Cinnabon- Replica

I don't read . I don't read books, I don't read any novels. I don't read newspapers. The list goes on and the fact is that I read nothing. I hate this habit of mine ;because of which I don't get to expose to what's going on in the outer world ; nor I get to improve my writing or clear my children's doubts. Thank God that they have their 'Genie DAD' ;) . But I did read story books to my kids when they were small . Got them all sort of books when and where they demanded. Offered many a things when they read newspapers and so now, they read a lot. I've to snatch books from them when guests are home or while eating. Now we started fighting for magazines;Noora read articles, while I look for recipes. I felt some sort of embarassment there. Yesterday I thought I would read something from the 'Friday' magazine and I read whole 3 articles. I enjoyed reading and they motivated me a lot. I shall keep on doing this. The articles were about World Dwarf Games Champion, MMUN child ambassadors and a cancer survivor.The story was not about how Dianne fought her disease or how she survived or whether did she really destroy her enemy. Instead this was about how she took this reality into her life; how she decided to live her life instead of mourning; how she organised her life party instead of funeral,which would be after her death and she wouldn't be enjoying. That was a damn bold attempt. She celebrated her life, met all her friends and relatives,danced,enjoyed and thanked all those who had helped her somewhere in her life-journey. This article as well as Joby's(arm wrestling champion) inspired me a lot. We are among those few lucky people, who got all those blessings of this life with able body and good family (Masha Allah) and we don't recognize it's importance or fail to thank God at times. We shall make full use of this wonderful life and live for the purpose and do something fruitful in this life. We should concentrate on living our life to the fullest rather than abusing this life.

Cinnabon is a famous brand cafe-chain who makes cinnamon rolls topped with cream cheese frosting. They make such delectable rolls that it just melts in mouth. I felt this recipe could do justice to atleast 80-85 % of the original one and is so delicious that you won't be able to stop with just one. I didn't had the bread machine or bread machine yeast, but still it tasted great . Measure your ingredients correctly and follow the technique as it is described below:

Ingredients:
(Courtesy:All recipes)

Warm Milk   1 cup
Eggs             2
Margarine     1/3cup
Bread flour   4 1/2 cups
Salt               1tsp
Sugar            1/2cup
Yeast            2 1/2tsp

Filling:
Brown Sugar           1cup,packed
Ground Cinnamon   2 1/2tbsp
Butter                       1/3cup,softened

Topping:
Cream cheese           3oz ,softened
Butter                       1/4cup
Confectioners'sugar 1 1/2cups
Vanilla essence        1/2tsp
Salt                           1/8tsp

Method:

1. Mix yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk and let it rest for a few minutes till bubble appears on top. Don't mix yeast with spoon. Let it stand like that for few minutes.

2. Take milk in a mixing bowl, add eggs,salt,yeast mix and sugar. Mix well. Add flour and melted margarine to it. Mix it and prepare dough. Keep on kneading for atleast 6 minutes. You might get tempted to stop before that, but you shall not dare to do that. The dough will be sticky. You can grease your hands with melted margarine,but little.

3. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest till it doubles in size.ie; for about 2 hours or more.

The dough doubled in size in the second picture and you can see the hand imprint on the third. This is how it looked after rising.

4. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.

5. Roll dough into a 16*21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar-cinnamon mixture.Spread whole the brown sugar mix.I was hesitating Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9*13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200C.

sorry for poor lighting. It was clicked at night.

6. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking,beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Shelf life: I kept on my kitchen counter(without topping) for 2 days and microwaved for 20 seconds before serving. Spread topping after heating.

Serving Suggestions: Top with Chocolate chips,curls, chocolate sauce, pecans,walnuts,caramel etc.

Vardhini's BAke fest event co hosted by Priyas Versatile recipes

Khaliat Nahal/Honeycomb Bread

Khaliat Nahal /Honeycomb bread (now popularly known as Hanan's Honey Bunny) is quite famous now in our family. Hanan(my sis) introduced this among our cousins and everyone just loved this. They are behind her now for the recipe and no better idea to share this here than sending to each one of them.

Khaliat Nahal, which means Bees' Hive, is a middle-eastern delicacy which get its name due to its appearance similar to the honeycomb. These are bite size stuffed buns which differs according to the filling or syrup used. Some are sweet while others savoury. Here is  sweet version with cheese stuffed and later soaked in sugar syrup. These buns are too soft that kids as well as elders would defenitely love this.

Bun:

Ingredients:
All purpose flour/Maida  3 1/2 cups
Milk 1 cup
Milk powder 2 tbsp
Water 1/4- 1/2 cup
Egg 1
Sugar 3tbsp
Oil 4 tbsp
Butter 4 tbsp,melted
Instant yeast 1 1/2 tsp*
salt 1/2 tsp
Triangle cheese- 6-8 pieces
Egg 1 , slightly beaten for egg wash
Sesame on top 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:
1. Sieve the flour, then add milk powder, sugar, yeast and salt to it. *If the yeast is granule type, then soak in warm water for 15-30minutes until it bubbles up. And if it is pizza yeast, just throw it into the flour.

