Cindy's Kitchen

The girls make mini cinnamon roll bundt cakes

Happy Fall! Let the holiday baking begin! One of our favorites, a warmly spiced cake with delicious, light cream in the middle. Easy bake and they freeze really well. Just wrap them well in plastic wrap, then foil and you can have a great dessert anytime. Thaw a piece or the whole roll at room temperature. They make a welcome hostess gift or potluck party too. This is a technique for baking a cake known as a roulade. Once you learn it there is no end to the delicious combinations you can make and enjoy. Lemon, Strawberry, Chocolate are all favorites in our home. Pumpkin roll cake is very moist. Be certain to generously powder sugar the towel before you roll the cake up to cool. If you have sticking, just go very slowly and release the cake from the towel with a dull knife with pressure on the towel, not the cake. Show me your bakes and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for watching! Cindy

The prettiest cookie ever, Pesche con Crema or Italian Peaches. I've been making these for years and this video includes two techniques. One for moulds and one traditional hand shaped. Peaches are a labor of love wherever the Cookie Table tradition is popular. I've been hired by many mothers and aunts to make them for weddings, baptisms, anniversaries, graduations and any other celebration you can imagine. They bring so much color to a dessert table. I've had Peaches in Italy and the dough they use is a yeasted brioche, this is not that recipe. This is a cake like cookie filled with peach or apricot jam and cream. They're best served the day after making so all the flavors can meld. I dip mine in a combination of peach liqueur and limoncello and the taste is very light. They're "painted" with food coloring and rolled in sugar for the pretty peach look. I make fondant leaves but you can buy plastic or use fresh basil or parsley leaves too for decoration. Thanks for watching! Cindy

Quick and easy recipe for royal icing. Royal is the icing that dries hard and can be packaged or stacked. This is a delicious recipe that's great when you want to decorate cookies for Christmas or for parties. I owned a cottage cookie business for years and also taught cookie decorating. Thanks for watching! Cindy

Another family favorite and a perfect side dish. This is an old recipe that is quick and easy to make but only after practicing a bit with handling the dumplings. These freeze great and I often make a batch then divide and freeze for a quick side or entree for my husband and I. Thanks for watching! Cindy

This is such a beautiful and delicious side dish. I love cooking with leeks. They're so light and many people who don't care for or can't easily digest onions, enjoy leeks. Cleaning is important and I prefer to chop them then soak them in water for a few minutes to get all the sand out. Use the lighter root, not the leaves and buy more than you think you need, there is quite a bit of waste but they aren't expensive and very easy to find. I made a version of this a few years ago and it was a pain to make with many steps but it was so good, I said I'd make the effort on holidays only. Well, I misplaced that recipe and have been on a search for another since. This recipe is as good as that original one and it's much more simple. We have it often because it's so easy to put together. Thanks for watching! Cindy

Spanikopita - that beautiful and delicious hors d'oeuvrs passed at weddings and formal parties. I love them, my whole family loves them, who doesn't love them? Crunchy and savory and salty, easy to make, easy to eat, they freeze well, great as a side or a meal. Just yum, it hits all the boxes for sure. Phyllo dough always intimidated me but it's really not at all hard to work with. Be sure to cover the stack while you're working to keep it from drying out. You can use a thawed package for a week before opening, 3 days after opening. These reheat really well too. I wrap leftovers in foil then in the refrigerator then reheat in a 400 degree oven and I think they're actuall better the second time around because the phyllo is all crispy and the filling has set. I'm making a few batches today to freeze unbaked and to take to Thanksgiving at our daughters. Freeze them in a single layer then put them in freezer bags to store. From frozen, add an egg wash, sprinkle a little coarse salt on top and bake at 400 on a parchment covered tray until crispy and golden brown. Thanks for watching! Cindy