Desserts

In our 229th Video Recipe Stephanie demonstrates how to make Cinnamon Roll Bread. Subscribe to the Joy of Baking YouTube Channel Cinnamon Roll Bread is simply cinnamon rolls in loaf form. It's still made with that wonderful combination of a soft and tender yeast dough wrapped around a delicious filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts. Only instead of cutting the dough into individual rolls, you cut it into three large pieces and place them in a loaf pan. I love how the three spirals of dough fuse together to form one beautiful loaf of Cinnamon Roll Bread. So tasty warm from the oven but I also like it toasted, with a nice slathering of butter. Cinnamon Roll Bread gets its rise and distinct flavor from yeast. For this recipe we're using 'active dried yeast'. This is fresh compressed yeast that has been pressed and dried until the moisture content is only about 8% which makes the yeast dormant. The granules only become active again when mixed with a warm liquid (in this case milk). You will find the tiny, dehydrated, bead-shaped, sand colored granules are sold in either small foil-lined packages weighing 1/4 ounce (7 grams) or small jars (my favorite) and can be found on the baking isle of most grocery stores. This yeast dough contains milk, eggs, and butter which gives it a wonderfully rich flavor with a soft and tender crumb. Have the butter quite soft and add it gradually so it can be easily be incorporated into the dough. You may notice as you add the butter that the dough falls apart and looks almost curdled. Don't worry, just keep mixing and it will come back together into a soft and silky ball of dough (takes about 5 to 10 minutes of kneading). Also, while I have made this dough into a loaf, you could use it to make individual cinnamon rolls by cutting it into 9 rolls (instead of three) (baking time will be between 18-20 minutes). Click here for the video and recipe. More Recipes at Joyofbaking.com Article and Demonstration by Stephanie Jaworski Photo and Videography by Rick Jaworski © 2013 iFood Media LLC

Let me take a brief break from telling you about my book tour (remaining dates here, btw--I'm in the Chicago area tonight, at the Aspen Drive Library, 701 Aspen Drive, Vernon Hills IL, from 7-8 p.m.) to tell you about this amazing cake I crafted for my friends at Peanut Butter and Company. It's a 10 layer cake, inspired by Smith Island Cake (the recipe for that one is in the new book). Regarding the peanut butter cake, here's what I have to say about it: Want to really show off with your next dessert offering? Well then, you’ll definitely want to make this cake. It looks like a pretty normal cake on the serving plate, but once cut into, the amazing interior is exposed. Composed of 10 thin stacked cakes, each sandwiched with a layer of White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter frosting, this is “frosting with the cake,” a delightful treat that begs for a glass of milk. It’s a peanut butter-ized version of a famous cake from Maryland (actually, if you want to get technical, it’s the Official State Dessert!) called Smith Island Cake, which is given out as the prize during community events. But no need to sing and dance when you’ve got this recipe–everyone’s a winner! Find the recipe here.

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }Cupcakes supplied for the showing of Rapunzel at the Deco Theatre, Northampton, originally uploaded by Angelina Cupcake.Angelina Cupcake made this for the Rapunzel performance at the Deco Theatre, Northampton UK

Graduation season is upon us, my friends, and I for one couldn't be happier. Not only do I get to revel in the fact that I'm a "prefessional adult" who's DONE with school [NEENER NEENER], I also get an excuse to drag out some of the old grad wrecks I never got around to posting. Here's one from the last Ice Age in internet terms, aka ten years ago: That was the year we learned to ix-nay on the unfortunate onograms-may. Skipping forward a ways, we come to "2009": Year of the "Dipolma" and "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. In 2010 we had a fresh crop of Permedics celebrate their "gradudlion:" It's a tough call, but I'm pretty sure "Gradudlion" is my new favorite misspelling. The trick is to put the emPHAsis on the second sylLAble, like this: GraDUDlion. And then pronounce the end bit "leon" instead of "lion." Go on. Say it with me: GraDUDlion. GraDUDlion. [Ignore those co-workers; they're just jealous.] Now once more, with feeling! GRADUDLION!! YEAH! [looking around] [sitting back down] [patting hair back in place] K, where were we? Oh, yes: 2011. The year we learned that only the very BEST cakes get reserved for store displays: The grace. The dignity. The spacing. (First one to say, "But at least it's spelled right!" gets the patented Jen Death Glare. DON'T TEST ME, PEOPLE.) In 2012 bakers broadened their horizons by combining the fine art of Dali-esque surrealism with a post-modern monochromatic aesthetic: I call it, "Tar Donkey Butt-Peeing." So what will the 2013 grad season bring? Well, I hate to speculate, buuuut... I've got a pretty good feeling about it. ("Graguates gradudlying! Graguates gradudlying!!") Thanks to Stephanie F., Jen S., Alana G., Brittany R., Daffny A., and Julia A. for gradudlyating at the top of today's class.

