Cinnamon Rolls!

Yesterday was Wil's first Berlin art opening at Staatsgalerie.
For this very special occasion and also because I have been promising it to quite a bunch of people i decided to make some cinnamon rolls.
From what I heard people liked them even though they were cold by the time the opening started.
I like this recipe a lot because it is just plain and straight forward without any weird ingredients or extras.

Here is what you need:

For the dough -

20g fresh yeast

1 tsp salt

250 ml warm milk

85g melted butter

125g sugar

2 eggs

500g bread flour (best for yeast!)

For the cinnamon filling - 

125g brown sugar

2½ tbsp cinnamon

85g soft butter

For the icing - 

125g soft butter

375g confectioner's sugar

35g cream cheese

½tsp vanilla extract

a dash of salt

First in a big bowl mix yeast with warm milk, sugar, melted butter and salt until smooth.

Add the eggs then the flour and knead the dough on lowest speed for at least 3 minutes.

Increase the speed and knead for another 5 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel and placed at a warm spot let the dough rise for approx. an hour.

Don't worry if it takes longer. It will rise eventually...

In the meantime you can prepare the cinnamon-sugar mix for the filling such as the icing.

For the filling mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. 

Set aside.

For the icing whisk soft butter and cream cheese with confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract and a dash of salt until everything is thick and creamy. I honestly find 35g of cream cheese is not enough. You can add more of that and less sugar if you like. You can be quite flexible with the icing...
Refigerate.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place the dough on a floured worktop and knead it with your hands.

Roll it out on the floured worktop to a size of approx. 50-55cm length, 40cm wide and 0.5cm thick.

Equally first spread the 85g of soft butter then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mix over it.

Start at the longer end (55cm) and roll dough up.
Cut the roll into equally-sized 4.5cm wide pieces. 

If these seem too big for you, just cut them smaller.

Place the small rolls with the swirls facing the top on a baking paper covered baking sheet or in a greased baking pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

They should be soft and chunky.

Therefore better check after ten to make sure they don't turn too dark and crsipy.

While still warm spread the cream cheese icing over the buns so that each is covered with it.

Enjoy best while warm!

PS:

These buns are indeed sweet.

Therefore I use less sugar for the yeast dough, about 100g instead of the recommended 125g. 

They are still really, really sweet after that especially because of the icing...

Pear & goat cheese tarte with smoked bacon and mustard dressing

In the latest issue of German food magazine Essen&Trinken I found this nice tarte:

I made this recipe using ready-made pastry that you can buy frozen in every grocery store.
You defrost two sheets of pastry, put them on top of each other and roll them out on a floured working surface using a rolling pin.
The pastry needs to be bigger than the tarte pan.
Place the rolled out pastry in the tarte pan and slightly press the pastry to the border of the pan.
Top it with one thin sliced pear, smoked bacon cubes(40-80g) and goat cheese (100-150g).
In the recipe they recommend using cream cheese, but I decided to take camembert instead.
The dressing is made out of:

2 tbsp of maple syrup
2tbsp of lemon juice
1tbsp of extra hot mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of whole seed mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of thyme (fresh if possible)
salt and pepper

You mix all these ingrediences together and sprinkle most of the dressing over the tarte.
Preheat the oven to about 200-220°C and bake the tarte for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Serve with the rest of the dressing.

PS:

• If you are not a fan of goat cheese just replace it with cow milk based cheese instead.
• Be careful with the dressing. It is quite intense! You can use less mustard or use a milder kind.
• next time I will fry the bacon before adding it to the tarte for more smoky flavor ...