Skyrim Sweet Rolls

A while back, I discovered a wonderful fantastic blog called Gourmet Gaming.  The girl who runs it posts a recipe every Wednesday.  Unlike most food blogs, each recipe must be for a food featured in a video game.  Every recipe is an original creation by her because, with very few exceptions, video games don't include nutrition facts and ingredients.  She does a phenomenal job recreating foods no one has ever seen before, let alone tasted.  Personally, my favorite part of each entry is seeing the side-by-side comparison of her food with a screenshot from the game, such as:

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Spark Lemon

Yoshi's Cookie - Yoshi Cookies

And of course...

Portal - The Cake Is A Lie

But the food that I was most excited to make was from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  Mainly because I had fallen in love with the Elder Scrolls universe when Kyle and Wil had me make a character in Oblivion a few years ago and roam around the gorgeous scenery and meet all the fantastic creatures.  It's like WoW on steroids, with prettier graphics and more features.  And then Kyle got Skyrim when it came out in November, and I fell in love all over again.  With the sweeping mountainous scenery, the animation and interactions with the people, and the food!  Food fit for a viking, which Kyle loved.  So I was joyfully overwhelmed when Gourmet Gaming posted Skyrim recipes.  And not just the sweet rolls, but an entire Skyrim meal!  I had to save up my gold to get all the fixin's for it, but I ended up making it just before Christmas. (Yes, I'm aware that Christmas was many days ago.  But I'm actually, legitimately going to try to post once a week again, yay!)

But let's start out with the sweet rolls.  This was dessert, but I made them first, because, as I suspected, they took the longest to make.  Many steps.  None of which I had ever really done before.  But so worth it.

Heyyyy batter batter batter batter... MIX batter, MIX!

Just sittin' in a muffin tin...

Unfrosted sweet rolls.  They look so naked, don't they?  ...Stop staring!

Muffin tops!  Also known as muffies.

Cream cheese frosting, mmm.  I would recommend a food processor or mixer next time, since it was ever-so-slightly lumpy.

The cinnamon syrup was a bit of a fail - I burned the crap out of it because I couldn't tell when it was done.  Oops.  Fortunately, that was the smallest part of the recipe and is completely optional.

Finished product!  Not the prettiest, but not too outrageously far from how it should look, either!

Skyrim Sweet Rolls

(by Gourmet Gaming)

For the Sweet Rolls:

• 1 cup butter (room temperature)
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ cup milk

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup cream cheese
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

For the Cinnamon Syrup:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preparing the Sweet Rolls:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. To prepare the muffin tray, cut small squares of greaseproof paper and stuff them into each muffin well. Create folds and crinkles and then smooth them out to help create a rustic, uneven finish on the cakes.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and maple syrup together until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one and a time and mix well.
3. Sift in the self-rising flour and cinnamon. Then add the milk and stir gently until a smooth batter forms.
4. Fill the prepared muffin tray with batter, filling each well nearly to the top and place in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown (a skewer inserted should come out clean when done). Set aside and allow to cool completely while you prepare the syrup and frosting.

Making the Frosting:

1. Add the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix gently until combined.
2. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and stir gently. Allow to chill in the fridge before using.

Making the Cinnamon Syrup:

1. In a pan on a medium-high heat, melt the butter, sugar, and cinnamon together until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for use later.

Assembling the Sweet Rolls:

1. Unwrap the cakes from the paper and carefully slice the puffy top off the cake. Turn the cake upside down so that the cut top is now the bottom.
2. Cut a small hole in the top of the cake that’s about 1 cm deep and 1 cm across. Pour a little of the cinnamon syrup into the hole.
3. Drizzle the frosting over the top of the cake and serve. Preferably with Black Briar Mead, among other things.  More to come soon...!