Cranberries Cinnamon Roll

Opps! Another bread collection for Today's Breakfast. As I was making a batch of the Cranberries Cream Cheese Bread for my aunty, I decided to use half of the dough to make this Cranberries Cinnamon Roll. It's indeed very easy to prepare, just need to sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon powder to it.... so simple and yet so delicious........Sometime I think bread making is very simple and full of creative ideas, just as long as you get hold of the kneading process of the dough. Then with the dough, you can creative different kinds of bread according to your creation.

Ingredients: (make about 7 buns)
150g Bread Flour
50g Plain Flour
10g Milk Powder
30g Sugar
1 Medium Egg
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Instant Dry Yeast
85ml Ice Water
25g Butter/Margarine
40g Dried Cranberries, finely chopped

Methods:
1. Mix bread flour, plain flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and dry yeast till well blended in a big mixing bowl.
2. Next add in Egg, and use finger to mix it well and slowly add in the cold water while you knead the mixture till combine then add in the butter and knead to form a pliable & elastic dough.(you might not need all the ice water, just add slowly while kneading so that it will come to a rough dough consistency then add in the butter)
3. This process may take quite a while, about 30 mins or so.
4. The dough will be wet & sticky at first (and kinda messy as well), but keep on kneading (without adding oil or water) until dough no longer sticks to fingers & is glossy on surface.
5. And if you're about to give up just like I did, DON'T!
6. When the dough is done, add in the chopped cranberries slowly and mix till well combine.
7. Place the dough in the mixing bowl, wrap it up and set aside in a warm place to allow dough to fermentate, approx. 45 minutes - 60minutess,(depend on the weather, or you can place it in the oven with a bowl of hot water beside it) the dough must at least double in size after fermentation.

For The Cinnamon Fillings:
1/2 Tablespoon Or more Cinnamon Powder
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Soft Butter
1 Egg, lightly beaten
Some Almond Flakes

Methods:
1. Roll the fermented dough roughly into a 30cm by 25cm rectangle shape.
2. Spread a thin layer of butter on the dough surface and sprinkle some cinnamon powder and brown sugar evenly around the surface.(Adjust the amount by personal preference.)
3. Roll up the dough on the wider side downwards evenly, cut the rolled up dough into 6 or 7 equal parts.
4. Place the cut dough into paper mould with the cut surface facing upwards.
5. Leave it to continue ferment until it fill 80% of the mould.
6. Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle some almond flakes on the surface, you can spinkle some extra cinnamon powder if you prefer.
7. Bake in a preheat 180 degree oven for about 15 minutes or till golden brown, remove and set aside to cool.

Green Carrot & Cordyceps Soup

Last few weeks it seems abit difficult to find Green Carrot around my area. So when I managed to get hold of one yesterday, I decided to use it for this Green Carrot & Cordyceps Soup. With the Green Carrot and Cordyceps stem, this soup give up a very fragrant, refreshing and sweet taste which make you wanted to have a second refill in the soup bowl. You might want to give this a try during hot weather as it's a very good soup to clear the heats in the body.


Ingredients:
300g Pork Ribs(排骨)/2 Chicken Drumsticks
1 Medium Fresh Huai Shan(鲜淮山), around 200g
1 Medium Red Carrot(红萝卜)
1 Medium Green Carrot/Green Radish(青萝卜)
1/2 Tablespoon Gou Qizi(枸杞子)
4 Red Dates(红枣)
2 Tablespoons Foxnuts(茨实)
1.5 Tablespoons Cordyceps Stems(干冬虫草)

Methods:
1. Wash and blanch the pork ribs in boiling water, rinse and set aside.
2. Wash, peel and cut the red carrot, green carrots and huai shan into thick sections.
3. Rinse the rest of the herbs ingredient and set aside.
4. Bring a pot of 1.5 litres of water to boil and add in all ingredients, boil on medium heat for 10 minutes then simmer on low heat for about 1.5 hours.
5. Or you can transfer to a slow cooker on Low heat and simmer for 2 - 3 hours.
6. Season with some salt or chicken stock cubes and serve warm.
This is the picture of Green Carrot/Green Radish. You can find it in most vegetable stalls in the wet market. It will give out a very refreshing and sweet taste when used to make soup.

