Roasted Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted cinnamon rolls.  I had gone to the store three times and had forgotten to buy yeast every single time.  Eventually, I remembered the yeast and I immediately came home and started planning.  I wanted cinnamon rolls, but I wanted to Spring-i-fy them a bit.

Lately I have been Spring-i-fying every part of my life.  Pastel nail polish, loads of fresh flowers, iced lattes, and all the strawberries!

Strawberries are lovely straight off the vine, but right now, in early May, they aren’t at their sweetest.  However, roasting the berries brings out some of their natural sugars and intensifies their strawberry flavor.

Roasting also removes some of the excess water from the berries which would make our rolls soggy if we added them raw.  Soggy rolls are not good.

This cinnamon roll dough is soft and airy.  It is dense enough to hold up to the berries, but still soft and pillow-like.

Look at all those pretty berries peeking through.  They are subtly hinting at the sweet, soft, spicy deliciousness that awaits. 

I topped my cinnamon rolls with a bit (who am I kidding?  A bunch!) of cream cheese frosting which I spiked with the sweet juice left over from roasting the strawberries.

These cinnamon rolls are everything they should be.  Classically delicious, with a taste of Spring. 

Happy baking!

Sincerely, 

   Pedantic Foodie

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Roasted Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

makes 10 rolls / recipe adapted slightly from Alton Brown  

dough 

• 8 ounces warm milk 
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon active dry yeast 
• 15 ounces all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ounces unsalted butter (room temperature)

filling 

• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 2 tablespoons crystalized ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 2 ounces unsalted butter (room temperature), plus extra for greasing the pan
• 16 ounces fresh strawberries, quartered

frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
• reserved berry juices, cooled
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In the bowl of your stand mixer combine milk, sugar, yeast, egg yolks, flour, and salt.  Use the paddle attachment and combine on low speed for 1 minute.  Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes. 

Fit your stand mixer with dough hook and add butter.  Mix on medium speed for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side.  

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form a large ball.  Place in an oiled bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, roast the strawberries.  Lay the quartered strawberries out on a baking sheet or small pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until they have begun to release some of their juices.  Allow the berries to cool while you prepare the filling.  

In a small bowl combine sugar, ginger and cinnamon. 

Coat a 9x13 pan with softened butter.  

Remove the dough from the bowl.  Roll out on a floured surface into a 15x12 inch rectangle.  Rub with softened butter and sprinkle with spice and sugar mix.  Pat the spices gently to press into the dough.  Evenly distribute the cooled, roasted strawberries, pressing them gently into the dough.  Reserve the excess juice from the berries.  

Roll the dough towards you, tucking so that the roll is tight.  Cut the roll in half, and then cut each half into 5 even pieces, this will give you a total of 10 rolls.  Place the rolls in buttered cast iron skillet or 9x13 pan and cover loosely with plastic.  Allow to rise for 40 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

While the dough is rising, prepare the frosting.  In a clean bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer for several minutes, until fluffy.  Beat in berry juices.  Slowly add confectioner's sugar until fully incorporated, and add heavy cream.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  

When the rolls have finished rising, bake for 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. 

Allow to cool slightly before coating with frosting and devouring. 

Enjoy!  

Espresso Doughnuts with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Coffee and doughnuts are one of the sacred food duos.  In the official book of sacred food combinations, this ranks number 3, right in between grilled cheese and tomato soup and peanut butter and bananas.

Being the foodie that I am, I wrote, "espresso doughnuts" down on an idea card a couple of weeks ago, and tossed it into the pile of random recipe ideas.  This past weekend, I rediscovered that card and this is what happened. 

Our coffee flavor comes in the form of espresso powder.  It smells incredible.

I love baked doughnuts because they aren't as heavy as the fried versions and they are a lot less messy.  You just need one of these doughnut pans.

The most important thing to remember when making baked doughnuts is to not overfill the pan.  Seriously, these things do some serious rising.

These doughnuts also received a coating of brown butter cream cheese frosting and espresso sugar, because we are fancy.

I really love how the tanginess of the cream cheese works with the richness of the brown butter.  I think this pairing should be added to the official book of sacred food combinations, which I definitely made up.  

Ahhh…this is a really good way to begin the morning.  

Get yourself a doughnut pan and let's get baking!

Happy Wednesday friends! 

