Fiesta Friday #9

Tags

bread, breakfast, Fiesta Friday, Fiesta Friday #9, nutella, nutella rolls, recipe

A few things I’d like to go over with you today. Boring but somewhat important and helpful stuff, such as statistics and short codes and so forth. If you don’t care about those kinds of things, just scroll directly to the Nutella rolls recipe way down there.

About linking up
Even though link-up to Fiesta Friday stays open from Friday to the following Wednesday, I’ve been noticing a trend in viewership and excitement. The early links definitely get the lion share of the views, as well as the excitement. For the host (moi), it is much more manageable to have links spread out throughout the five-day period, but since this party focuses on the guests (vous), I thought I’d mention this to you, so you can take it into consideration when to link.

Of course, the idea of Fiesta Friday is not just to get more views, but to support, encourage, and socialize with each other, in a fun “party” atmosphere because it’s Friday. Friday is party time, yah? I, of course, view and visit all links, early or late, and try to give feedback, hopefully meaningful and helpful.

About recipe shortcodes
Justine@Eclectic odds n sods mentioned that as much as she values Fiesta Friday recipes and would like to make an archive of them (She needs as much help as she can get in the cooking department. Just kidding, Justine! Your Boeuf Bourguignon was Oscar-worthy!), she finds it difficult to print 6-7 pages of photos from a single post just to get to a recipe.

It has occurred to me that perhaps some of you may not have known that WordPress has come up with recipe shortcodes that allow you to embed your recipe on your post with an option to print. Therefore, only the recipe will be printed when someone like Justine wants it, not the whole post. Get the shortcodes here:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/recipes/

About future co-hosting opportunities
Catherine@Catherine Cuisine first brought the idea to me. She thought it would be fun to have a Fiesta Friday Challenge. Sort of Fiesta Friday Part Deux or Fiesta Friday 2nd degree. Once a month, we will pose a challenge for anybody to make one of the featured recipes. A winner will be selected, by the co-hosts, based on several criteria that have yet to be determined. A bragging badge, yet to be created, will be awarded. Perhaps real, tangible, physical, non-virtual prizes will also be awarded. We haven’t worked out the details yet, but that’s the basic idea.

Catherine is the brain behind this idea, so I have asked her to be a co-host for these challenges. However, there may come a time when she can’t do it, since she is a single working mom blogging on her free time. That’s when we will be in need of volunteers.

I have also been thinking of asking some of you if you would like to be future co-hosts of Fiesta Friday, the party, not the challenge. As co-hosts, you will have the duties of visiting the links, leaving comments, making sure that all guests feel welcomed and are having fun. You will also have the privileges of selecting features. I’ll have to work out the details, but I’m throwing these ideas out to see if any of you are interested. Please let me know. I do need help.

Okay, boring stuff out-of-the-way, let’s get to the important matter at hand. Features. Without further ado, here they are:

Catherine@Catherine Cuisine arrived at the fiesta apropos with Pastel de tres leches. If that cake doesn’t scream “Fiesta” to you, I don’t know what does.¡Olé Catalina!

Have you noticed that Nancy@Feasting With Friends always comes up with creative must-try recipes? This one caught my attention immediately. Shrimp Diablo. The name alone should pique your interest. Then, start reading the ingredients. Sambal Oelek is involved. Gnocchi is involved. Your interest should definitely be piqued now.

Sabine@Mamangerie brought along her pick-a-nick basket filled with dainty little Guglhupf cakes and strawberries. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo would have been mighty jealous of that basket.

L’intrépide Working Mom tackled homemade croissants. Apparently, she fears nothing for just a few weeks ago, I saw her making Chinese roast pork steamed buns from scratch!

And now, it’s time to party again, for the ninth time! I’m bringing you Nutella Rolls (inspired by Janine’s Cinnamon Braid Bread) to FF9.

Nutella Rolls

Servings: 8-10 rolls
Difficulty: easy
Print

2 1/2 cups bread flour
A pinch of salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs, beaten
Nutella
Chopped almonds

1. In your stand mixer bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Blend well.
2. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter until very warm (about 120°F).
3. Add warm liquid and beaten eggs to flour mixture.
3. Blend at low-speed until moistened. Beat 3 more minutes at medium speed.
4. Lower speed and add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time.
5. Continue kneading until all flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium and knead for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of bowl and is smooth and elastic.
6. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
7. Punch down dough. Roll into a rectangle. Spread nutella on dough and sprinkle chopped almonds. Roll dough into a log or jelly roll style. You can either cut the roll into pieces (a la cinnamon rolls) or follow Janine’s direction to make a wreath, which incidentally is rather similar to how I made my Krantz cake.
8. I made smaller rolls, instead of one big one, coiling each split log into a “snail” bun, instead of braiding.

9. Bake in the oven at 375°F for 5 minutes, then at 350°F for an additional 10 minutes.

Can’t wait to see what you all are bringing! Don’t forget to link your post to The Novice Gardener blog, so I get a pingback, and make sure to tag your post with “Fiesta Friday” to make it easier for other people to find you. If you’re new to Fiesta Friday, read the guidelines here.