The cinnamon rolls I grew up on were not the yeasty kind that you will find in shopping malls, and airport kiosks. They were quick and easy, from scratch and delicious. In fact I have always thought they were a bazillion times more delicious than any you can buy.
My mother used to use biscuit dough, slather it with soft butter, sprinkle on cinamon sugar and then roll it up, cutting it into slices and baking them until they were crisp and golden brown. Easy peasy and done in half an hour.
Sometimes she would add raisins. There was never any icing. We didn't mind in the least. These were a rare treat and we treated them as such!
I used to make them for my children also, as a bedtime snack every now and then. They loved them. I never iced them either. The idea of icing them never occured to me really. They loved them just as they were, and I always popped in plenty of raisins and sometimes chopped nuts. Once in a blue moon, maybe chocolate chips.
To this day I prefer these "Quick" bread, biscuit dough, cinnamon rolls more than any other kind.
We are all staying in now. We are living in perilous times. Who would have thunk it . . . this life we are living at the moment is the stuff of "disaster movies." Something which we have enjoyed being enertained by, but never with the concept that it could really happen to us. If we are waiting for Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone or Batman to swoop in and save the day . . . we are in for a big disappointment.
Somehow when this is actually happening in real life, to the whole world, and to you . . . that takes the fun out of it. It is no longer entertainment. Its very real and not in the least fun to watch, or experience or even think about.
We have not been out of our house in four weeks now. And I am sure there are many of you out there experiencing the same. It stopped being fun on the first day. If anyone deserves a treat WE do!
These Cinnamon Roll Waffles are a treat that many of us can enjoy, even the cook! They are simple, quick, easy and delicious.
They are a tasty "riff" on my mother's cinnamon rolls of old. Baked in an electric waffle iron, until the edges are all moreishly crisp . . . and riddled with the flavour of plenty cinnamon butter
With crisp little dimples, just perfect for hugging that sweet vanilla glaze . . .
You could of course double the recipe, making an even dozen, but I can promise you that the six are plenty satisfying . . . as satisfying a treat that ever was and it won't use up too much of your flour.
Mom used shortening in her dough. I use butter which makes them incredibly flaky and just rich enough to wake you up in the middle of the night, still thinking about them . . .
These are the perfect treat for young and old alike. As comfortable with ice cold glasses of milk as they are with hot cuppas . . .
The recipe uses only 1 cup of your precious flour. (I don't know about you, but my flour has become precious now.) Not a lot of sugar . . . and yes butter both in the dough and the filling . . .
But this is meant to be a treat. Something to help divert our attention away from what's happening all around us at the moment. I have stopped listening to the news, except for a brief cursory listen in the morning. Its wise to stay informed, but not wise to drown in it.
We will get through this to the other end. I have no doubt. It might take some time, but along the way we can enjoy things like this, which will help to make our days a little bit sweeter.
My waffle baker makes heart shaped waffles. These waffles were perfect broke into four at their natural creases . . . which made them the perfect size for dunking.
Yield: 6
Easy Cinnamon Roll Waffles
Golden brown and crusty outside, meltingly tender inside, riddled with cinnamon and sweetly glazed. What's not to like! You will need an electric waffle iron for these.
Ingredients:
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 TBS sugar
- 2 ounces cold butter cut into bits (1/4 cup)
- 80ml whole milk (1/3 cup)
For the cinnamon filling:
- 2 ounces butter softened (1/4 cup)
- 3 TBS sugar
- 1 TBS ground cinnamon (can use less, it all depends on your love of cinnamon)
For the glaze:
- 65g icing sugar (1/2 cup)
- few drops vanilla
- milk to thin
Instructions:
How to cook Easy Cinnamon Roll Waffles
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Drop in the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk all at once and stur just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead about 14 times. Roll out to a rectangle about 6 inches wide and 9 inches long, and about 1/3 of an inch thick.
- Cream together the butter, sugar and ground cinnamon. Spread this thickly over the rolled out dough to cover. Roll the dough up tightly from one long edge to the other. Using a sharp knife cut into 6 (1 1/2-inch thick) slices crosswise.
- Heat your waffle iron. Working with one slice at a time, place the slices into the waffle iron and press down. Leave to bake for 4 to 5 minutes at which time they should be golden brown, crisp on the edges and cooked through. Remove and keep warm while you bake the remainig ones.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, vanilla and enough milk to give you a thickish drizzle icing. Drizzle this over the warm waffles. These are fantastic served warm or cold.
