Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins

Recipe courtesy of Bon Apetit Magazine at the end of this post.

We are moving soon. Moving again sends me spiraling. When I start to let the "I Cant's" creep into my mind, I remind myself that "I Can" and that "I Have." I remember moves past. I remember the things that were easy, and the things that were awful. And I remember God's hand in it all. It is the only way I keep bright in the foreground and bitter in the backdrop. And, on Sunday, the Banana Macadamia Nut muffins were more than muffins. They reminded me of a move to Hawaii made with apprehension with rewards of many blessings. I needed to be reminded.

It helped that our baby has suddenly, without notice, ended a banana breakfast ritual. He recently declared a banana strike. That is how I ended up with plenty of ripe bananas. It was also the end of just effortlessly preparing half of his breakfast. Truly this was a momentary grumbling point. I am over it now.

Following the Bon Appetit magazine recipe, I mashed 3 bananas. My bananas were not smooth like baby food puree. They had a bit of chunkiness to them. The recipe called for all things to be mixed by hand, so I assumed this was sufficient.

 

And when I added the sugars, eggs, and melted butter to the 3 bananas, I knew the reviews that declared these to be moist muffins were dead accurate.

 

Then I hand blended the wet ingredients I cannot even begin to express how appetizing bananas blended with sugars and pooled with melted butter and vanilla smells. Oh.My.Word. This was my favorite moment preparing the ingredients right here. The lumpiness of the bananas turned a bit smoother.

 

I did not chop the macadamia nuts very finely. I don't like digging for nuts when a recipe calls for them. I like them to be robust and present. The nuts on the right have not been chopped. The group on the left was the final result.

I toasted the macadamia nuts and chopped them before placing them in the batter. I almost did not toast them. It seemed silly if I they were going to bake in the oven anyway. But was I wrong! If you have ever wafted the smell of toasted macadamia nuts....oh heaven! Oh how I missed living in Hawaii when I pulled these out of the toaster oven.

 

I reserved the last of the nuts to top the batter. I may or may not have been a bit giddy at this point! The rich smell of the batter with the heaven of those toasted nuts...I almost did not want to part with the batter because I may have tasted it a time or two.

Finally, after 25 minutes I opened my oven and my family came running!

Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins
Courtesy Bon Apetit Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl. Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk and egg in medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in half of nuts. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining macadamia nuts. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Banana-Macadamia-Nut-Muffins-2050#ixzz1Eli1H1Km

Confessions Before the Contribution

When Half-Baked Beauties evolved, I was a new mom for the third time. My baby was just a few weeks old, born in September 2009 in San Diego. At the time, I longed for old friends, the walking kind of friends to be present in my life, as I had with my eldest in Virginia, and my middle son in Hawaii. But while I had family in California, I did not really have friends with whom Dr. Romance and I had a Together History. I was lamenting this just before B. dropped me an email to join this blog.

I could not keep up with every formula in the book. I was potty training a toddler, breastfeeding a newborn, settling into a new home after a move, and my eldest started Kindergarten. For the times I felt constrained to my house because of all of my mommy duties, I never missed any of your posts. I knew many of you in real life, and some of you I just knew as friends of friends. But during the months that people contributed here, I felt like I was connecting with old friends. And to be real, I was not constrained to my house. I had just started attending two small groups through church, in addition to the breastfeeding, potty training, house adjusting, and starting kindergarten.

And now our family is yet again in a time of transition. In the summer of 2010 we drove cross country to Massachusetts. My Dr. Romance has a one year assignment here. We anticipate our next move, yet to be announced, in the summer of 2011 to a new city, and a new home.

I have died little deaths with our moves. My attitude has always been, and will always be, I will go where you go, I will live in a hut in Africa. Still, I die little deaths of things that will never be. I keep them to myself. I dare not share them with my children, because I know my attitude sets the tone for our home. So I struggle with this whole concept of "home" and what my children will remember about "home." I die the death that they will not live in "the house they grew up in," that they will not have a neighborhood kid that has been their best friend since they were five, and on and on the list goes in my head. You can imagine.

