Pulled Chicken and Cheddar Stuffed Rolls

My mouth is watering just looking at the photos. There is just something about meat and cheese that is so satisfying. 

I have a mock trial competition this Friday, and I am so nervous and excited! It's the regional competition. I never thought my freshman year in mock trial that we could ever make it this far, and here I am as a senior going to regionals. So cool!

"All At Once" The Fray

Also, you can saute peppers and onions and add it to the pulled chicken. So good!!

Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients

• For the pretzel roll dough:
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 tsp (1 package) yeast
• 1 cup warmed milk (I used 2%)
• 2 Tbsp softened butter (I used Smart Balance)
• 4 1/2-4 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• For the filling:
• ~1lb shredded chicken (about 3 generous cups)
• 4 oz cheddar, sliced and cut into 18 chunks
• 1/2 cup HEB Texas-style Barbecue Sauce
• 2 Tbsp honey
• For boiling and finishing:
• 2 quarts water
• 4 Tbsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp honey whisked with 1 Tbsp water

Directions

1. In your mixer bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water and let proof for 10 minutes.
2. Add the milk, softened butter, 4.5 cups of flour, and salt; knead for ~5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky and might not completely come off the bottom of the bowl. If overly sticky, add 1-2 Tbsp of extra flour at a time.
3. Cover and let rise for an hour, or until doubled.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly oil.
5. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 18 balls (a scale makes this easy to do in 2-oz portions). Cover with a light towel and prep the filling and boil.
6. Place the pulled pork and red onion in a large bowl.
7. Whisk together the honey and bbq sauce and pour over top of the pulled chicken, tossing to mix thoroughly.
8. Keeping your surface lightly floured to prevent sticking, flatten your dough ball, top with a chunk of cheddar and a heaping small spoonful of pulled chicken (it might take you 1-2 rolls to figure out the perfect sized scoop of filling).
9. Pull the edges of the dough to the top, pinching and crimping the roll to prevent any leaks. Transfer the roll to the prepared baking sheets (9 each).
10. In a large pan, bring the water, baking soda, and salt to a boil.
11. Working with 4-5 rolls at a time, boil the rolls 30 seconds on each side, transfer to the baking sheet with a slotted spoon, and slash the top of the rolls 2-3 times with a very sharp knife (but don't cut too thick or your cheese will ooze out the top).
12. Bake the rolls for 18 minutes, glaze with the honey-water mixture, and then bake for an additional 5 minutes until golden brown.
13. Sprinkle with coarse salt and serve. Leftovers should be refrigerated.

Peek-a-Boo Pumpkin Pound Cake

 

Alright, this is what it's supposed to look like:

 

This is what happened to me:

 It still tastes pretty good.

I added not shredded pumpkin but the full liquidy innards.

So for this, I'll simply provide links:

The Oringinal from She-Knows

Pumpkin Bread

Pound Cake

 

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" Deep Blue Something

Pumpkin Muffins

 Pumpkin muffins are in many ways, the best part of fall.

That and pumpkin pie, leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, cooler weather, my birthday, etc.

 

The liners bled onto the pan, so my muffin pans now have little rabbits on them.

  "The Freshman" Verve Pipe

Ingredients:

• Softened unsalted butter, for the pan
• 3 2/3 cups pastry flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 1/3 cups superfine sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
• One 15-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 cup seedless golden or dark raisins
• 1/4 cup hulled unsalted sunflower seeds

Directions:

  Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400˚F. Brush the insides of 12 to 14 muffin cups with softened butter, then brush the top of the pan. 

  Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt together into a medium bowl. Beat the butter in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed until creamy, about I minute. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating, scraping the sides of the bowl often with a silicone spatula, until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs. Reduce the mixture speed to low. Beat in the pumpkin; the mixture may look curdled. In thirds, beat in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, and mix until smooth. Add the raisins. Increase the speed to high and beat until the batter has a slight sheen, about 15 seconds, no longer. 

Using a 2 1/2 inch-diameter ice-cream scoop, portion the batter, rounded side up, into the prepared cups. Sprinkle the tops with the sunflower seeds.

 Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a wire cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes more.

 Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely.

Pan de Muerto (Mexican Sweet Bread)

     Light, fluffy goodness.

   Those are the words to describe this bread.

If you like croissants and are spending the day at home, this is the recipe for you. Work with it for twenty minutes. Leave it for an hour. Repeat.

"Dead Man's Bread" is a Mexican sweet bread made for Dia de los Muertos (November 2nd). (So... I'm only seven months off...)

Here's the recommended music:Daylights by Matt and Kim

 

Dissolve the yeast in the orange flower water. Add half of the 1/3 c. of milk (leave the other half out on the counter at room temperature), and 1/4 c. of the bread flour. Mix well with a whisk (dough should be sticky and smooth), and leave at warm room temperature for 20-30 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble and look puffy.

