Baked Crème Brulée French Toast Casserole

For reasons only known to them, my parents decided to get up at the ungodly hour of 3 am to drive the 5 or so hours to get to Toronto to drop off several boxes of books that I still have at their house. All they requested of me in return for these treasures was breakfast.

And they'd be there around nine, thank you very much.

Have I mentioned that I don't do mornings very well? And, when we do have breakfast on weekends, it's a long, leisurely affair that usually wraps up around noon.

Since my parents wanted to get back on the road for their adventure through Prince Edward County, something easy and make-ahead was in order.

After googling different recipes for about an hour, I settled on a baked french toast casserole. Throw in the flavours of crème brulée, and you're in for a luxurious tasting and incredibly easy meal.

It was such a success that we've decided this will be our Christmas morning breakfast this year.

Crème Brulée French Toast Casserole

(adapted from here)

serves 4


Ingredients

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 tbsp corn syrup
½ loaf french bread, cut into 2" slices on the diagonal
4 eggs
1¼ cups milk
2 tsp grand marnier
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar with butter and corn syrup. Bring to a simmer, then remove and pour into an 8" baking pan.

2. Place slices of french bread over caramel mixture.

3. Whisk together eggs, milk, grand marnier, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate over night.

4. In the morning, preheat oven to 325º. Bake casserole for 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy, with caramel bubbling around the edges.

You can invert and serve at the table or just scoop out the french toast, which will have absorbed most of the caramel goodness.

Ricotta Peach Dutch Baby Pancakes

Once school gets back in session, Saturday morning becomes our morning for slowing down and enjoying the day. We put away the industrial strength jolt-you-awake coffee that we both desperately need throughout the week, and bring out the good coffee.

It's the equivalent of bringing out the good china on a Sunday night, if you ask me.

Just significantly less breakable.

Right now, weekend coffee consists of something from our Hawaiian stash, but once that goes, we tend towards beans from Balzac.

I've expressed my deep and abiding love for the hands-off features of the dutch baby pancake, and threw together this today in order to use up two overly ripe peaches from the farmer's market.

The most frustrating part of the pancake is flipping it out - I had a little bit that didn't feel like leaving the warm comfort of the pan, but thems the breaks, huh? Perfection is for people who have too much time on their hands and aren't hungry.

If you have some lemons handy, I suspect some lemon zest would not go amiss here.


Ricotta Peach Dutch Baby Pancakes

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
3 large eggs
3/4 cup flour (I used spelt this time with great results, but usually use all purpose)
½ cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Heat a large cast iron frying pan over medium heat. Once warm, add butter, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan as it melts. Throw in peach slices and cook for about 2 minutes, or until peaches release their juices. Add in brown sugar and stir until it dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. While pan is heating, whisk together remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour over peaches and put the pan in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until pancake is puffed and golden.

3. Remove from oven, run a knife around the edge of the pancake and invert onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar if particularly ugly looking. (Ha! We've all been there!)

A Quick Post from YYJ

It's taken me a long time to get to this, but there's something to be said for B&Bs. While on Salt Spring Island, we stayed at the Wisteria Guest House in Ganges. It's a lovely little place on the outskirts of town - perfect for larger families travelling together!

And their breakfasts were superior. Each was two courses served with freshly pressed juices. One of my favourites was a plum cobbler that had a hint of tea and mint in it. It was accompanied by a yogurt cream (whipped cream mixed with yogurt). Totally delicious. It was followed by scrambled eggs, roasted asparagus and cherry tomatoes, thick cut bacon and sweet potato fries.

Plus, I have to say Beverly and Len were just amazing hosts. The beds were comfortable, the location serene... and you've already heard me talk about the food! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay on Salt Spring.

The next day we had house made sausages basted in hot mustard (after enjoying a big bowl of alpine muesli) served with baked french toast with apricot compote. It was breakfast heaven.

I should mention that the wedding was lovely! We spent Friday decorating the hall and making the lemonade and iced tea.

And I only looked slightly ridiculous with my hair flying all over the place. The view from the site was incredible, as it looked out over the ocean. My cousin Jenn (on the left of me) almost got myself and I thrown off the cliff when the doves they released got a little too close for comfort... but other than that, the bride and groom looked incredible (alas, the pictures don't do them justice, so I won't include them here).

And now, we're off to Vancouver to await out plane to Honolulu!

