Monkey Bread

I love monkey bread. It never occurred to me that people did not know what this delicious bread was until I was making it for brunch. My friend told me she never heard of it until college and she was on the phone with another friend who had never heard of it either. So, for those of you in the same boat I welcome you to the land of deliciousness... Monkey Bread is a sweet pull-apart bread made of mini rolls dipped in a sugar/butter mix and baked into a sticky gooey mess. It is great for brunch or even dessert and unfortunately has nothing to do with real Monkeys.

I like my monkey bread gooey. If it isn't gooey it just isn't as good. I haven't made this since high school probably when I used my best friends' mom's recipe. She used frozen dinner rolls and some butterscotch pudding packets and some other things I can't remember. It sounds weird but tastes delicious. It is also super easy to make since you let the rolls rise overnight. The one I made for brunch I made from scratch. It also had currants which I have never seen before, but my cookbook says this is the original way to make it (and I happen to keep them in the pantry). The taste was great but my yeast was almost dead. The bread didn't rise as much as planned so it was pretty dense.

Making these the morning of your breakfast is a little difficult since the bread requires a lot of rising time. Not so terrible if you are a morning person and you are having a brunch or late breakfast. I think I was a morning person once.... Making this from complete scratch is a toss up for me. Had the bread turned out light and fluffy as it should have I might have loved it enough to make it from scratch again. I should go ahead and try since the yeast was a major factor in taste and texture. Only then will I be able to fully decide whether or not this bread should be a scratch dough or not. Maybe I'll do a side by side taste test of both. Hmmm, maybe the perfect addition to Christmas breakfast....

I have attached the recipe for all of you curious bread makers (who either love Monkey bread or are interested in giving it a try). Good luck, and buy new yeast!

Monkey Bread

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2 packages yeast

1 C sugar

1/2 C warm water (110˚-115˚)

2 sticks butter divided

1 1/2 T salt

1 C warm milk

3 eggs + 2 yolks

6-7 C flour

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C currants plumped

Proof yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl. Stir 1 stick butter into the warm milk. Add to the yeast mixture and stir in eggs. Beat until combined. Add the flour one cup at a time until you get to 5 cups. Then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in as much of the 2 C as you need to make a silky dough. Knead 10 minutes. Shape into a ball and put it in a buttered dish, cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place until it doubles.

Punch down and let it rest for 5 minutes. Knead a few turns with 1 T flour and rest for another 5-10 minutes (I told you it would take a while). Butter a 10 inch tube pan. In a saucepan melt 1 stick butter and the brown sugar in a saucepan. Add in the currants and remove from heat. Pinch off dough in golfball size amounts, roll into balls and then into the butter mixture. Layer into the bottom of the pan. Once all are in, pour remaining butter mix over the top, tent loosely with foil and let the dough rise to the top of the pan. Bake in a 375˚ oven for about an hour. It will be done with the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Invert onto a serving dish and serve warm to pull apart.

Pumpkin Extravaganza

Have I mentioned before that I adore pumpkin. Really anything from the squash family I will eat without question. I'm looking forward to fall and all of the interesting winter squash our Farm Fresh produce will bring. If anyone has any great recipes to share, I'd love to cook something new.

For now (whilst my dear pumpkins are decorating the house for the season) I have been busy with the canned version. Over the next few posts I hope to share some of my favorite pumpkin recipes including this first post about a very versatile bread base. I found a recipe a few years back on the AllRecipes.com website that I have altered many times to cut the fat. It can be turned into loaves of bread or muffins, or a combination if you use the whole recipe. It tastes great with nuts or chocolate chips, and this time I made a loaf with green pumpkin seeds. All delicious.

