Cast Iron Cornbread

I make this in a cast iron dutch oven. It can be made in an 8 x 8 brownie pan as well.

This is my original recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 c milk
1/2 c sour cream
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c mashed potatoes (leftovers work perfect)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 c yellow cornmeal
1 c all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preaheat oven to 425 F. PLACE CAST IRON DUTCH OVEN INTO OVEN WHILE IT IS PREHEATING.
2. Mix wet ingredients in kitchenaid.
3. Mix dry ingredients in other bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in kitchenaid. Mix well.
5. Take cast iron out of oven. Add 2 tsp of butter and swirl around until bottom of pan is coated.
6. Add batter to cast iron.
7. Bake (without lid!) for 30 min.
8. Cool, cut and enjoy!

Note: If you make potato soup and have leftovers, you can use that as well, or corn soup or mushroom soup. Adjust the milk content downward to compensate for the liquidity of the soup. Cornbread batter has the consistency of thick pancake batter.

Optional: Chop a jalapeno into the batter if you like your cornbread spicy.

 

Cinnabon Rolls

Makes 6 big rolls

Ingredients

DOUGH

1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 large egg, room temperature
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut up
2.5 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
1.25 teaspoons instant yeast

FILLING

3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup  brown sugar, packed (about 1 c, unpacked)
1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon

ICING

2 oz cream cheese, softened
1.5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring till the mixture becomes cohesive. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and knead it for 5 to 8 minutes, till it’s smooth. Or knead it in an electric mixer, using the dough hook, for 4 to 7 minutes at medium speed. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to grease all sides, cover the bowl with a proof cover or plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 minutes, till it’s nearly doubled in bulk.

ASSEMBLY:

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and roll it into a 16 x 21-inch rectangle. Spread the dough with the 1/3 cup butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle it evenly over the dough.

Starting with a short end, roll the dough into a log, and cut it into 12 slices. Place the buns in a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan. Cover the pan with a proof cover or plastic wrap, and let the buns rise until they’re nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake the buns in a preheated 400°F oven until they’re golden brown, about 15 minutes. While the buns are baking, make the icing.

ICING:

In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Spread the icing on the buns while they’re warm.

Chicago Tribune Giant Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

People tell us they still dream about these–giant, gooey cinnamon rolls from a recipe the Chicago Tribune ran in 1987. This recipe makes six buns, which just fit into one cake pan. Great tip from Chicago Tribune recipe developer JeanMarie Brownson: use thread, (or unflavored dental floss), rather than a knife to cut the raw dough into rolls before baking–they hold their shape better.

Makes six, giant cinnamon rolls

Dough Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour (about)
1 pkg. active dry yeast = 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
1 large egg

Cinnamon Filling Ingredients
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
5 Tbsp melted butter

Glaze Ingredients
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
half-and-half

DIRECTIONS:

Make dough:

1. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast into large bowl.
2. Heat milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter and salt in small pan until just warm. Stir until butter almost melts.
3. Add to yeast mixture; add egg.
4. In bowl of stand mixer, beat at low speed for 1/2 minute, scraping bowl. Beat 3 minutes at high speed.
5. By hand, stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
6. Shape into a ball. Place in lightly-greased bowl; turn to grease surface. Cover.
7. Let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk; about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
8. Punch down; turn out onto floured surface. Cover.
9. Let rest 10 minutes.

Make filling:

1. Mix sugars and cinnamon.
2. Brush 9-inch round cake pan with 1 Tbsp melted butter.
3. Shape rolls: Roll dough on lightly-floured surface to a thin rectangle 12 x 20 inches. Brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture. Roll up jelly-roll-style, starting at one 12-inch end. End up with a fat log, about 12-inches long.
4. Cut rolls in 2 inch intervals, using dental floss or button thread: Slide the thread underneath the finished cinnamon-roll log. With one end of the thread in each hand, pull straight up and around the log, criss-crossing at the top and pulling tight to cut off 2-inch slices.
5. Place cut rolls in the prepared cake pan, cinnamon-swirl-side-up, and drizzle any remaining butter over all.
6. Cover and let rise 20 minutes.

Make Glaze:

1. Combine confectioners sugar, vanilla and enough half-and-half to thin this mixture to glaze consistency.
2. While rolls are doing their final rise, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes until puffed and golden.
4. Remove pan to baking rack.
5. Serve rolls warm, drizzled with glaze.

http://lostrecipesfound.com/recipe/giant-glazed-cinnamon-rolls/

Coconut Flan (Puerto RIcan Recipe)

This is the solid gold standard of flan recipes.

From: http://www.elboricua.com/flan.html

Ingredients:

6 eggs
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 15 oz can coconut milk
1.5 c whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. On cookie sheet in water bath, place ramekins. Place 1 tsp sugar in each ramekin. Heat until it becomes a light brown. Take out of oven. Make sure it doesn’t burn. This is not an exact science.

3. Mix eggs. Add other ingredients. Do not overmix.

4. Pour flan mixture into caramelized molds from above. Cover with foil.

5. Place the foil covered ramekins in the water bath in the oven. Bake for 60-90 min until done. Larger ramekins take longer. The small individual sized ramekins take an hour.

6. Flan is cooked with knife inserted into center comes out clean. Flip over and onto serving plate. The caramel that was on the bottom of the ramekin forms the lovely caramel topping to the flan.

ENJOY! (To guild the lily, serve with whipping cream).

LEFTOVERS: Yes, you can freeze flan. Bake it completely, let it cool completely. THEN, wrap it really super duper well. You should be able to wrap your ramekins in cling wrap and freeze it with the plastic lid it came with (if you bought the pyrex ramekins). When you want to eat them again, defrost in the fridge, then enjoy. How long do they last in the freezer? As long as ice cream (same ingredients). Biggest danger in freezing flan is the noxious smells of the freezer and fridge getting into your food. If you can safeguard against that, you’re golden.

