Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls

I thought for a long time about the title of this post.  It’s my Valentine’s Day recipe and I thought it should be something special, but in the end, I decided Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls sound so good, there’s no need for anything else. Not convinced?  What if I told you they’re topped with raspberry, cream cheese frosting?  Ah, now I’ve got your attention. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ¾ cup milk
• ¾ cup hot water
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 3 ½ cups flour
• 1 pkg yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt 

Mix together the hot water, milk, and butter.  You want to end up with something warm enough to melt the butter, but not hot.  Think warm bath temperature.  If it’s not warm enough, just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.  Set that aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.  Stir them to evenly distribute everything.

Pour in the warm milk mixture. 

Stir until it looks something like this, and then put it on the mixer with the dough hook. 

Knead for 5 – 7 minutes, until the dough is nice and smooth. The dough will be quite soft, and slightly tacky.  Form it into something resembling a ball and place it into a buttered bowl.  Put it top side down, then turn it and flip it over so that the whole surface gets lightly buttered from the bowl. 

Cover with a damp towel and allow it to rise.  You want it to double in size, which will probably take about an hour.

Sprinkle some flour over your work area. 

Dump out the dough and deflate it with your fingers or knuckles. 

It needs a few minutes to rest before you start rolling, so while it’s doing that, measure ½ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon into a container with a lid.  Mason jars are perfect if you have one. 

Lightly flour the top of your dough, and then roll it to about ½ inch thickness.  You should have a rectangle that’s something like 18 x 14 inches.

You need about 5 Tablespoons of butter.  Make sure it’s nice and soft.  You can probably accomplish that just by stirring it, but I actually had to throw mine into the microwave for 5 seconds.  You don’t want it to be melted, though.

Spread a thin layer over the dough, leaving about an inch along one of the long sides bare. 

Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar, again avoiding that last inch of dough. 

It won’t be perfect, but try to make it mostly even. 

Now for the raspberries.  Mine were huge, so I actually broke each one in half. 

Place them on top, leaving a little space between them. 

Hubby wasn’t sure about the raspberries, so I left some of mine as regular cinnamon rolls.  If you have picky eaters in your house, it’s an easy thing to do.  Now for the rolling.  Starting with the long edge nearest your (the edge without anything on it should be furthest from you) fold the dough over the first row of raspberries. 

Continue to roll the dough until you have an 18 inch log.  When you reach the bare edge, wet a paper towel and wipe it along dough. 

Pinch that together, sealing it to the side of the dough log. 

Beautiful.

Cut the log into one inch slices. 

Place them into a liberally buttered pan and press down gently on the top of each one.  (as you can see, there are only 12 here, I put the other 6 in another pan)

Cover them again with a damp towel.  You want them to become nice and puffy and begin to press up against one another.  That will probably take about 45 minutes.  Somehow, I didn’t get a picture of that.  I can’t even blame it on Elise, who was over visiting with me, because she reminded me repeatedly throughout the day to take pictures.  What can I say?  I’m scatter brained.  Anyway, preheat the oven to 350°, then bake them for 30 – 35 minutes.  They should be nice and golden on top. 

Turn them out onto a cooling rack so the melted sugary goodness on the bottom doesn’t glue them to the pan. 

Now for the delectable raspberry, cream cheese frosting. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 ½ cups raspberries
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ - 3 cups powdered sugar 

Pour some raspberries into a microwave safe bowl.  I poured in a whole bag, but it was more than I needed in the end, so I’d say about 1 ½ cups of berries should be plenty.  You can use either fresh or frozen for this. 

Cover with plastic wrap and then poke a couple of holes in the top. 

Microwave until the berries are nice and hot.  Mine took something like 90 seconds, but just watch them.

When they’re nice and soft and juicy, pour them into a mesh strainer set atop a saucepan or some other vessel.  Using a spoon or silicone spatula, stir and press them, forcing the juice through the strainer.

Continue working with it until the raspberries become quite thick and most of the juice is in the pan below.  Discard what’s left in the strainer. 

Place the raspberry sauce (the technical name is a coulis [pronounced koo-lee], if you’re interested) in a pan over medium-low heat.  Stirring constantly, bring it to a simmer.  If you start to get foam on top, throw in a small piece of butter.

Continue to simmer and stir until it has reduced by about half and has a syrupy consistency. 

A few seeds managed to sneak through the first strainer, so I poured it through an even finer mesh at this point. 

See, nice and smooth.  Set it aside to cool. 

Put the cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl.  Make sure they’re room temperature. 

Beat them until they’re nice and soft and well combined, then add the vanilla and salt. 

Mix, then scrape everything down, and mix again.  Sift in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. 

Frequently scrape down the sides of the bowl, and continue until you’ve added 2 ½ cups of powdered sugar.  Add 2 Tablespoons of the reduced raspberry stuff.  Make sure it’s no longer warm. 

When that is incorporated, taste the frosting and check its consistency.  Mine needed an additional ½ cup of powdered sugar.  It doesn’t need to be stiff like a buttercream for cake, but you don’t want it too runny either.  Look at that gorgeous color!   

Turn the cinnamon rolls back into pan they were baked in and cut them apart. 

