I apologize for the long wait here in posts! We’ve been moving- the sister’s been moving on up (sorry, couldn’t resist) to a different apartment and the boyfriend’s been moving in and it’s been a period of flux- meaning that time to post has been fairly limited! That said, I’m now catching up on the backlog :). Here’s the first!:

The first batch of cinnamon roll cupcakes were a great success. As B was joining me for dinner the day after, this led me to wonder- can I make these rolls gluten-free? Being nothing short of a gluten-free expert, I knew it to be possible…. and by that I mean I lack any expertise in gluten-free baking and was doing everything incorrectly. Did I check to see if I was making the right substitutes? No, of course not! And did I think of xantham gum? Nope! At least, not until they were baked and done…. ah. So, if you follow this recipe to a T, you’ll find the dough VERY crumbly and difficult to work with- and you may be a bit frustrated. That said, if you can make some minor adjustments, it’s a nice treat for your gluten-intolerant friends.

The taste was very enjoyable, although I was told that the nutless ones were generally better. Still, I’d make them again! They’re conveniently small, and have a satisfying crunch.

Nutty Gluten-Free Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Adapted from Fastest Cinnamon Rolls at Don’t Forget Delicious (from FineCooking.com)

Ingredients:

Bun Dough:

• 3/4 heaping cup low-fat (part skim) ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tblspn soy butter
• 1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic rice flour
• 1 + 1/3 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves

Filling:

• 1 tablespoons soy butter
• 3/4 heaping cup packed light brown sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon saigon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup salted cashews, crushed
• 2 tblspn slivered almonds, crushed
• 1.5 tblspn candied pecans, crushed

Icing:

• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 heaping cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons organic vanilla soy milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line large or small (or combination) cupcake pan(s) with paper liners.
2. Place ricotta cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted soy butter, and vanilla in food processor and process for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth.
3. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl and mix together. Add to mixture in the food processor and and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together (be sure not to overprocess- this will toughen the dough).
4. Emtpy the dough onto a flour countertop and knead gently into a ball (kneading process should only take about 20-30 seconds) – be careful, the dough will be VERY crumbly and will fall apart easily. Expect holes and tears if you do not add xantham gum
5. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 1/2 cm thick). Take about 1/3 of the melted soy butter from the filling section and brush onto the rectangle, leaving about an inch on all sides untouched.
6. In a small bowl (you can re-use that same one from earlier), and mix together the brown sugar, nuts, spices, and the remaining melted soy butter. Spread the sugar/spice mixture over the dough as evenly as possible.
7. Roll the dough up into a long log, like a jelly roll, and get your pastry cutter ready. There will be holes and tears- do not be alarmed, if it doesn’t have a perfect shape, your icing will hide everything :).
8. Pinch the edges and the side closed, and push the two ends inward to create sharper angles (straight edges).
9. Sharply cut the log into slices that are slightly under 2 inches thick. Place each slice into one of the cupcake liners, swirled side up (as opposed to on the side). Bake for 15 minutes (my oven is hot)- possibly a few minutes more if your oven is cooler.
10. Remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool. The tops should be just golden brown and with a very slight crisp. The sugar mixture should have oozed out over the edges.
11. Prepare the icing: place the mascarpone, vanilla, soy milk, and confectioner’s sugar in the food processor and process for 3-4 seconds, just until smooth and homogenous. Place a baking sheet under the wire rack, take a spoon, and drizzle (if you’re me, quite liberally) the icing over the cupcakes. Feel free to do a second drizzling later when the rolls have cooled a bit.

Mine were definitely on the crumbly side, but delicious nonetheless! I suggest baking these at varied temperatures- I tried starting at 395, then down to 385… but honestly the baking time is up to you, based on how large you make them, how many you make, how hot your oven is, etc etc.

I was on a mission to make some amuse-bouche items for dinner last night, and settled on two recipes, one of which was this strudel. My mother makes a very yummy apple strudel, but savoury (particularly sweet-and-savoury) strudel is something I’ve been experimenting with for some time. The recipe I followed in my book (Antipasti, by Simon and Schuster- yes, that makes me think of Glee (great book, by the way, I highly reccommend it for sophisticated appetizers)) called for pancetta… but as I don’t eat red meat and I did plan on having some of this one, I substituted for turkey in half of the strudels and no meat in the other half.

The process is quite simple: Prepare your ingredients before you deal with the phyllo dough (the ingredients could be just about anything) because it will dry quickly and tear and make you cry because it’s ripping and- you get the idea. I went with the following for this iteration (and did not use exact quantites, I apologize): chopped pear pieces, crushed cashews, mesquite deli turkey, shredded mozzarella, grated domestic parmesan, salt, pepper, olive oil, and freshly-grated gruyere. The original recipe suggested fennel seeds and butter for the top, both of which I decided to forgo. Once you’ve assembled your ingredients (aka tossed them haphazardly onto the phyllo (just pretend you’re Italian, making pizza, and know what you’d doing (gesticulating wildly and muttering melodically about your cousin Mario should do the trick))), roll your phyllo, and place it on a cookie sheet.

You can, at this point, do a number of things. Brush it with olive oil, butter (choose soy butter!), or egg (as I did for this strudel, then top with cheese and salt if savoury (I sprinkled on parm, grated on some gruyere, added large sea salt, cracked pepper, and some honey (that’s what burned/caramelized, but it tastes great, worry not)) or, if sweet, sugar. Bake them at 365 degrees for about 15 minutes and then eat them hot out of the oven or refrigerate overnight for a more dense, consistent strudel. If sweet, eat it hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream- you can never go wrong with that combination.

It’s a yummy thing to make for dinner parties as you could make these even smaller than I did- I was too lethargic to attempt cutting the phyllo, but you can easily cut it to make tiny strudel rolls or square for strudel packages! A pizza cutter is the easiest way to cut the phyllo, but be careful- depending on the brand (or if you’re brave and made it yourself), you’ll have to be quick and efficient to avoid drying and tears.

Try it and see what ingredients you like filling your strudels with! Sweet, savoury, or a bit of both, these delectable treats can be eaten as a small appetizer or sliced thickly for a main course.

Backpost: Filo cups are such a simple appetizer or dessert element. Any recipe I’ve found for making your own filo dough seems horrendously difficult and nightmarish, so a quick box of these can’t be beat. A fun summer snack to-go is to fill these with strudel filling, consisting of apple chunks, raisins (for more traditional, go black- but for a sweeter tooth, go golden). These bake for a mere 8 minutes and you’re set!

• To make a healthy strudel filling, my mother taught me to just put the apples and raisins straight in to a deep-set pan with some cinnamon. You can add a little vanilla and something to add moisture if your apples aren’t throwing about enough water (apple sauce, or a thick fruit nectar- mango, pear, or apricot work best). There’s really no need for butter- you get a nice creamy-like texture from cooking the apples thoroughly. The trick is to find that sweet spot between retaining a slight hint of crunchiness- otherwise you’ll end up with apple sauce (unless, of course, that was your desired result all along)
• These cups work for savoury dishes as well as they do sweet- I’ve found them to also be delicious as a sweet-and-salty appetizer with pear chunks, honey, dried apricot pieces, parmesan, and salt. Really, though, anything works!