Spiced Pickled Oranges

This recipe was requested specifically by Montreal Rachael. The navel oranges are looking so good right now, it’s a good time to make orange pickles. These are best eaten with aged white cheddar or goat cheese on crackers. Actually I don’t think I have ever eaten them any other way. Choose oranges that are a nice mix between juice and fiber. The juice is cooked out in the pickling process so you will only be left with the pickled fiber and thats what tastes so good! Don’t use organic oranges unless they are fabulous and blemish-free. I used organic oranges once and ended up throwing the whole batch in the garbage because they were too juicy and had little spots on the skins that were magnified in appearance by being in a pickle jar.

Spiced Orange Slices

• 4 large oranges
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C each cider vinegar and water
• 1/4 C corn syrup
• 8 whole cloves
• 4 cardamom pods (Yes I have cardamom pods in my kitchen.)
• 4 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches long
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns

1. Put the oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Add the salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes or until the oranges are tender. Drain and cool.

2. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, sterilize your jars by boiling for 15 minutes. This recipe should make 4 half-pint jars but I always do an extra or two.

3. Cut the oranges in half crosswise (run the knife down the center of the orange) and then in very thin slices. You should have half-moon shapes that show the radiating segment lines. (So wish I had taken a picture.)

4. Combine sugar, brown sugar, vinegar, water, corn syrup, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Stir over high heat until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes to mix all the flavours. Add the orange slices, cover and cook gently for 20 minutes. This means that there are small bubbles in the liquid – not no bubbles and not boiling. Remove the whole pot from the heat and let stand for 5 more minutes. Pick out the cinnamon and cardamom and throw them out.
**When you put the oranges into the liquid try to keep the halves together as you sliced them. They look prettier in the jar if the slices are all lined up next to their original neighbor.
**If the orange pieces start to really fall apart then it’s time to stop cooking. If you think there isn’t enough fiber-ey bits to make a nice pickle at this point then don’t bother canning them, just start again and cook for less time.

5. While the pickles are cooling heat up your lids and screwbands in a pot. You want the seals on the lids to be sticky.

6. Remove the hot jars from the canner and put them on a tea-towel that you don’t like very much. Remove the orange slices from the liquid with a slotted spoon and place them in the jars. Remember to try and keep like-slices next to each other so it will look pretty. You can really pack the slices down in the jars. Pour liquid and whole cloves over oranges up the shoulders of the jar. Process 10 minutes for half-pint and 15 minutes for pint jars.

Macaroons (French)

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1/2 c ground almonds

7/8 c powdered sugar

1/8 c granulated sugar

1/2 oz (about 1 tbsp) rice flour

1 tsp almond extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Use nonstick jelly roll pan, cover with silpat.

3. Beat egg whites for 3 minutes on high in kitchenaid mixer.

4. Let rest for 4 minutes.

5. Fold in (by hand, not with mixer) remaining ingredients.

6. Drop by tablespoons onto silpat. Macaroons will expand a lot, leave room between them.

7. Bake 15 minutes.

8. LET COOL COMPLETELY ON BAKING SHEET. If you try to remove while hot or warm, macaroons WILL break.

9. Enjoy!

LACTOSE FREE YOGURT

Please publicize this recipe, I think it can help a lot of people.

A lot of people who can’t have dairy can’t do so because their body does not produce sufficient quantities of the lactase enzyme, which digests the lactose in milk and other dairy products.  This means that they get very ill if they consume dairy products.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (eg: Xeloda) also have this problem. A lot of the time, the chemotherapy drug, in trying to eradicate the cancer, kills good cells and enzymes (lactase) that people need.  For some, it causes illness (bloating, gas, diarrhea, etc) when they consume dairy, similar to the side effects shown by lactose intolerant people.

One solution to this is LACTAID milk.  It is basically regular milk with the lactase enzyme added. It works really well because then your body has lactase and you can digest the milk without all those nasty side effects.

Another solution is making homemade yogurt out of LACTAID milk. This creates yogurt rich in lactase enzymes, which can be easily digested without side effects by lactose intolerant people.  I think LACTAID could make this, but there probably isn’t enough demand for it.

Without further ado, here is my recipe for a lactase enriched yogurt. Enjoy!

RECIPE FOR YOGURT FOR LACTOSE INTOLERANT PEOPLE AND CANCER PATIENTS

Ingredients:

1. 2 c Lactaid milk

2. 1/4 c full fat regular plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures (including S. THERMOPHILUS, L. BULGARICUS, L. ACIDOPHILUS, BIFIDUS, L. CASEI, AND L. RHAMNOSUS) (Brands include Dannon, Stoneyfield, and I’m sure others).

Directions (begin at night, after dinner):

1. Put Lactaid milk in Pyrex. Microwave on lowest power setting for 8 minutes. Milk will boil but not overflow if you do it that way.

2. Turn on oven. Heat to 170 degrees.

3. Let milk cool to 170 degrees. No need to measure. Let cool until it is warm to the touch.

4. Stir in yogurt.

5. TURN OFF OVEN (this is super important!!).

6. Place Pyrex in oven overnight. When you wake up in the morning, the yogurt will be ready. Enjoy!!! 🙂

 

NOTE: Lactaid does NOT taste at ALL like regular milk. BUT, the yogurt made out of it tastes just like regular yogurt. I made this with a batch of yogurt made with regular milk, and did a taste off. You cannot identify which is made with regular milk and which is made with Lactaid. (Yay!)