cinnamon swirl part 2

If I lived in this lighthouse-esq house and the mist was rolling in on an August morning, I think I'd have no choice but to make cinnamon-swirl rolls. The smell of baking cinnamon and sugar would hover downstairs until it slowly wafted up to the lone room under the small pyramid pitched roof. The breakfast table would be strewn with newspapers, coffee mugs, bowls of berries and cinnamon rolls, that is if there is actually enough room for a breakfast table in this house. But really, who needs a sitting area when you have a kitchen, so I think the couch would give way to a small farm table style table, which would likely take up the entire first floor, but that's okay with me.

These cinnamon swirl rolls were made from the leftover dough from last weeks cinnamon-swirl loaf. I decided to skip making another loaf and settled on single serving rolls.
I followed basically the same process, except after I sprinkled the rolled out dough with cinnamon-sugar I then proceeded to slice it into narrow strips and rolls those. I cut the mini rolls in half and placed each half in a buttered muffin pan. Once in the pan I let them sit for about an hour and a half or until they had doubled in size and roughly filled the pan. Bake at 375 for about 20 or so minutes (I actually didn't really time them...just check them until the tops are a bit hard to the touch then take them out and test)
I think this is a house that calls for cinnamon-sugar swirl french toast. The frisbees would fall to the ground and little kiddies would run towards the porch and into the green door and straight for the kitchen for their warm breakfast on a summer Saturday. Dreamy, no?These little rolls were delicious. A guilt free cousin to the cinnamon bun. Since it's made with bread dough and not buttery cake dough, it's light, but still just as tasty.
This is the home I sometimes dream about. We are ages away from ever buying a house, let alone a vacation house, but this one just speaks to me. I love the arched blue door and the wrap around paned windows. I imagine a big farm table behind the house for outdoor meals under the shade of the trees with dear friends and their cutie-pie kiddies.

blackberry buttermilk cake + a hay bale

I was only in Zürich briefly on my last trip, a quick week, but I was there long enough to sense the early arrival of fall and the accompanying sense of panic. Not a weather related panic because really the cool and wet days were a nice relief from the heat dome that had settled on the East Coast during the third week ofJuly, but rather the panic that arrives when you realize that the vibrant berry season is coming to an end. Is it really true? If fall arrives in July, as it has in Zürich, does that mean there won't be any August berries? panic panic panic I had the urge to buy my local markets out of every type of berry and quickly teach myself how to can and make some serious jam.

Typically my morning yogurt is 60% yogurt, 20% blueberries and 20% muesli, but for the last few days it has been 10% yogurt and 90% berries. I've been eating blueberries like they are going out of style, or rather out of season. I have been keeping a bowl out on the counter and eating them by the handful.

At this point, in full panic mode, I am stuffing berries into any and all places - salads, scones, quinoa, couscous, corn salad, and buttermilk cake. I spotted this buttermilk cake on my friend Darcy's blog, shortly after I had made a berry buttermilk cake that turned out terribly, and I immediately marked it as a 'to-make-soon.' But then when the panic really set in, I bumped it up from soon to now. I suggest you do the same! The recipe called for blackberries, which I used, but I think it would be good with any berry, or a mix of berries, and perhaps even stone fruit such as peaches and nectarines.

If you are in Zürich and feeling the panic too, the go buy some berries, make this cake and then go visit My Girlfriend Guide to Zürich (where this recipe is the recipe of the week) and distract yourself from the early onset of fall by browsing all of their great ideas for activities in Zürich.

I'm currently back in the steamy states, but I'm enjoying a bit of respite in Little Compton, with Zach's family, but without Zach. This is our favorite summer retreat. When we were living in New Haven we came up almost every weekend. It's a simple place, but that is exactly what we love about it. Zach does the jumble in the morning while I read the style section, then we go to the beach and jump off the bluff and do some reading under the umbrella and then we come home, hang in the shade, play a little tennis and have an amazing homemade dinner. It's bliss and it's probably one of the things we miss most living in Zürich.

Unlike the last buttermilk cake I made that was dry and bland, this cake is incredibly moist and flavorful.

blackberry - buttermilk cake from Bon Appétit July 2011

ingredients

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature + more for pan

- 2 1/3 cups cake flour, sifted then measured

- 2 1/2 fresh blackberries, or raspberries/blueberries

- 1/4 cup plus 1 1/3 cups sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 3 large eggs at room temperature

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- zest from one medium orange

- 1 cup buttermilk

- powdered sugar for dusting

equipment - 9"-10" springform pan

Preheat the oven to 350F and place the rack in the middle. Butter your springform pan; line the bottom with a round of parchment paper (use pan as a stencil and then cut out the circle and place in bottom of pan). Butter the parchment paper and then dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess. Arrange the berries in a single layer on the bottom of the pan and then sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of sugar.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl (not the bowl of your standing mixer), set it aside. In your mixing bowl mix the 3/4 cup butter and remaining sugar on med-high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla and orange zest, mix and then reduce the speed to low. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Pour the batter over the berries and smooth with a rubber spatula.

