**The Great Cinnamon Knot Challenge: A Tale of Friendship and Food**

It was a typical day in the kitchen, with one chef, Pema, and her friend, unsure of what to expect. They were about to embark on a culinary challenge, one that would test their skills and their friendship. The theme was cinnamon knots, and they had decided to go head-to-head to see who could make the most impressive batch.

**The Preheat**

Pema preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, explaining that for her cinnamon roll recipe, this temperature was ideal for crisping up the pastry. Her friend, on the other hand, opted for 190 degrees, reasoning that this would give their knots a crisper exterior. The timer started, and Pema explained that she had spent about 30 minutes preparing the dough, which included mixing, kneading, and letting it rest.

**The Execution**

Pema began to shape her dough into knots, explaining that they needed to be done quickly to avoid overworking the dough. She then popped them onto a tray, where they would bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown. Her friend, meanwhile, was busy preparing their own batch of cinnamon nuts, using a mixture of butter and sugar to give them an extra boost of flavor.

**The Finishing Touches**

As the timer ticked down, Pema and her friend were busy adding the finishing touches to their creations. She sprinkled icing sugar over her knots, while her friend dusted theirs with powdered sugar. The room was filled with the sweet aroma of baking dough, and the anticipation was palpable.

**Judging the Competition**

The judges, a panel of foodies, were impressed by both Pema's and her friend's creations. They praised the presentation, the flavors, and the textures, but ultimately had to decide which batch was superior. After much deliberation, they decided that Pema's knots were the winner, thanks to their inviting appearance and juicy interior.

**The Verdict**

The judges explained that while both batches looked great from the outside, Pema's knots were more inviting and appetizing. They praised her friend's effort, but noted that theirs were slightly less impressive, with a less even distribution of icing sugar. The winner was awarded, and Pema celebrated her victory with her friend.

**A Parting Gift**

As the competition came to an end, Pema and her friend decided to celebrate by sharing some tips and tricks from their experience. They revealed that one of the most useful things they had learned was that cinnamon knots freeze well, making them a great brunch option for busy days ahead. The winner also shared her secret ingredient – a little bit of melted butter – which helped to bring out the flavors in the nuts.

**A New Cookbook**

The competition ended with an announcement that Pema and her friend would be contributing to a new cookbook, "Cooking to the Beat." This book celebrates the duo's love of food and music, featuring visually stunning recipes that are achievable at home. The book is now available for purchase in both physical form and digital format.

