Homemade Chubby Hubby Ice Cream

I am an ice cream fanatic. I could eat it every day (but I don't). One of my all-time favorite flavors is Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby (though it ranks a distant second to B&J fabulous Wavy Gravy). Chubby Hubby seemed to disappear from the market. I heard that it was discontinued. Now I hear it's back again, but different--the pretzels have changed or something. I still haven't seen it in the grocery store, so it seemed like high time to attempt to make it at home. And here's the recipe.

I changed the name to avoid copyright infringement. Also to be more inclusive.

Pudgy Partner Ice Cream

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2/3 cup malted milk powder

To finish:
Fudge ribbon
1 cup peanut butter-filled pretzels, lightly crushed (I used Trader Joe's)
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter, warmed in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to liquefy

For the fudge ribbon:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/8 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon fine or table sea salt
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the ice cream: Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool, ensuring that the water level doesn't come up as far as the lid. When the mixture seems mostly cool, refrigerate until completely cold.

To finish: Make fudge ribbon.

To make the fudge ribbon: Combine all of the ingredients except the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook on low heat until everything is melted, then cook an additional 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Once  the ice cream is done, scoop some into a large lidded storage container. Drizzle on some of the fudge sauce--feel free to allow it to settle in big globs--followed by some of the pretzels, and some of the peanut butter. Continue to layer ice cream, fudge, pretzels, and peanut butter--ending with a layer of ice cream--until all ingredients have been used up. Press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

There will be a little bit of fudge sauce left over. Store in a covered container in the fridge. Warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds to use as hot fudge sauce, or eat it from the container with a spoon.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sour Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

I love cherries, especially the tart kind, but my birch pollen sensitivity causes me to have a mild allergic reaction when I eat these fruits raw. I can work around this issue by cooking the offending element, which includes pretty much all stone fruits. Happily, popping peaches, apricots, etc., in the microwave for a minute or so seems to kill whatever it is that my body thinks is an allergen. I can also eat dried, frozen, or canned stone fruits, so I don't really feel at all deprived.

When I found that Oregon Fruit Products sold red tart cherries in jars, packed only in tart cherry juice, I was elated. Tart cherries are available for such a short time in the summer, and sometimes I miss that window. Jarred cherries, however, are around all the time, so I can have them whenever I want. I've always been a fan of Oregon's products. I'm pretty sure that the very first blackberries I ever ate came from a can. Now there's usually a can of berries in the pantry for those times I have a need for instant fruit and am too lazy to walk to the grocery store (which is often).

Oregon Fruit Products was kind enough to send me a few jars of their tart cherries to try. Now what to do with them besides eating them directly from the jar? Pies and tarts seem the obvious choice, but why not ice cream? When I was a kid, one of my favorite ice creams was a certain name brand's cherry vanilla, back in the good old days when they advertised that their ice creams had no artificial ingredients. It had a strong vanilla flavor, punctuated by sweet fruit. My cherry vanilla ice cream is completely different than theirs. Not only is it made with ingredients that are more likely to be found in a home pantry than a chemical lab, the cherry flavor is the star. I wanted to taste the vanilla too, which is why the recipe calls for a whole tablespoon of extract. If you feel that's too much, by all means cut back. You just won't taste it as much.

The Oregon Red Tart Cherries are quite tart, as they are packed with no added sweetener, so I warmed them up with a bit of sugar before adding them to the ice cream. The tart cherry juice left over went directly into my gullet. Did you know that antioxidant-rich tart cherry juice is helpful in fighting inflammation and pain for people with osteoarthritis?

Tart Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

For the cherries:
1 13-ounce jar of Oregon Red Tart Cherries, well drained (drink the juice!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

To make the cherries: Cut the drained cherries into quarters and place them and the sugar in a sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar begins to bubble, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and refrigerate until completely cold.

To make the ice cream: Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool. Refrigerate until completely cold.

To finish: Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Once ice cream is mostly done, add the cherry mixture a little at a time until it is completely incorporated.