I cannot say I do not like to move. I cannot say I love it. But I cannot say I mind. We have lived in amazing places over the course of our marriage. My kids have had some amazing life experiences, for their small ages of 6, 3, and 1. I could tell you all about them, but it might sound a a bit puffed up. Just know I am telling the truth.

So how then, do I build a home, when this whole idea of home is so transient and somewhat unpredictable for us? This book has gotten me to ponder such thoughts.

When I reflect on my own childhood, on the moments that were celebrated, on the memories I conjure up when I remember "home", I do not think back to a specific friend. I do not think of the house I grew up in, or that I lived in the same town from birth until I left for college. I remember long dinner discussions about days at school. I remember several side dishes to a rich meal. I remember my parents making albondiga soup. I remember burn marks on wooden spoons that stirred the avocado green skillet and vegetables chopped on the built-into-the-counter wooden cutting board. I remember my mother's moist chocolate cakes and oatmeal raisin cookies. I remember spring coming, and my dad in the back yard shaping our trees with his shears, and my mom sending me out to announce dinner was ready. I remember brownies made from scratch, and lasagna layered with love.

My kids are struggling with this concept of "home." Yes, we still own our home in San Diego. Yes it is ours but people are renting it, and yes, they are paying us to borrow it. No, we cannot swim in the pool in the backyard when we are home for Christmas vacation. Yes, it is still ours. Yes, when I say we are going "home" from Costco I mean the house we are renting in Massachusetts. No, you cannot jump on the couches because this is not our "home."

So how then, do I build a home for them?

Our now rented home in San Diego is large with multiple eating areas. Often my kids ate meals at the over sized island, longer than most dinner tables. This was mostly for my own need to multitask while they ate. But when we moved to Massachusetts, our 1928 Craftsman home only has one area for dining. This house is not even half the square feet of my home in California. But this new dining area has forced us to eat with one and only one option. We must all eat together staring into each other's eyeballs. It is a beautiful thing. I will never let my kids eat at a granite over sized island again. Well, so I say...

Building our family "home" when home is transient

This book I am reading now talks about Jesus and his thanksgiving at the Last Supper. But what strikes me is that there was a Last "Supper." There was a meal. Jesus knew time was short before he was betrayed. The next day he would go to the cross. He did not sit the disciples at an over sized center island, multitasking his last 24 hours. He sat with his friends intimately, around a table. He looked into their eyes. He dined with them. He spoke with them. He encouraged them. He shared his concerns, his heart, his expectations. There was safety around that meal.

This was my childhood "home." We sat around a dinner table many nights up until I left for college. It is the home I want for my sons. It is what I can give them right now. Together, Dr. Romance and I are demonstrating love, of listening to narratives of the day's events, and breathing safety around a dinner table. We talk about days gone by of babies, now years ago, of bite sized miracles and fountains of blessings in our every days. Everyone is there, all five of us, doing the very same things together. We are talking, laughing, giving thanks, and identifying blessings. We speak of important decisions, we ask questions, we make plans. We raise eyebrows, speak our minds, and offer apologies.  

Our "home," with meals here as the back drop for what is not transient, what is constant, what I will carry with me from this edifice into the next. Because those edifices are not "homes" on their own.


These thoughts motivated me to rise early yesterday and bake Banana Macadamia Nut muffins. I was remembering life on Oahu. I remembered how much I felt at home there. I was so caught up in the muffins, I had not even thought what else I would serve for breakfast. So in a rush job before church, I threw together mushroom and shrimp omelets after baking the muffins, and preparing my sugar cookie dough (another project). I had pre-sliced the mushrooms a few nights before, and the cilantro lime shrimp was from Costco. I served the plates and I shook my head because I had not thought through the pairing of my banana nut muffins and cilantro lime shrimp omelets. It was not exactly right. It was not perfect. But I am imperfect. And maybe my family knows that all too well. Regardless, my family was blessed. They loved it all around the breakfast table.

