Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Congratulations to my cousin on getting married this past weekend. Due to my limited diet, I was only able to eat certain items at dinner. Luckily it was buffet style so I was able to pick and choose. The best thing I ate at dinner was surprisingly...the dinner rolls! The rolls were warm, sweet, buttery, and pillowy soft. You know what that means...I fell weak at the knees. Too bad I discovered how amazing they were after I ate half a plate worth of rich mashed potatoes and a chicken cutlet. It may not sound like a lot but it is when the plate is bigger than the size of my head...and probably yours too! Anyways, the dinner rolls were my inspiration for this blog entry.

As I savored each bite of the dinner rolls, I began pondering how I could reproduce this at home. After hypothesizing what makes these rolls so delicious, random ingredients starting popping into my head like buttermilk.  I did some research on the internet to find a buttermilk dinner roll recipe that incorporated butter and sugar to see if my prediction was correct.

The buttermilk dinner rolls turned out deliciously fabulous! Granted it wasn't identical to the ones I had at the wedding but they were pretty close. Usually when I make bread, it's more of the crustier type of bread, which I don't mind but I always wondered how to make soft dinner rolls. I finally discovered the secret...buttermilk! The rolls were soft and fluffy because of the buttermilk and I was surprised how soft and fluffy the rolls remained the next day. The rolls had great subtle flavors (my preference) but my family added butter or cream cheese to the rolls for more flavor. While I like the recipe, I am going to make some adjustments the next time to emulate the "wedding rolls" by adding more sugar, salt, and butter so the rolls are even more scrumptious. I'm sure you'll hear about that adventure...until then, enjoy these rolls!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Pound Cake Cupcakes

 

I am so excited to share this recipe with you! Before I do, I have a question to ask: do you believe in such a thing called healthier pound cake or is it an oxymoron? I guess that's debatable but if there is such as a healthier pound cake, this is the recipe. When I say healthier, I mean in a good way of course!

What do I mean exactly? Well, I anticipated these pound cake cupcakes to have a rich buttrery taste that pound cake is notorious for but...it was different. Before I eat any of my baked goods, I always analyze how it looks and smell before I taste. So while I could smell and taste the butter, there were many other things going on in my mouth. First, I got a taste of the melted chocolate and then the ever-present coffee flavor (but not overwhelming). Lastly, I tasted wheat...yes, from the wheat flour! This is what made the cupcakes seem healthier. The taste was reminiscent of my Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Oat Bran Muffins. Whether that's a good thing (that's your discretion), it made the pound cake cupcake less guilty to eat. It you're skeptical about the legitimacy of this recipe because of the "healthy" factor, I inhaled down my cupcake in two seconds without thinking about the amount of butter in it. That's how good I thought it was.

I began questioning whether this recipe I found was indeed a "pound cake" recipe and after comparing with other pound cake recipes, I confirmed this recipe to be a pound cake...it just uses less butter than most  recipes. I found this recipe on Passionate About Baking which I followed; however, I made a slight change in the amount of butter (by one tablespoon) and I made it into cupcakes. Check out Passionate About Baking for pretty pictures of Chocolate Chip Coffee Pound Cake (cake version).

Overall, I love this recipe. Even though it did not come out how I expected in terms of taste, it turned out to be better! Bored of plain pound cake? Give this recipe a try. Writing this has gotten me a little hungry. I think I know what will satisfy this sudden hunger urge I have (Hint: see picture below)! One for me and...one for you!

Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies

Honestly, there's nothing better than a light, crisp, buttery flavored cookie. Yes, I'm talking about the butter cookie. While these cookies don't necessary trim down the waistline, it's good to indulge every once in awhile! There is something attractive about the butter flavor as these cookies bake in the oven. On top of the buttery goodness, these cookies are rolled in a cinnamon sugar before they hit the oven!

These cookies are easy to make, partially because the main ingredient is butter but there is lot that can be done with a simple butter cookie, like rolling it in cinnamon sugar. Also, you can always guarantee these cookies to be gone a few hours after they come out of the oven.

I got this recipe from the Mrs. Field's Cookbook and I must say everything I make from this book is delectable. I first came across this book, or part of this book, from my mom's recipe collection where she baked her favorite chocolate chip cookies from. I've looked through the book once but I there were so many recipes I wanted, I was better off buying the whole book. So a year ago, my mom and I were browsing a thrift store and there it was, Mrs. Fields cookbook! I immediately snatched it off the shelf and paid a measly five dollars! All I can say, best investment of my life!

