Cinnamon Rolls & A Special Little Girl

from Tartelette

I look at the little girl in the photographs below and I see so much of myself in her. And I hope she'll beat to the tune of her own heart as I try to. I hope she'll tell the people in her life, close or distant, how much they matter as I do. As often as possible. Because in the end, it's what counts. Truly. I hope she has the courage to take chances, get hurt, and love again. To be imperfectly alive. As my friend Brene says "it will confuse and terrify people" but I will be there if she needs me.

She is a part of me. My niece Lea. She's turning ten on Monday and this post is for her. Being ten is a big deal. I know! I see so little of her over the years that everytime I feel like meeting a different person. I love how my brother and his wife are raising her and her sister. It's chaotic, it's loud and imperfect and it's full of laughs and love, hugs and stories.

I was so happy to spend some time alone with her while visiting my parents this summer. We took some time out to go about their village, talk about life and take some pictures. We also spent an afternoon baking up a storm together! First there was this lovely Mirabelle and Almond Frangipane Tart and then we made a couple of batches of cinnamon rolls. I had made them for the family one Christmas 4 years ago and knowing how much her dad loved them, she insisted we made some more.

I'm warning you right now, these are not gluten free. I was tempted but I was not home, did not have everything I needed on hand, the equipment and oven were different so I stuck to the original recipe, a knock off version of Cinnabon™ Cinnamon Rolls. For a gluten free equivalent, please check out Shauna's cinnamon rolls here. Magic.

Please, meet my gorgeous niece Lea in this cinnamon rolls 101.

Happy Birthday Sweetie - Joyeux Anniversaire ma belle!

Once your dough has risen and is ready to use, flour your work surface abundantly.

Get your rolling pin and your smile on - this is going to be good!

No reason. I just think she's beautiful...

Liberally sprinkling dark brown sugar and cinnamon over the dough.

Rolling the dough into a log.

Cutting the log into roll size pieces.

As I was taking pictures outside before a huge thunderstorm hit us, I looked over my shoulder and this is what I saw. And my heart jumped with excitment...A budding food photographer. Yes!

Cinnabon™ Knock-off Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 12 rolls

For the dough:
1 pkg. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. size or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 cup warm milk (105º to 110º F.)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

For the icing:
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup (2 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the dough:
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
Mix together the sugar, butter, salt & eggs. Add flour and mix well
Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands lightly dusted with flour. Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide. It should be about ¼ inch thick.
Preheat oven to 400º F and position a rack in the middle.

Prepare the filling:
combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.

Form the rolls:
Working carefully from the top (a 21 inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
Cut the rolled dough into 1 ¾ inch slices and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 min.). Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden on top.

Prepare the icing:
While the rolls bake, mix the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, then add the milk and flavorings. Mix on high speed again until the icing is smooth and fluffy.
When the rolls come out of the oven, let them cool for about 10 minutes, then coat generously with the icing.

Ballpark Dining Goes High-Tech

by Jason Best

Photo: ShellyS, Flickr

Don't want to spend the seventh-inning stretch standing in line for food? There's an app for that.

Major League Baseball Advanced Media is testing a new iPhone app at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies, that allows fans to order food and have it delivered directly to their seats. If all goes well, the plan is to have the service available at ballparks across the country by next season.

The food-delivery option is bundled with MLBAM's At Bat 2010 iPhone app, which offers live streaming games, stats and scores and and currently sells for $7. It's not clear whether, beyond having to buy the app, there will be an extra fee for food delivery on top of the already sky-high ballpark prices (e.g., $13 for a BBQ turkey sandwich).

While it doesn't look like you can order beer through the app (darn!), and the food selection is limited, the app does make some of the park's most popular menu items available, including the Philadelphia cheese steak, Tony Luke's roasted pork, Planet Hoagie's Italian hoagie, and the Eastern Shore crab-cake sandwich. Delivery is also available at every seat in the park (except luxury boxes, where, obviously, the price of admission already includes fawning wait staff).

And while target delivery time is 30 minutes, in trial runs the time has been more like 10 to 12, which, after a few beers, is probably less time than it would take you to find your way from the bleachers to the bathroom.

Herbed Chicken Tenders with Tomato Sauce

I wonder who came up with the name "chicken tenders"? Hmm, perhaps it sounds more appealing than "the piece of meat we strip off the breast when we make cutlets". In any case, chicken tenders can be useful to have around, stored in the freezer for when you want a quick meal. As the name implies, they are tender, having been cut from chicken breasts, and a little soaking in buttermilk helps tenderize them even further.

There are so many ways one could play with this recipe. What we present here are simple, basic, breaded and baked chicken tenders, with a classic Italian tomato sauce for dipping. (These little guys make great finger food.) I make my breadcrumbs from scratch, because we often have leftover hard ends of French or Italian loaf bread hanging around, which are so easy to chop up and pulse in the blender. I'm using Italian seasoning with the breadcrumbs, you could just as well pick one herb, like thyme, and go with that. Or add some grated Parmesan. For a lemony flavor you could soak the chicken in a little lemon juice instead of buttermilk. Chicken tenders are sold packaged as such, or you can make your own by saving and freezing them when you prepare chicken cutlets.

Just find that little strip on the side of the chicken breast half and cut it or pull it off.

Herbed Chicken Tenders with Tomato Sauce Recipe

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Ingredients

Chicken Tenders

• 2 lbs chicken tenders (about 12 pieces)
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning herbs**
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted

Tomato Dipping Sauce

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

*You can make a substitute for buttermilk by adding a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of milk and letting the mixture stand for 10 minutes. **A mixture of dried herbs often used in Italian cooking such as marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil

Method

Sauce 1 Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions, stirring often, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. 2 Add the tomato paste, mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes more. The tomato paste should darken to a brick-red color. 3 Add the tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Cook this for 5 minutes if using tomato sauce, 10 minutes if using crushed tomatoes. 4 Put the sauce into a blender and purée until smooth. Hold your hand over the blender lid to keep it from popping off, and start the blender at a low setting and work up to the highest. The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

The Tenders 1 Soak tenders in buttermilk for 15-30 minutes. While the tenders are soaking, make the sauce (see sauce directions above). 2 Mix together the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, and salt in a shallow bowl. 3 Heat oven to 500°F. Line a roasting pan with foil. Brush the top of the foil with vegetable oil to help prevent sticking, or use a Silpat sheet. One by one, remove the chicken tenders from the buttermilk and place in the bowl with breadcrumbs, coating them on all sides with the breadcrumbs. Place on the roasting pan. 4 Drizzle a little melted butter over each chicken tender. Place in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, and the pieces are lightly browned. Serve with a bowl of the sauce for dipping.

Serves 4-6.