"...the answer invariably comes back: cinnamon."

"Cinnamon takes a back seat to no babka. People love cinnamon. It should be on tables at restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, "Oh this is so good, what's in it?" The answer invariably comes back, 'Cinnamon.' 'Cinnamon.' Again and again. Lesser babka?? I think not."


Amen, Jerry. And amen.

Two Seinfeld references in a row? What's wrong with me? Nothing a little cinnamon can't cure. It's time for the Cinnamon Celebration round-up. I received 37 entries appropriate for any and every type of cinnamon craving you might have. We'll start with the desserts first:

Sophie from Flour Arrangements made a glorious treat that would be suitable for just about anyone--Gluten- and Lactose-Free Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Cake:


I got a gorgeous Maple-Glazed Apple Cake from Lindsey of Noodle Nights and Muffin Mornings:


Butterball, the gal responsible for the fabulously-titled blog A Butter World, made Sugar & Spice & Everything Naughty Pastry Hearts:


I think chocolate and cinnamon is a wonderful combination, and Nuria from Spanish Recipes agrees. Here's her Bizcocho con Chocolate (Chocolate Cake):


The Peanut Butter Boy, also known as Nick, brought back his Pumpkin Pie Peanut Butter Pudding, and I, for one, am very happy about it:


How does a Fig and Chile Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon Ice Cream sound? Vera of Baking Obsession has concocted a wonderful recipe and the presentation is nothing short of extraordinary:


Judith from Shortcut to Mushrooms was inspired by a book to make her Dim and the Dark Cookies:


Karen, the DomesticMuse, raises a good point--why aren't there Apple Brown Bettys all over the place? They're wonderful:


Ivy of Kopiaste contributed a unique and undeniably appetizing treat--Glyko Milo:


Although these Chewy Ginger Wedges from Peggy of The House of Kent are ginger-centric, they still honor cinnamon:


Kat from A Good Appetite also knows a thing or two about the pairing of chocolate and cinnamon. Take a gander at her Dark Chocolate Azteca Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream:


There's no denying that apples and cinnamon belong together, and Gayle from Pastry Studio provides wonderful proof of that with her whimsically-named Apple of My Eye:


Here's another apple delight from MaryBeth of Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way--Apple Footballs:


Donna of My Tasty Treasures sent in something I've never made myself, but would love to try--Baked Churro Munchies with Warm Chocolate Dipping Sauce:


Cinnamon makes a perfect compliment to the fruits in Abby's Orange & Cranberry Torte. Check out her blog Eat the Right Stuff for the wonderful recipe:


Jeanne, brilliant author of CookSister, contributed a glorious Spiced Pear Apple Pistachio Crisp, perfect for any day:


Here are two sensational creations sent in by Navita of Zaayeka. First, we have Sesame Sepculaas, which are completely new to me but look irresistible:


Her other treat is Vegan Banana Chocolate Bread, which can and should be enjoyed by all:


Marjie from Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet put a twist on a classic cake with her Meringue-Topped Spice Cake:


The last dessert-type dish was sent in by Sweatha of TastyCurryLeaf, and what do ya know--it's my favorite cookie. Here are her Snickerdoodles:



How about a couple of entrees? After all, meat likes cinnamon too.

First, Julia of Grow. Cook. Eat. made an interesting beef dish called Adina Kebabi, and it looks great:


Sylvie from Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener also paired cinnamon with beef. Here's her savory Red Cooked Beef with Sweet Potatoes:



I call these the breakfast beauties:

Lisa of The Cutting Edge of Ordinary has a marvelous recipe for Cinnamon Biscuit Rolls, the ultimate breakfast treat:


Here's that lovely apple again--OhioMom from Cooking in Cleveland made some beautiful Apple Cinnamon Twists:


Katie from Salt and Chocolate sent in her Baked Oatmeal, a delicious, convenient, and completely wonderful dish:


If you want a good laugh and also appreciate the wonder that is cinnamon toast, check out The Blonde Duck's ode on her blog A Duck in Her Pond:


You absolutely can't go wrong with a batch of Apple Cinnamon Muffins from Lori of Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness:


More muffins? Giz of the ever-delightful Equal Opportunity Kitchen made an all-time favorite--Donut Muffins:


Krysta, the evil chef mom and goddess who helped introduce me to Vietnamese cinnamon, began her bread-baking endeavors with this stellar Cinnamon Crumb Surprise:


Julia's back again with a different take on Cinnamon Rolls. I personally can never get enough:


It's time for a little chocolate--here are Elle's Mexican Hot Chocolate Muffins as seen on her most enjoyable blog, Elle's New England Kitchen:


Laura from The Spiced Life made cookies for breakfast, which is a-okay by me. Look at her Cinnamon Pumpkin Oatmeal (Breakfast) Cookies:


One final batch of my favorite breakfast--these Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls were created and enjoyed by Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen:



Miscellaneous magic:

Ashley, the Culinarywannabe, made a lovely Breakfast Granola full of fruits and nuts:


Deeba of Passionate About Baking took her granola one step further and made Blueberry Oat Walnut Granola Bars:


Here's a recipe for an Apple Compote with Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Ginger Infusion from Olga of Olga's Recipes. Sounds marvelous, right?