Pumpkin is something I never grow tired of, and one of the first pies I made from scratch. It is so simple to use from a can, especially since the canned pumpkin folks haven't added strange life extending chemicals to the mix. I am happy to say that my can of pumpkin contains solely "pumpkin". Pumpkin from scratch is good as well but a lot more work. First you have to cut it in pieces which may be a challenge if you don't have a super sharp chef's knife. Then you wait around while it roasts, then you scoop out the contents, then you blend it up and hope your pumpkin was big enough to yield more than enough for you recipe. I enjoy cooking it from scratch every now and then, but typically I am using a butternut squash and making an amazing soup. Maybe this year I'll try and recreate one of my favorite dishes, pumpkin curry with chicken....

I used the entire recipe below and made muffins - half with chocolate chips and half with a crumb topping. I had the crumb topping left over from the apple crisp and will say that it was not the most interesting addition to the muffin. Chocolate chips on the other hand are amazing. Pumpkin and chocolate go together well. I was mildly depressed that I hadn't just made the whole batch with chocolate chips (I think M was too). The other half of the batter I dumped into my loaf pan and topped it generously with green pumpkin seeds. These are really tasty seeds and when added to the top of the bread toast very well. I don't much like my muffins to taste like they should be a dessert so I steer clear of the cream cheese filling. A dear woman who my sister and I call "grandma Blanch" makes a very heavy pie with cream cheese and lots of whipped topping. I can only eat a sliver of it. I can however eat a decent slice of pumpkin cheesecake (which I should make for this Extravaganza). I hope you find some canned pumpkin to try out the upcoming recipes with. If you have any great ideas let me know!

Pumpkin Bread Base

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/2 C vegetable oil

1/2 C plain yogurt

2/3 C water

2 C white sugar

3 1/2 C all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

and a splash of vanilla if you feel like it

1/2 C chocolate chips, 1/4 C pumpkin seeds, 1/4 C walnuts or almonds chopped

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour one 9x4 inch loaf pan and line 12 muffin cups. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, yogurt, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Fill the muffins 2/3 full and pour the rest into the loaf pan. Bake muffins for 25 minutes and the loaf for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Every time I make these I wonder why I don't make them more often. They are so delicious and very easy individual desserts for a group. I learned to make fruit pizza with my mom when she was a Pampered Chef consultant around the time I was in middle school. They were always one of my favorite things to help with, especially slicing the kiwis with the fancy egg slicer. I don't have an egg slicer now (and probably don't need one) but making them was just as fun.

M and I actually made these in tag-team fashion. We were making some foods for our monthly family dinner and the theme this month was "baby food" in honor of the host family and their little one on the way. We didn't eat mashed up foods (though I was surprised no one made anything resembling baby food) and instead ate miniature sized foods - like sliders and croissant wrapped wieners. We also had pot stickers, stuffed mushrooms, mini quiches, and an assortment of small veggies and fruits. (our hosts even bought mini limes for our cocktails.) We made roasted beets sliced on toasted baguette with a schmear of goat cheese, sprinkled with toasted walnuts and fresh thyme. We also decided to make mini fruit pizzas with cream cheese frosting and a sugar cookie base.

I used to cheat and buy the pillsbury log of sugar cookie dough and roll it out into a large round disk about 1/4 inch thick (which is totally fine) but decided to make the sugar cookie dough myself. I wanted to find a recipe that would be a good addition to the box for cut out sugar cookies. I think I found a good match but the true test will come when it is not loaded with cream cheese and fruits. Thankfully I have 101 cookie cutters waiting to test out the dough. I baked the cookies and M finished them with frosting and fruits. He did a fantastic job I must say, arranging them with a slice of kiwi, banana, pear, strawberries and a raspberry. Yum! Had they not been 3 inch cookies I may have gone for a second (maybe eating a few mini s'mores and petit fours didn't help the decision).

The cookie baked up nicely. It wasn't crispy like some sugar cookies can be and was delicious after a short period of refrigeration. I will have to remember to make these again. Maybe M will help that memory since he seemed to enjoy them so much.

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Sugar Cookie Base

Yields about 30 1/4 inch thick cookies

3/4 C butter softened

1 1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 C flour + 1/2 C as needed

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer with the paddle attachment for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time. Add in the vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients and add into the mix all at once mix on low speed until fully incorporated. If the batter seems to sticky add up to 1/2 C more flour. Divide dough in half and wrap each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes and bake for 6-8 minutes at 400˚. Cool completely on a wire rack. Frost as desired.