A Lightened Up Breakfast Poutine

One of my absolute favourite brunch places in Toronto is Fire on the East Side. They do this artery clogging but totally delicious breakfast poutine that features pulled pork, poached eggs, chipotle hollondaise sauce and mountains of home fries.

It's insane. And totally delicious. And a luxury, because eating that much egg and butter isn't good for anyone.

Around lunch time today I found myself thinking about that poutine. I really, really wanted a poached egg and more sweet potato fries. But, I also didn't want mountains of calories. We had kale in the crisper, Ewenity Sheep's Milk Feta and a ton of cremini mushrooms.

Slowly, a recipe began brewing in my head. I'd nix the sauce (hollondaise or otherwise) and top a bowl of sweet potato fries with some sautéed mushrooms and kale. In order to keep the flavour of luxury though, I made the sweet potato fries with white truffle oil and some truffle salt. This added a great depth of flavour.

Truffled Sweet Potato Fries topped with Kale, Mushrooms, Feta & Poached Eggs

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil, divided
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 small bunch kale, tough stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
10 cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white vinegar
1 oz feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

1 batch sweet potato fries, made with truffle oil (if possible)

Directions

1. Heat ½ tbsp oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Sauté garlic for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add in kale and 1/3 cup of water, and let kale steam just until the water evaporates. Season with salt and pepper to taste, remove from pan and set aside somewhere to keep warm.

2. Wipe out frying pan, return to heat and pour in remaining oil. Sauté mushrooms for 5-10 minutes, or until liquid is complete evaporated and mushrooms are golden brown. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the mushrooms are frying, heat 1" water in a small saucepan. Stir in 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer. A small stream of bubbles should just be breaking the surface. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should read about 200ºF. Crack egg into a small dish and gently slide egg from dish into simmering water. Cook, for approximately 3-5 minutes or until the white outside the yolk is just set. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon and set aside while you cook the next egg.

4. To assemble the poutine,  layer potatoes in two shallow bowls, sprinkling each bowl with a quarter of the feta. Top with kale and mushrooms, one poached egg on each dish and sprinkle with remaining feta.

An easy, lightened up breakfast luxury!

Hot Cross Buns

The first year we were living in Toronto, the Cobs bakery chain left about 10 coupons for free Hot Cross Buns in the mail boxes of our and our neighbours' mail boxes. Luckily for my husband and I, our neighbours kept throwing their coupons into the recycle bin by the boxes.

So we probably ate 7-8 free Hot Cross buns that year. It was fantastic. I love free food!

Now, as sad as I am that there haven't been coupons for the past couple of years, I have to admit, while Cobs' buns are good, they're not the best I've ever had.

Homemade is always better - especially because it'll fill your home with the sweet smell of cinnamon.

My version has no candied peel in it, but a combination of currants and sultanas along with the zest of an orange and lemon.

Hot Cross Buns

(adapted from Canadian Living and Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

Dough

3-1/2 cups all purpo½ 1/2cup cupgranulated sugar
1/4 cup warm water ¼ 1/4cup cupwarm water
1 pkg (15ml) active dry yeast 2¼ tsp pkg (15ml)active dry yeast (one package)
2 tbsp 2 2tbsp tbspcinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg 1 1tsp tspnutmeg
1/2 tsp salt ½ 1/2tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves ¼ 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) ground cloves
3/4 cup milk , warmed3/4 3/4cup (175 mL) milk, warmed
1/4 cup melted butter ¼ 1/4cupc (50 mL) melted butter
1 egg 1 1eggeggs
1 egg yolk 1 1egg yolkegg yolks 
zest of one large orange
zest of one large lemon
3½ 3-1/2cups (875 mL) all purpose flour
1/2 cup dried currants ¼ 1/2cup eachcup (125 mL) dried currants and sultanas

1/4 cup chopped candied pe 
Glaze

2 tbsp granulated sugar 2 2tbsp (25 mL) granulated sugar
2 tbsp water 2 2tbsp tbspwater 

Icing

1/2 cup icing sugar ½ 1/2cup (125 mL) icing sugar
2 tsp water ½ - 1 tbsp fresh (10 mL) lemon juice

Directions

1. Mix 1 tbsp sugar, warm water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand for 5 minutes, until yeast proofs. Using the dough hook, stir in remaining sugar with next 10 ingredients (through lemon zest). 

