Cinnamon Rolls

Home made dough:

melt 1/2 stick unsalted butter

heat 1/2 cup milk to room temp

get 1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

combine yeast with milk in large bowl and add sugar + pinch of salt

add one egg to bowl and melted butter, mix

add enough flour to get dough (~1.5-2cups, shouldn't stick to hands)

cut dough in half, use wine bottle to flatten it out to be ~1cm thick

spread a layer of extra melted butter, extra sugar and cinnamon and roll into tube

cut tube into ~3-4cm thick pieces, pinch bottom, and place on non-stick surface 

let dough rise for 1.5hrs at room temp

prehead oven to 350F, slather uncooked buns with beaten egg (brush), bake for ~30min

Glaze (optional)

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, 2tbsp milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla

microwave a little to help sugar melt

grate fresh orange rind on top

Asian Dumpling Soup

To make ANY kind of dumplings more interesting, put them in a soup! 

Combine chicken broth (1:1 with water), celery, soy sauce, sesame oil, "Chinese Grandmother Sauce" and fish sauce (pic) in a pot and bring to a low boil. Add head of broccoli (chopped), 1 cups cabbage and cook for 5-8 min (broccoli will become bright green in color). Add dumplings and simmer for as long as dumplings take to cook. Prepare a beaten egg or two and pour into soup as soon as it's taken off the heat.

Homemade Bacon

4lbs of pork belly (remove skin)

Spices: 4TBSP non-iodized salt, 2TBSP thyme, 2TBSP black pepper, 1tsp curing salt

Can't forget the garlic! (4-5 cloves)

Day 0

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Keep flipping it daily for 10 days. Then smoke. Then fry. Then eat.

Came out a bit too salty but we added it to garlic soup (look for a separate post)

Homemade Caramels

Used THIS recipe exactly

Recipe as follows:

1 vanilla bean - cut in half and use knife to remove seeds

1 cup heavy cream

5 tbs butter - cubed

1 tsps salt

• mix ingredients in sauce pan
• bring to boil over medium heat
• immediately turn off burner and let sit for > 10 min - letting it steep longer is better

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1 1/3 cup sugar

• combine in a second sauce pan (keep sugar in the middle so it doesn't stick to the side of the pan)
• heat over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and begins to have a light brown color
• when temperature reaches 300°F (7-12 min), bring to medium-low and gently swirl the pan periodically
• mixture will turn to amber and reach 350°F (2-3 min, look for small bubbles), remove from heat
• add cream mixture to sugar mixture and return to low heat and continue stirring
• when temp reaches 248°F (~5 min) you're done - transfer to cooling dish and smooth with spatula
• allow to sit for 10-15 min, then transfer to fridge

Where we added the cream/vanilla mixture

Right after pouring hot mix from stove

After standing in fridge for ~1hr

• Didn't bring sugar mixture exactly to 350F
• Didn't let the combined mixture get to 248F (stopped around 240F)
• Caramel turned out softer than expected

Rhubarb Pie

Followed THIS recipe exactly