Mexican Sweet Bread (Conchas a.k.a Seashells)

I love Mexican Pan Dulce (Sweet Bread), it has such a light flavor, it's perfect with coffee, tea or better yet hot chocolate! I was born in El Salvador and since there were never any Salvadorean Bakeries in the areas where we lived in Canada and the U.S. we would always opt for the next best thing, Mexican Pan Dulce.  I've been eating this stuff for years and finally decided to try to make it for myself, this was my first attempt and although I didn't get the topping quite right, they still turned out amazing! This recipe comes from allrecipes.com and have great reviews!

Fluffy and ready to eat!

INGREDIENTS:
Bread:

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110 deg F)

1/2 cup evaporated milk

3/8 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping #1:

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping #2:  

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the yeast and warm water. Mix in the milk, 3/8 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter, salt, egg and half of the flour. Gradually mix in the remaining flour, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter to knead as soon as it pulls together enough.
2. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a large greased bowl, and turn the dough to coat. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Make the topping while the dough rises. In a medium bowl, beat 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until the mixture is the consistency of thick paste. Divide into two parts, and place one part in a separate bowl. Mix cinnamon into one half, and vanilla into the other half.** You can also add food coloring to make different colored conchas.
4. When the dough is done rising, cut into 12 even-sized pieces. Shape into balls, and place on a greased cookie sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. If using Topping #1: Divide each bowl of topping into 6 balls, and pat flat. Place circles of topping on top of the dough balls patting down lightly. Use a knife to cut grooves in the topping like a clam shell. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. ** I felt like I used too much topping since my conchas were quite small, the topping tended to grow quite a bit, so I would recommend using 1/2 a topping ball per pastry if your conchas are small.  If you want to try Topping #1, bake the bread with no topping
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
6. Decorating with Topping #1, as soon as you take the bread out of the oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle sugar on top and let dry, see pictures below.

PICTURES OF PROCESS:


Making the dough!



After the dough was left to rise for about 2 hrs I divided it into 12 balls

Making Topping #1! Orange in honor of Halloween or OSU ;)



Making them Clam looking



And they're done! Yum, yum!

Making some sugar ones with Topping #2!



Sugar ones are ready to eat! They kind of resemble Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) bread :)

Mexican Sweet Bread Feast!

Snickerdoodles !!

This recipe comes from the Joy of Baking and was found by my lovely fellow blogger, Nicolee.  The recipe is great as is but I like to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, I think it makes the texture of the cookies softer.  Either type of sugar you use the cookie will turn out great! My friends and I love making these during the holidays and packaging them up to give to our friends and family.  I made these today for my nephew Max, he came over to celebrate my mom's b-day and was really disappointed I didn't have cookies for him.  His pouting made me feel so guilty I decided to make him snickerdoodles since they are super easy and quick to make! The ingredients are also something I always have around and the cookies are delicious :)

Snickerdoodles! I love saying that, it makes me feel like a kid!

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar (or powdered sugar)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

COATING INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F (190 deg C) and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
3. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls (one to two hours).
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  **When baking cookies I love using parchment paper, it prevents from the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet and over cooking at the bottom.
5. Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls.
6. In a medium shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass or your fingers, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.
8. Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  **The cookies take exactly 8 mins to cook in my oven so just watch them carefully the first time so you don't over cook them and they become hard. 
9. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temp, for about 10 - 14 days.

 PICS OF PROCESS:

Coating + Cookie Dough



Rolling the dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Flattening out the cookies with my fingers!

Cooling on the rack, ready to eat!

Mary's NO FAIL Pie Crust ....

This is a recipe I got from my sister.  Her mother in-law is a great cook/baker and has a lot of recipes that have been in her family for decades and this is one of them.  This is literally a NO FAIL pie crust recipe.  I had tried many recipes before and my pie crust never turned out well until I tried this amazing recipe! It's simple, easy and always turns out well!  I think what makes the dough so manageable is the apple cider vinegar, try it for yourself and tell me what you think! 

**You can use this recipe for any kind of pie, I was making pumpkin pie so that's why my crust looks the way it does in the picture below.

Perfect Pie Crust ;)

 INGREDIENTS: (Makes 2 pie crusts)

3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 well beaten egg (I like to use the butter flavored kind)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
5-6 tbsp COLD water

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, beat the egg and shortening together
2. Add the flour, salt and apple cider vinegar
3. Next add water, 1 tbsp at a time until the dough forms into a ball.

NOTE: You can use a mixer to mix all the ingredients, using a dough hook or just some regular beaters.

PICS OF PROCESS:

The recipe is for two pie crusts, after making the dough I split it in half.  I wrap the half I am not rolling out in plastic so it doesn't dry out while I roll out the first crust.



