Breakfast

I can’t believe it has been months since my last post.

Sorry for the absence.

But we were on our winter vacation and out of the country for about two and half months.

We absolutely enjoyed our time in Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan.

I’m sure I will talk about our vacation sometime, but today I want to focus on this beautiful loaf I made.

I was initially planning to make muffins.

But right now the only oven I have access to is our Breville toaster oven, and it was too small for my muffin pan.

So at the last minute, I decided to use my loaf pan while still using a muffin recipe.

I had used my Breville toaster oven before, but mostly for making toasts and not much for baking.

So I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.

I don’t know exactly what was different from my regular oven, but it might be because the smaller size helped give out the heat evenly?

I almost regret I didn’t use it for baking more often before.

You can see how beautifully the crust was browned while the inside stayed perfectly moist.

By the way, the flavor combination of earl grey and blueberries was amazing!

Earl grey always takes everything to the next level.

I used the following recipe as the base.

https://www.egglesscooking.com/vegan-blueberry-muffins/

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎- I will definitely use this recipe again, but I will be open to trying other recipes, too.

– Good texture

– Good taste

– Not overly sweet

– No special ingredients necessary

*I baked this loaf at 390-395 F for about an hour in my Breville toaster oven.

There is something so satisfying about baking on the weekend.

It was a bit cloudy last Saturday, and I didn’t feel like going out.

So, it turned out to be a perfect day for me to stay in and spend some time in the kitchen.

There was a cinnamon roll recipe I wanted to try, but I also wanted to add some interesting flavor.

So when I found this at my tea station, I knew this would be a fun project.

I ground the tea in my mill and generously added it to the dough.

They turned out great!

The recipe is a Japanese recipe, and the recipe creator call it “Starbucks” Cinnamon Roll Copycat.

Apparently, the cinnamon rolls sold at Starbucks in Japan look like these.

These are baked in the muffin pan, so they are smaller than what is expected in the U.S., and also has a nice height.

I actually really liked their size and shape.

I am particular about the amount of icing on my cinnamon roll.

I don’t want too much or too little.

A good thing about making your own is that you can adjust these things.

They look so good!

I was ecstatic about the result.

I like my cinnamon rolls with black coffee.

I don’t drink a lot of coffee, probably less than once a week.

So whenever I do have coffee, it makes any occasion special.

Time to taste!

It was perfectly soft, and perfectly delicious!

I used this recipe (Japanese) as a base.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsJFmglS5HN/?img_index=1

I made a few changes to the ingredients (milk -> soy milk; butter -> vegan butter; cake flour/bread flour -> all-purpose flour; honey -> maple syrup).

These freeze well and get thawed well in a microwave oven.

I will definitely make these again for sure.

Because of the smaller size I can enjoy it for my 3 o’clock snack or even an after-dinner snack.

The rhubarb season is here!

I’m so lucky because my mother-in-law grows the most beautiful rhubarb in her backyard.

If you’ve never seen the rhubarb plant, this is how it grows.

The freshest rhubarb!

I thought about adding rhubarb or/and strawberries to the cinnamon sugar, but I decided to add them later on the top.

So what you see here (↑) are plain cinnamon rolls (vegan).

I used the recipe. ↓ Highly recommended!

This recipe makes 14 rolls.

https://tasty.co/recipe/the-best-ever-vegan-cinnamon-rolls

Rhubarb jam goes first.

Then, strawberry glaze.

Yum!!

Recommended beverage: Black coffee. Hot.

I brought some to my mother-in-law.

She called me later and told me she liked them very much! 🙂

And she gave me more!

What should I make next?

We cleaned our condo thoroughly this morning because we might have a visitor this afternoon.

I probably shouldn’t have used the kitchen, but I really wanted to bake with my freshly made (yesterday) Amazake.

(I made a big batch. I froze most of it but kept some in the fridge for today’s use.)

The kitchen smelled so good!

I hope you can tell how light, soft, and fluffy they are!

This is going to be my breakfast this week.