Please stay safe. Stay home if you can, as much as possible. Don't take any chances when you are out and about. My prayers are with the world. I might not be able to do much in the scheme of things, but if I can stay home, help to keep this horrible virus from spreading unecessarily, and introduce you to yum yums to help to pass the time, stretch your food cupboard and bring a bit of joy in the process, then that's my goal.
NOTE: An easy way to clean your waffle iron is to take two fairly wet pieces of paper towel and place them into the waffle while it is still fairly hot. Let it sit while you are enjoying your waffles and then when you are done, it will have steamed anything that might be stuck away from the iron and you can simply wipe them clean.
One thing I am enjoying about not being able to get out and about is the opportunity I am having to stretch the food I have in delicious ways. Exploring new ways of using it, and then sharing that with you, my readers.
I was recently sent some nice olive oil, bottled tomatoes and pasta from an online supplier, Cibilia, purveyors of fine Italian foods. I used some of the things they sent me to create this delicious recipe I am sharing today.
The olive oil is an Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Mono Varietal Peranzana from Apulia produced using only Organic Olives harvested in the family estate of Ramieri Rosanna mother of Amuruso Francesco, a guy in his 20s’ with a passion for agriculture. The estate is only 30 hectares and the bottl I received caame from their 2019 harvest.
The Peranzana variety of olives is a typical olive grown in the Apulia region. Apulia is the biggest producer of Olive Oil in Italy. After the harvesting, the olives go to crushing mill and get processed in less than 4 hours to make sure that the Olive Oil produced is at the best.
In a dish where you are using very few ingredients, it helps to make sure that what you are using is the best that you can get.
You really want to use good tomatoes with this recipe as well. They are one of the
main ingredients so it only makes sense that you would want to use the
best that you can find. Today I used Buonassai Pomodoro Pelato,
Bio in Salsa. These are fabulously delicious Italian tomatoes.
The pasta I used was a ten year out of date, wagon wheel pasta. Ideally you should use a large macaroni, but I really wanted to get this pasta used up. Truth be told, even though it was so out of date, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
One thing about being in lock down, you need to be able to make good use of the things you have in the house and this recipe is a perfect example of that. I was fortunate enough the other day to have a friend drop off some fresh salad ingredients on our doorstep along with a big bag of spinach and some nice looking fresh tomatoes.
All were used in this delicious recipe which I found in one of my cookbooks entitled Lost Recipes, meals to share with friends, by the late Marion Cunningham.
I have always loved Marion's recipes. She was the author of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which I have been using since the 1970's. I have worn out three copies of that one.
This is a great recipe for the times we are living in. The bottom of a casserole dish oiled with some olive oil is lined with sliced fresh tomatoes which are seasoned.
This then gets topped with a mix of torn fresh spinach and chopped parsley. True confessions here. I had to use dry parsley because it is all I have.
The crushed macaroni gets layed out on top of this and then you add another layer of fresh spinach and parsley.
Finally you top the whole thing with a quantity of tomatoes preserved in tomato juice. Marion called for stewed tomatoes. We don't get those here in the UK, so I just used a jar of those really great Italian tomatoes.
A mix of water, good olive oil and garlic gets poured over everything and here is where I got fancy with the dish. I added a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. It was a wise choice I think. Tightly covered with some aluminium foil, the casserole bakes in a moderate oven for about an hour at which time the macaroni get almost creamy and the vegetables cook beautifully, all of the flavours working together to create something which is incredibly delicious and satisfying.
I served it with a mixed salad that I made on the side and some garlic bread fingers, also homemade.
Crushed Macaroni & Vegetables
Yield: 4
From the recipe files of Marion Cunningham, who got it from an old Italian cookery book published in Lucca, Italy. The end result is a really flavourful dish wih bits of creamy macaroni tasting of garlic and olive oil.
Ingredients:
- 60ml olive oil (1/4 cup)
- 80ml water (1/3 cup)
- 3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 175g large macaroni (1 1/2 cups) crushed with a rolling pin
- 3 ripe tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 450g fresh spinach, washed and de-stemmed (2 cups, tightly packed)
- 15g fresh parsley, chopped (1/2 cup)
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes in juice (1 1/2 cups), undrained
- balsamic vinegar to drizzle
- grated Parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions:
How to cook Crushed Macaroni & Vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish with 2 tsp of the olive oil.
- Whisk the remaining olive oil together with the water and garlic. Set aside.
