Morning Buns, á la Starbucks

     So, Starbucks has many sweet items.  Frankly, for a person who doesn't drink coffee, it's a bit embarrassing how well I know the options available.  However, as the options at work are either the cafeteria with less than stellar items, or the handily placed Starbucks in the lobby, I give myself a free pass on this.
     I first discovered Morning Buns last summer, when I evidently packed an inadequate amount of breakfast before work.  These items are amazing.  They have a form similar to a cinnamon roll, but are much more tender and delicate.  And they skip the icing.  They are crusted on the outside with cinnamon and sugar, so what's not to like?
     Not to spend all my hard-earned dollars at a coffee chain, I set out to mimic this item at home.  I did find a few recipes online, and have riffed on them to create the following.  The beauty of this recipe is that you can make the dough a day or 2 ahead, and chill it, making it a realistic breakfast option, without getting up hours before the lucky recipients.
     I find this to be an excellent use of a bread maker, to mix the dough, as it can otherwise be a bit sticky.

Morning Buns

1 1/2 T yeast

1/2 c milk

1 3/4 - 2 3/4 c flour, divided

1 t almond extract

2 eggs

3 T sugar

1/2 t salt

8 T butter, softened

Rolling mix:  2-4 T butter, melted

         1/2 c sugar

         1 t cinnamon

Make a loose dough out of yeast, milk, 1 c. flour.  Let sit 20 minutes.  Add almond extract, eggs, sugar, salt and enough flour to make a soft sticky dough,  knead until smooth.  Add butter in pieces, knead 10 minutes more.   If using the bread maker, make the loose dough, stop the mixing, and then restart the machine, adding the remaining ingredients as above.  

Let rise 1 1/2 hours, punch down,  chill at least 2 hours, or overnight, or up to 2 days. 

Roll out to about 8 x 10 inches, brush with 1T butter, and 1-2 T sugar, leave one long end free.  Roll up and seal the long end,  cut into 12 pieces.  A piece of strong thread can help with the cutting, so that it doesn't get too squashed:  gently run the thread under the rolled dough, cross the thread and pull.  

Place the pieces gently into a well-oiled muffin tin, let rise.  If you used the shorter chill time, you can let them rise overnight, and finish it in the morning. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Watch carefully so that they don't brown too much.  I found that they need to be covered with foil, half-way through, to limit browning.  

Remove from oven and while hot, brush with melted butter, then roll the buns in a mix of sugar and cinnamon. 

Countering The Evil

     I can hardly think about the horrible events today in Connecticut.  I spent the day at work either with goosebumps or tears in my eyes, or both.  How can we feel safe in a place where things like this happen, over and over again?  My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the survivors as well.  We want to send our children to school, and want to KNOW that it is a safe and nurturing place for them to be.  When something like this happens, it is hard to believe that it is so.
      I want to find some meaning, create some meaning when experiencing evil like this.  But we can't, can we?  There is NO meaning.  
     The next best thing, the thing that helps, and, for me anyway, takes some of the sting away from my sadness, my urge to dwell on the negativity and pain, is to hold my lovely daughter closely, and to create some joy in this world where it is hard to see that there is much at all, on a day like today.
     Christmas has been barreling up on us, almost too fast to stay abreast of it all.  Today, in a spirit of trying to create an antidote to our sad day, Bryce and I hung up our outdoor lights.  It's a small gesture, but it is a BALM.
     Try to find your antidote, folks, and hold your dears ones tightly.  I don't know of any other thing that helps.

   

Christmas Candy Containers

So Bryce and I got a wild hair the other day to decorate containers for our upcoming candy project (a future post will be devoted to that.).  We wanted to mimic what Katie and the girls were doing, but alas, Michael's was decimated and we had to come up with an idea that would work for our purposes without becoming the decorative project from hell.  The original idea, gleaned from Martha Stewart herself, uses boxes which are covered with fabric and 'ModPodged.'  BUT only 2 boxes were left, evidently all the other crafters in the city are on to this as well.  Undaunted, we thought out of the box (ha ha, get it?) and came up with the items below....a little stamping and coloring, a little ModPodging of take-out containers, and voila!  Looking forward to part 2 of this project on Wednesday---the great candy making adventure!  

