Ultimate Soft and Pillowy Vanilla Chai Cinnamon Rolls

Yum

Serves 4-8 Takes About 3 1/2 Hours.

I have been making a version of this for years, but I think now, with the help of a technique taken from King Arthur Flour, I have my favorite version of Vanilla Chai Cinnamon Rolls yet. I love the flavor of Vanilla Chai, and by steeping the tea in the milk used for this dough and using it in the icing, you get a healthy dose of Vanilla Chai that compliments the flavors of a Cinnamon Roll very well. The trick to this recipe is taken from the wonderful King Arthur Flour, which is using a "starter" slurry of milk, water, a flour that you use to help bind the rest of the ingredients without needing much extra work for such a soft dough. It takes a long time to rise, Slighty more than a normal Cinnamon Roll recipe, but I promise you these are the softest, most pillowy Cinnamon Rolls you have ever made. For anyone who has made Cinnamon Rolls before, the majority of this recipe will be pretty familiar. If you haven't...making Cinnamon Rolls is a long process but absolutely worth it.

----------------------------------------

Ingredients

This recipe has four stages, so I've broken down the ingredients that you will need by stage instead of one giant total amount. I think this makes it easier to know what all of it is for.

Starter
5 Tbl Water
5 Tbl Whole Milk
3 Tbl + 1 tsp Unbleached Bread Flour

Dough
2 Tea bags of Vanilla Chai Tea
All of Starter listed above
4 Cups 2 Tbl Unbleached Bread Flour
1/3rd Cup Nonfat Dry Milk
1 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbl Instant Yeast (Room Temp)
3/4 Cup lukewarm Half and Half (Vanilla Chai Tea)
2 Large Eggs (Room Temp)
6 Tbl Butter (Melted)

Filling
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick, softened)
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar)
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Allspice

Glaze
3 Tbl Butter (melted)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup Half and Half (Vanilla Chai Tea)

----------------------------------------

Directions

1. Let's start with the easy part. Heat 1 Cup of Half and Half in a Microwave in a Microwave safe Measuring Cup. We want it warm-hot, but not boiling. It took me about 1 and a half minutes in the microwave. Once it's about lukewarm, steep two Vanilla Chai Tea Bags for a minimum of 5 minutes, set aside.

2. Making the Starter. Combine all of the starter ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain.

3. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until thick and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan. This will probably take only a minute or two. Remove from the heat, and set it aside for several minutes.

4. To make the dough: Mix the starter with the remaining dough ingredients until everything comes together. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes; this will give the flour a chance to absorb the liquid.

5.After 20 minutes, knead the dough  by hand or mixer, to make a smooth, elastic, somewhat sticky dough. About 5 minutes in a mixer with a dough hook, 10 by hand.

6. Shape the dough into a ball, and let it rest in a lightly greased covered bowl for 90 minutes. It will grow in size and be puffy, but it won't be doubled in size.

7. While you're waiting, assemble your filling ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, combine Brown Sugar with your spices and half your softened stick of butter split in half ready to go.

8. Gently deflate the dough, work into a ball and split the ball in half and shape into as close to a rectangular shape as you can.

9. We don't want to add flour to this dough while working on it, so cover your rolling pin in a light layer of neutral-flavored oil, I used canola. Take one half of your dough and roll out on a cutting board to about 9"x15" That is, about 9 inches vertical and roughly 15 inches horizontal. Go slow as to not tear the dough.

10. Use a butter knife or (or offset spatula if you have one) to spread one half of your softened butter across your first 9"x15" rectangle, getting as thin and even of a coating as possible. Then very gently toss half of your brown sugar and spice mixture over your dough, trying to keep a light, even layer across all of the dough.

11. Rolling the dough. This part takes some care. Very slowly and with care, roll your dough from the top down, making as small of rolls as you can going down. The smaller the rolls you get, the tighter the rolls will be when you cut them. Once you have a log, straighten it out any to be a uniform size and pinch the ends to try and keep the filling in. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into pieces that are about 1 1/2 inch long. For me, this was 8 pieces, 2 ends and 6 middle.