2. Make a well in the centre and add oil, butter and the egg. Mix together. Now add all the milk. Start kneading together and gradually add the water a little at a time. You might not need it all, so add it sparingly until your dough is nice and soft. Knead for a good 8-10 minutes. The more you knead it the softer the buns will be.

3. Touch a bit of oil with your fingertips and apply all over the ball of dough. Cover in a bowl and set aside for 40mins to an hour for it to double in size. You can pop in the bowl into preheated oven and rest it there which would make the whole process fast. For this, you should preheat your oven to the maximum temperature and then turn it off before keeping the bowl inside.

4. Once it doubles in size, punch it down, and break off tiny bits of dough. You should get about 30-40 tiny pieces out of this. Take each piece of dough, and stretch it out with your fingers, then add a small piece of cheese in its center. Bring the edges together and form a ball so that the cheese is completely enclosed within the dough. Repeat this with all the dough.

5. Grease your pan/pans with butter. Place the balls of dough in a 'honeycomb' pattern. Try to get them close to each other so that there are no or very little spaces in between.

6. Cover the pans and set aside for a second rise, about half an hour. Sprinkle sesame on top (if using)

7. Now apply egg wash on the balls, preheat your oven to 180 C and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the bread is nice and golden on top. If your balls are smaller 15 minutes might do.

8. Remove from the oven and pour your syrup all over the hot bread. Remember that the syrup needs to be cool and the bread needs to be steaming hot straight from the oven. Turn it out and place on a rack to cool and for the syrup to glaze slightly.

Sugar Syrup/Glaze:

Ingredients

Sugar 1 cup

Water 3/4 cup

Honey 1 tbsp

Saffron a pinch

Method:

Boil sugar,water and saffron together until all the sugar melts and the syrup is slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add honey. Mix and set aside to cool completely. 

LInking this to  Bread from Scratch Event hosted by he Big Sweet Tooth & Cooks Joy 

Paneer Kulcha (Paneer stuffed bread)

 Kulchas can be a great meal to be planned  for special dinners and parties; with or without some awesome stuffings . The  cheese(paneer) stuffing used here gives  a delicious touch to this bread that this can be a complete meal in itself. You can use different spices to the stuffing to make it more spicier.

Ingredients 
Recipe: Sanjeev Kapoor


Refined flour (maida) 2 cups
Salt 1/2 tsp
Yogurt 1 tbsp
Baking soda 1/4 tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Milk 1/2 cup

Stuffing:

Paneer/Cottage cheese 200gm
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Chaat masala 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method

 

 

Take refined flour in a bowl. Add salt, yogurt, soda bicarbonate, sugar and milk and knead into a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for an hour.

 Preheat oven to the maximum temperature. 

Make pedas of the dough and rest for five minutes. 


For Stuffing:

Take paneer in a bowl, add salt, half teaspoon red chilli powder and chaat masala and mix well. 

Roll each dough peda to a small puri, place a portion of the paneer mixture and roll into a ball again. 

Rest the stuffed balls for five minutes.

 Pat each ball into a six inch round kulcha and place on a baking tray. 

Rub a little water on the surface and sprinkle some red chilli powder. 

 Bake in the preheated oven for five to seven minutes. Serve hot with a dollop of butter on each kulcha.


 

Plaited Loaf

My daughter's loaf with that of mine!!

This was the first ever bread i had tried...The look of it fascinated more; so thought of trying it. It's so simiple & could be baked easily too.

Breads ;especially the freshly baked & crusty ones are best eaten on the day of purchase or baked. Unused crusty bread will dry out very quickly. Left over bread can be used in the next day or two for the things like home made croutons,  French toast, garlic or cheese bread or buschetta. When i saw the Swiss soup posted by a dear friend of mine, Shabeena (shabscuisine.blogspot.com), I couldn't stop trying it out with this bread & both complemented so well.. Thank u Shab...

Courtesy :Essential Baking

Ingredients: (Makes 1 loaf)

Active dried yeast 1 tbsp
Honey 1 tsp
Lukewarm milk 250ml
Butter melted 55 gm
Strong Flour 420gm
Salt 1 tsp
Egg 1 lightly beaten
Egg Yolk 1 beaten with 1 tsp milk for glazing

Method:

1. Combine the yeast, honey, milk & butter.Stir and leave for 15 mts to dissolve.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture and egg. With a wooden spoon, stir from the centre, incorporating flour with each turn, to obtain a rough dough.

3. Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hrs.

4. Grease a baking sheet. Punch down the dough and devide into three equal pieces. Roll to shape each piece into long thin strip. If there's difference in sizes , cut to match the others & the remaining (cut one) can be given to your child to plait her own loaf. ( U can c my daughter's loaf beside mine).

5. Begin plaiting with the centre strip , tucking in the ends. Cover loosely and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 mts.

6. Preheat a 375 F/ 190 C/ Gas 5 oven. Place the bread in cool place while the oven heats. Brush with the glaze and bake until golden, 40-45 mts. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Freshly baked bread & a yum soup makes my day!!!