Cinnamon Rolls/Cinnamon Twist

Cinnamon rolls or cinnamon twists? Both are really good. Make the dough and the filling the evening before and in the morning get them ready and bake. 👨‍🍳🥧👩‍🍳

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour- 4 cups

2. Sugar – 100gr.

3. Yeast – 2 tsp

4. Egg – 1 large

5. Butter – 5 tbsp, unsulated and melted

6. Milk -1 cup,warm

Cinnamon rolls filling:

1. Butter – 3 tbsp, soft and unsulted

2. Light Brown Sugar – 1 cup

3. Cinnamon – 2 tsp

Cinnamon twists filling:

1.Butter – 3 tbsp,soft and unsulted

2. Light Brown Sugar – 1/2 cup

3. Cinnamon – 1 tsp

Mix all ingredients and make a soft dough. Oil a bowl(I used the same bowl I made the dough in) and let it rise. If you want you can make it the night before and let it rise overnight. When the dough is ready on a flat surface roll it into a rectangle. Spread butter all over the dough. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon and spread all over the dough except an inch on one side. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces. Put them in a pan and cover to rise again, for about 45 min to an hour. When they are ready preheat oven to 350°F and bake for about 30-35 min.

• For the cinnamon twists simply devide the dough and roll like you would make pizza, then cover both pieces with butter, spread the cinnamon and brown sugar mix on one piece and put the other on top buttered side down. Cut lines and twist them. Put them in a pan right next to each other and cover to rise for an hour again.

• Just before you put them in the oven you can spread on top of the cinnamon rolls/twists one egg and milk whisked well. This is optional, but I do like them better that way.

Orang-Blueberry Streusel Muffins

These Orange-Blueberry Streusel Muffins turned out really good. The orange and blueberries really bring a good flavor to these muffins and the crunchy streusel topping make them even better. For breakfast or snack they will go fast with a cup of milk, hot cocoa or coffee.

Ingredients:

FOR THE MUFFINS:

210gr (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

135gr (¾ cup) brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp orange juice

2 tsp orange zest,

80 mL (⅓ cup) whole plain yogurt

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g (1 cup) blueberries

FOR THE STREUSEL CRUMB TOPPING:

70gr (½ cup) flour

70gr (⅓ cup) brown sugar

50gr (¼ cup) unsalted butter, soft

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the ingredients for the crumb topping and set aside. For the muffins, mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the egg, add vanilla, oil and whisk, add yogurt, orange juice and whisk again. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients slowly and mix well. Add blueberries and fold in with a spatula or a spoon. Preheat oven to 375°F. Fill cupcake pan to the top and sprinkle streusel mix on top. Bake for about 25min.

Upside-down Orange Cake

I have to say that I love the orange flavor in holiday treats and desserts. That’s why this year for Thanksgiving I made an Upside-down Orange Cake.
Recipe:
1. Zest from 2 navel oranges
2. Orange juice 1/2 cup, 1 orange
3. All-purpose flour – 2 cups
4. Sugar – 160gr.
5. Unsalted butter – 1/3 cup, room temperature
7. Plain yogurt – 1/3 cup (or sour cream)
8. 3 eggs

For the oranges:
1. Navel oranges – 2
2. Water – 1 cup
3. Sugar – 3/4

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1. Cream cheese – 8oz, soft
2. Heavy cream – 1 cup
3. Powdered sugar – 1 cup
4. Lemon Extract – 1,5 tsp

Cut the oranges in thin slices and set aside. In a medium sauce pan, over medium heat add 1 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Put the orange slices in and bring to a simmer, cook for about 20 min. Save the liquid for spreading on top of the cake.

Butter a 9 inch cake pan, or two 8 inch( you’ll have to divide the oranges and the batter after ). Sift the flour and the baking powder in a bowl, set aside. Cream together the butter, the yogurt and the orange zest. Slowly add the sugar and scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients and the orange juice and beat well on low speed.
Arrange the orange slices at the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter over the oranges. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 35 minutes for an 8 inch cake and 40 min for a 9 inch cake, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool 10-15 minutes before inverting onto a dish. After cooling invert the cake onto a dish and spread some of the water/sugar mix.
In a stand mixer whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until we’ll combined. Add lemon extract and then heavy cream slowly. Make sure it’s well combined. Turn the mixer on high and whip for about a minute.
You can decorate the cake or just drop a spoonful of frosting on top. If decorating make sure the cake is cold and you work fast because it doesn’t hold for long very well in warm temperature. You can also place the frosting in the fridge for an hour or more before decorating.