Scoop ice cream into a lidded container. Press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Dumplings

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on April 10, 2013.

On one of the final episodes of that Food Network classic, "Worst Cooks in America," the worstcooktestants are tasked with making dumplings - Chinese siu mai and wontons and Japanese gyoza. As I was watching, I thought to myself, "if those mostly-incompetent people can make an edible dumpling, a mostly competent person like me can, too!" Honestly, they made it look very easy, right down to the little pleats on the gyoza.

Gyoza, or jaiozi, in Chinese, has been my family's favorite Chinese restaurant appetizer forever. No Chinese meal was complete without them. And they had to be fried. Potstickers, they're called. One can, of course, steam them, but my favorite part of the dumpling is the crisp bottom part of the wrapper. Mmm.

I recall making jaiozi with a friend some years ago, and it seemed like a huge production. She had made the filling in advance, so it was the dumpling-forming and cooking that were intimidating to me at the time. But now that I look back, vaguely remembering that she insisted on boiling them in a large pot of water before frying, I see that we made them incorrectly. Especially since many of them fell apart before they even made it to our mouths.

I think she was mostly paranoid about using raw ground pork in the filling, but she needn't have been.

A quick online search brought up myriad variations on that filling. Some used cabbage, some didn't. Some added shrimp. Bobby Flay's recipe (found in his Throwdown cookbook) called for hoisin, chile paste, 5-spice powder and allspice. No wonder he lost. I decided to go with a more simple combination of ingredients: ginger, garlic, cilantro, and green onions. I did borrow an ingredient from Chef Flay's dipping sauce: black vinegar. The result was interesting, but the slightly molasses-y flavor of the vinegar was a bit overpowering. Much better was a more traditional sauce made with soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and scallions. I've supplied the recipe for both; you may decide you like the vinegar sauce. Flay uses hoisin (and a thousand other ingredients) in his, in place of the sugar and soy, which may work better than my substitutions if you don't mind a thicker sauce.

In any case, dumpling making was much simpler than expected. The round wrappers are pre-made and sold in 12- or 16-oz packages at your neighborhood Asian grocer. If you can only find square won ton wrappers, you can cut them with a large round cookie cutter.

Potstickers

1.5 lb ground pork
1 T chopped scallions
1 t grated fresh ginger
1 t chopped garlic
1 t finely minced cilantro
salt
1 16-oz package round dumpling wrappers
oil for frying

In a medium bowl, combine pork, scallions, ginger, garlic, and cilantro, plus a generous pinch of salt. You can taste for seasoning by cooking a bit of the meat in a little hot oil. Remember that the dipping sauces contain soy and will be salty, so don't overdo it.

Prepare your area for dumpling assembly: have a clean cookie sheet or two covered with parchment, a Silpat, or a clean tea towel nearby, plus a small ramekin of water, the bowl of filling, and a teaspoon.

Take a dumpling wrapper and place it into your left palm (right, if you're left-handed). Dip a finger in the water and use it to moisten the edge all the way around. Use the spoon to place a blob of meat into the center of the wrapper, then fold the wrapper into a semi-circle. If there's too much meat, take some out at this point. Pinch the middle edges of the dumpling together and then make a pleat to one side of the middle using only the side of the wrapper facing you. (In other words, the dumpling is pleated only on one face.) Add another pleat or two (if they fit) to that end, then repeat the pleats on the opposite end of center. Gently squeeze the edge of the wrapper to make sure it's closed and that there are no air bubbles, and place it on the cookie sheet. Repeat until all wrappers and/or meat are gone.

(For a visual aid to pleating dumplings, check out this video of Chef Anita Lo doing just that. Dumpling making starts at about the 2 minute mark. Before that time, she demonstrates making the dumpling wrappers themselves. She's a bit fancy; I found it easier to pinch the wrapper closed in the middle and make 2 or 3 pleats on either side.)