12. Lightly grease a 9"x13" baking pan and set your rolls in the pan.

13. If your cutting board/rolling area got any filling on it, clean it off and take your second dough rectangle and repeat steps 9 through 11.

14. Time for the second rise. Cover your Cinnamon-Roll filled baking pan and let rest for 60 more minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F while you are waiting, putting your racks to the bottom-middle of the oven.

15. Uncover the Rolls, they should be a nice bulky size now. Place in oven and let cook 22-25 minutes. Check at 22 minutes, but mine took the full 25. They will be fairly pale with only minimal browning. This is the desired color, we do not want them more than slightly browned.  Let stand 10 minutes.

16. While waiting for Rolls to cool, make the icing. Whisk together the icing ingredients until it comes together. It will be thick, it will thin a little with the heat. After the Rolls have cooled for ten minutes, drizzle rolls with icing and serve.

----------------------------------------

Tips And What Could Be Done Differently

If you do not have a microwave, you can heat the milk in a small saucepot on the stove, whisking on low heat to keep it from scalding. Remember, you are heating it to steep tea in, so lukewarm, not boiling.

The beauty of these rolls is that because they are so soft, they also stay soft when properly covered and stored in the refrigerator. At the time of this writing, I made the rolls in the photo 5 days ago, and this morning I warmed up my stored leftovers for about 2 minutes in the microwave and they were literally just as soft as they were when I made them. King Arthur's recipe says you can store leftovers in the freezer for a month or so, but I don't ever imagine them lasting that long. They will last at least one week in the fridge.

The last time I made this, I realized I didn't have Clove or Allspice, so I substituted 4 tsp. of a pre-made Pumpkin Pie Spice for the Cinnamon, Clove Nutmeg and Allspice mixture and since that's pretty much exactly what's in Pumpkin Pie Spice (except sometimes it also has Ginger) It's a perfectly fine substitute in a pinch.

Toasted Walnuts or Pecans would be an excellent addition to these if you have them. Toss them on when Rolls are fresh out of oven and before covering in icing.

I love Vanilla Chai and warming spices in general (has that been made obvious yet?) so that is why I have included it here, but this technique to make Cinnamon Rolls will work with any sort of flavored tea you can steep in milk and pair with warming spices. Here are other flavors I intend on trying myself that you could do too: Caramel, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Orange, Raspberry and Peach.

----------------------------------------

Coconut-Caramel Rice Pudding with Vanilla Tea-infused Jasmine Rice

Serves 6-12 Takes about 1 1/2 hours

Yum

This recipe was born out of the desire to make a dessert for my rice pudding loving, gluten-intolerant friend Jayde. I found a very basic recipe from Kraft and made that and it was a rousing success. Over time though, I've been wanting to find a way to make this dish mine, and I believe this speaks more to my sensibilities than that Kraft recipe ever did. Rice pudding itself is a very easy dessert, in concept and execution. But this recipe is not for those who don't have patience, because this will take a good hour to come together. My personal twist that I've added here is infusing Jasmine Rice with a Vanilla Tea. Without doing much more than brewing two tea bags in the prescribed water amount before making the rice, you impart an extra layer of warm and earthy vanilla flavors into the final dish.

One final note: This is a very rich dessert, and one cup uncooked rice makes about 3 cups cooked, and you aren't losing any of it. So don't go in thinking you can eat this by yourself. Probably best served as a small-portioned dessert to a lot of people rather than a big bowl for a few people. A little goes a long way.


----------------------------------------


Ingredients

6 Cups (1 1/2 qts.) Half and Half
1 1/3 Cup Water
2 Vanilla tea bags (I used a Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos)
1 Cup Uncooked Jasmine Rice
1 lb. (16 oz) of a caramel milk topping (I used this one)
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut, toasted
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt


----------------------------------------


Prep  Directions

1. Step one and two here are gonna be our preparation steps for a couple of our base ingredients. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread at least half a cup of shredded (or flaked) coconut onto a lined baking sheet. Once oven is ready, set them in on a middle rack to toast. Will probably take more than 5 minutes and less than 10 minutes. Open oven halfway through and use a spatula to move coconut around for maximum toasting. Once it starts to get a golden-brown hue and some dark brown edges, pull out of oven and leave to cool. Meanwhile, put water in a medium sauce pan (one that has a lid) and heat to a boil. Once boiling, add tea bags, turn off the heat, and let steep 5-7 minutes. Then remove tea bags.
2. Bring Tea up to boiling and add the Jasmine Rice and a teaspoon of salt, stir to combine, put a lid on it and turn the heat down to low. Cook without lifting lid for 15 minutes. Once done, remove lid and fluff rice with fork. Set aside to cool or do what I did and make the day before and keep rice in a sealed container in the fridge until cook time.