Sweet Sourdough Drop Biscuits

Another cozy and easy recipe for a holiday breakfast. This is the easiest sourdough recipe I’ve ever done. I did make a mistake though, but they still turned out good. I didn’t mean to add eggs, so I don’t know if I should call these biscuits, but I don’t know what else to call them. They turned out pretty similar except they spread a little more. So here’s the recipe with eggs in it. You can try it without the eggs and see what happens. Next time I’m definitely not adding eggs.

Recipe:
1. All-purpose flour -2 cups
2.Brown Sugar – 200gr.
3. Baking powder – 2 tsp
4. Baking soda – 1 tsp
5. Cinnamon – 1 tbsp
6. Sourdough starter – 120gr, fed
7. Butter – 1 stick(113gr), unsalted and melted
8. Whole milk – 3 tbsp
9. Eggs – 2
10. Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Work with hands to break the brown sugar if there are any clumps, set aside. To another bowl add eggs, milk, vanilla extract and whisk. Add the butter to a small bowl and melt it, it should be warm but not hot. Add the starter, the egg mixture and the butter to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight. The next morning preheat oven to 420°F. On a baking sheet with parchment paper using a scoop or a bigger spoon scoop the batter on the baking sheet. Bake for about 13-15 min.

Banitsa/Feta Cheese Pie With Phyllo Dough

Today I’m sharing a recipe from my childhood. This is something I used to eat a lot. It is also a tradition to make it for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I thought it was hard to make the dough layers, but actually it is not. It is made without yeast and you just have to be careful and gentle when you stretch the dough. This was my first time making it and there is room for improvement, but it turned out good.

Recipe:

Water -200 ml, room temperature
All-purpose flour -350 gr
Oil – 1 tbsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp

Filling:
Eggs – 4
Plain Yogurt – 200 gr
Feta Cheese – 200 gr

You can start by making the filling or you can make it while the dough is resting. For the dough, combine all ingredients and knead for about 5-10 min. Let it rest for 20-30 min. After 20 or 30 min separate the dough in 4 equal parts, you can use a scale if you want. Stretch each part a little and cover well with oil, let them rest for 20 -30 min. After resting time, on a surface start stretching the dough gently and slowly. You can help yourself with a rolling pin at first and then start stretching. You will see the dough is very stretchy and it will start getting thin. If you happen to make a hole don’t worry, just be careful not to make it bigger. When the dough layer is stretched enough spread the filling and roll it into a log, then roll the log. Transfer to a 12 inch round pan and proceed with the rest of the layers the same way, except don’t roll the logs. You will have to attach the log to the end of the first log. The process for the rest of the logs is the same, attach them to the end of the previous log. Pour the last of the filling on top of the logs and spread as good as you can. Preheat the oven to 355°F and bake for about 35-45 min.

*Don’t spread too much filling, because it will be hard to handle and it’s not a good combination. There will be too much filling and not enough dough. This was one of my mistakes.

* You can spread melted butter or oil on each layer after stretching. I didn’t do that here, but people like to do it.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

These Hot Chocolate Cookies are my favorite Holiday cookies. No fuss and so easy to make. There are a lot of ways to make them using the same recipe, but I’m showing 3 ways here. I’m using marshmallows, white chocolate chips and melted white chocolate chips with oil. They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. These cookies are so good they will definitely bring joy around. 🍪🎄 ☃️ 🎁

Recipe:
1. All-purpose flour – 1 1/2 cups
2. Baking soda – 1 tsp
3. Cocoa – 30gr
4. Hot cocoa mix – 40gr
5. Salt – pinch
6. Unsalted butter – 1 stick,(113gr), room temperature
7. Dark Brown Sugar – 100gr
8. Egg – 1
9. Vanilla extract – 1tsp
10. Milk – 1 tbsp(15ml)

White Chocolate Chips – 200gr
Big marshmallows cut in half

In a bowl mix dry ingredients except brown sugar and set aside. In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat butter and brown sugar for a few minutes. Scrape the sides down and beat a bit more ( in the video I made a mistake and added the sugar to the dry ingredients, but it worked out fine). Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients in three additions mixing well after each addition. And last add the milk and mix well again, if using chocolate chips add them here. You can refrigerate the dough for 30 min in plastic wrap. Here I used it right away. Make balls a little bigger than a tablespoon size. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
*If using the marshmallows bake for 10 min and take them out, gently press the marshmallow in the center and bake for 2-3 min more.
*If using the melted chocolate chips bake for 10 min, take them out and press in the center using a spoon. Bake for 2-3 min more. When done let them cool a little. In the meantime melt chocolate chips in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds until well melted, add a little oil and stir well. Spoon chocolate in the center of the cookie.
* You can also just drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.