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Cinnamon Star Bread

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Cinnamon Star Bread

Serving Size:
8-16
Time:
4 hours total
Difficulty:
Medium

Ingredients – Dough

  • 2 cups (240 g) of unbleached all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur Flour in the red bag)
  • 3/4 cup (184 g) of milk (preferably whole)
  • 4 T (57 g) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 2 t instant yeast
  • 2 T (25 g) sugar
  • 1 t salt

Ingredients – Filling (and Egg Wash)

  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (99 g) sugar
  • 1 T cinnamon

Directions

  1. Heat the milk to about 110 degrees – it should be lukewarm. I heat mine 1 minute in the microwave.
  2. Combine the milk, 1 cup of flour, butter, vanilla, yeast and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl, if you are mixing by hand. Slowly add the salt and enough of the remaining flour to form a shaggy dough that forms a ball. 
  3. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until it forms a smooth ball. The dough should be soft but not sticky. 
  4. Oil a large bowl (I use canola or another neutral flavored oil) and place the dough in the bowl. Roll the dough in the oil. Cover with a towel and place in a warm, draft free spot such as a slightly heated oven. Allow to rise about an hour until the dough has about doubled.
  5. After the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and gently deflate. Divide into four equal portions. Shape each quarter into a ball and allow to rest 10 minutes.
  6. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Beat the egg in a small bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
  7. Prepare a baking sheet by lining with a sheet of parchment or silicon baking mat.
  8. After the dough portions have rested, take one portion and roll out into a 10-inch circle. Gently move the circle onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the dough with the egg and then sprinkle with about 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar. Roll a second dough, and lay it on top of the first circle. Repeat with egg and cinnamon sugar until all of the doughs are layered. The top dough does not get egg and cinnamon sugar treatment. 
  9. Set a glass or other circle with about a 3-inch diameter in the center of the dough. This will act as a template so you don’t cut too far into the center.
  10. Using scissors or a bench knife, cut the circle into 16 even sections – stopping at the center circle marker. Remove the center circle marker.
  11. Take two strips of dough next to each other in each hand and twist away from each other two times, then pinch the strips together at the end. Repeat around the circle so that you have eight twists. 
  12. Allow the dough to rise in a warm spot again for about 45 minutes. It should be puffy at the end of this rise. 
  13. While the dough is rising, heat the oven to 400 degrees.
  14. At the end of the rise, gently brush a light layer of the egg over the top of the dough. 
  15. Bake for 15-18 minutes until the bread is golden with dark cinnamon streaks. The center should register 200 degrees F on a digital thermometer. 
  16. 16.Remove from oven and allow to rest about 10 minutes before serving. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve warm or at room temperature. 
  17. You can also allow it to cool completely at this point and wrap in tin foil or freezer paper and freeze. To serve from frozen, allow to come to room temperature overnight (either in the fridge or on the counter) and then heat (covered loosely with tin foil in a 325 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. 

Recipe for Holiday Jam

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First off, if anyone can come up with a better name than Holiday Jam, please let me know. At any rate, this is a little bit strawberry, a little bit cranberry, some spice, some sweet, and some tang. It pretty much has it all.

The original recipe that I based this on was a Ball Recipe that called for 5 lbs of sugar and powdered pectin. At that level of sugar, I’m not sure how you even taste anything else. I’ve cut the recipe in half to make it a small batch, and I’ve cut the sugar way down and taken out the powdered pectin. I don’t like the taste of powdered pectin and it isn’t necessary anyway, because cranberries are so high in natural pectin.

I’m pretty darn happy with the end result on this jam. It would be great as a hostess gift over the holidays. We are planning to use it over cream cheese or goat cheese on a cheese plate. I think it would also be great on turkey sandwiches. Honestly, this one, I’ve just been eating straight up on crackers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