To cook dumplings: Add a tablespoon or so of neutral cooking oil to a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add a layer of dumplings. You can fill the pan, but don't crowd it; the dumplings should not overlap. Cover the pan and cook for a few minutes, until the bottoms of the dumplings are a nice golden brown. If the pan seems to be getting too hot, turn the heat down a bit. Once the dumplings are brown - don't turn them! - add a quarter cup or so of water (more or less, depending on the size of your pan and number of dumplings). Cover the pan and cook until the water has evaporated. At this point, the dumplings should be shiny and somewhat translucent on the top (non-browned) side. If you're concerned about the pork being cooked, cut a dumpling in half and check. If they're not cooked, add a few tablespoons more water, cover the pan, and cook until additional water has evaporated.

Remove cooked dumplings to a plate and serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce 1

3 T black vinegar
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 T light soy
1 T light brown sugar
1 T chopped scallions

Combine ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to make sure sugar dissolves. Allow to sit for 15 minutes or so for flavors to combine.

Dipping Sauce 2

2 T light soy
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 T chopped scallions
1 t toasted sesame oil

Combine ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to make sure sugar dissolves. Allow to sit for 15 minutes or so for flavors to combine.

If you've made more dumplings than you can eat at one sitting, put the remaining dumplings, still on the cookie sheet, in the freezer for a few hours. When frozen solid, transfer to plastic bags and store in the freezer. When you cook them, you'll need to leave them on the heat for a bit longer.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pumpkin Spice Everything!

When the weather gets a bit cooler, or even when it doesn't, I look forward to the flavors of fall. For some folks, that means pumpkin spice lattés. I enjoy one once in a while, sure, but there are other things to do with pumpkin besides turn it into a sweet treat with cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. (A look at local grocery store shelves says differently, however, what with all the various pumpkin spice granola bars, yogurt, cereal, breakfast bars, pretzels, cookies, and cake. Giant Foods even has a store-branded pumpkin spice gouda cheese. Oh, and dairy butter. WTF?)

Canned pumpkin (which, apparently, in most cases, is actually butternut squash) is available all year long. Still, it seems most appropriate to eat it in the fall and winter. I'm not sure why - the flavor isn't heavy (unless of course you load it up with sweet spices). Why not have pumpkin soup in summer? Canned pumpkin is almost tomato-y in a savory dish, as it's not sweet, yet quite vegetal. In any case, it is fall right now, so this pumpkin risotto is seasonally appropriate. It has a creamy texture, which is emphasized by the cheese, but contains no cream. All that creaminess comes from stirring the rice, which releases starch into the cooking liquid. The seasoning is fairly mimimal, just some alliums, sage, and S&P, but you don't really need much more than. Please try not to give into the urge to add brown sugar and cinnamon to this dish.

I served this pumpkin risotto with pan-seared swordfish, but it would go equally well with pork chops or roast chicken, or another type of firm-fleshed fish. I also made a pumpkin seed sauce to put over the fish--pipian--but you can omit it and enjoy the pumpkin risotto all on its own.

Pumpkin Risotto

For pipian:
1/4 cup unsalted, shelled, pumpkin seeds
1 small jalapeno pepper, with seeds, cut into chunks
1 small handful cilantro
1 small yellow tomato or 1-2 tomatillos, cut into chunks
3 green onions, both white and green parts roughly chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 - 1 cup chicken stock
Pinch cumin
Salt
Pepitas for garnish

For risotto:
6 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt
1 cup arborio rice
1 large clove garlic, minced
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin puree
6 leaves fresh sage, finely minced
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Additional salt and pepper to taste

To make pipian: Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry sauce pot until they start to puff up. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then add to the jar of a food processor (a mini prep will do fine) and pulse until nuts are finely chopped. Add the jalapeno, cilantro, tomato, green onions, oil, and enough of the stock to blend into a fairly smooth puree. Pour the puree into the same pot you used to toast the nuts and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. The mixture will splatter a bit so be vigilant. Add the rest of the stock and cook until slightly reduced and thickened. Season with the cumin and salt to taste. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, and reserve. Don't wash the pot.

