no buttermilk? no problem

you know when you get excited about baking a dish and you are reading down the list of ingredients, just to make sure you have everything? and it's going great, you have every ingredient in your own kitchen until you read that last ingredient: buttermilk. i suddenly become deflated as i realize in order to have my spontaneous baking desire i'll have to still go to the store first. well i saw this thing on the food network the other day about how you can substitute and make your own buttermilk. it's 1 cup of milk with 1 tbspn of lemon juice or white vinegar. let it sit for 5 minutes and wha-lah, you have buttermilk. i guess the thing that's actually important about buttermilk is that it's got an acidic base, so if you add the vinegar, you've got that. the cooking show i saw this on even made biscuits with the homemade buttermilk and they didn't look any different than the ones with buttermilk.

so i'm home sick, and for the first time in about 6 days i am able to eat some real food ( my throat has never been so sore, i still need a good dose of ibuprofen to get the food down though...) and this morning i am craving cinnamon rolls (those are still pretty soft actually, maybe that's why i want them) i have this recipe from rachel ray's magazine:

Monkey Bread Minis

1 1/2 sticks butter, chilled
3 tbspn maple syrup
1/3 c plus 2 tbspn granulated sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tbspn cinnamon
2 c flour
1 tbspn b.powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c buttermilk, chilled


1. preheat oven to 425. in a small bowl, microwave 4 tbspn butter and the maple syrup until melted. stir. in another small bowl, sitr together 1/3 c sugar, the brown sugar and thecinnamon.

2. in a food processor combine the flour, baking powder, the remaining 2 tbspn granulated sugar and the salt. pulse to combine. cut the remaining 1 stick chilled butter into small pieces and pulse with the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. pulse in the buttermilk until dough just comes together. transfer to a lightly floured work surface. pat into a 10 inch square (the dough will be sticky). quater the dough, then cut each quarter into 16 equal pices. roll into balls.

3. dip each ball in the maple butter, then coat with the sugar mixture. place 5 to 6 ball sinto each muffin cup and press to compact.

4. bake until cooked through and golden 15-17 minutes. transfer the muffin pan to rack and cool. using a knife, loosen the sides of the moneky bread, invert onto a platter and then turn right side up. serve warm. stir together 1 cup confectioner's sugar and 2 tbspn milk and drizzle ove rthe bread as it cools, if desired.


i think i have enough energy to make these. they sound good and the picture looks good.