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together with a mixer and frost the cookies equally.

Another option for frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1 jar marshmallow fluff

Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Mix together with fluff with an electric mixer. Frost. (this was the traditional Pampered Chef Frosting)

Fruits

Any assortment of seasonal fruit that is ripe and won't brown too much sliced thin and arranged on top of the frosted cookie. If you find your fruits are sliding, use an extra dollop of frosting on the top of some fruits to make them stick.

Orange Coconut Bars

Yum! Why are bars so delicious? I really like lemon bars but decided to use the fruits of Farm Fresh and try an orange version of the classic Lemon bar. I made them for a friend's birthday and since it was at a wine bar we needed something portable and bite sized. I had most ingredients on hand so that made the recipe decision much more simple.

The bars are fairly straight forward, they have a pecan crust and an orange juice, zest and coconut filling. I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and they looked really pretty. They keep well in the fridge if you need to make them in advance. I used part sweetened coconut and part shaved coconut. I liked the combination. It didn't get too sweet which was one of my worries had I used all sweetened coconut. The orange flavor was mild enough that the pecan crust came through.

Our birthday girl loved them (though she seems to enjoy my baking). I got a lot of good comments from the tasters as well and think that these will make the repeat list. The original recipe actually suggests these might be good for breakfast... I guess they are not super sweet and would probably work, but I suggest making them as an hors d'oeuvres instead.

Orange Coconut Bars

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Cookies

1/2 C all purpose flour

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C butter

1/2 C finely chopped pecans

2 eggs

3/4 C sugar

2 T flour

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

3 T orange juice (about 1 1/2 juicy oranges)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 C sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 C flaked unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350˚. In the bowl of a food processor grind the nuts until finely chopped but not paste, add the 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar and pulse a few times. Then add the butter and pulse until you get pea sized crumbs. Press into the bottom of an 8x8 inch pan. I like to line it with foil which makes it cleaner and easier to get out. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden.

To make the filling, combine sugar, eggs, juice, zest and baking powder. Pour into the baked crust and return to the oven for about 20 more minutes. The edges will be light brown the the center set. Cool in pan on a wire rack. At this point you can refrigerate the whole pan for 1 hour which will make it easy to get the bars out. Pull out the bars, peel off the foil, and cut into squares. I made tiny 1 inch squares but you can make 16 bars by cutting the pan in half and then into 8 segments. I also prefer to slice off just a small amount of the edge because it tends to brown more than the rest. Dust with powdered sugar if you like.

Easy Bake cOven: Molasses Cookies

I just finished baking cookies. It's a Thursday night, and after one of the best episodes of The Office ever... I enjoyed a tasty gingerbread-esque cookie. This month for the baking club our Dynamic Baking Duo chose two recipes, Molasses Cookies and Apple Pie Cupcakes. I had all intentions of making both, but had a lot of projects going on this month. The cookies were great - after a little tweaking.

I really do love gingerbread in all forms. Cake, bread, cookie, rolled cookie... flat cookie eh hem... Yes, I made a rather thin version of this cookie by accident. I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out a really moist batter (too moist) so the cookies flattened out into little ginger crisps in the oven. They were still delicious and thankfully being skeptical, I only made 9 as a test run. I ended up using quite a bit more flour than the recipe called for to get the dough to hand-rolling consistency. Much better! The cookies turned into the little puffs you see in the original recipe. They did flatten out a tiny bit after cooling, but kept their deliciously crisp crust and chewy interior. I saved some dough after deciding these were best just out of the oven and M and I polished them off within a week. (I think he took some to work and I did give some to our neighbor). Too good to pass up.

