Dessert Day - the ANZUS edition

That's right, yesterday was Dessert Day. And this time, Deidre and I had an extra special guest - my BFF Kat, who's in Melbourne for a week! And FINE, she's still Australian. But she's been living in New Zealand for like a millionty years now, and I really wanted an excuse to refer to us as the ANZUS trio...

ANYWAY.

The day started with me determined to get to the meeting point before the others. I left home 15 minutes before we were due to meet - said meeting point is about two minutes walk from my house - and arrived to find both Deidre and Kat already there. Obviously, my reaction was "DAMMIT!!!", because I was so determined to not do my usual "leave the house when Deidre texts me to say she's already there" routine. Womp womp.

We were typically vague about what we were actually going to make, and did the usual stand-around-in-the-supermarket-Googling-recipes-on-our-phones routine. We ended up deciding on cinnamon rolls and a chocolate swiss roll. After some Googling, we decided on Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and Smitten Kitchen's naturally gluten free chocolate roll cake.

There was also an awkward moment in which I was totally in the way and a voice behind me said "Excuse me, ladies", and I turned around to see two police officers with a shopping trolley, and my immediate reaction was "OH GOD, WHAT DID I DO???" rather than "Oh, they can't get past me". Awkwardness followed, because OBVIOUSLY.

ANYWAY.

We started by making the roll dough (we only made a half quantity because 50 cinnamon rolls = TOO MANY CINNAMON ROLLS), except we didn't have the necessary enormous saucepan, so we tipped the liquid into the many cups of flour rather than the other way around. This may explain why it didn't rise as much as expected. Or it could be because my yeast is a bit shit and needs replacing... Either that or gluten free stuff just doesn't rise the way it should...

So we left the dough to think about what it had done, and got on with making the swiss roll. It was surprisingly easy, right up until the point where we had to take it out of the tin and roll it up in a wet tea towel to cool. Then there was much "Oh God"-ing and "WHAT IF IT BREAKS??"-ing, but luckily Kat's argument that it would be delicious even in crumb form was a convincing one and we pressed on successfully.

Then it was time to assemble the cinnamon rolls. We cut back quite dramatically on the quantity of butter we used, because REASONS, and mixed the sugar and cinnamon together before sprinkling it on:

Then it was time to roll! It was less stressful than anticipated, possibly because we'd rolled the dough out on baking paper, so we were able to use that to get us started:

Then it was into the pan! I think we were all a little hesitant about whether or not they'd work, because they still weren't doing the whole rising thing very well despite the presence of both yeast AND baking powder. But we ploughed on regardless:

While they were in the oven, we whipped up something that vaguely resembled the glaze that Pioneer Woman's recipe called for. We skimped on the butter again, used milk instead of coffee, and used maple syrup instead of maple flavouring. Once they were out of the oven, we drizzled the glaze over the top:

Then it was time for the most terrifying part of the day - unrolling, filling, and rerolling the swiss roll. It was pretty much as scary as anticipated, especially when a couple of cracks developed. But we managed get it assembled without the entire thing falling apart - WIN! (The tea towel seemed appropriate, given Kat's presence)

And so to the verdicts:
- The cinnamon rolls are pretty damned tasty, but had a slight gluten free aftertaste. They were definitely better warm - the cooler they are, the more they taste like a big greasy gluten free mess.
- The chocolate swiss roll? AMAZING. I might reduce the amount of cream next time because there was more cream than cake involved. But it was fabulous - light and fluffy and completely and utterly delicious. My mum rated it 25 out of 10, which gives you some indication of how tasty it was. Basically, y'all should go make one immediately.

Which one would you go for?

K xx

Maple syrup muffins

Alright. I think I've been pretty good at posting un-baking related stuff of late, so I don't think I'm breaking any of my self-imposed rules here! I made these a couple of weeks ago. The recipe is from a muffin book that Mum bought when we were living in Toronto a hundred million years ago. I can't remember what it's called (because I wrote the recipes out by hand when I moved to Canberra), but it had some incredible recipes in there, including chocolate cheesecake muffins, muffins that taste like donuts, and pina colada muffins.

I figured I'd make these because I've had a bottle of maple syrup languishing in the back of the fridge since the start of the year. And that's just not right. So, let's make some muffins. Here's what you'll need:


Start with 1/4 cup of margarine. Yes, margarine. Mine is olive oil based, and it didn't cause any problems in the flavour of the end product, so I figure pretty much any margarine will work fine!

Take 1/2 cup white sugar. I used caster sugar, cos that's all I had!

Then add 1 teaspoon of salt. I think I'd probably reduce this the next time I make them - they had a bit of a salty aftertaste...

Cream it all together with an electric mixer.

Sift in 1.25 cups plain flour:

Add 2 teaspoons baking powder:

And, according to the recipe, you should now blend the flour into the margarine/sugar mixture with a pastry cutter. But I didn't read it properly. Of course... So I added the 3/4 cup of rolled oats a wee bit early.

It really didn't matter. I guess if you had a pastry cutter, it might chop up the oats a bit. But all I had was two forks, and they didn't do much damage to the uncooked oats!

Next, place 1/2 cup milk...

...and 1/2 cup maple syrup (the REAL stuff, not that horrible maple flavoured corn syrup stuff)...

...into a small bowl, and mix to combine. Looks like white coffee, but tastes SO much better!

Pour the milk and syrup mixture over the dry ingredients:

And stir until just combined:

Grease a muffin tin (I took the lazy option and used spray oil):

Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cups:

And bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

After about 5 minutes, turn the muffins onto a cooling rack. While they're cooling, make the glaze. Here's what you'll need:

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a small bowl:

Add 1 tablespoon maple syrup to the melted butter:

Then take 1/2 cup of icing sugar:

And mix to combine:

Mmmmm, delicious...

Then spread the glaze over the muffins while they're still warm:

According to the book that I've forgotten the name of, you should never serve a cold muffin. Apparently it's a crime... So stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so before you serve them!

Oops. Sorry. Couldn't resist!

Enjoy!!

K xx