Last but certainly not least, we have one more batch of granola a la Cathy of Where's My Damn Answer--here's her Cranberry & Mixed Nut Granola:



That's a lot of cinnamon goodness in one place. I can barely handle it all.

So, I guess you're wondering who won the shtick of Vietnamese cinnamon, am I right? Drumroll, please...

Laura! Congratulations! Not only do we share a love for "Friday Night Lights" and all things Whedonesque, but we also both appreciate the special spice known as cinnamon. Send me your info, and I'll send you some of the best stuff on Earth.

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"I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable."

Oh, George. You amuse me so. I never tire of your antics, regardless of how many times I see them.*


*My Seinfeld reference doesn't come out of nowhere. Bear with me.

Confession: I don't see Valentine's Day as a holiday, but rather as an excuse to unashamedly wear pastel pink and consume copious goodies.

In trying to decide what to bake for our monthly office potluck (a newly-instituted occasion), I considered lots of things and finally narrowed it down to red velvet cheesecake and red velvet cupcakes. The easier of the two won out (plus, the thought of pale pink cream cheese frosting excited me greatly), but I do see a red velvet cheesecake in my future.


I opted to use less than an entire bottle of food coloring, so the cupcakes turned out more pinkish-brown than red. Never fear--the frosting was lovely and effectively covered and masked the less-than-stellar hue of the cake. Who cares about color anyway? They tasted great, with just a little bit of chocolate sneaking through the tangy cream cheese. Very excellent, and gobbled up quickly. Happy Valentine's Day indeed.

Pink Velvet Cupcakes
(altered a tad from these)

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup milk + 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
15 drops red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tray with liners.
Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until fully incorporated.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.
Add half of the dry ingredients and mix, then add half of the wet. Repeat.
Spoon into cupcake liners, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full (I went too far and ended up with mushrooms...). Bake for 18-22 minutes for regular-sized cupcakes, 15-18 minutes for miniature cupcakes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together, add the vanilla extract, and mix. Add the powdered sugar until the ideal sweetness and consistency is reached.

Now, if you're the kind of person who gets into Valentine's Day and want some great ideas, check out Tiffany's Tapas on her blog The Garden Apartment...


...and Amy's Valentine's Breakfast at Eggs on Sunday:


They'll take good care of ya.

And hey, last reminder--the deadline for sending me your contribution to the celebration of all things cinnamon is Friday night. The more, the merrier.

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rustic, just like me

Wait, can that adjective be applied to humans, or just tarts and decor?



Well, let's see. Mr. Webster says that rustic means:

1. of, pertaining to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural. (born and bred)
2. simple, artless, or unsophisticated. (yep, it's true)
3. uncouth, rude, or boorish. (meh--only on a bad day)


Now that that's settled, we can move on to the rustic blueberry tart I recently made. I was such a fan of the pastry from my blueberry hand-pies that I decided to use it again. I made the filling the same way too, and just dumped it onto the rolled-out dough, folded in the berries and their juice, and popped it into the oven.


Frankly, I can't say enough good things about this dough. It's easy to make and handle, and the resulting crust is flaky and buttery and completely satisfying.

No, there's nothing wrong with being rustic. Not at all.

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fur duckers

Cudfruckers. Duckrudders. Fuddruckers.


What a silly name. Silly but catchy.

Have you been to one? I've found that they're hit-or-miss. One visit I'll have a moist and luscious and flavorful burger (I usually go for the turkey burger), and the next, I'll be served a dry hunk of yuck (not worthy of being called a burger at all). However, as far as burger chains go, one of my qualifying standards is that they have a pepperjack cheese option. Fuddrucker's is one of the few that does, so I can't stay mad.

Other good aspects? They toast the bun and have a toppings bar with all the lettuce, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers anyone could ever want. Oh, and they have brown mustard, which is also an important part of my ideal burger.

Yep, my dry-burger rage has completely fizzled out now.