So now that I have confessed how I could not keep up as a contributor here, come back anyway and I will post my Banana Macadamia Nut muffin experience. I hope other contributors come back, too with their own recipes.

Too good to call Corn Bread

Wow - that stuff was amazing. Actually so amazing that we forgot to take a picture! And what an easy formula. I'm definitely going to add this to my traditional New Year's Day dinner of Black Eye Peas. I usually use the box mix (bad bad word for this blog) but box no longer! I did use the bacon grease on the bottom of my round cake pan. However that was the first time I ever baked bacon, I usually cook it stove top in pan. So I slightly overcooked it. The whole kernels of corn in the bread were fabulous and the sweetness of the honey was divine.

I did have one snafu in the formula which I quickly amended. I'm one of those kids in the 4th grade when you took the "Read all directions and questions first" test...I totally plowed thru the test and then got to the last question where it said you only had to answer the even questions. Is there anyone else out there like me? I was in a hurry (of course) so I looked over the ingredients on Thursday and made my list and then went to make the bread on Friday morning. However my cornmeal was supposed to be soaking in the buttermilk overnight. Hmmmm. But luckily it was 9AM so it soaked from then till 5 and still worked out great. The family gave raving reviews so this is a keeper.

March Madness with yeast

OK so excuse the corny title, but I couldn't resist. March has creeped in with lovely Miss Spring no where to be found (for those of you on the East Coast). But we power on with our formulas. Next stop is English Muffins. (We're skipping over Cranberry Walnut Celebration bread since that was an option in December) The English Muffin formula looks very fun, as the first line mentions how it's fun to do with kids. But based on my Ciabatta nightmares, I'm already aprehensive on those big holes. And don't forget to fork split your muffins as it mentions in the commentary.

My Family Never Ate Cornbread Like This

Earlier tonight I thought I was posting to my personal blog but I was posting here! I realized it as soon as I saw the published product. I deleted it right away but I was too late - everyone was emailed my post. I am so embarrassed! Can I just blame this on pregnancy brain?

Now for the corn bread - I grew up eating the dry, crusty corn bread. I lived in area where corn bread is very popular or at least it was. In the country it is also one word, cornbread, instead of two. It was also traditionally served with pinto beans. Don't knock it because it makes a good combination.

In college I discovered sweet, moist corn bread in restaurants and loved it. I had never heard of bacon on top of corn bread before this recipe but I love bacon so I was ready to try it.

I didn't grease the pan with bacon grease. Instead I used the vegetable oil and that looked pretty gross once I dumped the batter in there. Maybe I should have just used the grease.

Everyone at my house liked the corn bread. My son happily yelled out "Pepperoni!" when he first saw it.

I was so anxious to try a piece that I almost forgot to take a photo of the corn bread. I made this during the big snow storms and we mostly snacked on it.

Raisin Bread

Whoops, we're already on to corn bread! I forgot to link up to my rain bread post, so if you're still interested, check it out!

Good ole fashioned Corn Bread

As most of you assumed, Corn Bread is next and mmmmm mmmm does it look just down home delicious. (Please feel free to correct my pathetic Northern attempt at Southern talk) But, really anything with bacon looks amazing. The formula looks pretty straight forward. I'm wondering what you're all going to serve with this home cooked corn bread. I'm thinking about a chili recipe from Wegman's that I like. What are you cookin up and any comments on the formula or the bread?

A Very Easy Bread to Make

I didn't make the ciabatta bread even though I love ciabatta. After reading the posts about it and carefully reading the directions I realized that I wasn't up for the challenge and that is wasn't worth it to me. I know I am a wimp.

As the "snow-pocalypse" started yesterday, I started making Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread. This recipe was very easy and straight forward. When I added my "rinsed and drained" raisins, I had to blot the dough with a paper towel because of the extra water. I also started fearing that maybe I hadn't added the 3 1/2 cups of bread flour. I was afraid I had missed a cup or something because there were so many raisins and walnuts for what seemed like not much dough. After two hours the dough doubled and it looked like more dough than raisins and nuts. I did the cinnamon swirl in the middle of the loaves and I added the cinnamon sugar to the tops.


