Easy Cinnamon Rolls

While the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls will always be a huge favourite of mine (and everyone else's from what I can tell!), sometimes you don't have the time to prepare the yeast-dough that they are made of.  Especially if you need a quick and delicious cinnamon bun to quell a sudden craving, or to feed a house-hold of hungry guests!

I first had these while visiting friends.  After tasting one I couldn't write down the recipe fast enough!  I cannot remember where the recipe originates, but oh man, is it ever good! I took a good look online and found several sources with the same recipe, the one that I found the most often is from Company's Coming.


The dough comes together quickly, and I love how they are baked up in a muffin pan so that they can easily be grabbed and devoured.

These are amazing with a classic glaze, but are also sweet enough on their own if you don't want to deal with the glaze. 


This recipe makes 12 cinnamon rolls and it can easily be doubled (or tripled!) for a hungry crowd.


Easy Cinnamon Rolls

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter
• 1 cup cold milk
• Cinnamon filling
• 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• Glaze
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 - 2 tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F and grease a muffin pan
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
3. Using a pastry blender (or your fingers) cut in the cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs
4. Make a well in the centre and add the cold milk
5. Mix until a soft dough forms, then place on a lightly floured surface
6. Knead the dough about 10 times, and then roll it into a 12" long rectangle
7. In a small bowl mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon
8. Spread the cinnamon filling on the rectangle of dough
9. Roll up the dough and then cut it into 12 pieces
10. Place each piece into a muffin cup, and then bake for 20 - 25 minutes
11. After you have removed the cinnamon rolls from the oven, whisk together the glaze in a small bowl.
12. Drizzle them with the glaze, and Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Wrap

Close by where I work there is a little cafe that serves fresh soup, sandwiches, salads and pasta that is prepared daily. My favourite things to order when I decide to treat myself there are the wraps.  They are massive, grilled to perfection in the panini press, and full of fresh vegetables.


Right now my favourite thing is their smoked salmon wraps. They are amazing!


When we received several cans of tasty smoked salmon recently (straight from BC!) I knew I had to re-create the flavours of that wrap at home. I just love how all of these flavours come together!

This makes four wraps.


Smoked Salmon Wraps

• 400 grams smoked salmon
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• cream cheese
• mixed greens
• raspberry vinaigrette 
• 4 whole wheat tortillas or pita bread

1. Spread some cream cheese on each of the wraps
2. Add 1/2 to 1 cup mixed greens each, and top with the sliced red bell pepper
3. Top with the smoked salmon and drizzle on the raspberry vinaigrette
4. Wrap it up, and enjoy!

Note: If you have a panini press, definitely finish it off in there. The wraps are amazing when they have that little crunch from the panini press

'Peace' Cupcakes and an Unbirthday Cake

Every year one of my girlfriends and a group of people she grew up with have a weekend get-together at her cabin.  I guess it has become a bit of a tradition for her to make these 'Peace' cupcakes by icing vanilla cupcakes with half chocolate and half vanilla icing.  She thought it would be fun to get them 'professionally' made (very loose use of the word!!) this year to mix it up!

Also, I guess the weekend usually falls on/around her friend Neil's birthday, but sadly, not this year. From what I have been told he was pretty bummed that there would be no birthday celebration for him!  So I was also asked to bake an 'unbirthday' cake for Neil to help him feel better :)


I love when people ask me to make different desserts, their unique ideas definitely force me to get creative!

The 'Peace' cupcakes came with very specific guidelines: A vanilla cupcake that was iced in half chocolate icing and half vanilla icing.  I originally had visions of two-toned swirls of icing but I was informed that they were not to be swirled.  Who am I to mess with tradition? Flat icing it is!

For the cake I had free rein. The only request was for a message that made it clear it was in fact not a birthday party for poor Neil.  I baked a 3-layer 6" vanilla chocolate chip cake and filled it with chocolate icing. I then iced it with a classic vanilla buttercream.  The 6" cake seemed like a pretty small canvas for such a long message so I used fondant and wrote on it with food-safe markers.


I had so much fun with these cupcakes and the cake! I hope they had a blast on their weekend :)

**You may have noticed that more and more of my pictures are being taken with my iPhone and not my camera lately.  You can't help but love the convenience of the iPhone!

Donairs at Home

That's right my friends, you can make delicious donairs at home! These are awesome, we couldn't believe how much they tasted like the originals.

I doubled the meat part of the recipe and it made about 8 portions.  The sweet sauce makes a large batch, enough for twice as many donairs as this recipe makes.  If you have a use for the remaining evaporated milk, I would recommend halving the sweet sauce recipe.

These are so incredibly easy to make, I couldn't believe it! The only thing to keep in mind is that they are best if they sit in the refrigerator overnight or for a day before crisping up the meat in a dry pan.


We topped ours with sweet sauce, sauteed onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and montery jack cheese. So good!

The original recipe states that these freeze really well, so feel free to double it up so that you have donairs ready for when those cravings hit.


I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com. I have listed the amount I made (double the original).  Trust me, you will want to make at least this much!

Donairs

• 2 lbs extra lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground oregano
• 2 tsp flour
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Sweet Sauce
• 1 can (12 fluid oz) evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 4 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 white onion, sliced (you can saute the onion too)
• sliced Monterey Jack cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a small bowl mix together the salt, oregano, flour, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper
3. Place the ground beef in a large bowl, and mix in the spices with your hands
4. In order to compress the meat to get the donair meat texture, you have two options
1. Place the meat in a stainless steel bowl on a solid surface. Throw the meat mixture into the bowl about 20 times, kneading between each throw
2. Or, place the meat mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment on medium low for 2 - 4 minutes
5. Shape the meat into two loaf shapes, and place on the parchment paper
6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes
7. Remove from the oven, let cool, and then place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight
8. To make the sweet sauce, whisk together the evaporated milk, sugar, and garlic powder
9. When mixed, whisk in the white vinegar 1 tsp at a time 
10. Continue whisking until the sweet sauce is thick, then place in the refrigerator until ready to serve
11. When ready to serve, slice the meat into thin slices, and then crisp it up in a frying pan over medium heat
12. Serve on pita bread with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions (raw or sauteed), and sweet sauce
13. Enjoy!

A Wedding Cake and Cupcakes

This past July I was asked to bake up about 100 cupcakes and a mini 2-tier cake for a summer wedding.


The bride requested vanilla cupcakes with a classic vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and topped with some flaked coconut.  Simple and beautiful!

For the cake they asked for a small two-tiered cake to top their cupcake tower and for the bride and groom to cut for the pictures.  Instead of a vanilla cake they asked for something a little bit different. When I was going through popular cake and cupcake flavours the groom's eyes lit up at 'strawberry', so strawberry it is!

The cake was iced in vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and then covered with flaked coconut.  The base is a 6" square and the top tier is a 4" square.  In order to make the top tier I baked the cake in a standard loaf pan, and then cut it in half. Voila, two 4" squares!

I made a green bow for the top of the cake at their request, it was my first attempt at making a bow!  The evening before the wedding they asked if I could add a pearl or diamond to the bow, so I rolled some fondant and then painted it with luster dust mixed with lemon juice to give it a pearl-like shine.

I love how this cake turned out!  The mini-tier is such a fun idea and the flaked coconut gave it such a fantastic finish.


I hope the bride and groom enjoyed the cupcakes and cake!


Unfortunately the dessert table wasn't ready for me when I dropped off the desserts so I don't have a final photo. If I get a hold of one I'll post it asap! :)

How do you keep 100 cupcakes fresh overnight? Saran wrap the table!