Thursday, January 5, 2017

Ham and Cheese Pretzel Rolls

Have leftover ham and cheese for Christmas?  Here is something to do with all of it!
Ham and Cheese Pretzel Rolls

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast (or one package)
1/2 cup left over ham (chopped)
1/2 cup left over cheese like mozzarella, Gruyere, (grated or chopped small)

6 cups water
4 tsp. baking soda
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1-2 Tbsp. kosher salt

Mix the brown sugar, milk, flour, and yeast together to form a soft dough.  Knead for a few minutes until it all comes together.  Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise for 2 hours until dough has doubled in size.

On a floured surface, roll dough out into a large rectangle.  Cut the dough into squares about 4 inches by 4 inches.  Place ham and cheese inside each square and fold in the bottom and top side first, then the sides.  Place on a greased cookie sheet with the seam side down.  Cover with a cloth and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Bring six cups of water to boil, add the baking soda and then reduce to medium low so it is at a simmer.  Place four- five of the ham rolls into the water for 20 seconds on each side.  They are hard to flip so do the best you can.

Brush butter and sprinkle kosher salt onto the rolls.  Bake the rolls at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.







Monday, January 2, 2017

Piecaken, a Review

We made piecaken for Christmas.  For those of you who don't know what that is, its a pie baked inside a cake.  
So, was it worth it?  I personally think it wasn't.  I ended up realizing at the last second that my cake tin was too small to fit the giant pie I made and the cake batter so I had to shave off the edges of teh pie which was a big pain and a mess.  This caused the pie to leak into the cake.
Maybe if I had owned a bigger cake tin it would have been easier and tasted better, but either way it wasn't worth the effort in my opinion.  Honestly I think it would be better just to place some raspberry jam in the middle of the cake and then bake it.  Same effect, less mess.