Mmmm one of my most favorite combinations is peanut butter and chocolate. But - let's bet honest here... add a little salty goodness to that combo and BAM it's OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious!!And that's what we have with my latest cupcake. Pretzel crust, chocolate cupcake, peanut butter buttercream, chocolate ganache and chocolate covered pretzel. Oh yeaaaaaah.Want the recipe? CLICK HERE!

I’m having a bit of a… burger issue. I know, I know. Old news. It’s been going on for about six months or so and I won’t shut up about it and well I JUST WANT BURGERS ALL THE TIME. Really, I mean all the time. I want a burger multiple times every week. It’s all very odd to me since it’s somewhat new. I’m not even discriminating on my burger choice now. Well, wait – I really AM discriminating since the lowest I’ll go is a Five Guys burger but I have definitely drove past multiple fast food restaurants thinking burrrrgerrrrr. It’s nothing short of a miracle that my head hasn’t popped up in a drive thru window. A few weeks ago I split a taco burger from a local food truck. This was after we split a burger with aioli, a bacon grilled cheese and a hot dog, so don’t go getting disappointed about the whole “splitting” thing. The thing was… I wasn’t quite feeling it at first. I mean if I want a taco? I’ll eat a taco. I wasn’t quite sure about my burger tasting like a taco. It just seemed wrong. It actually seemed pointless. Especially when it came to ground beef. BUT. These burgers were covered in crushed tortilla chips. That alone sealed the deal for me – you know what a texture freak I am. At the time I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the taco burger. It was completely different than what I was expecting and if you’re a burger/sandwich fiend like us, a random but nice change of pace. I can totally see this happening with some chicken and turkey burgers too, but first up? I am SO doing this with my double bean burgers. Yeah. Like downright obsessed with the idea. Can you even imagine a taco-rubbed black bean burger with tortilla chips and avocado? My brain just exploded. I’m also still seriously making the peanut butter bacon burger before the brain explosion. Thoughts? We may have two brain explosions on our hands then. The moral of this story is that if you eat a lot of burgers, you may adore this idea. If you’re a burger-once-every-three-months kind of fella, then you might miss the whole cheese and bacon and stuff. By the way, can I just say that I’ve always loathed things like lettuce and tomatoes (vegetables, of course) on my burgers but it wasn’t until recently that I figured out why? It’s because a burger is so warm and cheesy. Why add cold crunch to that little sandwiched slice of heaven? Annnnnd the only thing that I can think of that will make this taco burger better is adding a cheese quesadilla triangle on top. Perfect? Yeah. That’s definitely happening. Taco Rubbed Burgers Yield: makes 4 burgers Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef (mine was 90% lean) 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/2 tablespoons onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 4 ounces white cheddar cheese, sliced 1 avocado, sliced 1/2 cup salsa verde 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa blue tortilla chips for topping 4 whole grain buns, toasted Directions: In a bowl, combine ground beef with salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Form beef into four equal patties. In a smaller bowl, combine, cumin, paprika, chili, garlic and onion powders together and stir well to mix. Pick up each burger and using your hands, rub both sides and the edges of the burger with the spice rub, gently patting the spice in. To cook, prepare the burger as you'd like - whether grilling it until your desired doneness or cooking it in a hot skillet for about 5 minutes per side. Add cheese on top 1-2 minutes before finished so it has time to melt. To serve, add salsa verde to the top of each bun bottom. Top with the burger then add avocado, salsa and crushed tortilla chips on top. Eat! I hope I never get a handle on this. ©2012 How Sweet It Is

Food & Wine's Best Chocolate in the U.S. What a spotty list!  It's good that they have Askinosie, French Broad, Dandelion, and Woodblock on their list.  But other top quality b2b makers like Rogue, Fresco, Manoa, Ritual, and Dick Taylor are conspicuously absent while Lindt makes the list!  Makes one question the experience and the judgment of the editors. For me it is just another in a long string of examples showing why the "quest for the best" is doomed to failure.

I usually have all sorts of baked goodies waiting for my family when they come home for the holidays. No matter how fancy the other cookies are, these are usually the first to go.

When I first shared these crisp cookies with folks at the hospital where I work as a cook, everyone's palate was pleased! German sweet chocolate gives them a unique twist.

I developed this recipe for a crisp cookie as a way to satisfy my sweet tooth. Peanuts and pecans are abundant here in Louisiana, so I bake with them often.