Soft Garlic Knots

I read a lot of blogs. At last count my Google Reader followed 89 different blogs. I could never keep up with this many different blogs without my Google Reader. If you read more than one blog, you should try it. You'll never go back. One of the best things about it is that you can "star" posts that you want to save for later. I use this mainly for recipes that I think look good when I read them for the first time. When I am making dinner, and have no idea what I want to make, I'll sift through my starred recipes and pick a few to try. So today I went back and found this beautiful recipe from Annie's Eats, a blog from a Medical Student/Mom from IU. I always trust a recipe if Annie says that she liked it. These rolls were wonderful, light, and so easy! I'm not that experienced using yeast, but I wasn't intimidated by these at all.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
3 cups bread flour
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 ¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup milk
1 cup + 2 tbsp. lukewarm water

For the glaze:
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. melted butter
½ tsp. Italian seasoning

Directions:

To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil, milk and water. Mix until ingredients have formed a dough. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 10 inch long rope and tie into a knot. Take the end lying underneath the knot and bring it over the top, tucking it into the center. Take the end lying over the knot and tuck it underneath and into the center. Transfer shaped rolls to a baking stone, or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 45 minutes, until puffy.

To make the glaze, finely mince the garlic or press it through a garlic press. Mix with the melted butter and Italian seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Brush the glaze onto the shaped rolls. Bake until set and lightly browned, about 15-18 minutes.


Source: Annie's Eats

Easy Sticky Buns

Barefoot bloggers time again! This time, the recipe was chosen by Melissa of Made by Melissa, and it is a keeper! This recipe will stay in my file of easy, decadent breakfasts. I can actually keep all of the ingredients on hand at all times, and whip these up in less than a half hour from start to finish. The original recipe called for a little more butter and raisins, but I did a little altering to suit our tastes (Phillip isn't a big raisin fan, and we're still trying to watch our waistlines). I'm going to take these into school in the morning (I've been getting some complaints about my lack of food sharing recently), but I snuck one before bed, and they were scrumptious!

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling:

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 1 stick of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Evenly distribute the mixture into each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of the pecans. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 17 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.

Adapted from: Ina Garten, Back to Basics, page 240

Kona Inn Banana Bread

For some reason, I was craving banana bread this weekend. I did a search to find a good recipe, and I was very happy with what I found. This recipe is from the famous Kona Inn on the big island, and it didn't disappoint.

Kona Inn Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 6 bananas)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease and flour 2 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. In another larger bowl, mix together the shortening, sugar, mashed bananas, eggs and walnuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir only until the batter is thoroughly blended.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer or straw inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a rack and let cool completely.