Recipes | Pamela Toman

Cinnamon Rolls

A cinnamon roll recipe that makes 2 to 3 cinnamon rolls is perfect for not eating the entire pan. This size recipe can also be baked outdoors in a toaster oven during the summer heat.

I find frosting on cinnamon rolls far too sweet and not at all rewarding, so I skip it.

Cinnamon rolls were my obsession in fall 2024, and this recipe was my favorite of the many options I tried.

Ingredients	Step
	Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
120 g flour 1 T. sugar 1 t. yeast ½ t. salt ⅓ c. milk, warm 2 T. unsalted butter, room temperature ½ t. vanilla	Mix together and then knead. Shape dough into a ball, place in a bowl, cover, and let it rise until puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk (likely 45-60 minutes).
3 T. brown sugar 2 t. flour ½ t. cinnamon pinch of salt	Use a fork to combine.
	Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Press into a 4x10" rectangle.
1-2 T. milk	Brush surface generously with milk. Sprinkle filling on top, covering all but a ½" strip on a short side. Press the filling gently to adhere it.
	Roll the cinnamon rolls toward the clean end without filling. For the prettiest rolls, cut off just the rough ends first and bake them separately, then split the remaining roll into as many pieces as you like using floss. Transfer each roll to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Tuck the end of the spiral underneath so it can't unravel, and press down to make the roll squatter.
	Cover the pan and let the rolls rise for 45-60 minutes, until they are puffy and don't bounce back immediately when pressed.
	Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
	Bake until an internal temperature of 190 degrees (likely 15-18 minutes).
maple syrup (optional)	Serve warm, possibly painted with maple syrup. (The maple syrup will dry out the rolls, so don't paint them until/unless you're ready to eat.)

Source: Molly Marzalek-Kelly (King Arthur)

A Persian zucchini frittata. Yes, it is as delicious as you expect Persian food to be -- an explosion of sour, sweet, savory, and floral flavors. A great choice for the summertime zucchini bounty, and also entirely feasible to prep ahead for a holiday meal.

Ingredients	Step
	Preheat oven to 375.
2 zucchini 2 yellow summer squash 2 t. salt	Grate, then sprinkle with salt. Toss to combine, then set in a colander over the sink. After letting it sit a bit, squeeze out as much water as possible -- first by hand, then via cheesecloth. This step is good to do slowly, while cooking the onion.
2 T. olive oil 1 onion, diced	Cook in small skillet until golden.
1 t. dried mint pinch of salt	Sprinkle on top of cooked onion and stir together.
2 garlic cloves, diced ⅓ c. dried tart cherries, chopped as needed zest of 1 small orange	In a large bowl (possibly with a lid), combine additional moist ingredients with the squash and onion. This mixture can go into the fridge overnight.
3 T. flour ¼ t. cinnamon ¼ t. turmeric ¼ t. ground dried rose petals ⅛ t. ground saffron ⅛ t. nutmeg ⅛ t. black pepper	Combine spices. This mixture can be stored overnight.
2 T. olive oil	Pour into an 8x8" pan, then use your fingers to coat up the sides of the pan.
	Toss together the vegetable and flour mixture until well-combined.
5 eggs, ideally room temperature	Whisk the eggs together, then stir them into the vegetable and flour mixture.
	Put the oiled pan in the preheated oven for 1 minute, making sure to set a timer. Then pour the batter into the hot pan and smooth it into an even layer.
1 T. olive oil	Bake in two sessions. First bake for 20 minutes, until mostly set. Remove the pan, make 4 cuts each direction to produce 16 pieces, and drizzle 1 T. olive oil into the dividing cuts. Then return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, until fully set and crisp on top. Serve warm. (Cool or even cold leftovers are tasty too.)

Source: Eats Well With Others, originally from Naz Deravian's Bottom of the Pot

Honeycake

A delicious rich, moist honeycake, best made the day before you plan to serve it. You'd think it'd be cloyingly sweet, but it's perfect.

This recipe yields two tall 8x4" loaves, but even one loaf is far too much for a nuclear family -- this cake is best to bake for a party (or two). I tend to cut it into 12-16 slices per loaf (it slices beautifully), and then cut each slice in half, so the full recipe produces 48-64 pieces and yields around 20-30 servings. Alternatively you can bake it as 24 cupcakes.