The dough always sticks to my rolling pin so I like to use parchment paper to aid in the rolling out process.  It allows me to roll out the dough as thin as I like without it sticking to my rolling pin.



I place parchment paper on one half of the rolled out dough and fold it in half in order to make it easy to place onto my pin dish.

It's important to make sure there are not air pockets between the dough and the pie dish.   Cut-off the excess edges and decorate to your liking, I also like to prick the dough with a fork before I add the filling so it cooks evenly and doesn't bubble.

Baking a Pumpkin!! (Making Pumpkin Puree)

I was always afraid to bake my own pumpkin and I would usually always use Libby's Pumpkin from a CAN to make all of my pumpkin recipes like pumpkin pie, yum! But my massage therapist totally convinced me to make my own, she made it sound super easy so I decided to give it a go and it turned out perfect! It was so amazing and delicious, I can't wait for you guys to try it!



PUMPKIN PUREE!!!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 small cooking pumpkin (There are TWO different types of pumpkins the ones for jack-o-lanterns, which are BIG and not as sweet and small ones used for cooking that are sweet and tasty)

4 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 deg C
2. Wash the pumpkin in luke warm water
3. Cut the stem off the pumpkin
4. Cut the pumpkin in half
5. Place the pumpkin face down on a cookie sheet (yes, seeds and all)
6. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and pour the water on the cookie sheet, my cookie sheet was large enough to hold the 4 cups, if you are using a smaller cookie sheet just make sure the water covers about an 5-10 cm of the pumpkin this will prevent the pumpkin from drying out.
7. Bake in the oven for 60-70 minutes or until it is soft enough for you to poke a fork into the pumpkin. **NOTE: The time may varying depending on the size of your pumpkin so just keep an eye on it.
8. Let cool for 5-10 mins.  The pumpkin will be very soft and tender, so I would recommend lifting it off the cookie sheet with a spatula to a plate or cutting board.
9. Scoop out all the seeds and fibrous material from each pumpkin half and throw away or place it in your compost :)
10. Scoop the flesh out of each pumpkin half.
11. You can now puree the pumpkin flesh in the food processor or if it is soft enough you can just mix it with a spoon and use it as is. 

PICS OF THE PROCESS:

Chop, chop, chop!



Adding the water, this was probably the trickiest part!

 

After an hour of baking.... notice the fork pricks!



Scooping out the seeds! It was so soft, the skin was pretty much just peeling off it!

Pumpkin Puree! Blend in the food processor or use as is!


Making my own puree was really fun! Even though it was so simple to do I felt so accomplished doing it, it's nice to be able to stay away from the canned stuff and make my own puree.  Don't get me wrong, the canned puree is SUPER convenient and I will probably keep using it from time to time but the taste of freshly made puree is so much more delicious it's definitely worth making it from time to time.

Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnabon Style!

 

Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnabon Style!

 I'm really excited to share this recipe! I found it on a blog entitled "The Girl Who Ate Everything" and she found it at another website, anyway, I tried it today and it was really amazing! I've attempted to make cinnamon rolls before but the dough never turns out light enough, this recipe was really simple but it does take some time to make since you have to wait for the dough to rise but let me tell you, it is well worth it!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) (I actually measured the temp and it definitely makes a difference because you dissolve the yeast in it)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted ( use butter )
4 1/2 cups bread flour or regular flour (bread flour makes for a lighter cinnamon roll)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 pkg yeast (1/4 ounce)

FILLING:

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

ICING:
3 oz cream cheese, softened (Use real cream cheese, I tried it with fat free the first time and it definitely did not taste the same)
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt


Dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well. Knead dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. *I used my Kitchen-aid mixer with the dough hook attached to knead the dough and the dough still turned out very light :)

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Spray surface with cooking spray or sprinkle flour on it. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls (or more smaller rolls). Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch glass baking dish (make sure you use a glass dish so the rolls do not overcook at the bottom and remain moist). *I greased the dish with some butter to give them a lighter flavor, and sprinkled the bottom of the pan with a little bit of left over brownsugar and cinnamon mixture.  Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30-60 minutes. *At this point you can put them in the refrigerator for the next morning if you are doing them the night before.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes. *It actually took my rolls longer to bake, about 25 mins, I would check by inserting a toothpick between the rolls (in the doughiest part), if it comes out clean then they are done.

While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on while they are still warm so that the frosting melts into the roll. *You can also use store bought cream cheese frosting if you want to save some time.

PICTURES:

Time to make the dough!



That kinda looks like a rectangle right?



That's the dough after it grew for an hour, they were actually really small then they expanded!! Those are the finished rolls, I had to eat one! *note: I slightly over cooked mine, but they still tasted amazing :) I don't like my cinnamon roll too doughy, hehe

My favorite part, FROSTING!

Finally, time to eat!!