February 2015 - Cinnamon and Sugar

Maple Syrup & Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Maple Syrup and Brown Sugar Salmon

Ingredients

6 (6 oz. each) salmon fillets
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F).
Line a 13" x 9"-inch baking dish with foil. Coat with nonstick cooking spray. Place fillets in the dish, skin side down if applicable.
Combine brown sugar, maple syrup, soy sauce, mustard, and pepper. Pour over the fillets.
Bake for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Baste the salmon with the syrup mixture halfway through baking time.
Serve salmon with syrup mixture drizzled over fillets.

Favorite Treats for Desperate Housedogs

Recipe shared from DESPERATE HOUSEDOGS by Sparkle Abbey.

Caro's Good Dog Treats

Tasty, gluten-free treats for your furry friend. Recipe from the Pampered Pet mystery, Desperate Housedogs, by Sparkle Abbey (shared with permission from the authors)

Ingredients

1/2 cup creamy unsalted peanut butter
1 cup oat flour
1 cup brown rice flour (Caro uses organic
1 egg
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 cup finely grated carrot (Dogbert, Caro's dog, loves carrots)

Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
In a big bowl, combine all the ingredients with just enough water (I used 3-1/2 tablespoons) to make it the consistency of cookie dough.
Once you've got your treat dough all stirred up, put it between pieces of parchment paper and roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Then cut the dough with a cookie cutter. You can use whatever shape strikes your fancy. Caro often uses dog bone shapes with different sizes.
Next, put them on a regular cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, and bake them between fifteen an twenty minutes or until they are golden retriever brown.
Let them cool on a wire rack and then put them in an airtight container. You can use store your Caro's Good Dog Treats for about a week (or you can freeze them for later use) but keep an eye on them. There re no preservatives, so watch for spoilage.

Tips

If you wish, pulverize old-fashion oats in your food processor to make oat flour. Just don't use the sugary instant oatmeal.
Use the food processor (no need to rinse out after processing oats) to finely chop your carrots. I forgot to buy a "big" carrot for grating and all I had was baby snack carrots on hand. 2-1/2 ounces made 1/2 cup of finely chopped carrots.
I found it was easy to roll the dough out on a brown rice floured surface instead of using parchment paper. Don't use regular flour otherwise the treats will not be gluten-free.

Click on book to visit Amazon

When Caro Lamont, former psychologist turned pet therapist makes a house call to help Kevin Blackstone with his two misbehaving German Shepherd dogs, she expects frantic dogs, she expects a frantic dog owner, she even expects frantic neighbors. What she doesn’t expect is that two hours later the police will find Kevin dead, his dogs impounded; and that as the last person to see Kevin alive (well, except for the killer) she is suddenly a person of interest, at least according to Homicide Detective Judd Malone.

Mom’s Famous Rhubarb Pie & Easy Peasy Pie Dough

Mom's Famous Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

4 cups chopped rhubarb (frozen is okay, but don’t defrost)
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
Double crust pastry pie dough
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F).
Roll out pastry pie dough rounds to fit a 9” pie plate. Glass or ceramic dishes bake better than metal, but use what you already have.
Combine sugar, flour and salt. Whisk together until flour is incorporated into sugar then mix in the rhubarb, fresh or frozen.
Once the rhubarb is coated with sugar mixture, place on top of pie dough lined dish. Dot with butter or margarine if using. Cover rhubarb with remaining pie dough round and crimp edges. With a sharp knife, make decorative slits in top crust. Brush VERY lightly with a bit of water (1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon max) then sprinkle sugar over top.
Place pie on rack situated middle/lower part of oven. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Rotate pie around and bake for an additional 40 to 45 minutes. If you used frozen rhubarb you will need to add an additional 10 minutes or so to the baking time. You will know it is done when the crust is golden brown and you can see the filling bubbling in the slits.

Ingredients for an extra large, deep dish pie:

6 cups rhubarb, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1-1/2 tablespoons butter. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, decrease temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50 – 60 minutes or until filling is bubbling.

Easy-Peasy Pie Crust

Makes enough for a double pie crust.