The Color Alone Should Inspire You

The Color Alone Should Inspire You

So this soup was created several weeks ago, spurned on by a big kabocha squash staring at me.  I am often daunted by kabocha squash, as they are a bit drier than a buttercup and don't always lend themselves to the same recipes.  But there it was, and I didn't want to see it go to waste.  I also was looking for a simple but tasty soup to give to my friend Katie, who was under the weather at the time, and so wouldn't want to cook for herself.  It deviates from the usual spices of cinnamon or ginger, and the use of Thai red curry is unique.  But it's NOT spicy, for you heat-phobes out there.  Just really savory, I promise.  One of the things I discovered with this recipe is that kabocha purees up to an incredibly smooth, almost velvety soup.   The recipe comes from an old Gourmet issue, I think, but I have left off the last chunk, so it deviates quite a bit from the original. 

Curried Squash Soup

1 3-4 lb squash (I used Kabocha)

2 t oil

2T butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup peeled and chopped apple

2-3t Thai red curry paste

28oz chicken broth

2 bay leaves

Cut the squash in 1/2, rub the oil on the cut sides, and roast at 375 degrees, cut side down, until very tender, 45-60 min.  Let cool, then scoop out the seeds and discard.  Scoop out 3-4 cups of squash for this recipe.  

Saute the onion, carrots and apple in the butter until softened, then add the curry paste.  Stir to dissolve, add the broth, bay leaves and squash.  

Bring to a simmer, and cook, covered, 45-60 minutes, until everything is very soft.  DISCARD the bay leaves (I forgot to do this the first time, and pureed them in the soup.  Not so great).  Let cool slightly, and then puree.  I use an immersion blender, which is one of the better kitchen implements out there.  

Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.  Serves 4.  

The Gourmet recipe would add 1/4c cream and 2 T honey to this.  I have not tried that version, as this tastes terrific without it!  

A New Take on Pancakes

Well, this morning, pancakes were Bryce's responsibility, and she has taken it to a new level.  I think these are perhaps more attuned to the middle school set, but then again, one never knows.  I would leave it at blueberries alone, but in her mind, the addition of 2 kinds of chocolate chips were necessary.

Blueberry Pancakes with Chocolate Chips

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

3 T sugar

2 eggs

3 cups buttermilk

2 T oil

Blueberries

White and semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Whisk dry ingredients together.

Whisk eggs, buttermilk and oil together, combine lightly, ok if there are lumps.

Heat a griddle and butter it.  Pour pancake batter according to size desired, sprinkle on blueberries and chocolate chips, flip  when dry on edges and there are bubbles on top.  

Enjoy!

Pies and cranberries, anyone?

Somehow it seems apropos to start this the day after Thanksgiving, a day of grand feasting.  I can't think of another day that commands culinary excess and grand scale cooking than this.  Ultimately, I drew a fairly simple assignment for the potluck affair, pies and cranberries.  Two types of each, because one isn't enough.  The cranberries were of the cooked and uncooked variety, and I must say, the uncooked dish rocked, as it contained a somewhat more than modest dose of apple brandy.  Yum!
As for the pies, the apple-cranberry crumble was fine, but the buttermilk pie is the real winner here.

It is a very simple pie, and while many assume that buttermilk means butter+milk, it really is a light pie, with lemony flavors.   It was adapted from a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen.
Without further ado, I give you the recipe:

 Buttermilk Pie

1 pie crust for a 9" pie, pre-baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

6T butter, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 eggs, separated

3T flour

1 T lemon juice

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1 c. buttermilk, at room temperature

Keep the oven at 350 after pre-baking the crust.  

Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks.  Sprinkle in the flour, then lemon juice, nutmeg and salt. 

Gently pour in the buttermilk. 

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks, fold into the yolk mixture.  Pour into the pie shell.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, it should be lightly browned and slightly jiggly in the center.  Serve at room temperature.