I'm A Believer!

So I must admit when I saw this week's TWD recipe I was a little reluctant. I remember about a year ago when I bought Dorie's book I read through every page, as I'm sure most of us do. I was making notes of things that I thought I just couldn't live without, which of course was almost the entire book. One of the few items that didn't make my expanding list were the Apple Cheddar Scones. I mean I like apples and cheese, but together in a scone just didn't sound right. So I just completely skipped over that page without a second thought...until last week when I visited the amazing TWD webpage and saw that Karina of The Floured Apron picked this recipe.



I was debating whether or not I wanted to make them, and I finally decided I'll never know unless I try. And what is life if you don't take chances, right? So I set out to the store, bought all my ingredients and brought them home ready to make the best, of what I thought was the worst :)



I of course am a batter taster, so the second I had the batter all prepared (which is my fav scone recipe, because they come together soo quickly) I had to stick my lightly sun kissed index finger into the golden yellow batter. Straight into the mouth and a slight turn of the head was my response. The batter tasted sweeter and better than what I had thought, but still not convinced I told myself that I wouldn't be swayed until I tasted the actual baked product.



As the minutes on the timer ticked away, the most amazing, sweet, fruity aroma filled my apartment. My barrier against this recipe was slowly starting to deteriorate! The second the timer went off I ran to the oven and pulled out these gorgeous, sunshine yellow with orange speckled scones. It was hard for me to let them cool before tasting them, but the minute I put them into my mouth and was able to process the flavor my barrier completely crumbled, leaving me standing there wanting another bite of these sweet scones.



I think the combination of the sweet yellow corn meal, dried apples and apple juice really helped to mellow out the sharp cheese. So I must say thank you so much to Karina for widening my horizons and to try not to prejudge a recipe before I've tasted it. To see other TWD Blogger experiences check out the famous Tuesdays With Dorie Blog!

Mixin' It Up

We're having a little fun with mixed fruit for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie! And wouldn't you know it that I picked the same mixture of mixed fruit as this weeks hostess! Beth, who is the wonderful creator of Our Sweet Life chose to make Dorie's Mixed Berry Cobbler. And what better dessert says summertime like cobbler? This recipe was so easy to put together, because it's all based around frozen fruit, and seeing as how I am a huge fan of frozen fruit, my freezer was packed with plenty of options.



I don't know what it is about the mixture of peaches and blueberries that always gets my heart...and stomach...pumping, but it does! So of course I grabbed those two fruits right away. It wasn't until I lifted up my frozen bag of peaches that I saw the little leftover bag of frozen blackberries peeking out at me. I figured that the addition of these deep purple-y sweet fruits couldn't hurt the cause, so I pulled that bag out as well. I also wanted to give me crust a little bit more of a homey flavor, so I added cinnamon and nutmeg to my batter...awesome choice!



After about 25 minutes of baking my house was smelling so amazing. Andy came home half way through the baking time and about died when he stepped in through the door. "What are you making? And is it ready for me to eat?", were the first two questions out of his mouth. And I must say, despite some other baker's complaints about the recipe, I found it to be a very delicious, easy and comforting dessert to turn to. Dolloped with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, this dessert totally made my night!

A Birthday and a Trip to Paradise

I must say, life has become a little different now that I am all grown up and living on my own. Signs of adulthood are definitely seeping their way into my life. Today is my 24th birthday and I just can't believe how quickly time has passed. I remember being a little girl, seeing women who were around the age of 24 and just being in awe. I was so envious of them, I wanted to be grown up and where high heels, drive a car, have a job, and be able to do "grown up" things. I feel, in a way, I cheated myself out of childhood because I wanted to grow up so badly. And now that I'm grown up, it's not all it's cracked up to be :)



My younger days were spent worrying about who I would hang out with at recess, whether or not I should spend my allowance on the Boys II Men C.D., and making sure to get all the Disney character's autographs every summer that we went to Disneyworld. Now, being a grown-up, my yearly family vacations have come to an end :( With everybody working it's so hard to coordinate schedules, and to find somewhere to go that fits into every one's budget. So although this year had some great milestones, it also brought up milestones that I never thought I would've encountered.



Seeing as how I badly need a vacation and don't have the time, the money or the company to go with, I made myself a little mini vacation to Jamaica...and I didn't even have to leave my apartment! I had recently purchased "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey" and saw a great recipe for a Banana Rum Cake. So I figured that if I can't go to Jamaica I would bring Jamaica to me. This cake was my saving grace for my stint of adulthood depression, and one I'm sure I will turn to frequently as the years start accumulating!



Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor

Ingredients
Dark Rum Glaze
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 c water
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c dark rum
(I was short on time when making this recipe so I actually made a glaze out of powdered sugar, milk and some rum)

Cake
1 1/2c toasted chopped pecans
3 sticks unsalted butter
2 c sugar
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temp
1 c mashed, ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp dark rum
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 c sour cream

Directions
For Glaze
Combine butter, water and sugars in heavy bottomed saucepan over med-high heat and bring to boil. Immediately reduce heat to med-low and simmer for 5 min. Remove from heat, stir in rum, set aside and keep warm.

For Cake
Position rack in middle of oven, preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle pecans in bottom of pan and set aside.

In large bowl with an electric mixer set on med speed, beat butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in mashed bananas, vanilla and rum. Sift flour, baking soda and powder, and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in sour cream. Spoon batter over nuts in the pan and spread to the edge using the back of a rubber spatula.

