Cinnamon Bun Sugar Cookies

These cookies not only taste spectacular but they hold their shape beautifully!

Beautiful marbling!

I take Karen's Cookies' Cream Cheese Cookie Cut-outs recipe (bottom of page 2) and made the dough.  Then when dough is all prepared I shake cinnamon all over the top of the dough.

I then mix this in with my hands being careful not to overmix as I want to see it marbled throughout the dough rather than just a brown mixture.

Next, I roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness using the slats my husband made for just this purpose.  Similar items can be bought online or there are those rolling pin markers that can be purchased as well.

You can see the lovely marbling as the dough is rolled out.  This is why you don't want to overmix too much once you add the cinnamon. Basically, when mixing, you want to stop once all the dry sections are gone.

After you cut out your shapes, you bake the cookies. Karen recommends 375F for 8-10 mins.  I always bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes for my regular cookies but find that when you add cream cheese to your dough that you can basically throw your usual timings out the window!  They don't really crisp up like regular cookies do.  The edges will brown but the center part seems to stay soft (and can break if you aren't careful).

Here's what I do:

1. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes
2. Check on the cookies: are the edges starting to brown yet? If not, put in for another 3 minutes. If they are browned, take them out and transfer to a cooling rack after about 10 minutes.
3. Once I've finished baking all my batches I will then take those cookies, on cooling racks, and place these racks into my half-sheet baking trays and put them into the oven just after I turn it off.  I leave the door open just a crack and, with their bottoms now exposed to the heat, leave the cookies in there for a good 30+ minutes.

Here they are, all cooled and
ready for decorating!

I know this all sounds crazy and way too much work... but wait till you taste them!  I do all this extra stuff because I don't like how soft the cookies are when they are just baked the regular way.  If you notice browning on the bottoms of the cookies, remember the taste of a cinnamon roll and the bits of sugar that are a little brown and how tasty they are... These brown bits on the cookies are really quite yummy.  I generally like my cookies to be only the one colour and don't like the overbaking of the edges or the bottoms but I make an exception when it comes to these cookies!

No Spreadage!!

When I bake cookies I always try to cut out a few simple ones so that I can judge when my RI is dry enough.  As you can see with this little cookie above, they hold their shape beautifully!

My latest bake of this recipe were for these sweet little cinnamon buns.  :)  I did something extra with these cuties by adding some cinnamon flavour to the RI.  I knew that this would change the colour a bit and I didn't want them all looking the same so I just added about half a packet of flavouring (tasting as I went) and didn't worry about the colour as I airbrushed the brown onto the cookies with 3 drops of orange to 2 drops of brown.  I just couldn't resist a cinnamon icing on a cinnamon bun made from cinnamon bun cookie dough!  :)

If you try this recipe and enjoy it, please let me know!  You can find me on facebook in the cookie group: All Things Cookies.

Arthritis?!

Well, it's certainly been a bit since I've written anything about my physical being... I guess this would be because there have been so many changes over the last couple of years that have affected the way I live that I've not thought to write. This last week I've had the diagnosis of arthritis. My left foot is fraught with it and next are the hips. Following them are the knees and the right foot. As you can imagine, my world now revolves around learning about this disease. Even tho I knew the word, this doesn't mean that I had any knowledge or understanding about it. I'm hoping that I can learn about it, about my limitations, recognize flare-ups and then create a workout routine that will help me strengthen and lose and then maintain my weight. At present, it's still all new. If you have arthritis or know anything about it, please share your experiences with me below in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. All His best to you, Lea

Creating a flower garden

I absolutely loved the planters from my dollar store but was unhappy with the single hole in the bottom for drainage. After much thought I decided to create a well inside to hold water once summer hits & I'll be busy with the veggie & fruit gardens. I wanted something that would retain some water but not be too saturated. 

I bought these containers to store my bulk baking supplies in from a cash & carry store that has since broken my heart by closing down. 😥

At the bottom of the pots I put some drainage material I also got from the $$ store and placed dirt & rock around it.

I then built up the sides a tiny bit to go around the outside of my cups. 

Then I filled in with dirt & started placing in my pots. 

I then pulled out my pots, put in the plants, filled in any empty spaces, placed my time-released food on the top & hung up my planters. 

I'm taking extra care this year to put lots of marigolds around my gardens to distract the unwanted insects. They definitely aren't my favourite flowers, and I do wish they came in pinks & purples, but if they get the job done, there shall be marigolds. 😏

Lea Brown's Artisan Sourdough Bread in a Pullman Loaf Pan

Since Christmas when my husband served my mother and I the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich on this fantastic store-bought bread known as sourdough... It has been my mission to make a loaf of this bread in a loaf pan.  I had many, many failures but have finally cracked the code!  I made a second one just to be sure that it wasn't a fluke.

