Swedish Spritz and the Cookie Press from Hell

My second recipe to attempt in Grandma Rose's cookbook was her Swedish Spritz. I decided to alternate between the sections of recipes because, as much as I love cake, I don't think I want to make a million of them all in a row.

This recipe should have been easy. In fact, it WAS easy. But the cookie press drove me into fits of rage that I have never experienced before. I hate to say, but several pictures did not get taken due to me being occupied by spitting flames and throwing cookie dough at the wall.

Ingredients:

1 cup sweet butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Thoroughly grease your baking sheets.

Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy.

Add yolks, one at a time, beating until smooth. Sift flour with baking powder and salt, and gradually add to butter mixture. Mix until well blended.

Add almond extract and vanilla. Mix dough until you can form a smooth log with your hands.

Place dough in cookie press and push out dough in small rings onto baking sheets.  Bake for about 12 minutes and be careful not to overbake.

Aren't they cute? This is a picture of the only -almost- perfect batch I made. My mistake was in buying the cheapest cookie press I found at the store. Though Wilton brand (I find that their stuff usually works pretty well), I had an issue with getting the dough to come out evenly. One of the petals of the cutout REFUSED to come out and I found myself scooping up half formed cookies and placing them back in the press for the majority of the project. The second problem was that, because the dough did not come out evenly, the cookies became very fragile and, more often than not, fell apart at the slightest touch.

The moral of this story? Never skimp when buying baking supplies.

Grandma Rose's Not-So-Simple Chocolate Cake

Before I was born, my parents took a trip up to Portland, Oregon for a convention my Dad attended. There they fell in love with the beautiful scenery, the mild temperatures and the delicious cinnamon rolls at Rose's Bakery. In fact, they enjoyed the cinnamon rolls so much that they returned every morning and even bought the restaurant's cookbook.

Fast forward about 18 years. While searching for a cake recipe one afternoon, I stumbled across a strange, yellow cookbook. Entitled "Grandma Rose's Book of Sinfully Delicious Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Cheesecakes, Cake Rolls and Pastries", it intrigued me. For the next two years, I would flip through the book, toying with the idea of trying out one of the recipes, but never actually going through with it. Now, on the brink of turning twenty, I finally decided to buck up and make something-- the whole book in fact.

Don't worry, I'm not going too Julie and Julia over this project. I'm not setting myself a time limit or anything like that. Heck, I can barely remember to post on here in a timely fashion! But I am really excited about this and I hope it works out. I'm not sure how long it will take-- there's a lot of recipes in this little book and I'm headed back to college in a month.

So to begin, I made the very first recipe in the book-- a Simple Chocolate Cake. It was simple...for the most part. However, I have to admit that I messed up on a couple of the details. But let's dive on in.

There's three parts to this recipe: the cake, frosting, and a glaze.

For the cake you'll need:
1/2 cup sweet butter, softened
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 9" tube pan. Place the butter in a medium sized mixing bowl. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt and add to the butter.

Next add the sour cream and mix until the flour is just dampened.

Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for two minutes.

Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and melted chocolate.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Be careful not to overbeat! That's a bad habit of mine and it can really make a difference in the texture of a cake. Gently fold them into the batter.

Pour into the tube pan and bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. When cool, remove from pan.







The next step is to make the frosting. For this you will need:

1/2 cup melted sweet butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup light cream (half and half)

Combine all of your ingredients and let stand for 5 minutes. Spread over the top of the cake and place under broiler. Heat topping until lightly brown and bubbly; watch carefully so it doesn't burn. I made the mistake of letting it get too brown. It doesn't even take five minutes for it to cook so check every minute or so. Let cool.

Finally, you can make your glaze.

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon water

Combine chocolate chips and corn syrup with water in top of a double boiler. Place over hot, not boiling, water until chocolate is melted and pour over the frosting.


My final mistake was to not let the chocolate thin out enough. When I poured it over the cake, it didn't form a glaze so much as a chocolate stripe down the center.

Well, it may not have been pretty, but it came out delicious! My family held a fish fry the night I made this and I didn't even have time to take a picture of the inside before it was eaten up! It's a very rich and dense cake, so a little goes a long way. I suggest pairing it with a strong cup of coffee because the sweetness can be a bit overwhelming.

Good luck!
Rosie

Ridculously Good Cinnamon Rolls

    Wow, so this is my first post in the blog Sweet Saccharine. At this point, I'm still not sure what I want this blog to be when it grows up, but I'm hoping you will join me as I figure it out.

    My name is Rose and I'm currently a college student working on a major in writing and publishing. However, some of my biggest hobbies include baking and fashion. I'm hoping that it will become evident throughout this blog just how much those two influence me, but for now we'll just dive right on into the first!

    One of my favorite foods in the whole world, is a piping hot cinnamon roll. Ever since I was a child, I loved the taste of the slightly doughy rolls with sweet icing melting down the sides. So when I found this easy recipe on Moms Who Think, I was ecstatic. Not only is it simple, but its ridiculously delicious and rich. I barely managed to finish one and my boyfriend, who might have a black hole for a stomach, stopped after a mere two.

    Here are directions with my (ugly) pictures, but if you just want the recipe, scroll down to the bottom.

    Your Ingredients:

Rolls:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


Filling
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon milk

First you need to go ahead and preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a 9 inch round cake pan and a wire rack with vegetable oil spray. Do not skip this! The baked rolls are covered in a sticky syrup and will be impossible to get out, otherwise.

For the filling: In a small bowl, combine your brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, and the melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Next you need to make your dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons of the melted butter.




With a wooden spoon, stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture until absorbed or about 30 seconds. The recipe says the dough will look shaggy, I would say a more accurate description is lumpy. Turn it out onto your floured counter and knead it until it is smooth.

Using your hands, press the dough into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle. This dough is very elastic, so be patient. Don't pull on it, because this causes the dough to become tough.

Brush the dough with 2 Tablespoons of the melted mutter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the filling, but leave a !/2 inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.

Loosen the dough from the counter using a spatula, and roll the dough, starting at a long side, to form a tight log. Make sure to pinch the seam to seal it, so the rolls don't fall apart. Cut into 8 even slices.

Place the slices into the greased cake pan. If necessary, gently shape them into a more rounded shape. Brush with the last 2 Tablespoons of melted butter.

Bake until the edges are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Be careful not to over bake! You will notice that the filling has spilled out and is bubbling, like a delicious, molten, cinnamon volcano.


Use a knife to loosen the rolls from the pan. Flip them out onto the prepared wire rack, then turn the upright. Let them cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make your frosting. Cream together your first three ingredients. Add the confectioners sugar gradually in order to incorporate it smoothly. Add the milk if it becomes too thick (I didn't find that necessary). This recipe makes a LOT of frosting. So what was the only logical thing to do? Cover the rolls in a mountain of cream cheese frosting, of course! After the rolls have cooled, spoon the icing on top and watch it make its ooey gooey way down the sides of the rolls.

The only thing left is to enjoy these monstrously delicious rolls. For the original recipe without the pictures, follow the yeast free recipe at Moms Who Think.

Enjoy!

Rosie