Cinnamon Rolls

Is there anything better than delicious doughy cinnamon rolls slathered with a cream cheese glaze straight out of the oven? 

These cinnamon rolls are dangerous! As in I wanted to sit and eat the entire pan straight out of the oven kinda dangerous. These things are good and they make your entire house smell amazing. 

I am always slightly nervous when baking anything that involves yeast. There is always the question of will this work out? Will it rise? You put in some much time (and hope) waiting for the dough to rise - you really want it to work out! There is something so relaxing about measuring out the ingredients, mixing the dough, leaving it to rise and watching it bake in the oven.  It is a lovely cozy ritual - perfect for a sunday morning.   You can make the dough for these cinnamon rolls the day before - and bake them the next morning! Enjoy them fresh from the oven with a large cup of coffee or tea. These would make for the perfect Christmas morning treat! 

Cinnamon Rolls 

With Cream Cheese Glaze

Directions

In a glass measuring cup, add the yeast to the warm milk and let it stand for 5 minutes. The yeast should start to foam in the milk.  

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed beat together butter, sugar and the egg. Slowly add in the milk and yeast mixture. Mix in the flour and salt. Until just combined. 

Switch to a dough hook, and mix until a smooth dough forms (3-5 minutes).  Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise until double in sized. 

To create the filling, in a small bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into long rectangle roughly 15 by 9 inches. Evenly spread the butter and cinnamon mixture over the dough. From one of the long ends, roll the dough into a log, pinch the ends together to seal.  Cut into 12-15 rounds. Place cinnamon buns in pie plate or cake pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. *If you would like to bake the dough the next day, let rise overnight in the fridge. 

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake cinnamon rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

While the cinnamon rolls are baking, in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment over medium to high speed, beat together, butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in icing sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. 

Top warm cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze. Enjoy! 

 For the Dough 

1 package yeast 

2/3 c warm milk 

1/2 c butter, at room temperature 

1/4 c sugar 

1 egg

3 c flour 

1/2 tsp salt

For the Filling 

1/4 c butter, at room temperature 

1/4 c brown sugar 

1 tbsp cinnamon

For the Cream Cheese Glaze 

1/4 c butter, at room temperature 

4 oz cream cheese, softened 

1 1/2 c icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla

White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Simple and festive these White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies are the perfect addition to any Christmas cookie tray!

I am so excited to share these cookies with you! They are soft, dense and chewy! Basically everything you want in a sugar cookie. The crushed candy canes add a wonderful festive touch to these cookies - along with a delicious minty flavour that is delicious with the white chocolate chips in the batter. These cookies stay soft & chewy even days after baking - if they last that long! 

These candy cane cookies are one of those quick and easy recipes to add to your holiday baking arsenal. I love a classic sugar cookie - and I know I will be making dozens of them over the holiday. But there is something to be said about quick, easy and simple. No royal icing to mess around with but delicious buttery cookies you can eat straight from the oven. Plus crushing the candy canes for this recipe is a great holiday stress reliever! Ha.  I am sure Santa will appreciate one of these cookies (or two)! 

White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies 

Makes: 1 dozen large cookies 

Ingredients 

1/2 c butter, at room temperature 

1 c sugar 

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 c flour 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 c white chocolate chips 

1/4 c candy canes, crushed 

Directions 

Line two baking trays with parchment paper, set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 350F. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in vanilla. 

With the mixer on low, beat in the flour, salt and baking powder, until just combined. Do not over mix, the dough should just start to come together. Stir in the white chocolate and crushed candy cane.

Using approx. 1/4 c of dough, roll into a ball and place onto baking sheet, flatted with your hand. Bake 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms are slightly browned. The cookies may still have a slight shine to their top when done. Do not over bake.

Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes

Full of delicious warming spices, giving it the perfect balance of sweet and spicy and topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting, this cupcake perfectly embodies a delicious chai tea latte.

Chai tea lattes are one of my go to drinks! In the summers I love them iced and I switch to hot lattes during the fall and winter months. The blend of black tea with the various warming spices never fails to warm me up and make me think of cozy evenings wrapped in a warm blanket and reading a good book.  The chai tea latte flavours always make me think of fall. Everyone gets really excited about Pumpkin Spice season (myself included) but I often think that the Chai Tea Latte gets over looked.

I knew I wanted to highlight the chai flavours in a cupcake. I decided to use a store bought chai tea latte concentrate in these cupcakes. This way I didn't have to worry about purchasing various different spices and trying to perfect my chai tea latte flavours for the cupcake. I love the way that they turned out.  Of course, I decided to top the cupcake with a cream cheese frosting - because you can never go wrong with cream cheese buttercream! The tangy cream cheese flavour pairs well with the chai spices and the creamy-ness of the frosting mimics the foam atop a latte. 

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Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes

Makes: 2 Dozen Cupcakes

Ingredients 

For the Cupcakes:

1 c milk 

1/2 c chai concentrate 

2.5 c flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp baking powder 

1 c butter, at room temperature 

3/4 c sugar 

3/4 c brown sugar

2 eggs

For the frosting: 

1/2 c butter, at room temperature 

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature 

4 c icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla 

2 tsp cinnamon 

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325. Line trays with cupcake liners and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the chai concentrate and milk, set aside. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed, beat together butter and sugars, until well combined. Mixture should be light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. On low, slowly mix in half of the flour mixture. Followed by half of the chai/milk mixture. Repeat, ending with the chai/milk mixture. Mix until just combined, take care not to over mix the batter. 

Fill cupcake liners 2/3s of the way full. Bake on centre rack for 20-22 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. 

For the frosting:

In the bowl of stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. The mixture should almost double in volume. Starting on low, beat in icing sugar, move mixer up to higher speed and beat for an additional minute or so. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon.  Frost cupcakes as desired. See how I frost my cupcakes.