Matcha (Green Tea) Cupcakes

A few months ago, I was engaging in my usual blog browsing and came across many recipes using matcha powder. The recipes intrigued me but the only problem was I didn't have any matcha powder. Since I frequent Asian supermarkets, I didn't think it was a big deal to grab some matcha powder the next time I went. Little did I know I would run into a problem...I couldn't read the labels. Many of the labels were in Japanese and the ones I could read, did not specify "powder" on the container. I got really confused and left the market sans matcha powder. Finally on vacation in L.A. last December, I stopped by a Japanese market and was able to get some help in finding matcha. When I brought my matcha back home, I tucked it away in my pantry and haven't taken it out...until now!

Matcha powder is essentially green tea but in a fine powder form. This is great for making things "green tea" flavored such as in ice cream, mochi, cakes, cookies, etc. Or...you can use it for its intended purpose to make green tea. Either way, if you are a green tea lover (which I have grown to be in the last month), grab some matcha powder the next time you go to an Asian supermarket. There are so many things you can use flavor it with.

Earlier this year, I made Orange Cupcakes, and it was the first time I successfully made cupcakes with an airy-ness to it. I decided to adapt the recipe to be matcha-y instead of orange-y. Was I successful in making these cupcakes airy?

Y-U-M-Blurb: Mind Over Batter

Are Sprinkles Cupcakes good? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Overrated? Yes. Got competition? Yes!

I tried Mind Over Batter for the first time. While it seems like they only sell cupcakes, they have a great selection of ice cream and cake balls. The aroma as I walked in reminded me of this homemade ice cream shop I frequently visited growing up. The place had a warm feeling and I could smell the fresh baked cupcakes emanating from the kitchen! I was surprised by the selection of 17 cupcake flavors. This made it difficult for me to choose one flavor to try. Because it's a small business, they make a few of each flavors so once it's gone, it's gone...unless it's early in the day because they can bake up another batch and hopefully sell it before closing.

As my eyes shifted up and down the line at the vast selection Mind Over Batter had to offer, I couldn't resist the appearance of the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. Mind you, the name was much more creative than chocolate peanut butter. It was called Reece-with-a-spoon! How adorable is that? It was a chocolate cupcake batter with crumbled Reese's peanut butter on top with a drizzle of chocolate. Unfortunately, I was too excited to dig into the cupcake that I don't have a picture to show the decadent cupcake but take my word, it was delicious! The cupcake was moist, flavorful, and had a great texture. On top of that, there were surprise chocolate chips throughout the batter that made the cupcake experience so much more thrilling. Speaking of "the cupcake experience," cupcakes are boxed in a cute hot pink box with a cupcake holder so it doesn't slide and move around inside the box. So, how did I rate Mind Over Batter?

Oat Crazy: Zucchini Oat Bran Muffins

Yes, I'm on an oat bran craze...and a healthy craze. I have finally baked enough to understand what is needed in order to make a successful bake good. So my newest obsession is making recipes tasty and healthy at the same time. This recipe is similar to my oat bran muffins but I incorporated oat bran into a zucchini muffin recipe instead of a incorporating zucchini in an oat bran muffin recipe...if that makes sense. I used a calorie counter website and after calculating, each muffin is 134 calories! How did I do it? I used a minimal amount of fat (oil) and replaced most of it with applesauce which will keep the muffins moist. Also, I incorporated oat bran to give you additional nutrition like fiber. While the zucchini provides moisture and flavor to the muffins, the cinnamon makes the muffins tasty and a little addictive. I love this recipe because not only is the calorie count low, the muffins didn't taste healthy. My sister asked me what I put in the muffins to make them healthy because they didn't taste "healthy" to her. That only means one word: success!

Next time, I will modify is the amount of sugar because it is too high for a healthy muffin like this. I might also play with the baking powder proportion because I felt like the muffins could be fluffier. Also, my zucchini was not fine enough. I didn't mind because I like the chunks throughout the batter but I think I will make it finer just to compare.

Meltables (aka butter cookie)

There is nothing better than a melt-in-your-mouth type of cookie! Even though you're probably thinking about all the butter you are eating in this little morsel, sometimes it's alright! The key to making these cookies melt in your mouth is not the butter...surprisingly! While this is essentially you're standard butter/shortbread-like cookie, this recipe incorporates cornstarch which makes the cookies lighter and airy - all of which makes the cookies disintegrate once it hits your tongue. Can you ask for anything more? I think not!

These cookies are great for beginners. It requires minimal ingredients, no eggs, and fun because you get to roll the dough into balls and dip into powdered sugar when they come out of the oven. If you are one of those cookie batter eaters, this is not necessary one of those yummy batters. Since it's not baked yet, the dough has a chalky taste to it from the cornstarch. Don't worry, it practically feels like you're eating cookie dough after you bake the cookies because they are so light! The cookies have a rich butter taste so make sure to use high quality butter. I think next time, I'll incorporate some almond extract just to spice things up a little.Try these simple, quick, and satisfying cookie recipes!