2. Add flour, one cup at a time until a soft dough is formed. Add currants and sultanas and beat for about a minute. Remove dough from bowl and knead just to evenly distribute the fruit. Place in a greased bowl, tossing to grease all over. Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm, draft free location to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

3. Divide dough into 10 equal sections. Form each into a smooth tight ball, stretching and pinching dough underneath to make tops smooth. Place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with tea towel and let rise again for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400º.

4. Using a serrated knife or a pair of scissors, slice a cross into the top of each bun. Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Meanwhile, whisk glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Immediately after removing buns from oven, brush them with glaze. Let them cool on the pan.

The glaze gives the buns a lovely sheen.

6. Stir together icing ingredients until smooth and pipe a cross on top of each cooled bun. If you don't have a piping bag, don't stress. Just fill a plastic sandwich bag with icing and cut off a small portion of one corner and then pipe out the icing.

Enjoy licking the sticky sweetness off your fingers!

Baked Oats Brulée

Like many people, I'm a huge fan of crème brulée. What's not to love about luxurious amounts of whipping cream, eggs and burnt sugar? Back when I was a moderator over on the Knot's Food and Cakes board, we often talked about gluten-free cake alternatives for brides and grooms, and crème brulée was a really popular choice.

I mean, come on, replacing the cutting of the cake with the cracking of the brulée? Pure genius, in my opinion.

So, when breakfast rolled around today, and I was fixated with dessert possibilities (it's been a rough week at work - stress makes me crave sugar), I decided to throw the two ideas together. Why not do baked oats and top them with a burnt sugar crust?

There were no good reasons to avoid this.

Bacon is always an appropriate accompaniment.

The taste and texture of this dish reminds me of bread pudding - except this is way heartier and healthier for you.

Baked Oats Brulée

Ingredients

2 cups soy or cow's milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 dried peach halves, finely chopped
¼ cup dried tart cherries, chopped
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
½ - 1 tbsp butter (optional)
2 tbsp brown sugar (approx)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Spray a 9"x5" loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Bring milk to a boil. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts and oats. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in dried fruit and maple syrup. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until mixture is puffed slightly and all liquid has been absorbed.

3. If using, dot butter over top of oats. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar and then place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, watching carefully, or until sugar has caramelized. Alternatively, break out the blow torch and fire the top as you would crème brulée.

Serves 4 with all those fantastic breakfast items, like coffee, mimosas, fresh fruit and bacon. These oats basically slice up too!

What NOT to do with bread pudding.

I think it's important to showcase my absolute failures. Cooking should be about embracing those failures, not pretending we all don't have them, you know? Blogs where people believe (erroneously or not) that they're the expert in their field... I'm just not interested. I'm interested in the effort and the experiments! And, judging from the number of hits my post about my failed macaroons, many of you feel the same way.

So, without further ado, I give you my most recent failure: panettone bread pudding.

In answer to the question I asked myself 24 hours ago: No, you shouldn't cook the custard before pouring it on top of the bread.

That way lies disaster. I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea. It really wasn't... and I knew it wouldn't be as soon as I poured the custard out of the pan onto the bread.

It glooped.

It doesn't absorb into the bread, and forms an eggy topping. Have I mentioned that my husband hates eggs?

But, in answer to my other question: Do make sandwiches with the bread and some marmalade first.

That way lies deliciousness. So... it was ultimately a good learning experience!

Anyone else have a recent kitchen disaster they want to share?

Orchard Fruit Granola

My husband is a granola fiend. I swear, the man goes through boxes of cereal like nobody's business. Best I can tell, he just inhales the contents.

As I had just purchased a ton of dried fruit from Nuts Online (I do highly recommend them, in spite of some serious Purolator issues), I really wanted to use them in something that would showcase the bright flavours.

Granola seemed to be the way to go! I'd left most of the tropical fruit (pineapple and mango) at work (where I had to have the shipment sent because Purolator is ridiculous), but had lots of orchard fruit on hand.

One of the best things about this recipe is it's very flexible. Vaguely maintain the oats-nuts-fruit ratio, and you have an infinite number of possibilities at your fingertips. You could stir in vanilla or almond extract (mix into the maple syrup) or replace half of the sweetener with a nut butter if you wanted. Don't like coconut? Forget about it.

