Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

So glad to see that others recognize that cooking has just about vanished in this generation of my friends. They work, they have kids, but they do not have dinners together at the table every night. I am 37ish and the two of us sit down almost every night and eat together. We cook together sometimes too! It is the only time we spend during the day together and I cherish the one thing that brings us together at the end of the day- food and cooking. I ask my significant other, "How can my friends not cook? What are their families doing for dinner?" I love recipes that my mom gives me that spark memories of our childhood dinners. Keep cooking for cohesion I say.

I have to admit.......I tried Ree's Cinnamon Rolls. Something went wrong. They did not rise correctly. The yeast was new and the temp of the yeast mixture wasn't too hot. I wonder if my kitchen was too cold. I was so excited to be making them and I am not over the failure yet. I still ate them and yes, divine came to mind. I will be giving them another try hopefully before the holidays. I am challenged now.....I'm on a mission!
I had the dough covered the whole time it rose. Not sure what happened, but upward and onward! I WILL try again.
Thanks for all of your comments and helpful hints.

Jerzee tomato,
Do you adjust ingredients to accomodate the extra "liquid" in the recipe?

I haven't experimented with using alcohol as flavorings in baked goods before and I am wondering if the texture changes with the increased amount of liquid (alcohol)?

I would love any other suggestions for using liquors. About how much per recipe do you add....a splash....a teaspoon?

Thank you, Cheyanne. What brand is good to use of both Pastry flour and ww pastry flour?

Great, JerzeeTomato! Thanks. I did go buy bread flour last night (preparing for next weeks cinnamon roll adventure).

I will probably try Ree's recipe with the all-purpose, though, just because that's how it's written. What a riot her site is......I laughed at the blog she wrote about the rolls. The things she wrote most likely to happen if you make the cinnamon rolls.... that just cracked me up!

The brown sugar was a choice last night also...I bought light brown.
Thanks for the input.

Regarding the cakes at the Collin St. Bakery, they make one that only has apricots and pecans. I guess it still qualifies as a fruitcake. Check it out.
http://www.collinstreet.com/pages/apricot_pecan_cake

There are all sorts of things called fruitcakes, and it's a little like saying you don't like cheese because you tasted one kind of cheese and didn't like it. As a former deeply picky eater, I can sympathize. I don't like the red and green candied cherries, I don't like the soggy nuts, and I don't like the fake rum flavorings. However, I make a dark, spicy cake that utilizes raisins, currants, dried apricots, mangoes (if I can find them) and pineapple, that goes by the name of fruitcake but tastes very different than the stuff one thinks of under that name.

There are also some Irish fruitcakes that are blonde, so to speak, and they're also marvelous. Don't condemn all fruitcakes.

I was a fruitcake hater until the day I was given one of these-

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1919,154167-236194,00.html

This is the quintessential fruitcake of the south, and is similar to the one popularized by The Colin Street Bakery in Texas. It ain't cheap to make, but if one does not skimp on quality ingredients, it is an fruitcake epiphany!

Make it yourself. Use real, (unsweetened) dried fruit, toasted nuts, citrus zest, and freshly ground spices. Use a light touch with the sugar. Do not frost or glaze with anything. Marinate with brandy. I follow Alton Brown's recipe, with a few small alterations/additions depending on how I feel, but try to avoid anything that would significantly alter the texture.

The result is dense, moist, and intensely flavored. Cut into small slices to serve; a little goes a long way.

My mom used to make fruit cake that was pretty ok but I changed up the recipe years ago and to be honest I love the stuff and everyone thats ever tried it does too. Very simple spice cake, with fresh fruit and nuts rather than preserved, I tried the dried fruit and even that was too sweet for me. So I guess mine isnt a "real" fruitcake but it is festive and more important to my mind ppl like it.