**A Bloopers**

Finally, as the day came to a close, Pema's friend was reminded that they were supposed to be self-isolating. A bumblebee had taken over their kitchen, causing chaos and confusion. The camera cut to a shot of Barry, who looked frazzled and overwhelmed by the situation. The episode ended with a laugh, as Pema and her friend shared a joke about the unexpected interruption to their culinary adventure.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe assorted a group of foodie mates who have your back when it comes to all things food this is Mike a keen foodie who loves to cook eat and have a laugh with his mates often at his own expense sometimes his cooking doesn't quite go to plan so during this strange time of self-isolation Mike has roped in his crusty Chefs Ben and James to better his skills in the kitchen but is Mike up to the job let's find out hello hello how are you very well thank you yourself yeah it's very weird daughter this isn't it it is and yet you look like you're already ready I've got apron and you've made me weigh out a whole lot of stuff what are you gonna make me do so you did so well last time that this time we're gonna mix up and go baking yesterday I made a batch of these and I took some photos today you've got to try and beat me by making a batch of cinnamon nut knots so it's like a cross between a cinnamon roll a Swedish cardamom barn and maple pecan twist it's intricate it's baking it's proven dough's we're gonna picture the test okay so you are trying to beat me but at the same time I'm here to help Jamie and Barry are gonna judge at the end based on photographs alone and as if that's not enough I've given you a 30-minute time limit but that only relates to the activity the hands-on stuff you need to make a dough knead a dough roll a dough cutter dough twister dough egg wash your dough we won't count proving a baking okay gotcha what could possibly go wrong Mike it's a good question okay Mike your 30 minutes start now the first thing you want to do is get your milk so it shouldn't be fridge cold you might even want to give it five seconds in the microwave if you can and then add your yeast into it okay that's warmish oh no it's not warm enough this is plastic and can't go in the microwave hang on yeah okay can it yeah literally just 10 seconds or so and then add your yeast into it the whole lot whole lot goes in and you're just gonna start to rehydrate it and just it's gonna start coming to life you could put a pinch of sugar in there as well because yeast eats sugar great put that to one side with the sugar in it and just leave it now big mixing bowl don't have one how about a casserole pop I mean that's a vessel that will work with put the flour in all the other dry ingredients so salt the sugar lemon zest and then crack in an egg how am i doing on time you've already used three minutes how am I done that you need to really have this made and needed in about 12 okay is your butter nice and soft hmm no it's gonna have to go in here traditionally you would add in the milk now and start to knead it and then once you've been eating it for awhile you'd add in the butter but this isn't easy only one method so it can all go in there has got some bubbles on it excellent butter in and give it a mix up with just like a table knife or something when I did this it was really sticky to start off with so a table knife is good because it saves it getting stuck between too many of your fingers then you can go in with all the milk and the yeast and you've got about a few minutes now to try and bring this together into a dough it's going to be sticky at some point I'm just gonna have to get my hands in aren't I so you you can do this in a mixer but I haven't got one at home and you haven't got one at home so it's absolutely plausible to do it by hand right I mean so what we want to do here is create lots and lots of elasticity from the gluten it's actually alright it's it is sticky but it's okay that looks very good my was a lot wetter than that timing wise you've got 23 minutes remaining how long am I doing this for so you want to be doing that for a few minutes but what you should be looking for is something that's really elastic so as soon as you're happy tuck it up into a tight ball tucking it under tucking it under tucking it under because you want a tight surface but what's gonna happen inside of there is the yeast is gonna do all of its activity it's gonna give off the carbon dioxide but a tight skin on the outside it's gonna stop it breaking free whack it in a bowl cover it and leave it on the clock that is proving that needs to prove for a good couple of hours so put in a warm place make yourself a coffee and we can always come back and make the filling just before it's ready do you want to see a geeky representation of yeast in real life ah yeah go on then so yeast need four things need sugar needs water it needs warmth we gave both gave it tepid liquid and it needs time and then something should happen and by the time this is super frothing your bread should be about ready great okay now what resume write the filling is basically blitzed up nuts whatever you want and then sugar and spice okay I need I've got no balls put in a saucepan good idea okay so brown sugar pecans in I'm gonna go cinnamon I actually used walnuts in my recipe because that's all I had and I didn't have quite enough cinnamon so I also added in some ground ginger so mine were a really mixed spiced bag but you can put in whatever dried spices whatever nuts you want brown sugar zki I'm good I'm happy with that okay in that case put your butter into the microwave to soften okay so straight in no no no okay we've got now sorry I wasn't paying attention well