As it stands, please note that this recipe doesn't result in clumps of granola, but evenly toasted and sweetened flakes.

Orchard Fruit Granola

(adapted from Mark Bittman/NY Times)

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats (not instant or quick cooking)
¼ cup almonds, chopped
¼ cup walnuts, chopped
2-3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
¼ cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup maple syrup (use less if you prefer a less sweet version. I wouldn't dip below ¼ cup though)
2 dried peaches halves, chopped
2 dried pear halves, chopped
¼ cup each sour cherries and rainier cherries, chopped
  
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300º.

2. Place oats in a large pot set over medium heat. Toast, stirring constantly for about 3-4 minutes, or until oats are fragrant. Add nuts and seeds, and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Stir in coconut and cinnamon and cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat, and stir in maple syrup.

3. Pour mixture into a 9"x13" baking pan and put in oven for about 20 minutes. Be sure to stir the mixture a couple of times throughout those 20 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and add mixed fruit. Stir to distribute and let mixture cool in pan on a rack. Transfer to an airtight container when at room temperature.

You should have this for breakfast this weekend

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Remember, keeping it loved up isn't just for February 14th; nothing says love like long, leisurely weekend breakfast with vanilla and jammy flavours.

We've already established that, as a general rule, pancakes aren't my thing due to severe childhood trauma. Thankfully, this doesn't extend to all pancakesque creations. Like the Dutch Baby Pancake, crepes are still on the table. Maybe it's because my Mum was always in charge of making the crepes. Maybe it's because I don't have 'Nam style flashbacks to equally frozen and burned food. Whatever the reason, I love crepes.

When I was a kid, crepes were always known in our house as Roll-Ups. We always had them rolled up with sugar and lemon juice. They weren't fancy, but they were definitely my favourite breakfast item going.

While my Mum's recipe is my favourite, when I went looking for it this morning, it was buried somewhere in the recesses of my cookbook shelf and otherwise unfindable.

It was too early for me to commit to a thorough search.

So, I opted to try out a new version (one that didn't require chilling overnight) from Martha Stewart.

They were dessert crepes... but really... Dessert. Breakfast. They're all the same thing.

Aren't they? Yeah, you know you're with me.

Hunk o' Smoked goodness

You top that off with some maple smoked Rowe Farms bacon? Well, my friend, you know you're going to have a great day when you start off with the breakfast of champions.

I'll award bonus points to all of you who either:

a) fill the crepes with your Mother-in-Law's amazing jam (a soft-set floral plum here!)

or 

b) fill the crepes with a preserve bought from the amazing Uncanny Preserves (I've saved a jar of Blackcurrant jam for just this occasion)

or

c) fill the crepes with whatever locally produced preserve as tickles your fancy

But, for the record, this recipe is best with soft berry flavours. A raspberry or blackberry preserve would be an excellent choice.

Vanilla Dessert Breakfast Crepes

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions

In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt. Whisk in eggs, egg yolk, and about 1 tablespoon milk, forming a smooth batter with a pastelike consistency. Add remaining milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla; mix until no lumps remain. 

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a nonstick skillet, and stir into the batter; leave a film of butter in the skillet. Let the batter rest at room temperature about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to warm. Over medium-low heat, warm the skillet thoroughly. Stir batter, and carefully ladle about 1/4 cup batter into skillet. Rotate skillet so batter spreads out and thinly coats the bottom and edges of the skillet. Return skillet to heat, and cook crepe until edges turn golden brown and lacy, and start to pull away from the skillet, about 2 minutes. 

Using a knife or an offset spatula, carefully turn crepe over; cook other side until just golden, 30 to 40 seconds. Slide the crepe onto a heat-proof plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, stirring it before making another crepe. Stack cooked crepes on top of one another.

Delicious and highly recommended!

Pork Fest Continues

It's safe to say that I come from a family of sausage lovers. Herb flecked and balanced with fat and meat, the fresh butcher's sausage is one of my favourite things.

I do not have the equipment to make my own sausages. No casings, no meat grinder, no stuffer. But, I can, (and you can too) make my own sausage patties.

They're super easy and a great way to impress yourself on a Saturday morning. I actually made these on my birthday as my perfect way to start being 31.

I won't reprint the recipe here, because I think you should go over and check out this blog anyway:

Herbed Sausage Patties Recipe

The general gist: ground pork (I buy an organic heritage one), salt, brown sugar, fresh sage, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, ancho chili powder, pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Mix those in a bowl.

