between the table and the kitchen

I don't remember when, exactly, it happened, but around the end of July I found a recipe for vegan cinnamon rolls. I mentioned this, casually I'm sure, to Daniel, who pounced on the idea. I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas a few years ago, and they were (if I may say so) pretty damn good. I was excited to find a recipe that was not only vegan but also mentioned Cinnabon in the post.

An aside: when I was young, my mother and I would go on shopping days, and we would almost always get a roll or two from Cinnabon in the morning. In college, far from my mother, I recruited one of my best friends to go on Cinnabon expeditions with me. I have similar fond memories of meatballs subs from even younger days at the mall in New York.

Anyway. I was excited, Daniel was excited, I bought all the necessary ingredients. Let me remind you: this was the end of July, maybe the beginning of August. I did not make them. I kept on not making them, for various reasons. I started a new job, so I didn't want to use my precious weeknights for such a time-intensive project. I was tired. I didn't want to be stranded by myself in the kitchen for such a long duration.

It's like I had forgotten how much I love baking.

So when Daniel suggested I start making the dough while he made dinner on Sunday night, and I felt myself warm up to the idea, I made myself do it. I ran back and forth between the table and the kitchen, with its woeful lack of counter space, proofing yeast and melting margarine and measuring flour. As soon as I had the dough in my hands, I remembered. I remembered how much I love making food, how much I love baking in particular.

We ate dinner while the dough was rising, and Michael came over to hang out. He and Daniel sat around in the living room while I flattened the dough into a rectangle, melted more butter, spread the cinnamon-sugar over the melted butter. I filled pans full of a melted butter and sugar mixture. I waved off the offers to help and finally I rolled the dough and cut it, filling three different pans full of rolls. Then into the refrigerator and onto washing some of the mountain of dishes I had made.

The next morning I slept in a little, still waking before Daniel, and tried to quietly pad around the apartment until it was time to put the rolls in the oven. It was a great way to start the holiday.







Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Here at VeganYumYum

A note: heed the warning not to add liquid to the icing. It does, in fact, come together with a lot of elbow grease.

fifty

Before I get to the heart of this post, I'd like to mention that this is my fiftieth post here and thank all of you readers for following along in my adventures in the kitchen. Yay!


One of the hardest things about growing up, especially during the holidays, is negotiating what to carry with you from childhood and what to make anew. This is the second year I've spent Christmas away from my family - and I've been lucky enough to have my friend's family to take me in for the holidays. It's not the same, obviously, but it is certainly good in its own way.

Making new traditions can be nice, though, even if it's hard to give up that bit of your childhood. This year and last I've spent the night with friends before Christmas (last year it was Christmas eve, this year the eve of Christmas eve). Last year it was full of watching Nightmare Before Christmas, or at least part of it, before we fell asleep in the fort we made in the living room, and ice cream for breakfast.


This year was a little less childish. I woke up early to make the cinnamon roll dough, so that there was time for it to rise while everyone else was still sleeping. I listened to the This American Life Christmas special from a few years ago. I sipped breakfast tea, enjoying. I noticed the early morning winter light, somehow glad to be up before eight on a vacation day. Slowly my friends arose from their slumbers and joined me in waiting for the dough to rise.


Soon I was rolling out the dough, using my fingers to cover it with butter, while C.T. sprinkled the brown sugar-cinnamon combo over it. I kept getting giddy during the process, exclaiming, I'm making cinnamon rolls! (The novelty of baking has still not rubbed off, obviously.) Then there was nothing left but to wait for the rolls to rise a second time before popping them in the oven.


It was a way to carry a piece of my childhood into the burgeoning traditions of my adulthood. It's true, my mother may not have made cinnamon rolls from scratch - but they were still delicious and they were still a tradition that brought us closer together as a family. More than the ingredients, it was the love that mattered, and this is what I'm trying to bring forward into my life now.

I may have gotten up before eight on a holiday, and I may have burned myself pulling the buns out of the oven, but it was worth it. It was worth it because at the end, I had a table full of happy friends gobbling down cinnamon rolls. (Granted, I had to manuever eating my own rolls with an ice pack on my right hand, but luckily said happy friends were sweet to me, getting me more when required.) The cinnamon rolls were the focus, but really, I think it was the love behind them that was important.