what do I do get a wooden spoon mix it up you're gonna what you're gonna create instead is like a very very soft buttercream ah you might be better off here because this is probably the more traditional way of doing it it's just gonna use a bit more time no I haven't got time I can't believe I didn't listen that is so stupid stop the clock I'm really annoying myself that I just fit that right now one more waiting time the stopped clock is on pause okay Oh so do you want to see the real magic Wow exactly the magic that's gonna be happening inside of your bread damn it that is the sugar fungus in theory your bread should be ready now to roll cut and shape oh that has risen the only thing you've got left to do is roll Phil cut twist an egg wash okay don't looking good give it a gentle poke does it kind of gently spring back yeah it does your time restarts now dust your work service with a little bit of flour and then get your dough out you're gonna roll it into a rectangle it's gonna be a huge rectangles gonna fill most of that work surface because you want it quite thin no may look at it oh it's pizza think care for your next step is going to be to spread all of your butter sugar paste all over that when I did it I brushed over all the melted butter which is super easy as melted butter and then sprinkled the dry sugar spice nut mix well I don't have a choice though I also this is not a rectangle are you happy with this thickness yeah you're gonna have to go you haven't got time so where do I put it everywhere everywhere I'd put get both hands involved and just spread it out or you just be a lot quicker okay come on come on come on come on come on come on stop fiddling wash your hands I'm just is that okay yep when you come back to it you're going to fold the dough in half so you're going to basically put one half over on to the other to sandwich all that sugar in it bit in the middle right oh my goodness wonderful stretch it press it flat to seal it in so all that butter and sugar and dough combines and now you're gonna need a knife and you need to cut into strips about three centimeters wide perfect you go a bit thinner actually okay yeah great so take one of those strips out and and squish it flat and now you're going to cut it in half again lengthwise but not all the way through so you're gonna leave it sealed at the top ah right so leave a gap here yeah I did not do that this goes down oh my goodness there is no time boom boom boom boom boom flatten it I've been cutting with the other end of the knife you're gonna pick this up and you're going to in your hand twist it your left hand is going to twist one way your right hands going to twist the other way so you end up with three twists which should give you like six twists because you're doing it with both hands how's that perfect now you're gonna have to watch me for this one because I think this is really difficult you're gonna have to excuse my yes time time time you're gonna wrap it around two fingers so that the last twist comes between the two fingers yeah and then the last bit goes under and over and then put it on your baking tray under and over which bit goes under and over yeah you've got it got it that's it get it on the baking tray get out my way no pressure but you've got about a minute to do each one of these now you need five more in five minutes okay oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my game is it works does it get look good yeah I can't show you right now but that last one did look good and you did it in about 45 seconds so at this rate you should be okay keep going now the key to these is if you've got a regular bloomer low there's plenty of space for it to prove and then when you put it into a loaf tin it proves again because you're kind of tying this up on itself and it's relatively tight and it's got all the extra weight of the button the sugar this next prove is also quite slow so they don't puff up a huge amount but they should do slightly because that yeast is still active that one's rubbish you idiot Mike if you end up with any you're not happy with who you end up with scraps just put them to one side because what I did yes there was all my scraps and all my off cut I just jumbled together into really loose bull and baked as one load but nothing goes to waste even those bits that you're not happy with oh man I'm gonna try and get one more done once you're happy cover it with a tea towel or something and put it back into a warm place for an hour I'm gonna make the rest of these but I only have one tray so I can't cheat and wipe down and I'll see you in half an hour yep Sinemet okay so they've had another proof you wanna see these they popped up a little bit looking good your time starts now so typically a pastry brush would be perfect but if like me you haven't got one and I just use two fingers just to dab around and the bits that are showing and it will give it a nice golden color i preheated the oven 180 I'm assuming please say yes please say yes good enough what do you mean good enough what's the right one well for our cinnamon roll recipe we go 190 because we want them to crisp up but I think for these knots 180 is good okay how long I got 47 seconds remaining okay they're going in there going in okay stop the clock I'm not gonna lie me I kind of made the number 30 minutes up now's not the time to tell me that you never ever buy by the seat of your pants and you choose now as that time and I time myself yesterday it was roughly thirty minutes of active I don't know I thought well it'll be fun well this is what then hasn't it I've got 17 seconds to get it out and just dust them with icing sugar yep they'll need about 15 minutes in the oven but basically you're