----------------------------------------

Pudding Directions

3. Okay, with that out of the way, let's make the pudding. In a medium-to-large saucepan, bring half and half to a slow boil. Keep the heat between Medium-Low and Medium, you want to do this gently enough that the dairy doesn't get scorched. It's a lot of dairy and we're doing this slowly. Stir with spatula occasionally to keep it from sticking too much to the top and the sides.
4. Once milk starts to boil, add in our cooked rice, caramel sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining salt. Turn to Medium-Low if not already there and stir.
5. Stir.
6. Stir some more. This is a slow process. By adding all this rice and caramel and lowering the heat, we have greatly disrupted the heat of the dairy and it will need to get back up to boiling (on it's own terms) before it really starts to take off. This is gonna take like...an hour probably. The saucepan will start mostly white with no visible rice, and by about halfway through it should take on the golden brown color of the caramel with a lot of rice visible. Stir once every 5 minutes or so to start, but as the temperature gets up to boiling, stir every 2-3 minutes. You'll know it's about finished when the dairy forms a skin on top every two-three minutes with bubbles boiling underneath, and stirring becomes a challenge.
7. Once pudding gets to the desired consistency (kinda like thick oatmeal) turn off the heat and drop in our toasted coconut, stir to combine. Transfer to a large dish to house the pudding, like a round casserole dish or a deep bowl.
8. Can be enjoyed hot or cold, so for hot rice pudding, let cool for about ten minutes and serve, possibly with a splash more coconut and cinnamon for garnish. For cold, set into the fridge and let cool about 3 hours before serving.


----------------------------------------


What I Could Do Differently

There are a million different variations of rice pudding, mostly things to give you a textural change. In place of, or included with the toasted coconut, you could also add raisins, dried cranberries (craisins) and/or chopped up toasted pecans as a topping.
To remove a little richness from this dish (and/or use what you have on hand) you can substitute the half and half for whole milk or 2% and it will still come together nicely.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Caramelized Onion, Sausage, Apple and Parmesan Cheese

 Serves 6 - About 1 1/2 hours

Yum
This was a recipe inspired by my friend Emily. Full of fall flavors, but not limited to fall, these Acorn Squash are stuffed with lots of hot pork sausage (not actually very hot) celery, caramelized onions, garlic, apples and flavored with thyme, rosemary and sage. There's some time involved in making this, but really it's all in assembly and prep and all that can be done in advance with about 15 minutes actual cook-to-finish time.

----------------------------------------

Ingredients

3 Acorn Squash
1 Large Yellow Onion, diced
1 Pound Ground Hot Pork Sausage
2 Apples, finely diced
2 Stalks of Celery, finely diced
1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Ground Sage
1 tsp Ground Rosemary
2 tsp Ground Thyme