Meanwhile, some of you asked about the brand of mandoline that I used for my sweet potater chips. It's an Orka, which is apparently an extremely obscure brand--they don't even have a website. Mambalaya got it for $20 at TJ Maxx, and yes, it's a little rickety, but so far I have zero complaints.


Reminder: You have one more week to send me your cinnamon goodness. I haven't received a lot of entries, but the ones I've gotten have been stellar. Keep 'em coming!

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what a tool

No, I don't mean that derogatorily. It really is a marvelous, marvelous tool.


How did I get by without a mandoline? Perhaps if I boasted stellar knife skills it wouldn't be so surprising, but alas, my cutlery talents are pretty lacking. Until now, I've just had to make do with thick, uneven slices of various fruits and vegetables.

Mammicus Maximus got me a mandoline for Christmas, and I've used it many, many times in the month since. My apple chips are much improved, and my latest endeavor was sweet potato chips.


The blade had no trouble slicing up the big orange tater, and the resulting chips were wonderfully-seasoned and perfectly crisp. I may have even sprinkled some cinnamon on a few most of the chips.

Oh, and points for me--I haven't sliced myself at all.*

Baked Sweet Potater Chips
1 potater, 2 potaters, 3 potaters, 4 (depending on how much chippage you crave)
cooking spray
salt, pepper, cinnamon, spice/herb of choice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Slice your tater(s) pretty thinly, either with a mandoline or any fantastic knife skills you may possess. Spray a cookie sheet or two or three with the cooking spray and spread the slices out in a single layer. Spritz the tops of the taters as well, and sprinkle with your seasonings.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning the chips over about halfway through; season the other side. Depending on the heat dispersion of your oven, you may need to remove some chips before the others are completely done. Also, I noticed that even though I pulled some out when they weren't quite browned (lest they burn to a crisp), they still ended up crunchy and delightful.

*Now it's pretty much guaranteed that I draw blood on the next go-round.

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dare i say it?

Dare I?


Yes, I dare.

The snickerdoodle is my favorite cookie.*

There. I said it. I couldn't pick a favorite candy bar, but as of this instant, I can pick a favorite cookie.


*This declaration is subject to change.

It's hard to narrow down all the cookies in all the lands to even a few favorites, but I simply can't deny how strongly I feel about snickerdoodles. The nudge that sent me over the edge into absolute certainty was the addition of my freshly-grated Vietnamese cinnamon. It added a whole new level of tastiness to the already luscious and so-buttery-it-melts-right-on-your-tongue cookie.


I'm sure nearly everyone has a go-to snickerdoodle recipe, and I do too, but as I am currently cream-of-tartar-less, I opted to try a new recipe using baking powder instead. Although the resulting cookie was good (the utter excellence of the cinnamon-sugar coating aside), it just wasn't as praiseworthy as my tried-and-true. Combining that recipe with the fresh cinnamon would be extremely detrimental to my wardrobe...


Don't forget about my Cinnamon Celebration--the deadline is in two weeks. Just a spoonful of cinnamon helps the aliment go down. :)

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i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

I could never, ever pick a favorite candy bar. No way, no how.


Three Musketeers Mint, Reese's anything, Milky Way Midnight, Skor & Heath (is there a difference between those two?), Whatchamacallit, NutRageous. I don't discriminate.

Another winner in my book? Mounds.

Sweet, chewy coconut. Rich, dark chocolate. A whole lotta yum.


Eb needed something to do, so I went looking for and found a new recipe using sourdough. I made two changes to the enticing muffin recipe that I found; one was intentional and one was by mistake. First of all, having been inspired by the Mounds bar, I opted to flavor the muffins with coconut rather than include walnuts. Secondly, I failed to read ahead, so instead of melting the chocolate and stirring it in, I simply tossed the chopped chocolate into the batter willy-nilly. That'll teach me to ass-u-me.


I was extremely pleased with these muffins. My error had no adverse effects on the final products; in fact, I don't think they could've been better. I happen to be a fan of chocolate chunkage, but if you're not, feel free to follow the original recipe exactly. A future project using this recipe might be creating a black-bottom-type cupcake, flavoring the cream cheese with coconut. Decadence? I think so.

When all is said and done, though, I think I'd still rather have a Mounds.

Mounds Muffins
(based on these beauties)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup coconut, toasted if it pleases you

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line two muffins trays.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda, and salt in a medium
bowl; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to blend between each addition. Add the starter and vanilla and mix to blend. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Toss in your chopped chocolate and coconut and stir just until evenly mixed.
Fill the muffin cups with 1/4 cup batter each and bake for 20 minutes,
rotating halfway through baking. The muffins are done when puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool 10 minutes in the pans, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.

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