Very Yummy Cinnamon Swirls

When I made my Cinnamon Pancakes back along, I ended up making far too much filling. So I bunged it into the fridge and everytime I opened the fridge door, there it was, goading me to try yet another cinnamon recipe.  Now how can I say no to that???? So I went and found meself a recipe for cinnamon swirls, which I absolutely adore.  However, just so you know, this recipe does not use the danish pastry that is normally used to make cinnamon swirls. 

I have at last managed to take pictures while baking, coz Little Miss J was fast asleep when I made these! So there are probably too many photos!!! 

This recipe makes about 15 - 16 swirls.

What you will need: -

For the dough: -

Self raising flour  250 g

Salt - a pinch

Unsalted butter, softened 90 g

Semi skimmed milk 170 ml

For the filling: -

Butter (melted) 55 g

Dark brown sugar 60g

Cinnamon 1 1/2 tbsp (this is very cinnamony...you can reduce this if you want)

For the drizzle: -

Icing sugar 60 g

Boiling water 2 tsp

Method: -

1.  Preheat oven to 210 degrees celsius/Gas mark 6.  Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2.  Sift flour and salt into a bowl.  Add the chopped unsalted butter and mix using your fingertips until teh mixture resembles breadcrumbs.   Make a well in the centre and add almost all the milk.

3.  Using a palette knife, bring the mixture together until it forms a soft dough. You can add the remaining milk now if necessary.

4.  Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface and knead briefly to make a smooth dough.

5. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, roughly 15 inches x 10 inches.  Spread the cinnamon filling with a palette knife leaving a little space around the edges.

6.  Gently lift the dough from one end and roll like a swiss roll. 

7.  Once rolled, I would suggest popping it in a bit of clingfilm and in the fridge for about 10 minutes.  I didn't do this and it was a bit fiddly to cut. 

8.  Once you take it out of the fridge, using a sharp knife, cut into slices roughly around 1 inch thick.  Place on your lined tray.  As you can see, mine lost a bit of their shape.  This should not be a problem if you bung it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

 9.  Place the swirls close together and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until lightly golden brown.  In a bowl, mix the icing sugar and the boiling water and beat till a smooth paste is formed.  Drizzle over the swirls when they are slightly cool.

And ta da - you have yourself some very yummy cinnamon swirls - even if I do say so myself!!!!

Save the Planet Sunday #5

Time to talk 'green' again. Here is a quick recipe for a homemade mouthwash which you can make with ingredients that you will already have around the kitchen. No harsh chemicals, no alcohol and no artificial preservatives.

You will need:
Baking soda
Water
Peppermint essential oil(if you want a minty taste!)

Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 2 oz of water.  Add a tiny drop of peppermint essential oil and your mouthwash is ready.  If you want to make a bigger batch, mix 1  tsp baking powder to every 8 oz of water and store in a sterilised container.  Since there is no preservative in this mouthwash, it is better to make it fresh every 2 - 3 days rather than store it.  

Baking soda is a mild abrasive - it helps kill bacterial microorganisms in your mouth and it also acts as a whitener.  Not to mention that is a much cheaper option that commercially bought mouthwash.  

I was featured!

Today was a good day! I came home from work to find two emails waiting for me.  My DIY kiddie shoe rack was featured on Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy.

And the lovely Suzy over at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcomgave me a feature too!

Blogland is wonderful! We all live so far away from each other yet we connect on some level!  Thank you ladies for the shout out and for making my day! xx

Herb crusted stuffed courgettes

I found this recipe in my monthly supermarket magazine as a way to get toddlers to eat courgettes (zuchinni) which have a very high vitamin C content.  I like my courgettes - but am forever trying to figure out what I can do with them that's different.  So here's my take on the magazine recipe.  You have to forgive the addition of turmeric and chilli - I'm Indian - I have this innate inclination to 'Indianise' any food!!!

Ingredients

Courgettes     3 nos. 

Carrot           1 large, grated
Onion            1 medium, chopped
Garlic            1 -2 cloves, chopped

Basil              1 tablespoon, shredded

Thyme           1 tablespoon ( I used dried - you can use fresh if its available )

Breadcrumbs  50 g

Cheese           50 g grated ( I used cheddar coz its what I had in the fridge )

Egg                1 nos.