----------------------------------------

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, use a sturdy knife to slice the top of the Squash with the stem off. Try to get as close to the stem as you can. Then split squash in half and scoop out seeds and innards. Before the next step, have your onion diced and ready to go.
2. Rub your preferred cooking oil (vegetable, canola, olive) over the exposed inside area of each squash half, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Once that is done, set them face down (skin side up) on a lined (or greased) baking sheet. At the same time, put a medium sized skillet on medium heat.
3. Put Squash in oven and leave to cook for about 40-55 minutes, or until skin is tender when touched with a fork. Then, add diced onions to pre-heated pan along with a neutral cooking oil. Season with seasoning salt/salt pepper and turn heat down to medium-low.
4. While your squash is roasting, you're caramelizing your onions, which will also take about 45-55 minutes. Stir every five minutes or so and keep heat medium-low. You're looking for an amber-ish color and to your whole onion to reduce down to about a quarter of what you put in. Use this time to prep your celery.
5. Once your Squash is fork tender, take out of oven and set aside for the time being. Once onions are to desired caramelization, also set aside.
6. In a large skillet over medium heat, coat the bottom of the pan in oil and put in your hot sausage. As it cooks, break apart with spatula until it's fairly small bits. Leave to cook until all or almost all brown, about 5 minutes. During this time, dice up your apples, skin on.
7. Add celery to sausage, leave to saute for another 2 minutes.
8. Add in your diced apples, garlic and the onions from your other pan, leave to cook for about 3-5 minutes.
9. Stir in 3/4 Cup parmesan, sage, rosemary and thyme. Let cook until parmsean starts to melt. About 1-2 minutes.
10. Take mixture off heat. Turn your squash halves over and spoon mixture into Squash halves. Try to fill them as much as possible, though you might have leftovers depending on size of Squash centers.
11. Return stuffed squash face side up to oven and bake for another 15 minutes or so.
12. Remove from oven and top with remaining, 1/4th cup parmesan. Enjoy!



----------------------------------------

What I Could Do Differently

You could very easily switch out the hot sausage for breakfast sausage and have a just as tasty and even more fall-flavored meal.

Hearty Breakfast Scramble with Roasted Red Peppers, Pepper Bacon and Yukon Potatoes

Yum

Serves 2-4, About 35-40 minutes

This recipe is a really no-frills, easy to make breakfast/brunch. I've been making some version of this for years now, sometimes at the rate of every other weekend. It's easy, filling and satisfying to both make and eat. Your kitchen will smell amazing the entire time. The directions here are gonna be short on steps but lengthy on instruction, largely because there is a lot of waiting to do in between steps, so to shorten prep time, you can easily prep each ingredient before the step in which it is needed.

----------------------------------------

Ingredients

2 Yellow Potatoes, cut into wedges
1 Yellow Onion, large, sliced
4 oz. Roasted Red Bell Peppers, sliced
4 Slices of thick-cut Pepper Bacon, diced
4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 Cups of Cheddar/Monterrey Jack Blend, Shredded
Some Seasoning Salt/ Salt and Pepper, to taste

----------------------------------------

Directions

1. Heat a 10" or larger pan on the stove on medium heat. Once sufficiently hot, cover bottom of pan with neutral oil. Once oil is glistening, drop wedged Potatoes.
2. Potatoes take awhile to get soft, so let potatoes sit for about 10 minutes, stirring around only every couple minutes. During this time, you can easily cut your onion, peppers and bacon.
3. After the 10 minutes have passed, add Onions and your favorite seasoning salt over whole pan, stir every couple minutes for 5 minutes.
4. After about another 5 minutes have passed and the onions have sweat a little, add Sliced Peppers, Bacon and Garlic. Again, leave to cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring only every couple minutes.
5. While you're waiting, crack 2 Eggs into separate bowl or cup and lightly beat with fork until combined. Once time has elapsed, move ingredients to one side of pan and pour eggs into your now empty side. Let sit for a minute or so to start forming before stirring it into whole mixture. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Finally, throw your Shredded Cheese blend on top of your scramble, doing your best to evenly cover the top. Turn heat off and cover with a lid or foil. Let sit for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

----------------------------------------

What I Could Differently

• This recipe is really just a base of potatoes, onions, egg and cheese. Without anything else, that is a solid, basic scramble. Everything else is customizable. That makes this the perfect "kitchen sink" recipe, where you can throw in anything else you have laying around that you think might work. Some deli turkey or ham diced, sliced mushrooms, asparagus and even eggplant would make fun additions or substitutions.

• Pepper Bacon is my most used meat, since I buy it in packs of 3-4 pounds and freeze them into separate 1-pound bags. I've made it previously with Breakfast Sausage, diced Deli Meat as mentioned above and Chorizo. If you want to go a more Mexican route, swap the Yellow Potatoes for Red and Bacon for Chorizo and add a teaspoon of Taco Seasoning for a Southwest-inspired scramble.

• For some heat, this dish also lends itself very well to a hot sauce. I use my favorite Barrel-Aged Sriracha.