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie

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Espresso Doughnuts with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

makes 12 doughnuts 

for the doughnuts 

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted*
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 cup whole milk 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk to combine flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. 

In a separate bowl, beat eggs.  Whisk in milk, vanilla, and melted butter.  

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until thoroughly combined.  Allow the mixture to rest for five minutes. 

Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe the batter into a greased doughnut pan.  Be careful to not overfill, the doughnuts will do quite a bit of rising.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool while you prepare the frosting.

*Make sure that the melted butter has a chance to cool down before adding it to the milk.  If the butter is too hot, it will seize up when mixed with the cold ingredients.

for the frosting

• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream 
• espresso sugar, optional

Place butter in a small saucepan and melt over medium high heat.  Once the butter has melted cook for several minutes until the butter deepens in color and reaches dark amber.  Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, cream cheese on high for one minute.  Beat in brown butter.  Slowly add confectioner’s sugar, beating well after each addition until all the sugar is worked in.  Beat in heavy cream and vanilla, and mix until smooth.  

Spread the frosting over cooled doughnuts and sprinkle with espresso sugar or chocolate sprinkles.  Serve with a piping hot cup of coffee and a friend that tells horrible, yet wonderful puns.  Enjoy!

Black Cherry Almond Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping

Here is the thing about muffins, they can be deceptive.  I will not take a muffin from just anyone.  Sometimes even the loveliest of muffins can conceal a spongey, flavorless interior.  In my mind, muffins should be moist, cakey, and lightly sweetened - it’s not a cupcake.

I had cherries on my mind the other day when I was trying to contrive some new recipes.  Unfortunately, the cherry season is still far out of sight, but thankfully, that does not mean that we cannot satisfy our stone fruit cravings.

Frozen cherries came to my rescue and these lovely, cherry-studded muffins were born.

Let’s get started!  These muffins get their cake-like texture from the creaming method.  Soft butter is whipped and beaten with sugar until it is light and fluffy.  This gives our muffins a firm, cakey texture that will hold up to our sweet black cherries. 

Have you ever experienced the disappointment of a berry-studded muffin where all the berries have fallen to the bottom?  It's annoying, but thankfully, it is also very easy to avoid.  Tossing your fruit in a bit of flour before adding it to the batter will keep the fruit from falling to the bottom.  Problem solved!

A muffin that has some sort of topping instantly gains my attention.  For this recipe, I made a simple cinnamon streusel by working a bit of softened butter into cinnamon, oats, flour and sugar.  The streusel adds a bit of extra sweetness and a nice textural element to our muffins.

Batter is scooped into a lined muffin pan and flowers are admired.  If you are anything like me, your iPhone is probably covered in flour by now and you have managed to get muffin batter on your jeans, just go with it.  

In my younger days, I would often ask my mother for butter for my muffin and she would usually say something like, "There is already butter inside the muffins."  To which I would reply, "Okay, that's great, now may I have some more butter please?"

I am grown now and I make my own muffins with butter on the inside and on the outside.  No shame. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.  I am currently enjoying a snow storm and drinking obscene amounts of chai.  Happy baking!

Sincerely, 

   Pedantic Foodie

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Black Cherry Almond Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping

makes 12 / recipe adapted from Culinary Institute of America’s Baking at Home

for the streusel topping

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup old fashioned whole oats
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Use a fork to work in butter, forming a rough crumble.

for the muffins 

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided use
• 1 tablespoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups frozen black cherries 
• 1/3 cup chopped unsalted almonds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin pan with muffin cup liners.  

In a medium bowl, sift to combine baking powder, salt, nutmeg and 2 cups all-purpose flour.  Set aside. In a separate bowl whisk to combine milk, vanilla, and egg.  

In a large bowl, use a hand-mixer to beat butter on high speed for one minute.  Add sugars and beat for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Slowly incorporate milk and flour mixtures in small increments, alternating between the two while mixing on low speed. 

In a separate bowl, toss frozen cherries in 2 tablespoons flour.  Fold almonds and coated cherries into the muffin batter, making sure to distribute them evenly.  

Use a spoon or spring-loaded disher to divide batter among the muffin cups.  

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with about a tablespoon of streusel mixture.  Press down slightly to ensure that the streusel sticks to the top of the muffin.  

Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are deep golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Enjoy!