Holiday Jam
Recipe Type: Preserves
Author: Andrea
This is a bright jam that combines strawberries and cranberries. It is perfect for canning in small jars for holiday gift giving. It goes well over cream cheese or goat cheese, on sandwiches, or crackers.
Ingredients
  • 4 cups frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 orange, peeled and seeded
  • zest of one orange (from above), finely shredded or chopped
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t fresh ginger
  • 1/4 t nutmeg
  • 1/8 t cloves
  • 3 cups of granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Prepare a boiling water bath and 5 half-pint (8 oz) jars or 10 4-oz jelly jars. A boiling water bath can be done in any stock pot that allows for water to cover the jars by at least 1-inch. A tall stock pot is fine to use, just place a towel or rack in the bottom so the jars don’t sit directly on the heat source. If your stock pot doesn’t fit all of your jelly jars (it may not if you are doing 4-oz jars), only jar up the ones that will fit in the pot, keeping the rest of the jam warm on the stove while the first batch of jars processes. Once the first jars are done processing, jar the remaining jam and process in a second batch. Alternately, you can just jar any extra jam to eat right away or freeze.
  2. Wash and prepare lids and rings, according to the package directions.
  3. Place strawberries, cranberries and peeled orange in food processor and pulse to medium to finely chopped, but not pureed. It will break down some as it cooks, so it is better to go with larger pieces than too small.
  4. Combine the fruit mixture in a large skillet or dutch oven. The skillet allows for more moisture loss over the surface, which reduces cooking time and maintains the fresh fruit flavor. Stir the fruit over medium-high heat until they are combined, about 2 minutes.
  5. Add the spices and sugar.
  6. Stirring regularly over high heat, bring the fruit to a boil and cook until it bubbles and looks quite thick.
  7. This will take about 15-20 minutes. It’s done when you pull a spatula through the jam and it doesn’t immediately run back into the cleared space. You can also check the temperature with a candy thermometer – it’s done when it hits 220 F.
  8. When the jam is done cooking, remove the pot from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam off the surface and reserve. Ladle the de-foamed jam into the prepared jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a wet paper towel, remove air bubbles, if necessary.
  9. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
  10. After the processing time is complete, remove the jars from the water bath and place on a towel on the counter to cool. Allow to cool, untouched, for 24 hours and then check seals.
  11. If you don’t want to process this recipe (or if you have a jar that doesn’t seal) – just jar the jams up to step 8 and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. It will also freeze well.

Gingerbread Cheesecake in the InstantPot

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It’s just before Thanksgiving and I’ve been assigned to bring dessert to a friend’s house this weekend. Whoopee! Cheesecake, anyone? Yes, please. I’m not in the mood for more pumpkin, and I was imagining something eggnog or rum flavored. But when I didn’t have eggnog around the house, I landed on gingerbread.

The recipe that inspired me for this cheesecake was originally from This Old Gal’s blog, and here is the link to her Holiday Spice Peppernuts Cheesecake. She has lots of amazing tips on her website about making cheesecakes in the pressure cooker. I’ll touch on my favorites in this post, but if you are inspired to start using your pressure cooker for cheesecakes, be sure to check out her blog.

For my crust, I crushed up my favorite molasses cookies and added some butter. If you don’t have molasses cookies sitting around, try gingerbread cookies  or the standard graham crackers. Just add 2 T of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the crushed graham crackers.

Gingerbread Cheesecake in the InstantPot
Recipe Type: Cheesecake
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
This is a holiday flavored cheesecake that will amaze everyone!
Ingredients
  • For Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cup of crushed molasses or gingerbread cookies
  • 2 T butter, melted
  • For Cheesecake:
  • 16 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 T flour
  • 1/4 cup of blackstrap molasses
  • 1/2 t ground cloves
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/4 cup of whipping cream or heavy cream
  • 3 eggs
Instructions
  1. Line the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
  2. For crust, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 7-inch springform (cheesecake) pan and slightly up the sides of the pan.
  3. Place pan into the freezer while you are making the cheesecake batter.
  4. Prepare the pressure cooker by placing a steamer rack on the bottom and add 1 1/2 cups water to the cooker. Prepare a sling for the cheesecake.
  5. For cheesecake batter, in your food processor, add the cream cheese and process until it is light and fluffy. Scrape the sides down as needed.
  6. Add the remaining ingredients through the whipping cream to the cream cheese and combine.
  7. Add the eggs one by one and pulse only enough to combine. Do not overtax at this point or the cake will end up with a fluffy texture.
  8. Pour the batter into the cake pan with the prepared crust.
  9. Wrap the bottom of the pan with tin foil, place a paper towel over the top of the cake and cover loosely with tin foil. Use the foil sling to lower the cheesecake into the pressure cooker.
  10. Set the time for 45 minutes on high pressure.
  11. After the cooking time is complete, allow the pressure cooker to natural release for 15 minutes. Then release remaining pressure and remove the cake using the foil sling.
  12. Remove the tin foil and paper towel covering the cake. Allow to rest at room temperature for one hour. Then move the cake to the fridge. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight. The cakes flavor will improve as it chills.

 

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