Bake until the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, roughly 1 hour 25 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a thin knife around the edges. Release the spring edge and invert the cake onto a wire rack. Remove the pan bottom and the parchment paper. Let the cake cool completely and only add the confectioner sugar dusting just before serving.

It was twilight when I took most of the outside photos and now it's well into evening and I'm ready to go to bed and wake up to full day in Little Compton. I'll likely have a piece of cake for breakfast, for although it looks like dessert, it doubles as a breakfast cake. After breakfast, before the heat settles in for the day, I think I'll go for a long, leisurely walk with my camera to some of my favorite spots and then, of course, to the beach for a jump off of the bluff. Blissful, really.

help calm my panic and let me know if you have any creative ideas for berries!

cinnamon swirl bread - a cross atlantic love

Before I left for the states on Wednesday afternoon I bought Zach a little 'talley's-going-away' present, a box of cinnamon toast crunch. To Zach and his family it is more well known as cinn-to-crun. Similar in name to their other favorite cereal, app-cinn-cheer, and to their favorite juice, or-straw-ban. It certainly makes for an animated morning around the breakfast table, where simple Chex face tough competition just based on name alone - too boring to bother with.

The cereal selection in Zürich is not nearly as extensive as it is in the states. But that's okay, we've been adjusting to 'haus' life by eating a lot of muesli and yogurt in the mornings. We are both totally on board with the Swiss morning routine, however, a sweet sugary cereal, the kind that turns your milk into something reminiscent of melted ice cream, is always a welcome treat, especially when faced with two weeks away from your wife.

I just talked to Zach on g-video and he was eating cinn-to-crun for dinner, which is a bit sad but only appropriate, because here on the other side of the Atlantic I am eating a slice of the cinnamon-sugar swirl bread that I just made. It just seemed fitting. If we have to juggle this time apart, we might as well indulge in some cinnamon and sugar. It's like people (actors in Hollywood more likely) who look longingly at the moon and think of the person they love looking up at it too, well cinnamon-sugar goodness is our moon. Mmm cinnamon toast...

I'm definitely in a homemade bread state of mind these days. The parmesan pull apart rolls that I made earlier this week were so easy and delicious that I wanted to put my new bread skills towards something a little larger, a little more loaf-like. Once again the process was fairly simple and the result was delicious. I've come to realize that I like the pace of making bread, I use the time when the bread is rising to organize my day. You are active for so little of the process that it's nice to feel productive in-between bread tasks.

Recipe for Cinnamon Swirl bread from alexandracooks.com

ingredients - yields 2 loaves

- 2 cups lukewarm water

- 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

- 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

- 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 cup buttermilk

- 2 tablespoons cinnamon

- 1/3 cup sugar

- egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water)

- butter for greasing pan

In a large 5qt bowl mix the water, buttermilk, yeast, sugar and salt and let sit until bubbles and foam have formed on top, 3-5 minutes.

Mix in the flour using a standing mixer fixed with the dough attachment, or with a wooden spoon. If you are using a spoon you will likely have to use your hands to mix in the last bit of the flour. (I used a mixer with a paddle attachment and had to incorporate the last of the flour with my hands, wet hands help.) Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for about 2 hours, until it rises and collapses on top.

After the first rise you can use the dough immediately or refrigerate it in a non-air tight container for up to 7 days.

When you are ready to make the bread, either immediately after first rise or after taking it out of fridge, grease a 9 x 4 x 3 loaf pan. Divide the dough in two, and shape the half you are using to a ball by pulling dough from the underside up on top, spinning the dough to replicate process on all sides. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and begin to roll our your dough. It might be easiest to use your hands to stretch the dough before using the rolling pin. Roll out to roughly 11"x18".

Once rectangular lightly brush the entire surface with egg wash. Sprinkle half of the sugar/cinnamon mixture onto the dough (remember other half is for other loaf - but if you want more feel free to add more). Roll the dough, beginning with the short side of the rectangle, into what will resemble a jelly roll. Once you have rolled the rectangle, pinch the ends down, lightly fold them under, and place the dough seam side down in the greased pan. Cover with a towel and let sit for 40 minutes (1 hour and 40 if using refrigerated dough).

Preheat the oven to 375F and bake for roughly 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown and bread appears done. Eat right away or make amazing french toast the following morning!...I ate it right away....

*cooks note - yikes! i forgot to list the buttermilk in the yeast starter. I just tried to make this bread (9/23/11) and it wasn't coming together and now I know why - shooot! must proofread the recipes better

I'm already looking forward to French toast tomorrow morning. There is something about homemade bread, where it is delicious right out of the oven, but then slowly looses it's luster as the hours go by. By tomorrow morning I'll either have to toast it and slather it in butter, or dip it in a bath of eggs, milk and cinnamon and put it into the skillet. Either way it will be delicious, just as good as the cinn-to-crun that Zach will be eating for breakfast. Hopefully he'll get a little more innovative for dinner and whip something up on our new grill! It arrived just before I left for the airport on Wednesday. We are so excited to start grilling steaks and burgers on our terrace!

