Sticky cinnamon pecan bites

This is a very easy recipe if you like cinnamon rolls. I love them, but I don't like working with yeast. I just find it very troublesome, and this recipe doesn't use any so I thought I would give it a try. They turned out delicious. Also, I love pecans so this recipe is perfect right?
I baked mine a little longer, which is not recommended if you wish to eat them the next day (the dough gets dry). But I like mine with a crispy layer of baked sugar, which you can clearly see on the pictures. If you don't want that, just bake them as the recipe says!
I did screw up in some part, mine didn't turn out to be small 'bites'. I didn't roll out the dough in a rectangular size, and I cut the dough into 12 pieces instead of 24. They became bigger like that, which is not a problem and they where delicious anyway, and just bigger.
But if you really want small bites, then use a mini cupcake pan and follow the recipe correctly. Enjoy!




Sticky Cinnamon pecan bites
Ingredients

24 pecan halves

1 cup (125gr) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface

1 teaspoon (5gr) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional for sprinkling

3/4 cup (200gr) heavy cream

1/2 cup (119gr) packed brown or muscovado sugar

1/2 (3gr) teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons (30gr) unsalted butter, very soft, plus more for the muffin cups

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter the muffin cups unless they are nonstick.

2. Place a pecan half in each muffin cup, top side down. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork. Make a well in the center. Pour the cream into the well. Use a rubber spatula to fold and stir the flour mixture and cream together just until the dry ingredients are completely moistened and a soft dough is formed. The dough should not look perfectly smooth. Let the dough rest for 2 to 3 minutes to firm.

3. Meanwhile, mix the sugar with the cinnamon.

4. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a rectangle about 12 by 7 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Use a small offset spatula or your fingertips to spread the dough with the soft butter, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the brown sugar, leaving a 1/8 to 1/4 inch border. Press the seam to seal. Starting at one short end, roll the dough tightly. Gently stretch the dough to lengthen the roll slightly to about 12 inches in length. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. Cut the dough roll crosswise into 24 equal pieces. (It’s easiest to do this by cutting the dough in half, then cutting each half in half, then cutting each portion into 6 pieces. This is easier to do than it sounds.) Place each piece of dough in a muffin cup, cut side up.

6. Bake the sticky buns for 12 to 15 minutes, until browned. Rotate the pan(s) from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking(I really advise this). (The longer you leave them in the oven, the crisper the edges but the drier the dough.) Immediately turn the buns out onto a sheet of parchment on a heatproof surface. (And we do mean immediately, otherwise the buns may stick to the pan.) Serve warm out of the oven.

Enjoy these babies!

Taco Pizza

Mexican food is one of my favorite types of food. Guacamole, sour cream, nacho's, melted cheese, salsa sauce... need I say more? One of my favorite dishes is enchiladas, with homemade enchilada sauce, homemade guacamole and also topped with a big portion of sour cream. Yes I am drooling right now. And yes, this has a lot of calories (that's why I don't eat it much, but when I do eat it, I eat it goood.)

I found this video on YouTube the other day, and then I found this video as well. And well, the taco pizza was made! And let me tell you, it was de-licious! (for the recipe, check the second video out)

Taco Pizza

Ingredients

I have no exact measurements for this recipe, because you can make it exactly like you want it. And that's the fun of it! Also the directions speak for themselves, but I mention it anyways.

Storebought pizza dough
1 can Tomato sauce
1 tsp Mexican spice mix (like taco mix or something else you like)
Cheese
Guacamole

Sour cream

Natural nacho's
Olives

Other vegetables for topping

Method
1. Preheat oven as instructed on the dough package. Rollout your pizzadough. Mix the spiceswith the tomato sauce (this is ofcourse optional, but I like this spicy) and spread it over the dough.
2. Add your cheese, olives and other vegetables.

3. Bake as said on the packaging.

4. When baked, put guacamole, sourcream and nacho's on top and cut in pieces.

Enjoy!

Chorizo buns

I have lived in Spain for eight years, and chorizo is something that I miss so much now that I live in Holland. I love that it is so spicy with this unique intense flavor, which I miss in a lot of other ''sausage types'. If you are not the spicy type, you can buy a milder type in the supermarket. How great is that?
When I went to Spain this summer, to visit the town where I grew up my boyfriend fell in love with it as well, and he's been eating it ever since. So when I stumbled upon this recipe from Kayotic Kitchen I didn't hesitate, I bought my things and made some delicious little chorizo buns. 
I really recommend checking out her site, her blog is amazing and almost all of her posts take you through all the steps in the recipes with great photography. Besides, she's dutch as well so that's pretty cool.


From Kayotic Kitchen

• 3 heaping tbsp garlic/herb cream cheese
• 6 puff pastry sheets (frozen)
• 1/2 cup cheese, grated
• roughly 4oz chorizo
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 small red onion
• paprika powder
• pepper
• 1 egg

1. Start by chopping the onion and bell pepper, chop as finely as you can or use your food processor. You can use about 4oz Spanish chorizo, or about half of a sausage.
2. Use a little oil and sautee the onion and bell pepper until your onion is translucent. Put the chorizo in a big bowl and add your grated cheese.
3. Now add 3 heaping tbsp spiked cream cheese. Plunge in your vegetable mix and also add 1/2 to 1 tsp dried basil. Add a good pinch of black pepper, grab a fork and start mixing it all up. Taste to see if it needs more of anything. Usually it’s perfect like this.
4. Sprinkle a little flour on your cutting board or kitchen counter. Place the pastry sheets next to each other and sprinkle a little flour on top as well.
5. Now break out your dough pin – if you’re anything like me it’s probably somewhere in the back of a drawer with the other stuff you seldom use anymore. Great to have around for these occasions, though. Start rolling out the puff pastry a bit. No need to make it paper thin, just a little thinner. ( didn't do this, I like it better when the dough is a little thicker. 
6. With a cookie cutter (about 3 inch wide) or a glass cut out little pastry circles. Get the leftovers and knead it.
7. Sprinkle a little flour underneath the dough and roll it out again. Using your cookie cutter or glass or whatever, continue making pastry circles.
8. Start filling the pastry. Use 1/2 to 1 tsp filling on one half, fold the other half over and seal the edges. If the edges won’t stick as much as it did before rolling out the dough for the 2d (3d or 4th) time, just get your fingers wet and lightly dab some water on the inside of the pastry, that will make it sticky again.
9. When you’re done, place them on a cookie sheet. Get a little paprika powder on top of them. Just hold your measuring spoon over a small sieve (it’s called a sieve, right?) and lightly tap your finger on the side of the spoon. This will distribute the paprika powder more evenly. (I just mixed the paprika powder with the egg in a little bowl and then brushed it over the puffs)
10. Preheat your oven to 450F (225C) and bake them for 12 to 15 minutes until beautifully brown and puffy.