I gave a loaf to our next-door-neighbors and I kept a loaf. The kids had a piece for dessert last night and we all had some for breakfast this morning. I don't like it but I knew that I wouldn't like it. I don't like raisin bread; it is one of the few foods that I don't like. My kids loved it and I will be making it again for them just because it is easy.

Swirls!

Mmm, girls. This recipe is a keeper! Yesterday, I made the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread. It was a pretty straight forward recipe and easily made in a day. A few notes about the formula: I used whole milk, because I had that on hand and I opted not to put in the nuts. When kneading I had to add some more flour because it was a bit sticky. I also rinsed and drained my raisins so when I incorporated them into the dough I had to add more flour because of the dampness of the raisins. Maybe dry them off before you add them? Or I don't really know why you need to rinse them in the first place?

I read the commentary about adding the cinnamon swirl. Um, yes please! I think if you didn't add the swirl you would have to add more cinnamon into the initial formula. It only called for 1 1/4 tsp of cinnamon which doesn't really sound like enough for 2 loaves. But, I like cinnamon. The swirl adds 1/2 cup of sugar plus 2 more Tablespoons of cinnamon which really adds some good cinnamon flavor to the bread. I saved a bit of the cinnamon mix to add to the top of one loaf when it came out of the oven.

Rolling out the rectangle for the cinnamon swirl:

When I was growing up, the cinnamon raisin bread I remember had a nice sweet glaze on the top. So I mixed 1/4 cup of powdered sugar with about a 1/2 Tablespoon of milk and a drip of vanilla to make the glaze (if you want to glaze both loaves, double this). When the loaves came out of the oven, I brushed one with butter and sprinkled on the cinnamon mixture and then for the other one I spread on the glaze. I think I could have baked each one a little bit longer to get them darker, but the temp was right and they sounded hollow so I didn't want to over bake. I am keeping the glazed loaf for myself, I mean, for my family and the other loaf I am going to give to a friend.

My yummy loaves:

This morning I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and piece of cinnamon swirl toast with real butter. A great way to start out any day!

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

Our first bread for February is an oldie but goodie. Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread is our next formula for this chilly and snow filled month of February. I remember growing up with the Pepperidge Farm version of this bread without nuts. My mom would toast it and lather some thick butter on it - yum! The packaging is a little different now....but maybe this looks familiar to some of you?

So let's fire up those ovens and get fermenting ladies. I can't wait to take a stab at this old favorite. And don't forget - you can skip the raisins and the walnuts if you or your family prefers. And the commentary on the side has a good hint about a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust for the top of your warm bread.

Try and get your posts in by the 15th of February, before the next bread. I'm not the greatest at this either - key word - "try".

Happy Baking!

Ciabatta and Challah

Well, I got confused on the order and ended up making the Ciabatta bread first and then made the Challah. Not sure why.

So, first with the Ciabatta. I made this when my mom was out to visit. It was record low temps so perfect weather to fire up the oven. We looked at the picture of the Ciabatta and our mouths watered. It would go perfect with the Baked Ziti the next night. So we were off to make our Ciabatta. Um, well we attempted to make the Ciabatta. Buffy, I had the same problem as you. Not a hole to be found in the bread. The taste was excellent but it tasted and looked like a dense Italian loaf. I think I know why. Humidity, or lack thereof. It is extremely dry in our house because we have the heater and fireplace on. I didn't compensate for this. For the first time in this whole bread baking venture, my dough passed the windowpane test. Unfortunately, it wasn't supposed to pass the windowpane test. The dough was too dry and not wet enough especially when he says "when dealing with wet dough..." I needed to add more of the liquid. My suggestion would be to use all the liquid that it asks for and maybe then some? Especially if we are doing this bread in the winter. The summer when the humidity is 90% may be another story. I am even tempted to make it again and see if it would work out since I did it so far in advance. Teacher's pet? ;)

My "slippers" proofing on my floured dish towels:

My trusty sous chef (my mom) waving a towel at the smoke alarm for every time I had to open the oven to spray the oven walls with water. Not a bread to make at naptime or late at night!