Now slather on lot of raspberry, cream cheese goodness.  Yeah, I’ll never understand people who drizzle a tiny bit of icing on a cinnamon roll.  They’re meant to be gooey and sticky and messy. 

There you have it.  You will be blown away by how amazing these are.  Once again, homemade beats any box of chocolates or store bought treat. 

What do you do for Valentine’s Day?

One... Two... Three!!

It’s our birthday, and we’re turning 3! Of course, birthday means cake, right? I thought for a long time debating what kind of cake to make. Eventually, I decided tres leches cake was fitting for our third birthday.  After all, tres leches is three milks in English.  I grew up in Utah, which has a fairly large Hispanic population, so of course I’d heard of tres leches cake countless times.  Unfortunately, I’ve somehow neglected to ever actually taste it.  So I did lots of research and even got advice from someone who has made it before.  Then, I decided to ignore all of that and do my own thing.  Not sure what that says about me, but whatever, I’m very pleased with the end result. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 3 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons cream
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
•  
• ½ can sweetened condensed milk (about ⅔ cup)
• ½ can evaporated milk (about ¾ cup)
• ½ cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
•  
• 1 cup cream
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• Cinnamon 

I know, the ingredients list is all wonky, but you’ll understand why before we’re done.  Before you begin, make sure your eggs are room temperature.  I like to just pull mine out the night before, but if you forgot, you can do this little trick.  Also, butter an 8x8 pan and preheat the oven to 350°.  Separate the eggs, putting the yolks aside.

The whites can go right into your mixing bowl.  It’s important that no yolk ends up in your whites, though, so you might want to grab an extra bowl. 

Whip the egg whites until you get soft peaks. 

With the mixer running on medium-high speed, slowly add ½ cup sugar.

Stop and scrape everything down, then continue beating until you get stiff peaks.  It should be beautiful and shiny.  Move it to another bowl and set it aside. 

Up next are the egg yolks.  Now, because you did the whites first, you don’t have to clean the bowl before switching to the yolks.  If you had done the yolks first, you’d have to wash the bowl before putting the whites in.  The fat from the egg yolks will sabotage your egg whites and prevent them from getting the volume you need. 

Whip the yolks until they begin to lighten in color. 

Then slowly add ¼ cup sugar just like you did to the whites.  Continue beating them until they become a pale yellow and run in a ribbon from the spatula. 

Add ¼ cup oil (I used canola, but vegetable or safflower would be fine), 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 Tablespoons cream. 

Mix until that’s fully incorporated.  In another bowl, measure the flour, salt, and baking powder. 

Whisk them together and sift that over the egg yolk mixture. 

Stir just until the dry stuff is incorporated. 

Add a dollop of the egg whites.  This first bit you’ll just have to stir in.  When that’s mostly combined, add another dollop. 

Gently fold until it looks something like this before spooning in the next addition.  

Continue to add the egg whites, gently folding them in, until you’ve incorporated them all. 

Pour the luscious batter into your prepared pan. 

Level it out on the top and then into the oven.  350° for about 30 minutes.  It will be browned on the top and sides, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.  I know what you’re thinking, “Taneasha, that doesn’t look like a normal cake.”  Believe it or not, that’s a good thing.  We need a cake that is soft and absorbent, but won’t just turn to mush when it gets soaked with the ‘three milks’. 

Allow the cake to cool completely.  I actually let mine cool, then just covered it and left it overnight, which worked great.  When the cake is ready, use a fork to pierce the top of it. 

Don’t poke all the way to the bottom, just in the top half is fine.  Make sure you go over the entire surface, though, all the way to the edges. 

In another vessel, combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, half and half, and vanilla.  I like to use a large measuring cup for stuff like this because it pours well. 

Stir it all together, then slowly pour the mixture over the cake. 

Try to soak the cake as evenly as possible, making sure you get the edges. 

You’re probably going to want to just grab a spoon and dig in, but it’s not ready yet.  Cover the cake and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.  It needs time to get nice and cold and to absorb all that sweet, milky goodness.  When it’s ready, you can start on the whipped cream for the top.  Pour the heavy cream into a bowl.  (If you put the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes before you start, the cream will whip more quickly.)

Beat the cream until it’s nice and frothy, then sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla. 

Continue to whip until the cream is fairly stiff.  Be careful not to go too far, or you’ll end up with sweet butter.  You want it to be a nice, spreadable consistency that will hold its shape when you cut the cake. 

Schplop it all on top of the cake. 

Spread it to the edges.  An offset spatula is the perfect tool for this job. 

Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.  I may have gotten a little carried away with it, but you get the idea. 

Back into the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.  This cake is really hard to describe.  The words you might think to use just don’t do it justice.  It is wet, but not in a ‘I just spilled a glass of milk over my cake’ kind of way.  It’s tender, delicate, and sweet with the delicious warmth of vanilla and cinnamon.  I guess I’ll just go with my usual, fabulous.  That, it is, and more than fitting for our third birthday. 

 

Update on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 4:40PM by Taneasha

By the way, use those extra half cans of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk to whip up an extra batch of the three milks mixture.  Then just pop it into the freezer.  If you don't want to make a second tres leches cake right away, I'll post another way to use the mixture in the next couple fo weeks.