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Tiger Tails and Tailgating

By September 13, 2010December 18th, 2014Appetizers, Breadmaking, Food, Jessica, Kitchen, Recipes, Tailgate, Vegetarian

Tiger Tails
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Neil had a bachelor party this weekend, so I was on my own to attend the first Mizzou Football Tailgate. Even though we’re not big football people (not the American kind anyway), we love tailgating. It’s an excuse to play hooky from house and work projects and spend time with friends. Because I was planning on walking to avoid traffic and parking, I wanted to start the season with an easy recipe that wouldn’t turn to mush on the long, hot walk to the stadium.

Tiger Tails

In celebration of the start of another Tiger tailgate season, I have lovingly
dubbed these little curly cookies “Tiger tails,” a fun take on Cinnamon Spirals, a lovely little bread cookie that is perfect for those times you want something sweet that doesn’t liquify in the sun.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 package (1 ½ oz) active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

For the filling:
1/3 cup butter, melted
6 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons caster sugar, to sprinkle
1 tablespoon melted butter, for brushing

Directions

Tiger Tails

Tiger Tails

Tiger Tails

Tiger Tails

1. Mix the yeast with the milk in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes until frothy. I recommend placing yeast in a cup and pouring the milk over it while stirring to avoid clumps.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, butter, and egg yolks. Mix to a medium-soft dough, and add more flour if it’s necessary to handle.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and kneed (or use a dough hook) until smooth and elastic. Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl and cover. Leave to rise in a warm dry place for 60-80 minutes, or until double in size.
4. Prepare a large baking sheet with non-stick spray or silicone mat. Dust your hands with flour, punch dough down and kneed for 1-2 minutes.
5. Mix melted butter and cinnamon and stir until well blended.
6. Divide the dough into two and roll into rectangles (around 15×12-inch, 1/4-inch thick). Brush generously with butter/cinnamon mixture.
7. Roll up one long side of the dough to center, then roll up the other, so that they meet in the middle. Press together to join. Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices with a sharp kitchen night (so they don’t smoosh!). Place on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the cut side with sugar.
8. Preheat oven to 375, allowing cookies to continue rising while oven preheats. Gently dab or brush each cookie each with melted butter.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to rack or container.

These were fun to make and great for the tailgate. The walk however was a lot longer than I anticipated. I trekked the four or so miles to and from the tailgate and afterward, exhausted and full, went on a West Wing episode binge and passed out on the couch. In other words, my kind of Saturday!

Stay tuned, we’ve got plenty more tailgating recipes up our sleeves!

5 Comments

  • Sandor says:

    hey guys, I just wanted to say hello. Rachel sent me a link to your page because i was looking for a pizza dough recipe, i must say i haven’t tried yours yet but i’m anxious too try it. I’ve been sick for a week now and many other things going on. ANYWHO, I’ve been visiting your site now, on and off, for several weeks now and i have been enjoying all the food! Being Hungarian, all we do is eat when we have get together’s. haha. I saw a few recipes i definitely gotta try, and the corn dog one is a must for me since i love the corn dog but not all the grease and of course the pizza dough to name a few. Love your site, and keep on keeping on. 🙂

  • Wow these look and sound great! Perfect for a get together for sure!

  • Blake says:

    They were very tasty. Sweet, but not too sweet! They were a great addition to the tailgate!

  • Jessica says:

    Hey Sandor, thanks for stopping by! We hope you love our pizza crust, well we should say crusts, because we’ve done several. We highly recommend our Pizza Margherita crust, it’s our personal favorite. We hope you’ll keep stopping by, and feel free to leave us feedback or ideas for things you’d like to see on the site!

    @Blake, they were NOM! We’re still pondering ideas for this weekend….