Volume 7 Chapter 37: Vanilla Juice

"Is that the only thing we need to do, Keith?" Diana questioned. But the man shook his head, "The thing we're going to make next is interesting."

"Hmm?" "It's going to be a sweet kind. But it's something I don't have that much technique in." This was going to be his third time making this. Of course, dough was a must.

"Let's mix the ingredients." He first added flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl, stirring the dry ingredients. While he was doing that,

"Diana, toss the butter and slowly pour the milk into the bowl while I stir."

"Alright." Diana slowly placed them in. And the dry mix slowly became a round ball.

"How about you roll the dough out like before. I won't be helping you today."

"Yes." Diana nodded as she started to roll the dough out. This time, the dough came out perfectly.

"The next step is to smear the butter on top of it."

"Gotcha." Softened butter was the way to go; it would be difficult to move the butter around if it was hard.

"The last thing needed is brown sugar and cinnamon. You can spread them like this." Brown sugar was simple enough to make; it was a mixture of sugar and molasses. Both of these things were something Keith already had.

"Is this enough?" Diana had placed a lot of sugar and cinnamon on top.

"Perfect, the last thing left is to let them proof."

"Mmhmmm!" Diana nodded.

"..." You're really excited about this, aren't you? The spirit of nature's eyes lit up as she watched the clothed bowl.

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"The next thing we must do is make the cream cheese glaze." Cream cheese will also work well with bread as well.

"Cream cheese?" "Mmhmm. It's simple to make." Keith took out the ingredients; milk and lemon juice.

"That's all there is to make it? Do we mix it up?"

"Mmhmm. We just need to boil the milk and then add the lemon juice to it." When this happened, curds would form.

Diana blinked, "It could do that?!" She didn't think the juice of a fruit could cause such a reaction.

"Take the curds out and squeeze out whatever juices are left." Keith squeezed as much as possible.

"To add smoothness to the cream cheese, add milk." Keith slowly added the milk to the curds. Slowly, the cracking curd became smooth and silky.

"Try some."

"Mmhmm." Diana took a spoon and licked it. When that happened, "It has a sour taste. But it's slightly tangy."

"Hoo." Aria flapped her wings.

"I think it's because of the cow I took it from." What he used was milk from a fire cow. This one had a strong fat content. But it also has a slight tart taste to it.

"Maybe I should add some spices and other things to change the taste." That would make it perfect as a spread.

"How can I use this?" Keith looked at the branch item on the table. This was what Fira and the other spirits found. Vanilla bean. It smelled like the vanilla bean he used before. However, it had a more potent sweetness. Plus, the branch was large as well.

"I should scrape the beans out." Keith took a knife and started scraping the beans out of the branch. However, that caused Keith's eyes to widen.

Say what? There were so many juices coming from the beans. This was not your regular vanilla bean.

"I wonder." Keith licked one of the droplets. His eyes widened as he turned to Diana, "Diana, can you follow my lead and take out the beans?"

"Mmhmm." Diana nodded as she started to scrap. His eyes were bright as he did this.

"Do you need so much?" What lay before them were a bunch of beans.

"Mmhmm, I could use this a lot." Keith grinned as he started to squeeze the vanilla bean. As he did this, the juices from the beans began to seep from the towel. What lay before them was a jar full of the liquid.

This should be called vanilla juice instead of extract.

"Try it now." The three did, and that caused all three's expressions to contort.

"So strong!" "What is this?!"

What an overpowering taste! A sting sensation enveloped their tongues. Despite the strong flavor, he also could taste the vanilla through it.

"I think adding a droplet would be enough." Using less would be best instead of adding anything to weaken the taste.

"I can make the glaze now." Keith then took some things out. He started to stir the cream cheese. While he did, he added milk and sugar. As he did, he added a droplet of vanilla juice to it.

Continuing to stir it, a sweet aroma slowly came from the bowl. Diana blinked, "I have never smelled something like this." Keith had been using sugar all this time. Yet, it had never smelled like this!

"I think the vanilla juices enhanced the sweetness." The only difference right now is the addition of vanilla juice.

"So this is an enhancement ingredient rather than an actual ingredient." It was more like a spice. Maybe I could use this in savory cooking? Either way, he found something interesting.

"Oh, we need to check on the rolls," Keith added.