The finished product (doesn't look a bit like the picture in the book):

The Challah experience was pretty uneventful. We liked the bread and it reminded me a bit of Brioche, maybe because of the amount of eggs in it. We had it for dinner one night with soup and then the kids and I had French Toast the other night. For French toast is was excellent. Nice and dense...it held up to the eggs in the French Toast. As for bread alone it was o.k. Dan said it kind of left him hanging. When he bit into the bread it was like great things were going to happen and then nothing. The bread was dense but the flavor was too light. It was just so-so.

Alright, so there you have the Plain Life's attempt at some Ciabatta and Challah, both of which left me wishing for some Brioche. Mmmm, now that was some good bread!

Holla for Challah!

I'll call it my first "botch"

Ciabatta gone bad is what happened. Very disappointing, but I guess this was bound to happen. It mixed, stretched, rested, fermented, proofed and baked just fine, however it was as dense as Italian white bread without any of those beautiful gaping holes in the piece being dipped in oil on pg. 137. My family ate it up, but it clearly wasn't ciabatta.

What went wrong........here are a few theories but I can't really pinpoint it.

• I mixed my poolish together rather quickly and perhaps I miss-measured?
• I went against my own theory for this book and used my mixer (with breaks for my lovely pink Kitchen Aid so I didn't burn her out)
• Perhaps something went wrong with my modified hearth baking. I used a steam pan and sprayed the walls of the oven for 3 intervals, but maybe it was not enough?

And I was so disappointed, I didn't even take a picture. My husband and daughter have been enjoying it for eggs in a basket. It's been good toast, but again - not Ciabatta. Anyone have success? I want to see those gaping air pockets!!!

Shame on Me

So the 15th of the month has flown by and your untrustworthy moderator has been MIA. I apologize and I hope you all moved to the next bread. If not, quick, you have 4 days to make it! It's (it was) time for some Ciabatta. And apparently I've Americanized this word and have been mispronouncing it. Cha-batta is the correct pronciation. There are three versions that can be made - poolish, big or wild mushroom. And don't forget to read your commentaries on the side.

Next bread.....February 1st!

Stretching It

After taking a three hour nap yesterday, I felt motivated enough stay up a little late and make Challah. This was a relatively easy bread to make. I wish I had read all of the directions before I started. I threw out the egg whites when I used the yolks in the dough only to realize later that I needed those egg whites. After I applied the egg wash I threw out the remaining only to realize that I needed to apply another egg wash right before baking. I skipped the second egg wash.

I did all the mixing and kneading in my Kitchen Aid and it worked great. The dough was a little short of the desired temperature but it passed the windowpane test.

I know I said that I refuse to weigh the ingredients because that reminded me of organic chemistry lab (which I hated with a passion) but when it comes to dividing dough into equal amounts for braiding or bagels I can see the value of a scale. I gave it my best estimate and tried to roll out the three boules. This was harder than I expected. I thought it would be like rolling out playdough. You know, you roll into a ball and then into a log. Instead my dough was very stretchy. It actually reminded me a little of Stretch Armstrong expect it quickly snapped back.

I did get it braided. It was a little fatter in the middle but it looked alright. Since I skipped the second egg wash, I also skipped the sesame seeds.

My bread baked in 40 minutes. I think I baked it a little too long. Usually I have to bake everything near the longest time recommended. The bread was 196° in the center after the minimal recommended time.
This morning we had some delicious French toast with maple syrup. I liked the bread but not enough to make it a second time. I have already made the bagels twice and I plan to make them again. My 4 year old son asked me twice in the last week when we were going to have cinnamon rolls again so I think I will be baking those soon. I also hope to get back to the anadama bread.

I can’t wait to make the ciabatta!

Challah Back

I can't say the word "Challah" in my house with out my husband yelling "Holla back". After about 10 times, I just called it "the braid" in order to save my sanity. Oh these men are so cute and yet...so funny.