Click here to skip all the rambling and get straight to the recipe!

Needless to say, learning Sourdough has been quite the experience and isn't for the faint of heart.

When I baked the original recipe this is the loaf I made:

I then thought about the difference between an artisan loaf and a loaf pan loaf: stretching & folding versus letting it sit undisturbed to rise.  I wondered about this as I wanted a sandwich bread that wasn't full of holes so that my butter and innards could stay put.  I took this recipe and then I let it sit undisturbed and the end result was this loaf:

I was so thrilled to finally have something that tasted delicious and that I could use for sandwiches!!!

After my hubby bought me some razor blades that I put on a chop stick, my homemade lame, I got adventurous with the next loaf:

This loaf I gave to my friend who had gone gluten free as gluten was upsetting her stomach and giving her headaches.  She was able to eat it without any problems.  She was very grateful.  Let it be known that this recipe produces a mild sourdough bread.  She doesn't typically like the sourdough flavour but this mild bread she enjoys.

After following a thread on Facebook about putting the lid on the Pullman loaf pan... and getting up my courage...  I finally did it!

It was AMAZING!  We had turkey sandwiches for dinner and the crust crunched as it was so deliciously crispy.  Fantastic bread!  Now I had to test the recipe again just to be sure.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!!  My husband & I (and my friend) are so happy!!  I've even got other friends now requesting a loaf to try.

If you would like more info on using a thermometer to test your bread's doneness, check out this informative article from King Arthur Flour. http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2017/04/07/using-a-thermometer-with-yeast-bread

My next challenge is to double the recipe and see if my 13" Pullman loaf pan could be filled with 1 1/2 recipes with some left over for crusty buns done in my cast iron Dutch oven. 😊 

I pulled it off!!

I hope you enjoy my adaptation of the original recipe by An Oregon Cottage (link below).

RECIPE:
Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread.
Original Author: Jami Boys - An Oregon Cottage
Adapted by Lea Brown Yield: 1 loaf  

Ingredients:

• 3 C flour (white whole wheat, whole wheat, light rye, unbleached, or a combo. I used 2C unbleached white & 1C light rye.) 
• * 1T sifted inulin fibre (*Optional)
•  2 pinches of instant yeast (about 1/2t)
•  1-1/4 C water (may need less if your starter is "wetter"- mine is a 75% hydration starter) I've been using room temp, filtered water & getting good results. 
•  3/4 C active sourdough starter (dry measuring cup) 
• 1 T honey 
•  1/2 T fine sea salt 

Directions: 

1. Mix all ingredients (except salt) together in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can use dough hook to combine) and then let sit for 15 minutes. Add salt.
2. Using a dough hook, knead for 5 minutes. (If kneading by hand, keep your bench scraper handy and add flour as needed to get a slightly tacky dough. You will need to knead for about 10 minutes.) If too much dough is sticking to the bottom of your mixer sprinkle about a 1/3C around the stuck part while mixer on low. Once it starts to come away, dump/pull & coerce the dough out onto your counter and using a bench scraper, attempt to knead it a bit more.
3. Transfer sticky mess to a medium-sized bowl, lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap, also sprayed with oil, and let rise for: 2-3 hours. You're looking for it to double in size.
4. Place your loaf pan behind your work area in front of you to use as a guide. Remove dough from your container and flatten it out with your hands to the length of your loaf pan. Using your pastry scraper, roll the dough towards you into a loaf shape. Put it into your pan, pressing it gently into the corners to fill the pan. Place the pan back into your warming spot and set timer for 30-40 minutes . You want the dough to rise to about ¾"-1" from the top of the pan.
5. When the dough is there, put the buttered lid onto the loaf pan and turn on your oven.
6. With your rack set to about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of your oven, set oven to 435F degrees Fan or 450F without fan. Allow oven about 30 minutes to warm up well. (Oven temps may vary. Since writing this out I've gotten a new oven & in order to get 435 fan I had to enter in 460.)
7. Once your oven is nice and hot, put in your loaf. Set the timer for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and change from FAN to baking and set temp to 450F. Put your timer on for an additional 5 minutes. 
9.  When the timer goes off, insert your instant thermometer into the loaf in two places to take a reading. You are wanting an internal temp around 200F. Remove the loaf from the oven, take it out of the pan, and allow to cool completely before slicing it. 

I followed the instructions in the original recipe and sliced my bread with an electric carving knife. Let's just say that my hubby can cut straight lines way better than I can. :)

Original Artisan Recipe by An Oregon Cottage at http://anoregoncottage.com/easy-sourdough-artisan-bread/