Don't get me wrong, though, these cinnamon rolls were delicious. These three couldn't even wait for me to finish serving before digging in!


Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from Bon Appetit

DOUGH
1 cup milk
3 tbsp butter
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tsp salt

FILLING
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, room temp.

Melt the butter for the dough and mix it with the milk. In a large bowl, add a cup of flour, and the sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Mix well, until all elements are combined. Add the rest of the flour until incorporated into the dough. It should start to pull away from the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. If the dough feels sticky, sprinkle some flour onto it.

When you're done kneading, put just a splash of oil into a bowl, enough to very lightly cover the dough. (I used olive oil, since that's what was available, but since you're using only a very small amount, I don't think it matters too greatly what kind of oil you use.) Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled in volume. This took about an hour and a half for me, but depending on your surroundings, it could be a little less or a little more.

Mix only the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Grease some pans to put the rolls in.

Punch down the dough and move it to a flat, floured workspace. Roll it out and smear the butter all over the dough, following that with sprinkling the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top. Start to roll with the long side, making sure to keep it even. When it's all rolled up, cut the dough into segments. (If you're like me, the very ends will only have a little mixture, if any - you can throw these out, or take whatever mixture spills out of the others and sprinkle it on top and bake them, too.) Place the rolls onto the greased pans.

Let the rolls rise until about doubled in volume again - it might be a little harder to tell, but this should take about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375F. When the rolls have risen, bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for as long as you can stand it, or as long as your friends will let you. Warning: it probably won't be long.

Vanilla Icing

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

Whisk the ingredients together until a creamy icing starts to form. You may need to add a little more milk or sugar, depending on the consistency you want.

perfect as a Sunday can get

Sundays, I think I've mentioned before, are usually one of my least favorite days. Sundays are days full of goodbyes and gearing up for the long haul of the workweek. This past Sunday, though, was pretty much as perfect as a Sunday can get - four of us went for the best pizza in the city, then walked it off at the Zoo, and three of us continued to play a whole bunch of Mario Kart and eat a delicious dinner (which is not what I'm going to talk about, sorry, I was too busy playing Mario Kart).


Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the day, though not for lack of cameras. We averaged a camera per person, with 2 SLRs, a baby Holga, and a digital. Three of those were mine; yes, yes, I know, I am some kind of monstrous fiend. My goal was to use up my second (!) roll of black and white film that came with my N80, and so I never really thought to pull out my digital camera.

It's funny, shooting with film again after so long with the instant gratification of digital and Polaroid has made me think about things totally differently. I've been forced to consider light and how that will effect the outcome of the photos, about ISO and aperture and other things that I am really still just learning about. It has also forced me to be patient - every roll of film I've shot so far has needed to be sent to the labs, which they say takes two weeks but is really more like three, in my experience. So I wait.


And in the meantime, I bake.

Bread, mostly, this weekend. I attempted a pumpkin ale beer bread, which smelled fantastic but was not exactly what one might call delicious. I'm not sure if it was the recipe (which seemed fairly complicated) or me, but either way, I ended up with most of a loaf of bread in the trash. C'est le pain. Luckily, I had a back-up plan.


Perfect Sunday Rolls

These really deserve a better name than that, but what can I say? I'm not great at naming food. Anyway, these are fantastic. I kind of couldn't stop eating them. I imagine they'd be good with pretty much any kind of dinner, though they, uh, also make a pretty good breakfast (with some Nutella!).

1/4 cup warm water
1 cup hot water
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Combine 1/4 cup warm water and yeast in a small bowl for about 5 minutes, or until dissolved.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and salt. I find it's easiest if the butter is room temperature or softer, especially for this next part. Pour 1 cup hot water over the butter mixture and stir until dissolved. Let cool a little (by the time you're done stirring, honestly, it should be cool enough) and stir in the yeast.

Add in the egg, beating until fully mixed, then pour in the flour until a dough starts to form. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with tin foil, and set in the refridgerator for 2 to 12 hours. (I left mine in there for about 5 hours.)

Punch down the dough and divide into as many rolls as you'll want. Shape into rounds and place onto baking pan to let rise for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Bake for about 18 minutes. Move to a rack to cool.

second installment

Part of what I love about baking (or cooking, in general) is sharing what I make with others. This contributes a lot, actually, to why my solo meals are often uncomplicated things like, uh, cheese and crackers and olives. That, and cooking for one person always, always involves reducing recipes. But that's neither here nor there.