looking for something that's golden brown so you want the inside to be fluffy and not dried out okay I mean small violin moment by I I live on my own and so an entire batch of cinnamon nut knots is quite a lot for me to get through but they also freeze really well as soon as they called I just laid them in a big sandwich bag one layer and now for the next couple of weekends I've got brunch ready to go that's a great tip pema's is that it right I'm gonna start the clock ready you have 17 seconds remaining starting now ah yes that's hot are they looking oK you've got 7 seconds to dusted with icing sugar if you want 5 4 3 2 1 step away from your knots I'll chisel these off the tray and then take some photos may the best man win here they are how's it going it's going good how are you I'm sweaty excellent that's how I like you best well you've got me okay judges I've made a batch of cinnamon and pecan nuts you've got the photos now one of us creaked option 1 the other option 2 we'd like you to judge and pick a winner first off what I think we need to say they both look like incredible sets of nuts I'm very impressed it's not often that we get to a final of a beat the chef and can't instantly go that's the chef's one I think we have to look at yo finish of the dish how well Browns that the whole thing is option one it's hard to tell because it's being covered up in a load of icing sugar and they both look great by off the bat but obviously while I'm showing they kind of see like how well brown they are throughout you know I mean mm-hmm yeah I know we look at the two cross sections option one looks a little bit more inviting it looks it was juicy yeah and then we go up to option number two they look very perfect from the outside but then I look on the inside they do look lovely and fluffy so yeah I think this is a tough one pros and cons of each after much deliberation we both decided that what we want is the most inviting thing that we want to bite into and get all of the flavors and textures and the one that gave us that feeling across the internet was option one Wow that's me it's definitely you might well done I thought Benz looked so much better that they were perfect when I cocked up earlier and put all of that melted butter in my nuts and Meshuga by accident it helped that's why that's East and not so evenly spread as yours was late why don't you know our tastes oh sorry food and you can't beat them with this tin a little bit wall they are a little bit warmth I was really really tasty thank you so much for teaching me how to make these but as it was you beat the chef's congratulations thank you thanks boys road bike away Bevers so next time one last thing our new cookbook cooking to the beat is now available and it celebrates our love of food and music with some visually stunning recipes that are all achievable at home you can get hold of a physical copy or get it via our books at all parts of the sorted Club check out the link for all the information that you need and now for a blooper there's a big bumblebee in its room Barry you're supposed to be self isolatingwe assorted a group of foodie mates who have your back when it comes to all things food this is Mike a keen foodie who loves to cook eat and have a laugh with his mates often at his own expense sometimes his cooking doesn't quite go to plan so during this strange time of self-isolation Mike has roped in his crusty Chefs Ben and James to better his skills in the kitchen but is Mike up to the job let's find out hello hello how are you very well thank you yourself yeah it's very weird daughter this isn't it it is and yet you look like you're already ready I've got apron and you've made me weigh out a whole lot of stuff what are you gonna make me do so you did so well last time that this time we're gonna mix up and go baking yesterday I made a batch of these and I took some photos today you've got to try and beat me by making a batch of cinnamon nut knots so it's like a cross between a cinnamon roll a Swedish cardamom barn and maple pecan twist it's intricate it's baking it's proven dough's we're gonna picture the test okay so you are trying to beat me but at the same time I'm here to help Jamie and Barry are gonna judge at the end based on photographs alone and as if that's not enough I've given you a 30-minute time limit but that only relates to the activity the hands-on stuff you need to make a dough knead a dough roll a dough cutter dough twister dough egg wash your dough we won't count proving a baking okay gotcha what could possibly go wrong Mike it's a good question okay Mike your 30 minutes start now the first thing you want to do is get your milk so it shouldn't be fridge cold you might even want to give it five seconds in the microwave if you can and then add your yeast into it okay that's warmish oh no it's not warm enough this is plastic and can't go in the microwave hang on yeah okay can it yeah literally just 10 seconds or so and then add your yeast into it the whole lot whole lot goes in and you're just gonna start to rehydrate it and just it's gonna start coming to life you could put a pinch of sugar in there as well because yeast eats sugar great put that to one side with the sugar in it and just leave it now big mixing bowl don't have one how about a casserole pop I mean that's a vessel that will work with put the flour in all the other dry ingredients so salt the sugar lemon zest and then crack in an egg how am i doing on time you've already used three minutes how am I done that you need to really have this made and needed in about 12 okay is your butter nice and soft hmm no it's gonna have to go in here traditionally you would add in the milk now and start to knead it and then once you've