker. (I added mine in that order you can check with your manufacturer’s instructions—mine didn’t provide any so I just made sure I put the liquid in the bottom since it had the yeast to make sure it was the farthest from the salt). As long as the machine is going to mix right away, it probably does not matter. Set machine on Dough.

3. If you don’t have a bread maker—just mix everything in a large bowl. Knead the dough into a ball with floured hands. Put it in a bowl and cover to let it rise in a warm place for about an hour (it should double in size)

4. Pull risen dough out of bread maker or bowl and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to be about 21x16 and ¼ inch thick. (If your dough is really soupy—mine was….just add more flour and kneed it a few times until you have the consistency that allows you to roll it out.)



5. Make the filling by mixing together the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

6. Spread filling on top of dough evenly.



7. Working from the long end, roll the dough.



8. Cut into 1 ¾ inch slices and place on a lightly greased baking pan.



9. At this point you can choose to cover with plastic and put in the refrigerator or freezer for later or you can bake them now.




10. Preheat oven to 400, you can put the rolls in the oven to let them rise a bit more while the oven preheats. If the rolls are coming from the refrigerator, you can put the baking dish from the refrigerator right to the preheating oven as well.



11. Bake 10 – 12 minutes. Mine took about 15 because mine came from the refrigerator. They should be somewhat golden brown on the top and gooey in the center.



12. Make frosting while they are in the oven, mix butter, sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla together with a mixer until smooth.



13. Pull rolls out of the oven and top with frosting.

Brocolli Cheese Quiche and My New Favorite Brunch Dish

With all the festivities and people at my house, I needed to find an easy breakfast that wouldn’t tie me to my stove. So I decided to make my ‘famous’ broccoli cheese quiche. It’s not really famous, but it’s famous with my family and friends.

I think there is a misrepresentation of quiche as if it’s supposed to be accompanied by china dishes and a tea party. I suppose it still can be, but it really is a great hearty meal that even my father in law raves about it.

The one thing I changed with my quiche is I got rid of all the heavy cream I have seen in so many recipes. I really don’t want all that additional fat so I opted to make it with low fat milk and let me tell you, you cannot taste the difference.

To make it easy on yourself, you can buy a pre-made crust from the store. I do this frequently because I don’t know anyone willing to get up at 5 am to make pastry dough!
Here is a great recipe, just in time for your weekend!

Broccoli Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 ½ cups low fat milk
2 cups cheese (I used cheddar)
1 cup broccoli cooked (I used frozen and it worked fine for me)
Salt/pepper to taste
Store bought pie crust

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Beat eggs, add milk. Whisk to combine.

Salt and pepper the mixture and add it to the pie crust. Don’t worry about defrosting t he pie crust, go ahead and use it still frozen if you purchased the crust already molded into the pan.

Add cheese and broccoli.

Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

**Mine took a little over an hour to cook because I used a frozen pie crust and the broccoli was still frozen when I added it. If all of your ingredients are room temperature, it will probably only take 45 minutes.

It is done when it’s lightly browned on top and it no longer jiggles in the center. Wait a few minutes for the quiche to settle and then slice and serve alongside fruit.

My cheese sinks to the bottom every time! I have tried mixing it in, and adding it last...any suggestions?? It still tastes great! I guess that's all that matters!