Cinnamon Squares -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Our treat of the week this week: Cinnamon Squares, picked by the wonderful Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, you can visit her fun blog for this recipe. Thanks for a great pick, Tracey! I can't believe I'm posting so late, I like to usually write up my TWD post the night before and set it to post at midnight, but I wasn't able to make today's recipe until this morning. Good thing it was an easy one!

Cinnamon squares is a very basic recipe, I did change up a few ingredients though...I substituted buttermilk for the whole milk, I love the little something that buttermilk adds to baked goods and I had some to use up in the fridge so I thought, why not?

I also substituted cinnamon chips for the chocolate chips in the middle layer, and for the espresso powder, I subbed in instant French vanilla nut coffee.

The cake baked up and was done at 40 minutes, I used a standard 8 by 8 by 2 pan by wilton, I love that Dorie mentions in the recipe that she uses a basic Baker's Secret square pan, which are easy to find at just about any store that has a baking aisle. I have a few Baker's Secret pans and love them. I skipped the parchment paper and sprayed my pan with Crisco spray with flour for baking, no sticking problems, thank goodness!


For the chocolate frosting I used semisweet chips and melted them with the butter and added a few tablespoons of cream to give it a more ganache look.

The frosting spread easily with an off-set spatula, I tried my best to get it to look all swirly like in the book...

And that is all! A simple, moist, and very cinnamon-y snack cake :)

My Kitchen My World -- Pakistan

Pakistan was our second random destination with My Kitchen My World for the month of May. I knew nothing about Pakistani cuisine so this was a fun challenge to see what recipes I could come up with and try out.

I found a recipe for Phool Gobi Mushroom Ka Salan while googling Pakistani recipes, and thought it sounded like a delicious lunch. One of the ingredients, "zeera-rye" had me stumped but after some sleuthing I learned that in Iran and Pakistan, cumin is called zeera. Not sure about the "-rye" -- but I went with cumin.

Phool Gobi Mushroom Ka Salan
adapted from khanapakana.com

1 small cauliflower cut in to florets
200 grams mushroom
2 small potatoes cubed
1 medium tomato cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon zeera-rye (which I think is cumin)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
4 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil (I used some ghee that I made for a curry dish a while ago)
Salt to taste -- I used about 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1. Heat oil (or ghee) in pan, add zeera-rye (cumin) and potatoes.



2. When half cooked, add cauliflower, mushroom, tomato, chili powder, turmeric powder, and salt.

Getting steamy...

Getting spicy...

3. Cover and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally.
4. If required add a little water. *I would probably add stock or broth next time.
5. Continue cooking until the potatoes become tender.
6. Decorate with lemon wedges and coriander leaves if desired.
7. Serve hot with rice.

I cooked up some of my favorite imported basmati, doesn't it look so light and fluffy?

All done! What a delicious lunch.
I also made some Chapati Roti, a quick whole wheat tortilla like Pakistani bread.


Chapati Roti
adapted from Fauzia's Pakistani Recipes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Knead all ingredients together for about 10 minutes. Let rest about 10 minutes. Break off 1-2 inch pieces and roll or flatten until very thin. I found the best way to do this was between two sheets of plastic wrap sprayed with Pam. Cook over medium high heat on griddle until golden brown spots appear. Flip over and wait for golden brown spots on the second side.

These are really easy to make, very chewy and great to dip up sauce.

If you'd like to cook along with us as we travel the globe, check-out My Kitchen My World :)