been eating it for awhile you'd add in the butter but this isn't easy only one method so it can all go in there has got some bubbles on it excellent butter in and give it a mix up with just like a table knife or something when I did this it was really sticky to start off with so a table knife is good because it saves it getting stuck between too many of your fingers then you can go in with all the milk and the yeast and you've got about a few minutes now to try and bring this together into a dough it's going to be sticky at some point I'm just gonna have to get my hands in aren't I so you you can do this in a mixer but I haven't got one at home and you haven't got one at home so it's absolutely plausible to do it by hand right I mean so what we want to do here is create lots and lots of elasticity from the gluten it's actually alright it's it is sticky but it's okay that looks very good my was a lot wetter than that timing wise you've got 23 minutes remaining how long am I doing this for so you want to be doing that for a few minutes but what you should be looking for is something that's really elastic so as soon as you're happy tuck it up into a tight ball tucking it under tucking it under tucking it under because you want a tight surface but what's gonna happen inside of there is the yeast is gonna do all of its activity it's gonna give off the carbon dioxide but a tight skin on the outside it's gonna stop it breaking free whack it in a bowl cover it and leave it on the clock that is proving that needs to prove for a good couple of hours so put in a warm place make yourself a coffee and we can always come back and make the filling just before it's ready do you want to see a geeky representation of yeast in real life ah yeah go on then so yeast need four things need sugar needs water it needs warmth we gave both gave it tepid liquid and it needs time and then something should happen and by the time this is super frothing your bread should be about ready great okay now what resume write the filling is basically blitzed up nuts whatever you want and then sugar and spice okay I need I've got no balls put in a saucepan good idea okay so brown sugar pecans in I'm gonna go cinnamon I actually used walnuts in my recipe because that's all I had and I didn't have quite enough cinnamon so I also added in some ground ginger so mine were a really mixed spiced bag but you can put in whatever dried spices whatever nuts you want brown sugar zki I'm good I'm happy with that okay in that case put your butter into the microwave to soften okay so straight in no no no okay we've got now sorry I wasn't paying attention well what do I do get a wooden spoon mix it up you're gonna what you're gonna create instead is like a very very soft buttercream ah you might be better off here because this is probably the more traditional way of doing it it's just gonna use a bit more time no I haven't got time I can't believe I didn't listen that is so stupid stop the clock I'm really annoying myself that I just fit that right now one more waiting time the stopped clock is on pause okay Oh so do you want to see the real magic Wow exactly the magic that's gonna be happening inside of your bread damn it that is the sugar fungus in theory your bread should be ready now to roll cut and shape oh that has risen the only thing you've got left to do is roll Phil cut twist an egg wash okay don't looking good give it a gentle poke does it kind of gently spring back yeah it does your time restarts now dust your work service with a little bit of flour and then get your dough out you're gonna roll it into a rectangle it's gonna be a huge rectangles gonna fill most of that work surface because you want it quite thin no may look at it oh it's pizza think care for your next step is going to be to spread all of your butter sugar paste all over that when I did it I brushed over all the melted butter which is super easy as melted butter and then sprinkled the dry sugar spice nut mix well I don't have a choice though I also this is not a rectangle are you happy with this thickness yeah you're gonna have to go you haven't got time so where do I put it everywhere everywhere I'd put get both hands involved and just spread it out or you just be a lot quicker okay come on come on come on come on come on come on stop fiddling wash your hands I'm just is that okay yep when you come back to it you're going to fold the dough in half so you're going to basically put one half over on to the other to sandwich all that sugar in it bit in the middle right oh my goodness wonderful stretch it press it flat to seal it in so all that butter and sugar and dough combines and now you're gonna need a knife and you need to cut into strips about three centimeters wide perfect you go a bit thinner actually okay yeah great so take one of those strips out and and squish it flat and now you're going to cut it in half again lengthwise but not all the way through so you're gonna leave it sealed at the top ah right so leave a gap here yeah I did not do that this goes down oh my goodness there is no time boom boom boom boom boom flatten it I've been cutting with the other end of the knife you're gonna pick this up and you're going to in your hand twist it your left hand is going to twist one way your right hands going to twist the other way so you end up with three twists which should give you like six twists because you're doing it with both hands how's that perfect now you're gonna have to watch me for this one because I think this is really difficult you're gonna have to excuse my yes time time time you're gonna wrap it around two fingers so that the last twist comes between the two fingers yeah and then the last bit goes under and over and then