But I also like cooking with other people - and, well, Daniel and I make the perfect team because our names are the same. So here comes the second installment of Danielle & Daniel Make Dinner. This time our inspiration was twofold: a pizzeria in Greensboro that made all sorts of delicious pizza variations, and my own focaccia recipe. Throw in my rapidly expanding cookbook collection and it is really just a recipe for greatness.


We had the perfect set-up for making this pizza too - namely, a captive audience. Jo, of course, was there for the first installment of Danielle & Daniel Make Dinner (we are thinking about "daniel(le)" - which we figure is just pretentious enough), but this time Andy decided to join us. About three years ago, Andy's Christmas present to me was a lovely pizza dinner, made from scratch, so I was excited to present my own offering.

And well, Daniel said it best: "Sexy people make sexy pizza." (Which was, of course, followed with: "put that on your blog!" And so I have.)


Because there were four of us, we made two pizzas. The first had a tomato sauce base (Newman's bombolina, which I highly recommend), mozzerella, and sun-dried tomatoes. It was pretty good, but could have benefited from cutting up the sun-dried tomatoes and spreading them out more. Also, dousing them in olive oil before putting them in the oven, since baking made them even chewier.


And then there was our masterpiece.

Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

There are different kinds of gorgonzola (which we did not realize until last night) - we used piquante for this, but dolce would work too. Piquante, though, adds a nice variety of taste and stands in contrast to the sweetness of the pear.

For the pizza crust (makes two):
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 package active-dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

For the toppings:
1 pear
gorgonzola (see above)
carmelized onions

Combine the yeast and the water in a bowl, letting it sit while the yeast dissolves, or about five minutes. Mix in the flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar for about a minute with a wooden spoon. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough, flipping it to make sure the whole thing gets oiled. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 475°F.

While the oven preheats and the dough rises, carmelize onions. To do so, just splash some olive oil into a pan and - on low heat - put the onions in. This is just about it - you'll want to keep an eye on them and move them around to make sure they evenly carmelize. You may want to put a pinch of salt and sugar in there (we did). This is a good time to prepare the other toppings, too!

When the dough has risen, split into two sections and transfer each to a baking sheet. If you have space, you may want to roll them out first, but it can be done by hand once on the sheet. On one, place sliced pears, chunks of gorgonzola, and the carmelized onions, making sure to evenly distribute the flavors. Brush olive oil onto the crusts.

Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

balancing the scales

Tomorrow I turn 23.

I turn 23 and all I can think about is balancing the scales. Balancing what pays the bills with what I love, balancing solitude with being social. It's the latter that really gets me. You see, I love time spent alone and doing things simply because they are what I want to do. As I've mentioned before, though, too much time spent alone drives me a little mad.


This weekend wound up being pretty well-balanced, though Saturday was the unfortunate witness to the first hangover I've had in a long while. Other than that, it broke down nicely, with a dance party celebrating my dear friend Andy's 23rd birthday - plus, uh, lots of Doctor Who beforehand and also the next day (we really can't get enough). And then Sunday was for me. I just woke up Sunday morning and it felt right to have the day stretching out in front of me with no one but myself.

I've been planning this post for a while, actually, even though I had no idea what I'd put into it. Sunday, I decided, was the day to figure it out. I had eggs to use, so I made a cake, one I've made before and liked a lot. After all, it's my birthday! And you can't have a birthday without cake. While I made the cake - literally in between mixing eggs in - I made an apron out of a t-shirt. This still left me without a recipe for you, dear reader.

Let me tell you: I couldn't get bread out of my head. I had been about to trot over to the grocery store for the second time in one day to get olive oil and yeast to make said bread, but then it was raining. I decided against it; surely I would find something else to make.


Dear reader, I did not. The weather cleared up and, unable to stop thinking about bread, I headed out. Luckily I bought two packets of yeast, because I had to throw the first batch out and start again. (I always seem to be starting again.) All my mistakes turned out auspicious - ain't that always the way - because let me tell you, this bread is just hands-down delicious. I have had to stop myself from eating all of it in less than 24 hours. Plus, it photographs quite well, don't you think?