Divide the mixture in half, and shape each half into five palm sized patties.

You're not going for perfection here.

Fry the first five up in a cast iron skillet. I promise you'll get a better crust on them if you go the cast iron route!

It takes about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from heat when juices run clear and enjoy!

We froze our leftovers for breakfasts throughout the week.

Breakfast for a Winter Weekend

Today, I am celebrating (or, as my husband might say, desperately clinging on to) my last day of being 30. And by celebrating, I mean moping around the house with a stupid sinus cold that now has fluid sloshing around in my ears.

It started with coughing so violently, I was convinced that my lungs were springloaded and ready to project themselves out of my esophagus, hit the wall across the room with a splat and slowly slide down.

Picture that with a squishy sound effect.

Well, thankfully that stage ended on Thursday and I'm into the head cold/sinus congestion/general malaise stage.

I'm pretty cranky about the whole thing, can you tell?

On top of that, the little team I happen to be cheering for this year in football (English football, not American) lost this morning in a very exciting match.

Of course, if I didn't have a yearly ritual of choosing a newly promoted team to cheer for each season, I'd probably be less disappointed by the losses. Anyway, Blackpool gave it a good shot and I still love them. I just wish they'd win more often.

So there.

In spite of my current state of crankdom, I did start the morning off right with a hearty bowl of... erm... oat.. no...

It's oatmeal.

Except without the oats.

It can't be called oatmeal without the oats, can it? Can it?

Because barleymeal sounds really stupid.

Anyway, it's topped with roasted pistachios, dried apricots and dollop of New Zealand Manuka honey and some dark chocolate shavings.

It's not breakfast if it doesn't have chocolate or bacon in it. I'm pretty sure God said that in the bible somewhere.

If He didn't, then I'd like to lobby for its inclusion.

Martha Stewart's Hot Cereals for Breakfast

2½ cups water
½ tsp salt
1 cup barley (remember, pot has more fiber than pearled)

Toppings

3 dried apricots, chopped
¼ cup shaved dark chocolate
¼ toasted pistachios, chopped
¼ honey
1 cup milk
¼ cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Bring water and salt to boil in small saucepan over high heat. Add barley. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 -60 minutes or until tender and water is absorbed.

2. Divide barley between 4 bowls. Pour milk and cream over barley. Top with apricots, pistachios, honey and chocolate.

3. If you expect to have an especially bad day, add more chocolate.

Dutch Baby Pancakes

I'm not a pancake person. I suppose at one point in my life I was, but then a childhood pancake related trauma turned me off of them.

It's a long story.

Okay, no, that's not true. It's a medium length one.

When I was living in St. John (I think I was about 6 or so for this incident), we had one car. My brother needed to go to kindergarten in town, my father worked in town and I went to school in our neighbourhood out in the suburbs. So, that meant we had to get up at hour zero dark stupid, pile into the car and drive Dad to work downtown. Then we'd drive back, I'd go to school and my mum would take my younger brother downtown for school.

Have I mentioned I've never been a morning person?

Anyway, to deal with the tricky problem of school mornings and breakfast, my father would cook huge batches of pancakes (usually blueberry) over the weekend and then freeze them individually. Said pancakes were then popped in the toaster (we're talking pre-microwave days) and handed to us kids to eat in the car.

We did this three times a week.

I have this very clear memory of sitting in the car one winter day, bundled up in my snowsuit, the heat barely working and being handed a pancake.

The toaster had burned the outside. It was frozen in the centre. It was my third one like that that week.

And I just snapped. No more pancakes. I couldn't stomach the thought of eating them again.

Even now, they arouse no joy in me... unless, of course, we're talking about a less traditional kind of pancake. Martha Stewart's Dutch Baby Pancake makes a semi-regular appearance (read: once every couple of months) in our weekend breakfast routines. I like to switch up the apples for pears, the cardamom for cinnamon, maple syrup (the real stuff, please) for the honey and throw in a little vanilla to the batter. Whatever you decide to do, it puffs up all golden and brown and tastes NOTHING like the burnt pancakes I used to have to eat in the car.

See?

 Have you been traumatized by a food from your childhood? Tell me I'm not the only one!

Martha Stewart's Dutch Baby Pancakes 

Ingredients

Serves 4.