put it on your baking tray under and over which bit goes under and over yeah you've got it got it that's it get it on the baking tray get out my way no pressure but you've got about a minute to do each one of these now you need five more in five minutes okay oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my game is it works does it get look good yeah I can't show you right now but that last one did look good and you did it in about 45 seconds so at this rate you should be okay keep going now the key to these is if you've got a regular bloomer low there's plenty of space for it to prove and then when you put it into a loaf tin it proves again because you're kind of tying this up on itself and it's relatively tight and it's got all the extra weight of the button the sugar this next prove is also quite slow so they don't puff up a huge amount but they should do slightly because that yeast is still active that one's rubbish you idiot Mike if you end up with any you're not happy with who you end up with scraps just put them to one side because what I did yes there was all my scraps and all my off cut I just jumbled together into really loose bull and baked as one load but nothing goes to waste even those bits that you're not happy with oh man I'm gonna try and get one more done once you're happy cover it with a tea towel or something and put it back into a warm place for an hour I'm gonna make the rest of these but I only have one tray so I can't cheat and wipe down and I'll see you in half an hour yep Sinemet okay so they've had another proof you wanna see these they popped up a little bit looking good your time starts now so typically a pastry brush would be perfect but if like me you haven't got one and I just use two fingers just to dab around and the bits that are showing and it will give it a nice golden color i preheated the oven 180 I'm assuming please say yes please say yes good enough what do you mean good enough what's the right one well for our cinnamon roll recipe we go 190 because we want them to crisp up but I think for these knots 180 is good okay how long I got 47 seconds remaining okay they're going in there going in okay stop the clock I'm not gonna lie me I kind of made the number 30 minutes up now's not the time to tell me that you never ever buy by the seat of your pants and you choose now as that time and I time myself yesterday it was roughly thirty minutes of active I don't know I thought well it'll be fun well this is what then hasn't it I've got 17 seconds to get it out and just dust them with icing sugar yep they'll need about 15 minutes in the oven but basically you're looking for something that's golden brown so you want the inside to be fluffy and not dried out okay I mean small violin moment by I I live on my own and so an entire batch of cinnamon nut knots is quite a lot for me to get through but they also freeze really well as soon as they called I just laid them in a big sandwich bag one layer and now for the next couple of weekends I've got brunch ready to go that's a great tip pema's is that it right I'm gonna start the clock ready you have 17 seconds remaining starting now ah yes that's hot are they looking oK you've got 7 seconds to dusted with icing sugar if you want 5 4 3 2 1 step away from your knots I'll chisel these off the tray and then take some photos may the best man win here they are how's it going it's going good how are you I'm sweaty excellent that's how I like you best well you've got me okay judges I've made a batch of cinnamon and pecan nuts you've got the photos now one of us creaked option 1 the other option 2 we'd like you to judge and pick a winner first off what I think we need to say they both look like incredible sets of nuts I'm very impressed it's not often that we get to a final of a beat the chef and can't instantly go that's the chef's one I think we have to look at yo finish of the dish how well Browns that the whole thing is option one it's hard to tell because it's being covered up in a load of icing sugar and they both look great by off the bat but obviously while I'm showing they kind of see like how well brown they are throughout you know I mean mm-hmm yeah I know we look at the two cross sections option one looks a little bit more inviting it looks it was juicy yeah and then we go up to option number two they look very perfect from the outside but then I look on the inside they do look lovely and fluffy so yeah I think this is a tough one pros and cons of each after much deliberation we both decided that what we want is the most inviting thing that we want to bite into and get all of the flavors and textures and the one that gave us that feeling across the internet was option one Wow that's me it's definitely you might well done I thought Benz looked so much better that they were perfect when I cocked up earlier and put all of that melted butter in my nuts and Meshuga by accident it helped that's why that's East and not so evenly spread as yours was late why don't you know our tastes oh sorry food and you can't beat them with this tin a little bit wall they are a little bit warmth I was really really tasty thank you so much for teaching me how to make these but as it was you beat the chef's congratulations thank you thanks boys road bike away Bevers so next time one last thing our new cookbook cooking to the beat is now available and it celebrates our love of food and music with some visually stunning recipes that are all achievable at home you can get hold of a physical copy or get it via our books at all parts of the sorted Club check out the link for all the information that you need and now for a blooper there's a big bumblebee in its room Barry you're supposed to be self isolating\n"