To make the risotto: Bring the stock to a simmer in the same saucepan you used for the pipian and allow it to simmer throughout the cook time.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and saute over medium-high until it begins to soften. Add the rice and stir well to coat each grain with the oil. Cook for a few minutes to toast the rice. Stir in the garlic. Add the wine and cook until evaporated.

Add one cup of the stock to the pan with the rice. Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, stirring regularly. Repeat with another cup of stock. After the third cup, stir in the pumpkin. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is almost tender and the dish is still a bit loose. Stir in the sage, Parm, and butter, and season with the salt and pepper to taste.

To serve: Cook protein of your choice. Place risotto in a bowl, top with protein, and add a few spoonsful of pipian to the top. Garnish with additional pepitas, if desired.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Back in the day, we had an ice cream maker, one of those Donvier things, and once in a while I'd whip up some simple, no-cook, dull flavor of ice cream. But turning the crank was a bore, and we had to wait to eat the stuff because it was always too soft to consume immediately. Now we have a fancier electric Cuisinart ice cream maker that requires no effort on my part except to plug it in and push a button, so I want to make ice cream all the time. And I find myself creating more interesting and intricate flavors to go with the less-basic equipment.

I get a regular email from an outfit called Book Bub that offers cheap e-books. Really cheap, like $1.99. Recently, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home was on offer, and I couldn't pass up adding it to my growing library of ice cream cookbooks. Jeni's is a pricey super-duper-premium brand one can find in specialty supermarkets; it owes its creamy texture not to the usual eggs, but to a cornstarch and cream cheese combo. I flipped through and decided that I didn't want to use any of the flavors presented therein (at least not right now), but would make one of my own, using Jeni's technique: key lime pie.

Key lime pie is crazy simple. Basically, it's sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs in a crust. Seemed like an ice cream would be equally easy. I borrowed the base from Jeni's lemon ice cream and substituted sweetened condensed milk for half the regular milk and lime for lemon. I also toasted some graham cracker crumbs (crushed Teddy Grahams) to mimic the crust.

The original lemon ice cream required a lemon syrup that was added to the cooled base while it was in the machine, I assume to prevent any curdling. So I made a separate lime syrup as well, but found that the sweetened condensed milk had thickened the base considerably. Rather than trickle the syrup into the base as it churned, I dumped it all in and gave it a good stir. That seemed to work fine. The end result was amazing - the texture was perfect, creamy and rich, with a nice lime flavor and crispy bits of crust. It tasted exactly like key lime pie. Do try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

2-4 limes
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Zest from 3 limes
4 ounces graham crackers, crushed
3 tablespoons melted butter

With a microplane, zest three of the limes and reserve. Halve the limes and squeeze enough juice to make 1/2 cup. (We had enormous limes and only needed two.) Combine juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and refrigerate until cold.

Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and zest in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Bring for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool, ensuring that the water level doesn't come up as far as the lid. When the mixture seems somewhat cool, refrigerate until completely cold.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine the crushed graham crackers and melted butter so all the crumbs are coated. It will seem a little dry. Pour onto a foil-lined baking sheet and pat out into one thin layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and toasty-smelling. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Stir lime syrup into chilled ice cream base - base will be very thick. Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Once ice cream is done, scoop some into a lidded storage container. Layer on some of the crust crumbs. Continue to add ice cream and crumbs to container until both are used up. Press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Chocolate Nutter Butter Cookie Butter

The first person to toss cookies in a blender with cream or oil or condensed milk to produce a spread was an evil genius. As if cookies aren't fattening enough on their own, this was a way to infuse them with even more fat and calories and create a product that could possibly rival the pumpkin spice latte for popularity with the Uggs-wearing set.

It also happens to be delicious stuff.