 

Put the remaining flour (1 3/4 c.) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment and add sugar, salt, and orange zest. Mix for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, the remaining milk and the yeast dough mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together, then add the butter a little at a time in small pieces with the mixer running, increasing the speed to medium.  The dough will be sticky!

 

Form two bones out of the excess dough, and a little gumball-sized drop for the top. Let rest, covered with a clean towel, until doubled in size about 1 1/2 hours, maybe longer.

 

Towards the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350. Bake for 20 minutes, check browning. Continue baking for 10-20 more minutes until the bottom is browned (and temperature taken from the bottom is 190 degrees).

Remove from the pan to a wire rack and cool for a few minutes. Brush with melted butter, and immediately sprinkle with sugar evenly all over the top.

 

 Pan de Muerto (Fany Gerson's My Sweet Mexico)
yield 1 loaf (1/2 of original)

Dough:

• 1 1/8 t. (a heaping teaspoon) active dry yeast
• 1 T. orange flower water
• 1/3 c. milk (whole or 2%)
• 2 c. bread flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. grated orange zest
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

Topping:

• 2 T. butter, melted
• 1/4 c. sugar (more or less)

Dissolve the yeast in the orange flower water. Add half of the 1/3 c. of milk (leave the other half out on the counter at room temperature), and 1/4 c. of the bread flour. Mix well with a whisk (dough should be sticky and smooth), and leave at warm room temperature for 20-30 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble and look puffy.

Put the remaining flour (1 3/4 c.) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment and add sugar, salt, and orange zest. Mix for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, the remaining milk and the yeast dough mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together, then add the butter a little at a time in small pieces with the mixer running, increasing the speed to medium.  The dough will be sticky!

Continue beating for 10-15 minutes. (I let mine go 20 actually.) The dough should start to pull away from the sides of the bowl a little bit, but if it doesn't, add a small amount of flour, but no more than half of a 1/3 c.
Lightly oil a large bowl, and place the dough inside. Cover and let raise at room temperature until doubled in size 1-1 1/2 hours. Lightly punch down the dough, gathering the sides up and flipping it over so that the seams are on the bottom. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to continue, bring the dough out of the fridge and leave at room temp to warm up for an hour. Cut off a lime sized piece of dough to use for the "bones", and on a lightly floured surface, quickly shape the (still sticky) dough into a ball. Transfer to a parchment or silicone mat lined sheet and press down gently. Form two bones out of the excess dough, and a little gumball-sized drop for the top. Let rest, covered with a clean towel, until doubled in size about 1 1/2 hours, maybe longer.

Towards the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350. Bake for 20 minutes, check browning. Continue baking for 10-20 more minutes until the bottom is browned (and temperature taken from the bottom is 190 degrees).

Remove from the pan to a wire rack and cool for a few minutes. Brush with melted butter, and immediately sprinkle with sugar evenly all over the top.

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

      Whoa, what a week! With all this snow in the northeast, I don't know if I should be jealous that I'm not missing school or grateful that I'm not snowed in without power. To those of you who are snowed in or have lost power or both, hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

      I've been meaning to make this banana bread since it was first posted on fortheloveofcooking.net. Finally, two brown bananas later, I have. I made one change from the original: chocolate almond milk instead of buttermilk. Mainly because chocolate milk was the only thing I had on hand, and I really wanted to make this today. So if you're feeling adventurous (or you can't be bothered with buttermilk), you can substitute chocolate milk and see how it goes (tastes great to me!).

           Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the sugars and oil with a mixer until creamy and smooth.

 

Add the mashed banana, eggs, milk, and vanilla then beat until blended. Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture and mix batter until just combined.

 

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds or until almost melted. Stir until smooth (cook for a few more seconds if it's not completely melted).
Add 1 cup batter to the chocolate, stirring until well combined.

 

Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan, alternating between plain batter and chocolate batter. Swirl batters together using a knife. Place additional chocolate chips on top, if desired.

 

Bake for 70 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve. Enjoy.

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

Yield: 8-10

Prep Time: 15 min.

Cook Time: 70-75 min.

Total Time: 90 min.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (3 bananas)
2 eggs
1/3 cup low fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray
Additional chocolate chips, for topping (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the sugars and oil with a mixer until creamy and smooth. Add the mashed banana, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla then beat until blended. Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture and mix batter until just combined.
Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds or until almost melted. Stir until smooth (cook for a few more seconds if it's not completely melted).
Add 1 cup batter to the chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan, alternating between plain batter and chocolate batter. Swirl batters together using a knife. Place additional chocolate chips on top, if desired.
Bake for 70 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve. Enjoy.