Bacon, Mushroom & Cheese Tart

Make this Bacon, Mushroom and Cheese Tarts for my guest yesterday night dinner and everyone love it very much. The taste of the filling is just right and the case is very crisp and yummy. Thank Tazz for sharing this wonderful recipe.... Another test proof recipe from Tazz's kitchen.....

For my version, I actually pan-fry the chopped bacon in some olive oil for a while till fragrant then I spread it evenly onto the tart case itself. As I thought this might make the bacon more fragrant when bake.....

Vareniki Dumplings

Made this as dinner for my friend who visited us yesterday. Wow..... You must be wondering what is "Vareniki Dumplings". You might have heard of Pork Dumplings, Shrimp Dumpling, Vegetable Dumplings or etc.... But what is Vareniki Dumplings?

Vareniki are square or crescent shaped dumplings of unleavened dough, stuffed with cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, meat or hard-boiled eggs or sometime with fruit filling. It's very popular in Russia as a quick-fix dish. During preparation, the filling is wrapped with dough, boiled for several minutes, and then covered with oil. So in another word, it is a Russian Dumpling just similar to our Asian Pork Dumpling but stuff with different filling and cooking method.


I come across this interesting recipe from one of blog that my friend Tracy introduce to me. It consists of alot of interesting recipes which Suyin records all her cooking adventure during her study in Australia. You can find the original recipe from her link which also include with a cooking video. For my version, I add in some extra vegetables, fruits and Parmesan cheese for extra colour and favour.

Ingredients For Dough: (make about 20 wrappers)
1 Cup Plain Flour, sifted
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Egg Yolk
100ml Of Drinking Water

Methods:
1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, then stir in the salt.
2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the egg yolk and oil.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the egg, gradually drawing in the flour. After a few minutes the dough will be too stiff to use a spoon and you will need to use your fingers.
4. Once all the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for about 3-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. If you find the dough is too wet, add a little more flour and continue kneading. But if the dough is too dry, then sprinkle some water and knead till smooth.
6. Cover with cling wrap and set aside for at least 15-20 minutes.
7. The dough is now ready, roll the dough out into thin sheet then use a round cutter(8cm) to cut into round wrappers.
8. Wrap each wrapper with 1 Tablespoon Of Potato mixture and repeat it with the rest of the wrappers.
9. Bring a big pot of water with 1 teaspoon of salt and olive oil to boil, then add in the wrapped dumplings.
10. Continue to simmer until all the dumplings floats up, remove, rinse with tap water and drain well. (put around 6 dumpling at a time, don't over crowded the pot)
11. Set aside for later use.

Potato Filling: (can make 50 dumplings)
3 Medium Size Potatoes
30g Soft Butter
1/2 Onion, finely diced
1/2 Cup Grated Mozzarella/Cheddar
2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
Some Black Pepper & Salt

Methods:
1. Wash the potatoes, cut into half then steam it for about 15 - 20 minutes until tender.
2. Scoop out the potato flesh into a mixing bowl then mash it with a fork until smooth.
3. Preheat a pan with butter then saute the diced onion till soft and fragrant.
4. Remove from heat, add in the mashed potato, and stir till combine, then add in cheese, sour cream, pepper and salt.
5. Continue to stir till all mixture is well combined then set aside for the wrapping.

Assemble:
50g Of Bacon, cut into slices
1/2 Packet Of Sweet Bean
6 Cherry Tomato
100g Blueberry, optional
Parmesan Cheese Powder
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Methods:
1. Preheat the pan with 1 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, then saute the bacon until fragrant then add in the cooked dumpling in two batches.
2. Pan-fry until both sides are golden brown then remove and place on serving plate. Continua with the rest.
3. Add in some extra olive oil, then stir-fry the sweet bean and cherry tomato till fragrant then add in the blueberry and stir for another minute.
4. Remove and divide it evenly onto the top of serving dumpling then sprinkle with some extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese powder and serve.

Notes:
The original Vareniki Dumpling is served with drizzle oil on top but for my version, I add in extra bacon, vegetables and cheese to give it more favour.

As for the left over potato fillings, you can either kept in the fridge for making a 2nd batche or you can make half of the recipe instead. Sometime it depend on the size of the potatoes or the amount of fillings you wanted to wrap.