Olive Oil Focaccia
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

If, for some reason, you do not like olive oil that much, feel free to cut the amount of olive oil down to 1 tablespoon. This is a pretty forgiving recipe - I thought I was screwing something up every step of the way and wound up with a fantastically delicious bread, so don't worry if it seems like your dough is too sticky, or not rising high enough, or any of that. I thought all of this and, again, the bread turned out great.

3/4 cup warm water
1/2 pack active-dry yeast
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp oregano

Combine the yeast and water in a large bowl. Let sit while the yeast dissolves, should be about five minutes. (If you've never watched yeast work, check this out. It's pretty neat! Chemistry-art, if you will.)

Mix in flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar for about a minute - I used a wooden spoon, but do whatever feels best to you. (If you're using a mixer, it'd be best to use low speed.) Then knead by hand (or use a dough hook) for just about 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a bowl and transfer dough, making sure the oil covers all of the dough. Cover with cloth and let rise for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

When the dough has risen, transfer to baking sheet, shaping it into a round. Top with oregano (or other dried herb). Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

birthday special: chemistry-art

(A special Thursday post, for a special birthday.)

A few weekends ago, walking home well past midnight, C.T. said to me, "We should make pretzels!" So when we got back, we pulled out Joy of Cooking and checked the ingredients. We had all of them except yeast, so the project was set aside without another thought. (Did I mention it was well past midnight? Yeah.) Until this weekend - I suggested, why don't we make pretzels, because what is better than a fresh hot soft pretzel? (Answer: nothing.) So we stopped by the market, grabbed some yeast and beer and cheese for a dip, and headed back to the kitchen.


C.T. has had most of the food that I have posted about here foisted upon him, but this was the first time we had ever made something together and it turned out brilliantly. We talked about how fun cooking is, especially with yeast and baking powder and what seems like, well, science. I say, yeah, it's like chemistry, and C.T. one-ups me by replying, "It's like chemistry-art." Which is pretty much it, when you think about it. It was also the first time I'd made anything with yeast, so it was a relief to find that everything worked out. The only thing we didn't count on was how much time it would take to make these - hours, between all the times the dough needed to rise. So we watched some episodes of 30 Rock, jumping up every so often to check on the rising dough.

So we didn't wind up eating until around midnight, a fabulous dinner of homemade pretzels and beer cheese dip, because we are Grown Ups and can Do What We Please. I also took a lot of pictures of the process because, well, it'd be silly to have both of us kneading and also because, as C.T. noted, "you should put this in your blog." Oh, what a time to be alive! Anyway, instead of trying to cram all the pictures in this post, I'm just going to link key parts to the flickr pages.


Pretzels
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Remember, these take hours to make, so you've got to be dedicated to the process. That said, the process is so totally worth it. These pretzels are magnificent. You'll probably feel that way, too, after you've made and eaten them. I know we did.

1 pkg active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp baking powder

Combine the yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and let sit for about five minutes, until the yeast has dissolved. When it has, add the flour, butter, sugar and salt and mix while slowly adding another 1/2 cup of warm water. Mix for about a minute - the dough should be moist but not sticky. You may have to add some more flour or water (we had to add a couple dashes of flour). Knead the dough for about ten minutes until it smoothes out. Transfer to an oiled bowl and make sure to turn it to completely coat the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit and rise for about an hour, or until it's doubled in volume.

Punch down the dough (this was one of our favorite parts) and separate it into twelve dough balls. Cover these with plastic wrap (lightly oiled) and let them rise for ten minutes. While they're doing that, grease two baking sheets. Now comes the fun part: make each ball into a rope, like you may have done in art class with clay as a kid, and make the pretzels. Don't forget to twist the middles! Put the newly-made pretzels on the baking sheets and let them rise again for about 35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine 8 cups of water with the baking powder in a pot and bring to a boil. Don't worry if it seems like a chemistry experiment. Reduce the heat to a simmer. When the pretzels have finished rising, slide a few at a time (we did four) into the pot. Leave them for 30 seconds, then flip and let them simmer until they puff up. Sometimes this happens right away, sometimes it takes 30 seconds. Place them back on the baking sheets.

Sprinkle with some course sea salt, if you'd like, and put them in the oven. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until they are golden brown.

Makes 12 pretzels. Store in an airtight container.