Sasha's Kitchen: Hot Lips Cinnamon Cupcakes

I am so behind in posting stuff. I swear I have been cooking and baking, but there's so much stuff in my back-log of things to post - raspberry frozen souffles, dark chocolate lava cakes, scallion pancakes, and my fabulous homemade ravioli with ramps. I'll catch up, but how about sharing some cupcakes first.

The inspiration for these cupcakes was to create a cinnamon cupcake with a delicious honey-cinnamon frosting. I decided to give them a sexy "hot lips" theme that seemed to go with cinnamon well, so I piped red lips on each cupcakes using a fine tip on my frosting bag. They are intended to be finished by placing a perimeter of red hots around the border of each cupcake. But, alas, I forgot to pick them up. But, use your imagination, or add them if you make this recipe at home. Pucker up and enjoy!

Sasha's "Pucker-Up" Cinnamon Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Sasha's Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
1 stick of unsalted butter
4 oz cream cheese
3 cups confectioner's sugar
2 T freshly made, organic honey
1 tsp cinnamon
drop of gel food coloring

To prepare the cupcakes, mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter for about three minutes with the granulated sugar in the basin of your stand mixer. Beat in the three eggs. Alternate adding and mixing in the dry ingredients and the milk on medium speed and combine until smooth. Fill lined silicon cupcake molds 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the confectioners's sugar, honey, butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer on high speed for several minutes until smooth. Beat in the cinnamon. Add a drop of gel food coloring if you want any color different from the color the cinnamon gives which is very natural. I used an Ivory gel based food color, which is actually very similar.

Pipe on the frosting using a wide tip, fluted frosting bag. Using a very small tip, pipe the lips to have nice puckered shapes.

Sasha's Kitchen: Hot Lips Cinnamon Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Buns for Sunday Brunch

A week ago for Sunday brunch, I made cinnamon buns. These were a perfect, sweet brunch treat, only to be rivaled by the hazelnut french toast I made the following weekend. I had never made cinnamon buns before, but I was inspired to try it out using a recipe from the new Kosher baking cookbook that I had received to review. It's a terrific cookbook and the cinnamon bun recipe was a winner, and not too difficult to make. If you are making it for brunch, you will want to give yourself a bit of a head start, as it takes a bit of time to let the dough rise, just like with any recipe that uses dry active yeast. These are the perfect way to start your day.

Cinnamon Buns (recipe from Paula Shoyer's the Kosher Baker)
Dough
1 cup soy milk (I used Silk)
1/2 oz (two envelopes) of dry active yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp granulated sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 T margarine
1/2 cup canola oil

Filling
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

You can also glaze with a confectioner's sugar , water and vanilla mixture, but I made them without the glaze, which was also terrific.

To make the dough, heat the soy milk in a microwave until lukewarm. Place in a large bowl and add the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar and let sit for 10 minutes until the yeast activates and gets all foamy. Add the flour, eggs, remaining sugar, margarine and oil and mix well. I did this in a stand mixer.  I absolutely love making bread and dough because I love the way that activated yeast smells in the kitchen. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise at room temperature for one hour.

While the dough is rising, make the filling. In a mixer, beat the margarine, cinnamon and brown sugar to make the filling until smooth, again using the electric mixer. Set aside. When the dough is done rising, place the dough on flowered parchment paper and roll into a 15 x 24 inch rectangle. Spread the filling evenly on the dough and roll up the dough into a long log. Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 1 inch slices, which will be your individual cinnamon buns. Grease a baking sheet with margarine or Pam and bake in an oven heated to 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

This is another winning recipe from a great new cookbook that I really have enjoyed.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Buns for Sunday Brunch