I saved the flat ones in the freezer because I wanted to attempt an Ice Cream Sandwich cookie. I've only done this once before and it is quite messy... and the cookie has to be the right consistency to be eaten half frozen or all the ice cream will just squeeze out for lack of breaking the cookie with your teeth. Pumpkin Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Cinnamon Ice Cream. All seemed to be good choices to use with this cookie. I bought some pumpkin ice cream (though I'm thinking after halloween my pumpkins might make a debut in a pumpkin ice cream creation) and decided to go for the sandwiches.

Spicy Molasses Cookies

1 C sugar 3/4 C Crisco 1/4 C molasses 1 egg 2 1/2 C flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1/4 tsp salt 2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350˚. Mix sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg together until well blended. Dump in dry ingredients, stirring dry ingredients together lightly. Mix together until dough is a smooth consistency. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls, then generously coat each ball with sugar. Place balls on a baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes, keep on rack for one minute after removing from oven. Cool on a wire rack. They are as the original recipe says best while warm.

Thanks Pioneer Woman

Don't forget to check out the Easy Bake cOven for other entries and of course below!

Mini Red Velvet Cake

First I have to say Red Velvet Cake should never be served with anything besides cream cheese frosting! Don't do it! I learned this when I had a taste test with my wedding cake couple. The cream cheese brings out the richness of the cake -- buttercream just can't do it justice.

It's funny, I had this cake stored in the freezer for a while and I kept meaning to pull it out and use it when we had people over but I tend to want to make new things.... Finally, I remembered to get cream cheese for the frosting and the rest was a piece of cake - literally. I like red velvet cake, but nothing quite compares to my friend's great aunts recipe. She never wrote it down and now that she is gone I'm pretty sure no one will be able to recreate it. It was amazingly light and each layer was so thin. I'm not sure how she did it without tearing them. I decided to follow in this fashion and cut my little cake into 4 layers. I frosted the fill layers lightly with cream cheese and added a little more to the top. I find this cake quite stunning. Deep saturated red with bright white frosting. Super delicious and moist.

The deep red filling seemed a strange pairing the horror movie we watched that night. What I saw of it (peeking over M's shoulder)

was pretty gross with B movie acting. Bloody looking cake, blood spraying from the girls nose.... If I haven't managed to gross you out too much this might be a good cake for Halloween, or a Southern wedding shaped like an armadillo. So many funny options you have.

Red Velvet Cake Adapted From Annie's Eats 2 eggs 1 1/2 C sugar 1 1/2 C vegetable oil 1 tsp white vinegar 2 C cake flour

1/2 C all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 3 tbsp cocoa powder 1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 5/8 ounce bottle red food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Cream the eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients while beating. Slowly add the buttermilk. While still beating, add the vanilla and the food coloring. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Press lightly; if the layers are spongy, then the cake is done. Frost the cooled layers, assemble and frost the top and sides. Serves 12 to 14.

Cream Cheese Frosting

An Old-Timey Dessert

I love Apple Crisp. It is so simple to make and leaves you very satisfied. It is one of the desserts my mom used to make a lot growing up. Anytime we had an abundance of Johnathan apples (still my favorite) she'd make a crisp. She also didn't use a recipe which is quite interesting and something I haven't attempted... everything based on consistency.

I decided an apple crisp would be a wonderful accompaniment to a hearty meal of potato soup and salad. The combination of warm baked apples topped with vanilla ice cream is divine. If you're looking for a cheap quick dessert to feed a group I recommend something like this. Next time I make one I'll probably do something based on the original recipe but with the addition of some interesting fruits (like blueberries or plumped dates).

Apple Crisp

Altered from From the Earth to the Table

6-8 C baking apples peeled cored and sliced

cinnamon

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C oats

3/4 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

3/4 C butter

Preheat the oven to 375˚. Butter a 9x12 baking pan (glass or enamel) and fill with apples. Sprinkle some cinnamon to taste and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into slices and toss with the sugar mix. Mix in the zest. Quickly cut in the butter leaving large chunks with the consistency of large peas. Evenly spread the mix over the apples. Bake for 35 minutes or until the crust is browned and the apples are bubbly. Cool 10 minutes and serve with a dollop of ice cream.