We had our annual Talent Night at the church in Eindhoven. I don't ever perform musical talents which are generally what people do at talent nights. The first two years here I brought my art to share with people and it was on display in another part of the building but I felt kind of odd being the only one that brought something when I know there are quite a few good artists in the ward - photographers and quilters. Last year I made 4 kinds of cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. This year I made 3 kinds. I kept it a bit simple because I also helped the Young Women make cinnamon rolls and those where quite popular - to my surprise - more popular than the cupcakes... which reminds me of something else - but more on that later.

So, I made the "Mexican Hot Chocolate" cupcakes - which where more adult cupcakes - with a pinch of cayenne and the almonds - they were tasty and good... but actually I like the cinnamon rolls better too... and I prefer my Mexican Hot Chocolate hot and liquid. So when it comes to cupcakes I think I like some of the other - simpler recipes in the book as well. The other two cupcake batches where more for the kids. One was using the basic chocolate cupcakes and I added a bit of coconut extract and then I frosted them with the basic frosting - tinted green and then I dusted them with flaked coconut - also tinted green - to give them kind of a grassy look. And topped them with little flower shaped sugar cookies. Surprisingly, those didn't turn out as cute as I planned and they were also the least popular treat. So, the third cupcake I made was using the basic vanilla cupcake recipe and then I frosted them with the basic frosting tinted red and flavored cherry. Then I decided to add white spots to each cupcake - make them look like "paddestoels rood met witte stipppen" aka forest mushrooms and I went looking for some "kabouters" aka little gnomes to top them off. I couldn't find any... but I did come across some gummy Smurfs and that did the trick. Those were kind of more popular - especially for the people that didn't want to eat chocolate.




Thanks to Mark for the photos :)

Next year... I don't think I'll make cupcakes again for the Talent Night because I ordered a really cool molten cake pan - so I may be making mini molten chocolate cakes or mini cheesecakes :) mmmm yummmy!


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Now, back to that cinnamon roll thingy... I mentioned before that those are much more popular than cupcakes - in my circle of friends at least... so I was off to make something new in the cinnamon roll realm.

I have made the classic cinnamon roll a number of times - both with just a glaze and also with a thick 'Cinnabon' type frosting. Good either way in my opinion. But that is just not enough for me, because sometimes I want to be creative and I want to try something new and just you know push the envelope as they say or you know try some fusion baking :)

So, I've made Pumpkin cinnamon rolls and they are awesome. I've tried them with zucchini - again - awesome. I've tried them with Banana - awesome! And so the other night I tried Coconut... and they were good. Not awesome as I had hoped... but - I will try them again. This time I'm calling them Sweet Rolls because they are just that. They look like cinnamon rolls but I might want to use nutmeg in place of cinnamon next time. I may also try adding some macadamia nuts or making them a bit more Indonesian and giving them a sort of rose syrup glaze. Could be interesting either way.

Here is the recipe I used:

3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup margarine, soft
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg

then the cinnamon/coconut mixture:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons margarine, melted

And for the glaze/frosting:

about 1 cup powdered sugar
about 2 tablespoons coconut milk
about 1/4 teaspoon each coconut extract and vanilla extract

So, if you already know how to make cinnamon rolls in general - you will know what to do with the ingredients above... using a bread maker or mixing it by hand you basically add the first group of ingredients together to make a dough - let it rise. Then you take the next group of ingredients to make the cinnamon mixture which will be spread inside the rolled out dough for the rolls. You roll up the dough, slice it into 12 or more rolls and place on lined cookie sheets. Let rise in oven on low heat - then bring up the temperature - depending on your oven (Mine is done baking in 10 minutes -- on 150 C degrees - hot air ovens bake fast) And then you take the last set of ingredients, mix together thin as desired with more or less coconut milk and spread the glaze on top of the rolls.

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I've also been brainstorming about other future "Cinnamon Roll" combos - or Sweet Roll combos - and I'm thinking...

Carrot Cake - sweet rolls; Oatmeal chocolate chip - sweet rolls; Apple cinnamon -sweet rolls; trying the pumpkin rolls with a bit of orange; Mango cinnamon rolls; White chocolate raspberry -sweet rolls; Cherry chocolate - sweet rolls; Peaches n cream - sweet rolls; Flax n sunflower seed - cinnamon rolls; Nut n honey cinnamon rolls; blueberry banana -cinnamon rolls; and lastly - ginger rolls :)

Comments

Rachel said…
It just hit me that even though I haven't been blogging that I should be checking in with yours. Maybe an easier way to keep in touch, since it has been kind of tough so far. It's going to be kind of tough, since I am still missing Eindhoven so much, but it's worth it to keep updated on what my favorite family is up to. Your cupcake talent is awesome!! That's the only post I read so far, but I will spend some time tonight catching up.
5:13 PM
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