I truly enjoyed making this bread and everyone enjoyed eating it. I have to say of the breads so far, I've been most proud of the Bagels and now the Challah. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I took this beauty out of the oven last night. And like the previous half-baked beauty said...it was so refreshing to have all the ingredients in your house. And just simple and delicious - eggs - flour - yeast - oil - salt and just a little bit of sugar. Love it!


I did stumble a bit at step #2. I've taken a personal oath to knead all my bread the old fashioned way in this book. Silly, but I've enjoyed it. However as hard as I tried, I could not get the bread to register at 80 degrees. 79 was my top and that was quite a workout. Now granted I was on Day 4 of P90X, so perhaps I'm a bit fatigued. But regardless it turned out ok. It was very fun to braid and my 6 year old had fun helping. She also loved how much it grew on the counter before going in the oven and then again in the oven. We had some overnight guests for the Challah debut and it made amazing French Toast this morning and then we had it again with soup this afternoon. EXCELLENT and definitely reminds me of God's Goodness!


(If you haven't made yours, make sure you use a thermometer when baking. Mine was done about 10 minutes early)

Can you say, "Challah (Holla!)"?

So, this is my third bread and my first time to post. Lemmeexplain...I just forget, or maybe I just put it off because it means that I have to write about my experience and to be honest, I'm out of the habit.

I'm amazed that I had all the ingredients in my house, no running out to get some random spice. It was great fun, although I worked through two naps and a lunch and just finished in time for "afternoon tea" with my neighbor. It was a busy day, but I reaped a great reward!

Sorry, no picuters of the process. My excuse: I'm so worried that I'm gonna mess something up that I have tunnel vision and completely forget to take pictures. I even got the camera out and put it next to the "formula book" but I repeat... I was seriously focused.

This is my stellar braiding job. It was a bit challenging; I had to braid and unbraid a couple of times but once I finished... viola! I had to stretch the bread while braiding, otherwise we'd of had a very large bun-like Challah roll.

I've always had trouble with the "window pane test." The dough really didn't pass the test but I've heard over kneading isn't good... it makes the flour angry. So, after 12 mins of my Kitchen Aid working overtime and the dough not passing the test, I decided to get on with it.

Take a blind eye to my dirty oven door; apparently I don't use a streak free cleaner. But my comment to the above picture is, "Don't you wish this picture was scratch and sniff." My house smelled amazing for the rest of the night, even our bedroom smelled like bread.

Mmmmm... I can't believe I actually waited one whole hour until I sliced into this. It's wonderful bread. Although, it's thicker that I've had it... say, from professional bakeries. Apparently, they are masters at the window pane test. It doesn't matter. It's still just plain yummy.

Oooops....next bread

Sorry folks for the delay on the posting of our next bread. Drum rolll......Challah - pronounced "Hallah". Luckily since I'm posting late, this is a straight forward formula with low maintenance ingredients. Challah has some amazing history as you'll read on page 133. It should be inspiring as we knead away....to know this is symbolic of God's goodness. AMEN to that!

Our family often buys Challah on the weekend at a local bread store specifically for the great French Toast it makes. Sure seems like our group likes French Toast so I thougth it would be fun to read about the etymology of the word. Not so much on tradition like some of other breads and good to see that IHOP has input on this history. Oh my!

Happy braiding and baking friends and I hope to post our next regularly scheduled bread on the 15th!

Brioche and Buns

Nothing like a 2 hour school delay to help me catch up on my baking blog! Hip hip hooray for snow! OK so now where was I - oh yes November.....

BRIOCHE
I let hubby choose which brioche he would like to visit our Thanksgiving table. I was surprised but he chose the Rich Man's Brioche. I thought my Italian stallion would go for the meat filled bread - Casatiello. As some of you have mentioned in previous blogs, I put butter on the table and it wasn't even touched. I did buy a six pack of those cute little tart pans to make buns for dinner and with the remaining dough I made two smaller boules. One of our guests for Thanksgiving appreciates food more than your average Joe so I was very excited when he took one bite and said it was the best bread he's ever had in his life - WOW! Now Peter Reinhart was not sitting at my table, but still, I'll take the compliment! Needless to say I sent him home with one of my proud boules and froze the other one for Christmas dinner. FYI - it didn't freeze great, it was almost below average for bread. But I'm looking forward to adding this to my Thanksgiving tradition!

