New York Style Bagels and Spreads

And the yeast just keeps on rising! That's right lasts week's recipe with yeast went so well i thought I'd go for it again. And this week going for it meant BAGELS! Up at the office we had had lots of sweets this week and so I decided to go a more savory route. I know my blog is called "Taylor Made Sweets" but hey there is something called too much of a good thing.

I got the recipe for the bagels from Emeril Lagasse at foodnetwork.com. But the spreads are 100% Taylor Made! (with some input from Mother Dearest, thanks mom!)


So here are my tips and just so you knows for this recipe:
1. When connecting the two ends of you dough log to form a bagel make sure you pinch it real good so they don't become disconnected in the water.
2. Check on them every five minutes while baking...I did not do this and they came out very close to burnt to a crisp in 25 minutes.
3. When it comes to the spreads be creative! I had a lot of fun making mine!

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees F


• 2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dry yeast


• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon


• 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour


• 2 teaspoons salt


• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil


• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  

Directions:
Combine the water, yeast, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in the bowl of an upright mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add 4 cups of the flour and the salt, and mix until the mixture comes together.
Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups additional flour 1/2 cup at a time to make a stiff dough, either stirring with the wooden spoon or working with your hands. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 5 minutes, adding just as much flour as needed. (Dough should be heavier and stiffer than regular yeast bread dough.)
Grease a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
Remove from the bowl and punch down the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 2 to 3 ounces each, measuring about 4 inches across. Form each piece of dough into a ball. Roll each ball into a 4 to 6-inch log. Join the ends and place fingers through the hole and roll the ends together. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place on a lightly greased surface, cover with a clean cloth, and let rest until risen but not doubled in a draft-free spot, 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease a baking sheet with the remaining teaspoon of oil. Then sprinkle the yellow cornmeal on the greased baking sheet.
In a large, heavy pot, bring 12 cups of water and the remaining tablespoon of sugar to a boil. In batches, add the bagels to the water and boil, turning, for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip bagels onto the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for another 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Herb Cream Cheese:
Ingredients:

• 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened


• 1 sprig of rosemary, minced


• 5-7 sprigs of thyme, minced


• handful of flat leaf parsley, minced


• 2 cloves of garlic, grated


• the zest of one lemon


• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder


• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl until equally distributed and smooth.

Strawberry Cream Cheese:
Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened


• 5-7 strawberries, roughly chopped


• 2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:
Put cut strawberries in a bowl and mix with the sugar. Allow to sit until the juices come out. (about 10-15 minutes) Then add strawberries to cream cheese and mix.


I hope you enjoy this tasty treat!! It's fun to make and delicious to eat!

Also, a special thanks to my little sister, Little Ray for her help in the kitchen!

Chocolate Chunk Sticky Rolls

So last night was a first in my baking life. I made a recipe that used yeast! I know pretty ambitious right? Well these loverly Chocolate Chunk Sticky Rolls were a great success! They are pretty much cinnamon rolls minus cinnamon add chocolate chunks.

Warning this recipe is not one of those quick only takes an hour from start to finish type of thing. However it is not difficult and it is oh so tasty.

Here are a few tips and just so you knows for this recipe:

1. This makes a LOT of dough. I only used half the dough and it made two of these round pans AND a rectangular pan.

2. When making the icing make sure your cream cheese is softened as the butter is or you'll get a clumpy mess(not that I know this from experience) ;)

3. If you do end up with a clumpy mess just put it in a sauce pot on the stove and warm those clumps out.

4. When making the dough make sure you use a big pot, as I said it make a LOT of dough and we don't want it to overflow when rising.

The recipe is as follows:

CHOCOLATE CHUNK STICKY ROLLS

Prep Time: 1 hours and 45 min

Cook Time: 15-25 min

Servings: 24(using only 1/2 the dough)

Ingredients:

Rolls

• 4 Cups Whole Milk
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Canola Oil
• 2 Packets Active Dry Yeast
• 9 Cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 Heaping Tablespoon Salt
• 1 Scant Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Heaping Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 Stick Butter
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cups Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• Just shy of a whole bag of semisweet chocolate chunks (chips will work too)

Icing

• 1 8 oz Package of Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 Stick of Butter, softened
• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 2-1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 Teaspoon Salt

Directions:

Mix milk, 1 cup sugar, and canola oil in a pot. Heat until very warm but not boiling. Allow to cool until slightly warmer than lukewarm.

Sprinkle yeast over the surface of the liquid, then add in 8 cups flour. Stir gently until totally combined. Mixture will be very wet and sticky. Cover with a tea towel, keep in a draft-free place, and allow to sit for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, add in an additional cup of flour, as well as the salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined. Refrigerate dough, covered, until you need it. (Refrigerating the dough helps make it easier to handle.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter in the bottom of pie pans or 9 x 13-inch baking dishes.

Divide dough in half. Store one half in the fridge for another use. Turn the other half of the dough onto a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, about 24 inches wide by 10 to 12 inches deep. Add vanilla to melted butter, then drizzle mixture all over the surface of the dough. Use fingers to spread evenly. Mix sugar and salt and sprinkle it evenly over the butter. Follow with the brown sugar, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts.

Beginning at the side furthest from you, roll dough toward you until it’s in the shape of a tight log. Pinch the edges to seal. Slice into 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick rolls and lay, cut side down, in buttered baking dishes. Allow to rise for 20 minutes, then place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top.

Make the icing: Mix 1 stick butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt in an electric mixer or until smooth and pourable.

Remove rolls from oven and allow to sit five minutes before drizzle icing all over the rolls. Be sure to get the icing all around the edges and covering the surface so they’ll be nice and moist! Sprinkle tops with extra chopped nuts.

Serve warm or at room temperature

(Recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

I hope you enjoy this sweet treat as much as my family, coworkers, and I did!

-Bake Like There's No Tomorrow-

Greetings!

Hello to you all out there in Cyber Space!

I'm Taylor and this blog is a place for me to share my journey as a self-trained baker. I have always loved to bake. I think one of the first real things, aside from boxed brownies(I'm not knocking boxed mixes) I ever attempted to make was tiramisu, I was probably around eleven years old. I know quite ambitious for someone so young but I had my mind set on it and there was no going back. I would love to tell you that it turned out marvelous and my mother cried at the taste, but that would be very far from the truth except maybe the crying part, because it was so nasty! ha But I learned from my mistakes and kept on going. And here I am ten years later as a college age girl with an ever growing passion for the art of baking. Right now I work full time as an administrative assistant at a construction company. Baking is just a hobby right now, though one day it would be awesome for it to be more than that!

My goal is to bake something new each week and share with you the process, outcome, recipe, and tips for what I made. My tasty creations don't always come out so tasty, hey I'm not perfect. However I due plan on learning and help you learn what went wrong and then try again. You'll learn I don't give up easily, at least not without a fight!

So here we go on our journey through the world of sweets and treats!