Disappointment

I had been thinking about asking for a Kitchen Aid mixer as a birthday present (as my 30th birthday is approaching quickly) and when I saw that Costco had it on sale on their website for $100 off, with the permission of my husband, I jumped at the chance and ordered it.

It arrived by UPS a little less than a week after I ordered it. I was excited and had decided when I was waiting to receive it that my first order of business when I got it would be to bake cinnamon buns. I decided to try this recipe. I was pleased at how nicely the dough came together with the mixer and the dough hook. It made a beautiful soft dough that rose beautifully and made delicious cinnamon rolls. I have to say that as good as they were, that I would likely just stick to plain cinnamon buns over the pumpkin variety. They were good, but I guess I am just a cinnamon bun purist.

A few days after I had made the cinnamon buns I was debating about what I could make next. I decided that since I had a cup of left over pumpkin puree in the fridge from the cinnamon bun recipe that I would look for a recipe for pumpkin cookies. I had a vision in my mind of the type of cookie I was looking for. I was looking for something puffy and cake-like. I looked a number of recipes before settling on this one. They were EXACTLY what I was looking for, and with the glaze on top, man I may have a new item to add to my Christmas baking list. Yum!

This week, I came across this recipe and decided that it was time to give the mixer another go. I am fairly new to the world of baking yeast bread, but I felt pretty confident after my cinnamon buns turned out so nicely. I caramelized the onions last night, to save some time and set to mixing up the dough. It turned out pretty well. It was a different method with a significantly shorter rising time and I was intrigued. The recipe said to bake the buns for 15-20 minutes at 375F. I baked them for 15 minutes and the tops were still really pale looking so I thought they needed the additional 5 minutes. I watched them off and on for the last 5 minutes and pulled them out just before the 20 minute mark only to find that the bottoms were burned. I feel so sad! Buns are a lot of work, and to have a batch that aren't really any good, pretty much stinks :( I know in my baking career that there will likely be other failures, but it is no fun to put time and effort into something with great expectations and end up with something useless!