CINNAMON ROLLS
I had hopes and dreams of making these for Christmas day, but the busy season got the best of me and I resorted to the traditional Monkey bread we usually make. It's very simple and low maintenance, which was what I needed Christmas Eve morning as I was looking at my list for the day. So I saved the Cinnamon rolls, as a lot of you did, for New Years Day. I have a recipe for cinnamon rolls that I have made several times in the past from our trip to Hawaii (pre-children). We were in Maui on a catamaran going from Maui to Lanai and they served us these AMAZING gooey cinnamon buns. They had a sweet citrus flavor to them and you definitely needed a few napkins. The captains wife was so kind and e-mailed me the recipe. Now it's actually on their website if you'd like to try it! For many years I had made these to bring to my in-laws house for our Christmas celebration. They live 7 hours up north so traveling with dough for 7 hours is not always easy. Needless to say, I haven't made them since the Cinnamon Bun Tragedy of 2002. Just this past Christmas holiday we were reminiscing on the tragedy of 02. The story goes.......I had diligently made two large trays of cinnamon buns at home. Husband packed them gently in a cooler and off we went on our 7 hour drive. It was Christmas morning and my sister in law gleefully went to the garage to retrieve the buns we had enjoyed for the previous several years to put in the already preheated oven. My poor sister in law walked back in with a look of tragedy on her face. Apparently when they were packed (ahem) they were tilted sideways. AND the ice packs some how melted (by the way they live in upstate NY so I'm still not sure how this happened in December) and the water leaked into the sideways dough balls (is the best way to describe what they looked like). Wow was that a buzz kill or what! We pulled out some Pillsbury (is that a bad word on this blog?) canned rolls and sulked over the loss. And that my friends is the cinnamon bun tragedy of 02. I haven't made them since - recovery I guess.

So after 7 years, I was ready to conquer this new recipe. I was very surprised at the lack of butter in this recipe and actually found a lot of the cinnamon sugar to fall out when I was cutting the buns from the log. I sprinkled it back in as much as possible. Did anyone else have this problem? I liked the dough. It was light, with a sweet taste but just not enough goo in my opinion. Perhaps next time I will make Peter's sticky buns. Oh and instead of using the fondant icing, I used the Hawaiian icing which has lemon and almond extract in it with macadamia nuts. It was nice and light and brought back the memory of sailing on the sea. We taped the ball dropping on New Year's Eve and on New Year's Day at noon we toasted with fresh squeezed OJ and the cinnamon buns with the kids. My six year old was sad she couldn't stay up till midnight and welcome 2010, so we did a reenactment for her sake....highly recommend this! So my overall review - so so - and I'll try sticky next time.

Sweet and Sticky Resolutions

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” — Mark Twain

Like many people, after the gluttony of the holidays, I resolved to eat better and exercise more. But on the second day of 2010, I decided to make cinnamon buns.

They were supposed to be baked in December, so really, I was just upholding an outstanding resolution. Right? Does this mean I’ve already broken my new year’s resolution? Perhaps. But I think I’ll just redefine “eat better” to mean eat quality, homemade foods lovingly prepared. Sounds good to me.. anywho, let’s see how it went, shall we?

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A Sweet Treat for Christmas Morning

I made the cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I thought they were relatively easily and very tasty. I did realize that I need to buy a sifter with a hand crank. My hand almost wasn’t able to squeeze my sifter handle enough times to sift four cups of powder sugar. I ended up not using all of the icing so I think next time I will cut the recipe in ½ or maybe ¾ for the icing. And there will be a next time! I think this might be a Christmas tradition and it would be a great treat to serve to visiting families and friends throughout the year.

My icing didn't look very pretty but it was yummy.