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Directions
 
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add butter. When melted, add apple wedges.

I leave the skin on for added nutrients. And it looks pretty.

Cook until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in honey and cardamom, and remove skillet from heat. 

Golden and softened

In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, except confectioners’ sugar, until smooth. Pour over apple mixture.

Mmm. Batter + Apples.

Bake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer pancake onto a serving platter by flipping out.

Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with confectioners’ sugar sifted over the top. And, might I recommend a side of bacon? Everything is better with bacon!

Breakfast of champions!

Salted Caramel Orange Breakfast Rolls

Phil (after taking a bite): Alyson, I don't wish to alarm you, but if I weren't already married, I would marry these things and maybe keep you on the side as my mistress.

Me: Oh, are they good?

Him: Mmph. 

Me: I'll take it, since your mouth is full of caramel, that they are.

They are, people. Oh, they are. The buns soak up some of the caramel as they bake, and get all gorgeously glazed. The recipe is based on one over on Cooking Light (Pecan Rolls, or something like that) that I may have made more fatty.

You need fat in the morning though, right? Right?

This could be your breakfast.

Ingredients


Dough:
3/4  cup  warm milk
1/4  cup  granulated sugar
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1  package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4  cup  warm water
2 eggs
3  tablespoons  butter, melted and cooled
½ tsp vanilla
18  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 4 cups), divided
Cooking spray

Caramel
3/4  cup  packed dark brown sugar
3  tablespoons  butter, melted
2  tablespoons  hot water
½ tsp flake sea salt

Filling
2/3  cup  granulated sugar
zest of one orange
1 1/2  tablespoons  butter, melted


If you've never made your own bread before, I highly recommend doing it. I promise, it's not as hard as you'd think!

1. To prepare dough, combine the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir yeast mixture into milk mixture. Add eggs, vanilla and 3 tablespoons melted butter; stir until well combined.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 16.8 ounces (about 3 3/4 cups) flour to yeast mixture; stir until smooth. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel slightly soft and tacky). Now, I did all of this in my kitchen aid mixer, except for a final quick kneading at the end.

4. If planning on eating the same day: Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; turn to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes. Punch dough down and turn over in bowl; lightly coat with cooking spray. Cover and let rise another 45 minutes. Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes.

How my dough looked after an overnight stay in the fridge.
Not how I'm used to seeing dough look, but it turned out
just fine!

If wanting a leasurely morning where you DON'T have to spend 2 hours waiting for your sweet deliciousness: Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; turn to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. I punched the dough down once, just before going to bed, and as a consequence the dough didn't really rise again. The next morning, pull the dough out of the fridge, punch it down (if it needs punching), and let sit at room temperature while you get the other ingredients ready.

5. To prepare sauce, combine brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and 2 tablespoons hot water in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth.

Mmm. Soon to be caramel.

Scrape sugar mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray (or two smaller pans, if your 9 x 13" one is rusty), spreading evenly over bottom of pan with a spatula. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly with salt, and set aside.

Glorious salt.

Salt flakes in caramel.

You can (and I did) make the sauce in advance and keep it in the fridge overnight.

6. To prepare filling, combine 2/3 cup granulated sugar and zest in a small bowl.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; pat dough into a 16 x 12–inch rectangle. To be honest, I never measure, I just rolled it out until it felt right.

Looks big enough to me!

Brush surface of dough with 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

Mmm. Sugar + zest = happy

Beginning with a long side, roll up dough jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll).

All rolled up and ready to cut.

Cut roll into 1 inch (or so) slices.

I mark them off as I go before fully cutting them.

Arrange slices, cut sides up, in prepared pan. Lightly coat rolls with cooking spray; cover with  tea towel and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Ready to sit for 30 minutes.

7. Bake at 350º for 20-30 minutes until lightly brown. Pull out of oven and let stand for 1 minute before inverting onto a platter.

Letting cool so the caramel firms up a bit

8. Try to restrain yourself from eating them all.

Look at all those crevices for the caramel!

No. Seriously. It's harder than it looks.

Served on my Nana's china with nature's other perfect food: bacon.

Next time, I'm going to get a vanilla bean and replace the orange zest with the vanilla seeds. If you choose to go that route (salted vanilla caramel? Hello!), mix the seeds and sugar the night before (leave the pod in there too) to allow the sweet vanillay goodness to come through.

Try it. You'll be a god.