Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Cinnamon buns

Yesterday, I got home from work early, so decided to spend the afternoon in the kitchen. With four very, very, very hungry kittens, that was not as relaxing as it might sound. Four hungry kittens clawing at my legs, meowing loudly, running over and under my feet - well. Let's just say they were very cheap there for a while.

I finally managed to make another lasagna, like the one I've already posted about (Per absolutely loved it and wants to eat it all the time) and I also somehow made cinnamon buns. I followed this recipe from Who Wants Seconds? - because really, how could anyone resist that? I followed it pretty closely, except that I adapted the method slightly to work better in my Kitchen-Aid. Major difference being that I creamed my cold butter with the sugar, then added the yeasty milk with the spices. And I used cardamom seeds that I crushed in my pestle and mortar, rather than ready-ground. It turned out nicely. I left them in the oven for a tad too long - 17 minutes while 15 would have been enough, but Per is delighted. He likes crispy buns, while I prefer huge, fluffy, soft ones.

And then I really needed to give the kittens something. See, our chosen food for the cats is dry food - Royal Canin in various flavors. It's not very exciting, but it's good for them. They get as much as they want - it's always out. However, the kittens don't like it. At all. They refuse to try. Not so good. We feed them canned food twice a day, but... not quite enough. So, yesterday - having my pestle and mortar out, I ground up some of their baby dry food. I loosened it with a bit of water, and thus had kitten-food-paste. Not very appetizing - and to make it even less so for myself but more for them, I added a couple of squeezes of "ham-cheese", which is a soft cheese flavored with ham. (I know, it sounds absolutely disgusting. Sadly, it tastes pretty good, especially on toast.) This apparently made it good enough for my picky eaters, and they polished off the whole bowl in minutes. Gradually, I'll add less and less cheese.. and then less water - and then hopefully they'll get what dry food is all about.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you liked the buns! Your lasagna sounds great- I use a ragu in mine as well, but also include bechamel and a ricotta mix in the layers.

I'm looking forward to what you make next!

Cheers,
Moira

Anne said...

Dagmar, I'm glad the lasagna was appriciated! :) It's definitely a new favorite for Per - well, and for me too. As for the kitties - well, I hope they get with the program soon :) I much rather deliver kittens that know how to eat properly and not beg mercilessly for food at all times - but I don't know if I have much of a choice. I suspect the two males of eating dry food sometimes though, since they weigh so much.

Cerebrum said...

She's started a trend that Moira - I did cinnamon buns the other day too! Not this recipe, some other - and I left themin the oven for too long too! Blog-karma? Why, I do think so!