Bake until wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging to it, 60-80 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Use wooden skewers to poke holes all over the cake and pour 1/4 c of glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes more. Place a serving platter of the cake and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, and let stand until the glaze is completely absorbed in the cake. As the glaze hardens, this will encase the cake in a rummy, sugary shell.

Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving. This cake will last 2 to 3 days when covered well.

Where Have I Been?

OMG! I can't believe I've neglected my poor little blog! But, it was for good reason, I've had some family members fall ill that need some lovin', which left no time for bakin'. Everyone is doing much better now though, so here I am, back in action. And of course I'm starting my return with the latest Tuesdays With Dorie, brought to you by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. She chose the lovely Peppermint Cream Puff Ring, which I must say I was a little nervous about. I have always wanted to make cream puffs, but for some reason was a little nervous to give it a try. To my amazement this was actually a really easy recipe to make!



Since it is just Andy and I, I did make some adjustments to the recipe. First off, him and I are big mint fans, so I nixed the peppermint. Second, there no way the two of us would've been able to eat the whole ring, and I didn't want it to go to waist, so I decided to just make individual cream puffs. And third, seeing as how I live in freakin' New Mexico, which at 9:00 in the morning is already in the upper 80's expected to reach 97 degrees by 2:00pm, I opted for vanilla ice cream instead of the cream.



The moment my mouth was filled with the creamy, slightly crunchy, caramely goodness, I about died, and then asked myself why had I never made these little goodies before? I hate when you think something is going to be really difficult to make, so you put it off and put it off, then you make it, and you kick yourself for letting all those days go by, that could've been filled with cream puffs.



The only downside is that since they're so easy to make, I'll probably be making them often, and starting to see my tummy begin to grow :( But...what can you do!

TWD: Keep Stickin' With It!!

I had no clue that when Madam Chow picked Dorie's Pecan Honey Sticky Buns that I was preparing to have the toughest, most grueling arm workout I'd ever experienced. You see I own a Kitchen Aid, but I don't have the dough hook for it, but my parents own one too and they have do have a dough hook. Ding--light bulb! When I had last visited them I made sure to grab the dough hook so that I could participate in this week's TWD bake-off. Problem solved right...wrong!!

I was very excited and nervous to start my Sticky Bins, because one, I've tried yeast baked goods before and they came out like crap and two, well who doesn't get nervous when working with yeast? Putting all that aside I cut open my two yeast packets, dumped them into my mixing bowl and started to dump in the other dough ingredients. With fingers crossed and a deep breath I turned on my mixer only to find that my parents dough hook wasn't long enough for my mixing bowl. That dam thing only scraped the top of my flour mixture!

This can't be happening, I was ready to give it up right then and there. I had no idea what I was going to do. Then I looked back at the recipe and saw that Dorie had actually done it by hand before. "Well I'm already screwed, so I might as well just try it by hand and see what happens". I was shocked and proud of myself that I was actually going to give it a go. I pulled out my wooden spoon and began stirring away, things looked good so far.



It was the adding of the butter that really got me! There was no way that I could get all the butter mixed in with my rinky-dink wooden spoon. I threw it on the counter and plunged my hands into the bowl. Kneading two tablespoons of butter in with one hand, then switching to the next to knead in another two tablespoons of butter. I did this for 25 minutes! Each minute that passed I just kept thinking that this was totally not gonna work. I was going through all of this manual labor for nothing. But, after the 25 minutes I had a dough that looked and felt like a batter...which is exactly what Dorie had said the end product would be. A little glimmer of hoped filled my heart.



Next I let my dough rise, coming every 30 minutes to deflate the air. This process really started to build up my confidence, because my dough was actually rising...something that I have never had happen before! after the two hour time period the dough went into the fridge and I gave it a good night kiss, tucking it in with it's plastic wrap blanky and slowly closing the door.



Half asleep at 5:30 in the morning I suddenly remembered my little dough baby sleeping in the fridge. I hopped out of bed quickly getting the dough out of the fridge and plopping it out on the counter. OMG!! This can't be happening! I don't have a rolling pin! Somehow that small detail slipped my mind, but I didn't get discouraged! I was going to find a way to get this damn dough rolled out. With some quick think I found a can of refrigerated pizza dough, which very much resembled a rolling pin...and worked a lot like a rolling pin!



With one more prayer I stuck my buns in the oven watching the clock tick down the 30 minutes. Beep-beep, beep-beep...moment of truth. I slowly pulled down the oven door and ---Aaaawww--- I had Sticky Buns! They were the most gorgeous buns I had ever laid eyes on! I was almost in tears because they were so beautiful and I had made them completely by hand! I scooped one off of the baking sheet and took my first bite and I nearly melted. The bun was so light and flaky, with a wonderful buttery taste. I had finally done it! I conquered my yeast fears and I did it all on my own with no fancy machinery to help me! This will be a day I will never forget! Thank you Tuesdays With Dorie and thank you Madam Chow for making this one of the best baking days I've had!

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

For The Glaze:

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)

For The Filling:

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)
Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).

To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.
To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.
To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glaze recipe accordingly).With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.
Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen , center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.
The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What You'll Need for the Golden Brioche Dough

2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (This is where you start up on the Sticky Bun Recipe).