Baking on a whim

Some homemade goodness

Today didn’t have a plan yet when I got out of bed to feed the fish and the cat. It just sort of unrolled itself along the way. I had wanted to check for crushed pineapple down in the cold room, but of course 6 other things down there and I forgot that. I do have one, so I also got a bag of frozen shredded zucchini out to thaw along with tonight’s meat for supper (ground deer/pork).

That particular item that uses those ingredients will get made tomorrow, but today? I had a little itch and the tendinopathy was…let’s just say less excruciating than usual. I had grabbed what I thought was condensed milk and a pound of butter when grabbing the last half-gallon of raw milk to bring up.

The condensed milk and butter were for Irish shortbread toffee bars. I also decided while I was at it, I might as well make cinnamon buns (rolls, by their better known name I suppose). Easy enough to work both around each other.

Start with the dough for the buns, a tried and true recipe that is just a simple sweet dinner bun that can be made into many variations, and even monkey with the ingredients and never really fail. Even someone with zero experience can make this one work (and mistakes are still dang tasty!).

While that has it’s first rise, I mix up the crust for the bars and get it into the oven.

That needs a few minutes, which is time enough to punch down the bread dough and get the stuff together for the toffee and start cooking it. I discover, though, that I happened to buy the caramel dulce de leche…hmm. Oh well, in it goes.

Get that done cooking to soft ball stage (since I can’t use the color to know when it’s done), and spread on the crust. Now I can let that cool for a while, and roll up the cinnamon buns…those need an hour for the final rise

Get most of the cleanup done now, and I have time to park for a break before my legs say I should fall down. It can be frustrating to have to work around this body!

Final chocolate layer goes on the squares while the oven heats up for the buns. Darn, got it a little too hot, it seized. Oh well, it did finally spread, and heck, it won’t taste any different. Buns baked up perfectly, too.

So good having goodies we can make ourselves and know what’s in there isn’t some weird ingredients. I still have laundry to put away, but it can sit until tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed this little look into my kitchen!

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