Hazelnut Streusel Bread

A quick bread, which is actually a cake. This is very nice. There's streusel topping scattered over the top and in the middle of the cake. The batter was thick and I was quite worried that it will bake up dense. But it turned out really nice. The crumbs are soft and moist. 

I did reduce the sugar to 120gm from the original 155gm, and find the cake still a little too sweet for my taste. For the streusel, I have used less sugar as well ; a scant 1/4 cup of brown sugar, loosely packed. There's chocolate chips in the cake, that could have contributed to the sweetness of the cake. 

I like the streusel crunch on the top, smells delicious, with the ground cinnamon in it. Overall, this is a lovely delicious cake, the only thing I would change is to use lesser sugar the next time.

Milk Chocolate Pots de Creme

This is rich and yummy. Uses milk chocolate, so be sure to use a good one. This Milk Chocolate Pots de Creme is such a decadent dessert, rich and very filling. Best made in small ramekins. Recipe states to bake in water bath for 25 minutes, but they were still very runny, so I have baked them longer, checking every five minutes. The custard will be just set, with the centre still slightly jiggly. It took me 40 minutes to get to that stage.

When the custard is done baking, remove them from the hot water bath, allow to cool on a rack, then cover with plastic, press gently onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Velvety smooth, rich and delicious. It can be served with dollops of whipped cream, but it isn't really  necessary. Yums!

Cinnamon Rolls

I'm back after a few weeks of blogging rest. It was an unplanned rest, came about when I hurt my back while cleaning my kitchen. I tried to lift the microwave oven! And hurt my back. Spend the first few days lying down (ouch!). If you have experienced with back pain before (this is not my first either!), you would know that it takes weeks for the pain to subside. So I have not been baking for the past few weeks or do anything much except to finish reading three novels. And no, I will not be lifting the microwave oven again (or any other heavy stuffs!) on my own anytime in the future! 

I made these Cinnamon Rolls as I was itching to bake some sweet bread. The original recipe is called Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese frosting. I did not have any cream cheese so I omitted the frosting. 

The dough is enriched with milk, butter and eggs, similar to a brioche, soft and smooth, and easy to work with. The recipe makes 16 rolls, all of which are supposed fit in a 13x9-inch pan. I could not fit all of the rolls in the pan, so 12 rolls goes into the 13x9-inch pan, and the balance  4 rolls are placed in a 6" round cake pan. 

I mixed the ingredients for the filling ; ground cinnamon, brown sugar, orange zest in a bowl. The dough is divided into two halves, and each half is rolled out to 9 by 14 inch rectangle. Spread the rolled dough with some softened butter and spread half the filling on each, roll up the dough, Swiss roll style. Slice into 8 even slices and place in the greased pan, cut side up. I have spread one dough half with some raisins over the filling, and leaving the other half only with the cinnamon filling.

The rolls smells wonderful while baking. 

Very nice when eaten while still warm. Soft moist crumbs with sweet cinnamony taste and the fragrant orange zest,  and fruity bite of the raisins. Lovely with a cup of tea. The rolls are not as soft on the next day, but can be reheated wrapped in foil, about ten minutes in the oven.