If you want to store the cake more than a few days, you can wrap it three times in plastic and then freeze it.

Ingredients	Step
	Grease and line two 8x4" pans with parchment to create handles, and place the pans on a baking sheet to stabilize them. Fold the edges of the parchment over the sides so it can't fall into the batter (which it is very prone to do).
	Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
445 g (3¼ c + 2 T) flour 1¾ t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1 t. kosher salt 4 t. cinnamon ½ t. cloves ½ t. allspice	Whisk together.
½ c. (110 g) brown sugar 1½ c. (300 g) white sugar 1 c. (200 g) neutral oil 1 c. (320 g) honey 3 eggs 1 t. vanilla 1½ c. orange juice ¼ c. rye or whiskey	Add to well in center of dry ingredients, then slowly stir together to make a well-blended batter, pausing to scrape as needed.
	Slowly and carefully pour into prepared pans. The batter will be runny, and that's okay! Place in the preheated oven to bake.
	Bake until a cake tester can be removed cleanly at multiple spots (and make sure to test multiple places). It might take anywhere from 40 minutes to 60 minutes for the cakes to bake, depending on their density. They will look runny, then increasingly puffy and cooked, and it will take a while past looking totally cooked for them to actually be totally cooked.

Source: Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen), originally from Marcy Goldman's Treasure of Jewish Holiday Baking

Ginger Soba Noodles

Delicious broth and flavored breadcrumbs.

This recipe is a fair amount of work and only serves 4 as a light meal as written, so doubling is worthwhile. We stretch it even further with marinated tofu dominoes, red cabbage, roasted broccoli, boy choy, soft egg, and/or peppery greens.

Prepare the chili oil first:

Ingredients	Step
2 T olive oil	Heat in a skillet over medium until quite hot but not smoking.
¼ t. sweet paprika ¼ t. smoked paprika 1½ t. red pepper flakes (optional)	Place in small heatproof bowl. Pour hot oil on top. Set aside to infuse.

And then prepare delicious crunchy gingery breadcrumbs:

Ingredients	Step
2 T. olive oil	Heat in the same skillet until hot.
2 inches ginger, finely chopped 1 shallot, finely chopped	Add ginger and shallot to the hot oil. Cook, stirring often, until starting to brown.
¼ c. panko ¼ t. salt	Add to hot oil. Cook 4-6 more minutes, stirring often, until nicely toasted. Transfer to bowl and set aside.

And then prepare a delightfully tangy broth:

Ingredients	Step
2¼ c. broth 4 inches ginger, roughly chopped 1 shallot, roughly chopped 1 small head of garlic, halved crosswise ¾ c. water 1 t. salt	Bring to simmer in medium lidded saucepan, then cover and cook for 25 minutes.
	Drain through a sieve set over a bowl, discarding solids.
strained broth 1¼ c. hot water	Return to saucepan and keep warm until ready to serve.

And finally prepare the noodles:

Ingredients	Step
7-9 oz. soba noodles	Boil according to package instructions, drain then run under cold water. Return to saucepan.
2 T. lime juice 2 T. soy sauce ⅓ c. cilantro, roughly chopped	Toss noodles with seasoning.

Source: Yotam Ottolenghi (NYT Cooking)

Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding

Delicious. Yields 4 half-cup servings.

High quality chocolate chips a la Guittard will work in this recipe. Cheap chocolate chips won't melt appropriately; you'll want to finely chop a bar.

Ingredients	Step
65 g (⅓ c.) sugar 30 g (⅓ c.) cocoa 2 T. cornstarch ⅛ t. salt	In a saucepan, stir together.
2 c. milk	Slowly stir in, stirring until smooth and combined.
	Heat mixture over medium-low head, stirring constantly, until the pudding thickens. It will bubble and coat the back of the spoon (about 5-10 minutes).
3-4 oz. (85-115 g) chocolate, finely chopped	Add and stir vigorously, until the pudding is very thick and smooth (about 30 seconds).
1 t. vanilla	Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
	Pour into ramekins. Cover each ramekin to avoid forming a skin (possibly with plastic wrap).

Source: Ali Slagle (NYT Cooking)

Pamela Toman

Cinnamon Rolls

Kookoo Kadoo

Honeycake

Ginger Soba Noodles

Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding

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