Sunday Funday!

2 more days left of summer class and how do I spend it? Baking of course! Haha.

So yesterday I met up with some old High School friends. We went out to Picnic Bistro for lunch. Delish! I got the Lake Tahoe sandwich.

Afterwards, I headed off to the Fremont Festival. I've never gone to one so it was a really great experience. This festival was huge! Unfortunately, I did not take any photos, I was too preoccupied by all the amazing things that were happening. Music, vendors, food. Next year I'll come back and I'll definitely bring money and a camera. 

We decided to end this hot day with some gelato at Sweet Orchid. This is my go to spot for gelato, even if it means I have to drive a ridiculous distance to get some. They have some crazy flavors but I stuck with my original favorite of Mango sorbetto and Strawberry sorbetto. Yum! Look how colorful my gelato is!

(Oh! On a side note, I recently got photoshop! Well.. the trial that is. I swear I'll buy it when the trial is over! Haha. I'm working on my photography and photo editing skills. You can tell that I definitely need a lot of work but I'm practicing whenever I can!!!)

I thought my day ended with Gelato, but it didn't. My OTHER two old high school friends wanted to come over and help me bake. Which is a good thing because I needed a reason to bake so I could blog about it. 

My friends, Margaret  and Kenneth, are my two go-to people when it comes to baking. They just love to share my passion with me. Who else is going to eat what I made? 

Margaret has been bugging me to do some cinnamon rolls lately and I figured, why not today? She chose this ridiculous recipe that included a 14 hour wait period for the dough to rise, but I showed her another recipe from A Beautiful Mess. Nutella Cinnamon Rolls? Uhh, Yes Please!!! She wanted to try this recipe from Provocative Palate, but since neither one of us wanted to wait that long, we decided to use the dough from A Beautiful Mess and make the nutella cinnamon rolls AND the fireball whiskey cinnamon rolls. Genius right? 

Total wait time, 1 hr 30 mins. I'll take that any day! 

Nutella cinnamon rolls are going to be the death of me! I was able to cut out 16 slices from the roll and I just stuck it in a 10" cake pan. I left a bit of space in between to let it rise for another 30 minutes. That is how it looks like baked! I wish I cut that strangely large roll in the middle to where it matched with the other rolls, but oh well! The more the merrier!

This is the Fireball Whiskey Cinnamon roll that we made. De-Lish!! Not too much cinnamon with a shot of the side. Just kidding, we didn't take a shot, we just used it as a prop. Doesn't that look amazing? 

Well, here is the recipe for this delicious and easy cinnamon rolls taken from A Beautiful Mess with a mix of Provocative Palate! When I get the chance to, I will upload a printable document for this recipe. Enjoy!!

Nutella/Fireball Whiskey Cinnamon Rolls, makes 12-16

3 tablespoons warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup milk (I used whole, but any kind is fine)
2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup flour

Nutella Filling:
1 cup Nutella
3-4 teaspoons cinnamon

Fireball Whiskey Filling:
8 ounces packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Fireball Whiskey Caramel sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
6 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

In a small bowl, stir together the yeast, water and sugar and let it sit for 5-6 minutes to activate. 

In a small pot melt the butter. Add the milk and allow it to warm up and not boil.

In the bowl of your mixer (or just a large bowl) combine the flours and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture, the milk mixture and (with the dough hook attachment) stir/knead until well-combined and dough becomes slightly elastic. Form into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl (I just sprayed a bowl with baking spray), cover and allow to rise for 1 hour. (Or until doubled in size.)

Nutella filling:

Roll dough out into a large rectangle. Spread on the Nutella! Evenly sprinkle on the cinnamon.Roll up and cut into 12-16 rolls and place in a greased 10" cake pan or any buttered pan. Cover and allow to rise for another 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Fireball Whiskey Filling:

Roll dough out into a large rectangle. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Brush on melted butter on dough and sprinkle on the filling. Make sure to pat it in when it is evenly distributed. Roll up and cut into 12-16 rolls and place in a greased 10" cake pan or any buttered pan. Cover and allow to rise for another 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Fireball Whiskey Caramel Sauce:

Combine first 4 ingredients together and let it boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add in cream. Drizzle on top of cinnamon rolls. 

xo Baker Who