Happy Friday everyone! only a few more hours until happy hour time. I'm off to the city for some guacamole and margaritas - getting my fill while I'm in the states.

zermatt day 2 - parmesan pull apart rolls

We hadn't planned on a trip to the moon, but one gondola ride led to another and the next thing we knew we were walking on a lunar landscape. Or at least the closest we'd ever been to a luna-scape. Sure there was still gravity and oxygen (although I could have used some more...huff huff), but the vast expanse of rocks, pond like craters, and hills led us to believe that these seas of slate continued forever, around to the other side of the globe and that perhaps if we walked long enough and far enough we would wind up on the Eastern edge of Asia and be able to stare blissfully into the vast expanse of the Pacific. Alas, it was really just the rocky landscape at the foot of the Matterhorn, but look how little Zach looks in the picture above, like a little moon man about to leap into the air, bounding across the valley to the next peak....and into outer space.

Rising out of the slate sea is the Matterhorn, a mountain peak that defines majestic. Since we hadn't been able to see it at all on Saturday, we decided to go for a hike on Sunday that would get us up close and personal with the peak. We took the gondola to Schwarzsee and then onto Trockener Steg, where we began the glacier walk around the base of the Matterhorn. We weren't prepared for the rugged landscape. Saturday's hike had been through the green hills, on easy to follow foot paths, but the trail around the base of the Matterhorn was much more rugged and rocky and a bit tricky in tennis sneakers. It might just be time for us to join the party and get some hiking poles, or at least some better hiking shoes.

All the pictures of the jagged peaks needed a little softening up so I made some parmesan pull apart rolls to accompany them. I hesitated making anything at all, thinking I better leave the pictures to themselves, but boy am I glad I made these rolls. They have been sitting on my 'to-make' list for a while and I knew that they would be delicious, but I never imagined they would be so good. They are a bit two faced. On one side they are airy and flakey and then on the other they are cheesy, rich and flavorful. I made them today simply with the intention of eating them plain, but they would be a great party guest along side a roast chicken.

It was cold and windy at the base of the Matterhorn, thank goodness I had packed a scarf! That scarf is also hiding my ruldolph-the-red-nose-reindeer nose, which is currently peeling even though I've put a whole tub of moisturizer on it. It's a bit like nose dandruff really, which is perhaps only slightly better than a runny nose.

If you look at the bottom of this picture you can see people walking along the trail. They are tiny and you probably think they are just rocks or specks of dust, but they are people, and they but put the scene into perspective. It was grand, and overwhelming, and incredibly beautiful. Zach and I both really want to go back during ski season to see the Matterhorn rising from a sea of snow. I imagine it would seem much different, perhaps not as grand, or maybe even grander. Hard to tell.

What I can tell you is that these cheesy pull apart rolls are delicious and that won't be sorry if you make them, and neither will the people you serve them too. They seem perfect for a twilight picnic at the park.

The recipe is from Gourmet magazine. Their rolls look more roll-like than mine, but I can assure you that mine still taste amazing and I think a little character adds some charm. Don't you?

total time 4.5 hrs (includes rising). makes 12 rolls

ingredients

- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

- 1 teaspoon honey

- 2/3 cup warm milk(100-115F); divided

- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling

- 1 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated with a rasp

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 3 large eggs

- 5 tablespoons butter, cut into smaller pieces, softened

- 1 tablespoon water

Stir together the yeast, honey and 1/3 cup of warm milk in the bowl of a standing mixer. Let it sit until it is foamy (if it doesn't foam start again with new yeast). In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and cheese. Mix the flour mixture and remaining warm milk into the yeast mixture on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Beat for roughly 3 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally. Proceed with the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until the dough is elastic, about 2 minutes. The dough should be very sticky.

Pull the dough together in a ball at the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle with the 2 tbsp of flour, cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let it sit for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

After the first rise take the dough out of the bowl and punch it down on a lightly floured surface (do not kneed). Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll those pieces into balls by griping with your hand and rolling between our palm and the work surface. Place the dough balls in a greased 9" x 2" cake pan, leaving as much space between the balls as you can. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and let it sit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough doubles in size and fills the pan.

Preheat the oven to 375. Whisk the remaining egg with the tbsp of water and brush over the dough balls (there will be left over egg). Bake until the rolls are golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the rolls then invert them onto a baking rack, then re-invert them so that they are right side up. I rushed things and pulled them all apart right away, but if you want them to stay warm and moist for your guests wait to pull them apart.

I'll be packing these rolls in little ziploc bags for tomorrows trip back to the states. I can't believe it's already time to go back. I'm pretty sure I just got here. Oh wait...I pretty much did. Maybe I should leave some rolls for Zach so he can vary his pasta-only-diet-when-talley's-away with another variety of bread. Our grill is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, just before I leave, so hopefully he'll be able to grill burgers on the back terrace while I'm gone. Oooo perhaps mini burgers sandwiched between two halves of parmesan pull apart rolls...ahhhh I don't want to leave, I want to eat a burger hot of the grill.