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups (12-1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup vegetable shortening OR 3/4 cup vegetable shortening and 1/2 cup unsalted butter, all thoroughly chilled. (I use all shortening to keep it dairy-free and vegan.)
1/4 cup vodka, chilled in the freezer
2-3 tablespoons ice cold water

Instructions

Place flour, sugar and salt in a food process and pulse 5 times until combined. (Alternately, you can mix in a large bowl with a fork.)
Add shortening (cut into medium/small pieces) and butter if using (cut into small cubes) and pulse about 15 times. (Or use a pastry cutter and work shortening and butter in until it becomes small pea-sized.) Scrape down bowl and pulse 3 or 4 more times. Mix 2 tablespoons of ice cold water with the chilled vodka and sprinkle over the flour mixture. If you live in a very dry place or have central air or heat going, you may need to add the additional tablespoon of water. This dough can handle being more moist than traditional pie crust recipes.
Pulse just until the dough begins to stick together. It took me about 6 pulses. You don’t want it to come together in a ball. Overworking the dough is what makes it tough. (Or use a fork to work the liquid into the dry ingredients.)
Transfer the dough onto a non-stick surface and divide dough in half. Compress each half into a ball and flatten, then wrap well with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 3 days.

Rolling it out:

Remove one disk from the refrigerator and place on well-floured work surface. Flour the top of the dough along with your rolling pin. Roll the dough into a circle large enough to fit your pie plate with some overhang.
Carefully place the dough into your pie plate then press into the bottoms and sides. If the dough tears just compress it back together. If there’s more than 1 inch of overhang, trim the excess.
If you are baking a single piecrust recipe, fold the top crust under to form a nice edge and flute or score with the back of a fork. Bake as your pie recipe directs.
For a double crust pie, place the dough lined pie plate back into the refrigerator while you work on the filling. Once the filling is completed, roll out your second disk of dough large enough to cover your pie plate. Fill the bottom crust with filling, top with the dough round, trim edges and flute. Proceed to bake according to your pie recipe.
This dough freezes well for 3 months. Just defrost in the refrigerator overnight then proceed with the directions.

Ultimate Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough

3 large eggs room temperature
2 ounces sugar approximately 1/4 cup
3 ounces unsalted butter melted, approximately 6 tablespoons **
6 ounces milk whole, 2%, almond or coconut, slightly warmed to 100 degrees in microwave (my microwave took 45 seconds on high)
20 ounces all-purpose flour approximately 4 cups, plus additional for rolling out dough
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 package instant dry yeast approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons
1-1/4 teaspoons salt kosher or sea salt (reduce to 1 teaspoon if using salted butter or margarine)
Vegetable oil or cooking spray

Filling

5 ounces light brown sugar approximately 3/4 cup packed
4 ounces granulated sugar approximately 1/2 cup
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
If you want to be really decadent add 3/4 cup cinnamon chips to the filling
You may also add 3/4 cup raisins and/or 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the filling as well
Dash of salt omit if using salted butter or margarine
1 ounce unsalted butter melted, approximately 2 tablespoons **

Icing

3 -4 tablespoons water or milk whole, 2%, almond or coconut
Dash of salt
8 ounces powdered sugar approximately 2 cups

Instructions

Using a bread machine: add the dough ingredients (starting with 3-3/4 cups flour instead of 4) to your bread machine’s baking pan in the order recommended by your machine’s manufacturer. Make a small well in the top of the flour and add the yeast. Start the dough cycle. Once the kneading cycle has started and the ingredients are well mixed, check the dough and add additional flour if too sticky.
While the dough is mixing, combine the sugars, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl, along with any other additions if using. Reserve for later use.
Grease a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish. Once the dough has risen sufficiently or the bread machine cycle has completed, place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into an approximate 24 x 16 inch rectangle. Spread with the melted butter and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the dough. Press the filling into the melted butter being careful to not tear the dough. Starting at the long edge, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Pinch the seams to seal and place the roll seam down. Using your hands, try to shape the log into an even thickness. With a serrated knife or unflavored (clean!) dental floss, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; I usually get about 14-16 rolls, but it varies with how thin I roll the dough to begin with. Place the cinnamon rolls cut side down in the greased baking dish. It’s okay if the rolls are crowded together. Cover them with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.
Remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and place in a cold oven. Fill a pan or heatproof dish with 2 cups boiling water and place on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they are puffy; approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the rolls and the pan of water from the oven. The hot water helps bring the dough to room temperature faster after being chilled in the refrigerator. If you’re not in a hurry you can skip the hot water and let the rolls rise with the oven light on, but it could take 65 – 75 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
When the oven is hot, return the rolls to the oven (middle rack is best) and bake until golden brown, approximately 25 minutes. I find myself checking after they have baked for 23 minutes. My new ovens seem to bake hotter…or maybe my old ovens baked slow? If you have an instant-read thermometer, they should reach 190 degrees at the center of the roll.
Once the rolls are done, move dish to a cooling rack (leave the rolls in the dish). Combine the powdered sugar and water or milk together. Mix with a spoon until smooth then drizzle over the warm rolls.