Turmeric        A pinch

Chilli pdr        A pinch (Omit this if you don't like the heat)

Salt               To taste

Method

1.  Boil the courgettes in water for 6-8 minutes.  Leave aside to cool. Then drain and cut lengthwise. Cut further in half.

2. Scoop out the flesh of the courgettes and chop roughly.  In a bowl, add the chopped courgettes, carrot, basil, thyme, breadcrumbs, cheese, egg, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Mix it all together.

3.  Spoon the filling into the courgette halves.  I sprinkled some extra breadcrumbs on top for a more crusty topping.  You could also add extra cheese to the top and it will brown nicely, but you might want to do this just towards the end so that the cheese doesn't burn.

4.  Bake at 170 degrees celsius for about 30 minutes.  

Since the oven was on anyway, I popped in some potatoes with a light coat of olive oil, salt and pepper and few sprigs of my favourite herb, rosemary. 

The courgettes turned out beautiful.

 

Dished up with the potatoes, it made a very nice meal - even Mr. J loved it - and he's not a big courgette fan!

Pay it forward

My lovely friend Isa in Portugal today awarded me with this.  She is wholly responsible for getting me into crafting and you can find her creative work here. Isa is mum to the lovely Marilia and into the very noble teaching profession imparting knowledge to young children.  I met her when she lived in the UK and we became friends since our kids went to the same nursery.  We are closer now than ever and I wish she was around here to share our love of all things creative.

                                                  

Here are the rules! Please pass on this award to blogs you love with less than 100 followers! Pay it forward!

There's nothing like spreading a little love to put a smile on people's faces - thanks Isa for putting one on mine!

These are my picks: -

Jellyhead's finished projects - my friend from work who is very very talented and makes some gorgeous cards. She has just started a blog featuring her lovely creations.

The lovely Cheryl who blogs over at Time to Craft. She also lives in South West England and is mummy to three lovely children and has a very inspiring blog.

Another neighbour in South West England, Rae blogs over at Felt by Rae. She has great ideas and I love reading her blog!

Cinnamon Pancakes

I can't stop with the cinnamon obsession. So when I read this recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes, I knew it would have to get tried out! This recipe was inspired by the lovely Nikki who blogs over at Chef in Training. Stop by and check out her awesome recipes.

I have made my own tweaks to the recipe and changed the measurements to read in grams as I struggle with the US system of measurements.  I also didn't ahve any cream cheese so made a honey and orange juice syrup.  I have reduced the filling quantities from Nikki's original recipe,  so you can check both recipes out and see which one works for you!

Little Miss J was my little helper for this one and she loved mixing it all up!

Enough chatter now - lets get on with it!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

For the pancake: 

Plain flour 110 g 

Baking powder 2 tsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Corn oil 1 tbsp

1 Egg, lightly beaten

Semi skimmed milk 240 ml

For the filling: 

Butter (melted) 55 g

Dark brown sugar 60g

Cinnamon 1 1/2 tbsp (this is very cinnamony...you can reduce this if you want)

For the glaze: 

These measurements are an approximation as I pretty much just bunged everything together without measuring! 

Honey 4 tbsp

Orange juice, freshly squeezed 3 tbsp

Icing sugar 20 g

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and sugar.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and corn oil.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients stirring with a whisk to reduce the lumps.

2. For the filling, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Place this mixture in a piping bag. I placed the bag in the fridge for five minutes.  

3. Mix together the honey, orange juice and icing sugar.  Best to add liquid ingredients to the icing sugar so that there are no lumps. 

You can follow the methodology over at Chef in Training.

And there you have it - isn't this just gorgeousness on a plate???

Thank you Nikki for a fab recipe!

This post was featured on Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy
Homemaker on a Dime

I was featured on J&M's Eye Candy

The lovely K&B have featured me on their blog and I feel so honoured! This is my first ever proper feature from linking up and I'm pretty much doing a jig right now!!! Big shout out to you guys!

Stop by and check out their awesome blog J&M's Eye Candy