- Scatter the macaroni over half of a large clean tea towel. Fold the other half of the towel over it. Crush it with a rolling pin or pound until it is in small pieces.
- Arrange the sliced tomatoes in the bottom of the oiled casserole dish. Season with salt and black pepper generously. Tear up the spinach and mix it together with the parsley. Spread half of it over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the crushed macaroni and then cover with the remaining spinach and parsley. Spread the canned tomatoes over top of everything. Drizzle wih some balsamic vinegar. Whisk the water/oil/garlic mixture again and pour this over everything evenly. Cover tighty with aluminium foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for one hour, or until the macaroni is tender. Spoon onto heated plates to serve and pass the Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.
I love recipes like this. They are like hidden gems, that might go unnoticed and forgotten were it not for the likes of people like Marion Cunningham who made it her goal to bring them to light and share them with the world. This was quite simply delicious.
We were very grateful to have been able to get our hands on a fruit and vegetable box last week. It was filled with all sorts of lovely things and I have been making sure that I make the most of everything that was in the box.
I have been enjoying eating the apples out of hand, and Todd has been enjoying the bananas. One night I made us a cut fruit salad with some of the bananas, some cut up oranges, a kiwi and some coconut.
And of course we have been enjoying the potatoes, onions, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower in the box. I still have parsnips and a butternut squash to make use of. Not a problem.
There was a quantity of Conference pears, which can be awfully hard to eat out of hand, but they are beautiful for cooking with as they hold their shape well.
Conference pears are a medium-sized pear with an elongated bottle aand are quite similar in appearance to the 'Bosc pear'. A table pear, it is suitable for fresh-cut processing. The skin is thick greenish-brown, becoming pale yellow when ripe. The flesh is white, but turns pale yellow when the pear is ripe. The texture is very fine and soft, and the flavour is sweet. They have always reminded me of Russet Apples in a way.
They are beautiful roasted! Roasting softens them up nicely and really enhances their beautiful pear flavour.
This is not so much a recipe as it is a technique which you can apply to any quantity of the hard fleshed fruit. In fact you really want hard fruits for this as they stand up better in the roasting, and hold their shapes well.
To do this I peel the fruit and then I scoop out the seed portion of the fruit using a metal measuring spoon, or a melon baller if you have one. This leaves a little bowl shape, which is perfect for filling with things . . . like little nobs of butter . . .
I lay them out on a baking sheet, lined with paper, cut side up and do just that. Pop a little knob of cold butter into each bowl.
It is probably not more more than 1/4 tsp. We are awfully fond of the flavours of cinnamon and cardamom and so we also sprinkle a modicum of ground cinnamon and ground cardamom over each pear half. I finish them off with a small drizzle of honey and then I roast them in a hot oven . . .
It doesn't take too long . . . only about 20 minutes or so. I start them cut side up, roast for a bit, then flip them over, roast for a bit longer, and then I flip them and cook them just for a little while longer until they are just slightly caramelised and beautifully sticky. These are gorgeous served with a nice dollop of thick yogurt or some cream. Ice cream would also be very nice.
Roasted Pears with Honey, Cinnamon & Cardamom
Yield: Variable
This is not so much a recipe as it is a technique. Its great for when you end up with fruit that is rock hard. These always turn out perfect.
Ingredients:
- fresh pears
- honey
- butter
- ground cinnamon and cardamom
To serve:
- thick plain yogurt, or pouring cream
- vanilla bean ice cream
Instructions:
How to cook Roasted Pears with Honey, Cinnamon & Cardamom
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with some baking paper.
- Peel your pears and cut them in half lengthways. Using a metal teaspoon or melon baller scoop out the seeds of each half and discard. I also like to trim off the blossom end, although I do leave on the stems for asthetic purposes.
- Place the pears cut side up on the baking tray. Put a little dab of butter into the hollow in each pear half. Sprinkle with each with some cardamom and cinnamon and then drizzle with honey.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, flip over and roast for a further 10 minutes. Flip again and roast until the pears are sweetly glazed, soft and golden.
- Serve warm with some of the juices spooned over top and a dollop of yogurt or some cream, or even a scoop of vanilla ice cream of you have it.
I can't help feeling a tiny bit sad today as this was the day that I should have had my children arriving. Oh what a joyous reunion that would have been. It has been 8 years since I have seen them. Nevermind, with any lucky and the goodness of God it will still happen later in the year. Stay happy, stay healthy, wash those hands and, if you can, stay home!
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