Flour Everywhere!

            Now having quite a bit more time on my hands and more amazing kitchen supplies (thanks to the amazing and generous wedding gifts from our family and friends), I have found a new love of cooking and baking. I have always had the interest, but with school, nights of debauchery with friends, and ... well, more school, it was always hard to have the time to really do some serious cooking. Of course my best friend and I would go through our baking spouts where we would make batches of pumpkin muffins, whoopy pies, and cookies which was a blast! Now I have my own kitchen?! I love having my own kitchen! (That needs to go on my "love list") So now with the time and ample equipment I can take on more! I find myself loving to look through cookbooks, especially my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that was a wedding gift. I could absolutely see myself living in the Hamptons with her, and being her best friend. The pictures of the food are gorgeous and I would be so excited if what I made looked that appetizing and beautiful! I have developed cooking and baking goals for the next few months. One, I am going to plan and cook two special meals a week, usually there is so much for just two people that we have plenty of food left over for the rest of the week. And two, I am going to bake some sort of delicious treat once a week.

Little Rolls before they're baked

            Last week was the beginning of this quest, and my baked good of choice was cinnamon rolls. My husband LOVES cinnamon rolls and he needed some lovin' from the oven that week. So on my quest, I began to look up recipes and decided on the good old Alton Brown and his recipe for Overnight Cinnamon Rolls*. So believing I was all equipped, and finally feeling very at home in my kitchen, I realized that I didn't have maybe the most important piece of equipment....the standing mixer! How am I going to make the dough?! All in a panic, I called my dad who simply laughed and asked me if people ever made dough before the age of mixers...damn, wise parents strike again! Feeling kind of stupid, especially having just earned a history degree, I was reminded of how incredibly modern my life is. You mean, I can do this by hand without electricity and a bread hook?! Ok! I can do this! I am going to somehow take on the identity of some pioneer woman and make this dough by hand! It'll be like I'm on the Oregon Trail! The process was in a nut shell messy, exhausting, stressful, but ultimately very rewarding. I probably called my dad a total of 4 times through the whole process, double checking with him on things like types of yeast, the difference between milk and buttermilk, and dough rising techniques. There was flour everywhere by the time the dough was rising in its special bowl, bits of dough on the wall, all over my hands, but I had done it! The first baking endeavor was a success and I have pictures to prove it! Do they look good enough to be in one of those cook books where you drool over the pictures? Don't quite know yet, but they're a start. Perhaps because I am their creator, but they might be one of the most beautiful things I have created. On the docket for this week, continuing my baking goal, are Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, hopefully I can contain the mess a little bit better and make fewer frantic calls to my dad. Will keep you posted!

Fresh out of the oven!!

* Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls are delicious and easy! Highly recommend!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html