As far as I can tell, cookie butter was originally made with speculoos, a traditional spiced Christmas cookie that is probably best known to Americans as the in-flight snack for Delta airlines. But any cookie will do, actually. Peanut butter lovers will enjoy this version of cookie butter made with Nutter Butter cookies. It's not as smooth as commercial cookie butter, but perhaps if you have a more heavy duty food processor than my Cuisinart, or maybe one of those fancy $700 blenders, you could whip yours to a less-coarse consistency. It's still tasty served on bread or eaten right off a spoon.

Chocolate Nutter Butter Cookie Butter
I think this is one of those recipes that works best by feel. Add as much of the sweetener, oil, and cream as you think you require. The cocoa is absolutely optional, but a nice touch.

1/2 pound of Nutter Butter cookies
Agave syrup
Vegetable oil
Heavy cream
Cocoa powder

Separate the two halves of each cookie and scrape the filling into a small bowl. Place the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Place the crumbs in a food processor and pulse until the crumbs are fairly fine. Add a tablespoon of the agave and pulse to combine. Add the veg oil a tablespoon or two at a time until the crumbs start to stick together and form a mass; 6-7 tablespoons should do it. Dribble in some heavy cream and pulse again until the mixture seems spreadable. Add a few tablespoons of the cocoa powder and continue pulsing until combined. When you stop blending, the mixture should visibly relax in the bowl.

Scrape into a lidded container and consume within a week. Keep refrigerated.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pretzel Rolls

While I'm a pretty adventurous cook, baking still scares me a little. I'm not a scientist by any means, and baking is a pretty science-y thing. If one doesn't follow directions exactly, chances are, things might not turn out the way they should.

I bake bread now, but only with the almost fool-proof technique found in Artisan Baking in Five Minutes a Day. My first attempt at bread, 20 years ago, was so bad, I haven't tried any other recipe. Until I decided to put on my big-girl apron and tackle soft pretzels. The dough required very little handling, so maybe I couldn't mess it up too badly. And I thought it might be nice to eat sandwiches on homemade pretzel rolls while we watched the commercials during the Super Bowl.

The recipe, which I found in an old Better Homes and Garden special baking magazine, called for twisting the dough. That part didn't turn out so well. When I lowered the twists into a pot of hot water with baking soda, they untwisted. The end result was a bit uneven-looking, as you can see from the photos. And, they fell apart once we crammed a sausage into them. But...they tasted pretty damn good.

We ate them with smoked kielbasa topped with a honey pickled mustard seed mayo, fennel slaw, caramelized onions, and tomato jam.

I'd make them again, but wouldn't bother with the twist part. I'd just shape the dough into 6 long rolls before the 30 minute rise and leave them that way for the dunk in soda water.

Pretzel Rolls (adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Fall Baking 2013)

3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/3 to 2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups hot water
1/2 cup baking soda
1 egg yolk lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
Coarse salt

Heat milk, water, and sugar until just warm (110°F). I used a microwave, but you can use a saucepan over low heat. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook. Sprinkle with the yeast and let stand for a few minutes until foamy. Add 2 1/3 cups of flour, the butter, and salt and beat on low speed until combined, 2-3 minutes. Turn speed to medium-low and beat an additional 8-10 minutes, until a soft dough forms. Scrape bowl as necessary. If the dough seems too sticky, add the additional flour. When the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl, turn it out onto a dry surface.

Knead dough a few times, shape into a ball, and place into a bowl that has a bit of olive oil in it. Turn the dough to coat with oil, cover bowl, and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment.

Punch risen dough down and divide into six portions. Roll and stretch each portion into a 12" rope. (OR, just make fat 6" - 8" long rolls.) Place each on prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Fold each piece of dough in half, then twist twice. (OR, just skip the twist if you made the fat rolls.)

In a deep dish or pot, add the water and the baking soda, stirring to dissolve soda. Using a slotted spoon, lower dough twists into water for 10 seconds, then drain on paper towels. Arrange drained twists on prepared baking sheet.

Beat egg and water together in a small bowl. Brush over dough twists and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes until deeply browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 6 rolls.

Posted on Minxeats.com.