Butterflake Rolls - SRC

 

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Meghan's blog, Cupcakes with Sprinkles.  I just love her blog.   It looks so cheerful and her food looks amazingly good.  I thought about making one of her sweets (you know me), but apparently I love bread as much as I love sweets and I couldn't get my mind off her Butterflake Rolls.  Plus, I had just made some peach jam and I needed something to eat it with.

 

What I learned as I made them is that I need to pay attention more to directions.  When I first set out to make the rolls, I just copied down the ingredients, thinking that it was just like all the other bread recipes I had made.  So, as a result, after making the dough, I let it rise for an hour.  That's when I found out I was totally wrong.  When I looked at the recipe again, including the directions, I realized that you're supposed to start rolling and buttering the dough right after you make it.  In fact, the only rise you're supposed to do is after the dough has been cut and formed into the rolls.  Still, I figured, I could make this work.  I took my risen dough, rolled it out, buttered it, folded it, buttered it, folded and buttered again.  The dough began breaking off in layers and was a complete mess and totally unsalvageable.  I would have to start again.  Lesson learned - follow the instructions.

 

The second time around, I followed everything to the letter.  This time, everything came together beautifully and the dough made it into the muffin tins intact.  I was kind of skeptical about only letting them rise once before baking, but if they worked for Meghan, then I trusted that they could work for me too.  Sure enough, once they baked, they were a thing of beauty.  It was like magic.  Instead of the four pieces of dough I put into each muffin cup, the intricate layers of buttered dough had unfolded, giving me even more layers to pull apart and enjoy (kind of like the layers in a croissant).  The bread itself was pillowy soft, buttery in every bite, and paired really well with my homemade peach jam.  Not to mention, since they only need to rise once, they're so much quicker to make!  I'm thinking that these rolls are going to make many more appearances in my house, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and basically any time in between.  Thanks Meghan! 

Butterflake Rolls (adapted from Cupcakes with Sprinkles)

1 Tbsp. yeast
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 c. sugar (I increased this to 6 Tbsp.)
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk (I used 1/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt + 1/4 c. water)
3 1/2 - 4 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, softened

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix yeast in 1/4 c. warm water with a pinch of sugar.  Let sit till foamy, about 5 min.  Whisk in the sugar, salt, and eggs.  Add in the yogurt and remaining water until combined. 

Use a wooden spoon to stir in about 3 cups of flour, adding more up to 4 cups, to make a soft dough.  You want to be able to knead the dough and not have it stick to your fingers.

Knead dough a few times.  Roll it out so that it's a 1/2" thick and spread with a thin layer of butter.  Fold dough in half, then spread with butter, Repeat three more times.

After the final butter and fold, roll the dough out again to 1/2" thick and cut it into 1x2 inch squares.  Place 4 squares upright in each sprayed muffin cup.  Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 min., or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400F and bake rolls for 10-15 min. until golden brown. 

Healthy Chocolate PB Cookie Dough Dip

 

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Sawsan's blog, Chef in Disguise.  Her blog is filled with lots of amazing middle-eastern recipes to give you a delicious taste of that side of the globe.

I was all set to make her Chocolate Peppermint Swirl Cookies.  But, then, I saw her recipe for Healthy Cookie Dough Dip and, well, everything changed.  I'm very big on healthy eating, but, as you all know, I also have a major sweet tooth.  Definitely not easy to balance the two.  So, when I saw this recipe, I was thrilled - what a way to have your cake and eat it too!

 

Sawsan made hers using white beans and date puree.  I didn't have any date puree, but her recipe said that honey or some other sweetener could be used, so I tried it with the honey first.  Unfortunately, once I added the honey, the dip became way too liquidy, almost like soup.  I'm not sure what went wrong, but I decided to try again. 

By this time, I didn't have another can of white beans to use, but I did have black beans so I went with that.  To prevent the problem of too much liquid, I used brown sugar in place of the honey.  Then, because chocolate goes so well with black beans (think black bean brownies), I threw in some cocoa powder.  Finally, I added some peanut butter.

The result was absolutely delicious, chocolatey peanut buttery goodness that you wouldn't believe.  Would I know that I'm eating beans?  Nope.  I seriously didn't even need anything to dip into it.  I grabbed a spoon and dug right in.

 

Thanks Sawsan for your awesome recipe. 

Healthy Chocolate Cookie Dough Dip

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained very well)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. brown sugar
5-6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 c. peanut butter
chocolate chips (optional)

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to your food processor and blend until very smooth.  Then, mix in the chocolate chips.

Samoas Cupcakes

 

One of my friends is totally crazy about Samoas cookies.  Not that I can blame her.  Chocolate, coconut, and caramel is a pretty hard combo to resist.  I'm just as crazy about the Samoas ice cream that Dreyer's recently came out with. 

So, with Samoas on the brain, I decided to make my own version of a Samoas cupcake.  I used King Arthur Flour's golden cake recipe as the base, whipped up a caramel coconut filling, and topped it all off with rich chocolate ganache. 

Oh boy was it ever good.  I loved KAF's cake recipe.  It was so moist and fluffy and had a nice crumb and great vanilla flavor.  I think this will be my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe, at least for now.  With the yummy, gooey filling and luscious frosting, this was the best Samoas I've ever eaten.  Thank goodness that I had people I could give these cupcakes to, or else I would have devoured the whole batch.  It's nice to know that I can now have Samoas more than once a year.

Samoas Cupcakes (Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

Vanilla Cupcakes (King Arthur Flour)
2 c. sugar
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. unsalted butter, soft
1 1/4 c. milk, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs

Caramel Sauce (In the Pink and Green)
1/2 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. salted butter, cubed
1/4 c. + 1 Tbsp. heavy cream, at room temperature

10 Tbsp. sweetened shredded coconut

Chocolate Ganache 
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. heavy cream

For the cupcakes:  
Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and add the vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and sift the mixture.  Add half the mixture to the wet ingredients and beat to combine.  Add the milk and stir to combine.  Then, add the rest of the flour mixture and mix well to combine. 

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins.  Bake at 350F for 20-25 min. until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from the muffin pans and place on wire racks to cool. 

For the caramel coconut filling:  In a medium saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat, whisking as it melts.  When it turns a deep amber color, add the butter and stir until melted.  Add the heavy cream and whisk till the caramel is smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Add the shredded coconut till combined.   

For the ganache:  Place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small bowl and heat for 1 min. at 50% power.  Stir and repeat the process as necessary till smooth.  Chill the ganache briefly until it reaches your desired consistency. 

For the assembly:  Cut a small cone from the center of each cupcake.  Fill with 1-2 tsp. of the coconut-caramel filling.  Spread with chocolate ganache. 

Makes 24 cupcakes