Big Boy

Quick post to show how Barney has grown. He has lost most of the dark coloring and is developing the long coat. His teeth are hurting sometimes as the adult ones make their way in, but overall, he's a happy playful little guy. We are both eager for warmer days and lots of long walks together.

Cinnamon Rolls - First Attempt

Learning to make homemade bread has been great, but it has also been a slippery slope. Why not try pizza dough? (Terrific and thick!). How about cinnamon rolls?

Today I took the next leap and explored making my own sweet bread rolls. Where was Barney during all of this? He's such a big boy now that I can leave him with the big dogs, sleeping happily in the sun, and I can move around the house with much more ease.

The cinnamon rolls start like bread. I warmed yeast and mixed flour with a few ingredients just like bread dough. I added more sugar than usual though, which makes sense for a sweet treat. After an hour long rise time, I rolled the dough out into a rectangle. Then I added chopped walnuts plus a sweet sticky concoction that I prepared in a sauce pan. It started getting messy.

Next I rolled the dough up into a log with the sweet part in the center. Flour was everywhere, and sweet stuff was trickling out the ends. Fun ! Finally when I had a nice log roll, I used a knife to cut it into slices. These slices were placed on a cookie sheet and left to rise for about 15 minutes. Here is what they looked like at this point:

All that was left to do was the baking - 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I watched carefully so that I didn't burn the bottoms. Once done, I tried adding a topping of heated maple syrup and cinnamon, but it just rolled off so I'll skip that next time. Why add more calores LOL.

Here is the final view:

Next time I think I'll add in some whole wheat flour, and look around for a thicker topping to add to some of them. Readers - let me know if you have a good recipe for a topping !

Barney the Chihuahua : Update

December is a blur as all the holiday activities blended with the potty training routines for our new puppy. The good news is we all survived, had some fun, and Barney has learned that if he barks and runs to the door, I'll smile and go outside with him. This evening after dinner we went out about 5 times - in a row. Who is trained now?

Here are some recent shots of the little guy. He turned 4 months old last week and his coat is changing texture and color, so I wanted to document how he looks today.