Monkey Bubble Bread - Leave Your Link

Ginger Monkey Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

by Rob of Cambridge MA

Monkey bread is a popular dessert or breakfast pastry, coated in cinnamon and sugar. The origin of the name “monkey bread” is a great mystery with many theories. Some believe that the  chef who invented the dish named it because it looked to him like the lumpy hands of a monkey.  Its direct ancestor appears to be a German pastry known as Affenbrot, or ape-bread.

Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The first recipe for monkey bread appeared in ladies magazines and cookbooks around the 1950s and became popular in the 1980s when served in the White House by then First Lady Nancy Reagan. The origin of the monkey bread recipe is unknown though food historians believe that it could be a Middle Eastern recipe since they were the first to make sweet rolls with butter and cinnamon. Some historians think that the term monkey bread came from the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana). Some believe that the name came about because the golden brown pieces look like monkeys seated and bunched close together. I found an interview with Ann King from Texas who has been identified as one of the creators of monkey bread.  She developed the formula with the help of a silent film actress- Zasu Pitts.  You can read more about the history at this link-Barry popik.com

Zasu Pitts-the girl with the ginger snap name 

I don't care where it really originated, I'm just glad it did ! And isn't this just perfect for your out of town visitors over the Holidays ?  And I agree with Matt and Renato-this is addictive stuff.

Ingredients

For the Monkey Bubble Bread

1 1/4 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons instant yeast

4 cups all purpose flour

5 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Make the Monkey Bubble Bread

Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan with non stick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, warm your milk to slightly above room temperature, then remove it from the heat, add the yeast, and whisk to dissolve. ( Do not warm it beyond 110 degrees F or you will kill the yeast).

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the flour, sugar, and salt until combined.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork and add it to the dry ingredients.  Mix on low speed until combined.

Keeping the mixer on low, slowly stream in the milk until combined.  Add the melted butter and mix until the dough comes together.  Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook attachment.  Continue to mix on medium speed until the dough becomes silky and tacky,but not sticky, 8-10 minutes.  The dough should mound together and easily come off the bottom of the mixing bowl.  ( If the dough is too wet, add some flour.  If it is too dry, add a tiny bit of water. )

Spray the bottom and sides of a large bowl with cooking spray.  Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to make sure it is completely covered in oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let it rest in a warm area until the dough has doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Use your clean hands to push down and deflate the dough. Remove it from the bowl and pat it into a rough circle approximately 8 inches diameter.  Use a bench knife or serrated knife to cut dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces ( about 1/2 oz each )- alternatively, use your hands to pinch apart the dough.  Roll the pieces into balls ( they don't have to be perfectly round).  Place the balls on the sheet pan ( you will get about 60 pieces in all).  Cover the balls lightly with plastic wrap.

Make the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon.  Place the melted butter in a separate bowl.

Assemble the Bread

Remove the plastic wrap from the dough balls and dip one ball in the melted butter.  Let the excess butter drip back into the bowl, roll the ball in the brown sugar mixture, and place it in the Bundt pan.  Continue this process with each ball, until you have several layers, arranging them as if you are building a brick wall.

Wrap the Bundt pan tightly in plastic wrap.  Set it in a warm area of the house for about 1 hour, or until the dough balls have doubled in size and appear puffy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove the plastic and bake the Bundt until the top layer is deep brown and the caramel coating begins to bubble around the edges, about 30 minutes.

Cool the bread for 5 minutes, then turn it out directly onto a platter and serve warm.  Should you have any leftovers ( this is rare), simply reheat them in a 300 degree oven until warm to the touch.

Baked Notes

You do not need an icing or topping for this bread-too sweet.  Second, you can make the dough ahead of time.  Once the dipped dough has been placed in the pan, wrap it tightly, refrigerate it, and bring it back to room temperature to "proof" the dough before baking.  Lastly, this is one of those breads that exists to be eaten warm straight from the oven.  Once the caramel begins to cool, reheat the bread in the oven before serving. Enjoy !

Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

Sweet and Salty Brownies -Leave Your Link


Here we go with the 2nd recipe in our schedule-BROWNIES.  Not just any brownie-a Sweet and Salty Brownie,oozing  with caramel sweet stickiness. Brownies are delicious plain but dress them up with caramel and Fleur de sel-you get that ohhhh and ahhh taste explosion in your mouth. Dark decadent chocolate, buttery caramel and the taste of salt-add an ice cold milk chaser -perfection.
Brownies have been around for quite some time,however there is some debate about the origin. One thing for certain-they were as THE BOSS would sing " Born in the USA".  I'll bet he would love these.  I found some information at the web site "The Nibble"  and what they concluded was: "Culinary historians have traced the first cake “brownie” to the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, edited by Fannie Merritt Farmer. This recipe contains two squares of melted Baker’s Chocolate and is a less rich and less chocolaty version of the brownie we know today. According to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, the proportions are similar to Farmer’s 1896 chocolate cookie recipe, but with far less flour and baked in a “7-inch square pan"

And did you know that Sears is credited with publishing the first known recipe in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck catalog.  Most sources say that recipe was actually for molasses candy. The candy was  called brownies. And that name "brownies" honored the elfin characters featured in popular books at the time by Palmer Cox.  The Eastman Kodak Brownie camera was also named after the elves. Somewhere along the line the "brownie" name became associated with these tasty morsels of chocolate.

Palmer Cox Brownie Illustration

courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

 So the delicious morsels you are baking today were named after little elves-appropriate for the holiday season , don't you think ?

Sweet & Salty Brownie
Yield: 12 large brownies or 24 small brownies

Ingredients

For the caramel filling
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/4 cup sour cream

For the Brownie
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like Valrhona)
11 ounces quality dark chocolate (60 to 72 %), coarsely chopped
1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Assembly
1 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel
1 teaspoon coarse sugar

Make the Caramel
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup water, stirring them together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan.  Cook over high heat until and instant read thermometer reads 350 degrees F, or until the mixture is dark amber in color (keep a close eye on the caramel at all times, as it goes from golden brown to black and burnt very quickly), 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat, and slowly add the cream ( careful, it will bubble up ) and then the fleur de sel.  Whisk in the sour cream. Set aside to cool.

Make the Brownie
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal 9 by 13 inch pan.  Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper, and butter the parchment.

In a medium bowl,whisk together the flour,salt and cocoa powder.

Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of the double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.  Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler, and add both sugars.   Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan.  The mixture should be at room temperature.

Add three eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.  Add the remaining eggs and whisk until just combined.  Add the vanilla and stir until combined.  Do not over beat the batter at this stage, or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate.  Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there is just a trace amount of the flour mixture visible.

Assemble the Sweet & Salty Brownie

Pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle about 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce over the brownie layer in a zigzag pattern, taking care to make sure the caramel does not come in contact with the edges of the pan or it will burn.  Use your offset spatula to spread the caramel evenly across the brownie layer.  In heaping spoonfuls, scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the caramel layer.  Smooth the brownie batter gently to cover the caramel layer.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan.  The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove the brownies from the oven and sprinkle with fleur de sel and coarse sugar.

Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.

The brownies can be stored, tightly wrapped at room temperature, for up to 4 days.

Baked Note
Don't be tempted to add more than the amount of caramel called for in the recipe.  If you build too much of a caramel layer, it more than likely will seep out and burn during baking.  You can drizzle your leftover caramel on the brownie post baking if you are a caramel addict.
The Sweet & Salty Brownie is Baked's most requested recipe owing to the brownie's featured moment on the Food Network, where it was lauded with praise as one of the best salty  foods in the United States.
Brownies freeze well-allow the brownies to cool to room temperature.  Wrap them in two layers of plastic wrap-wrap the brownies directly as opposed to wrapping a pan of brownies. Place them in the freezer.

When you are ready to defrost, remove them from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.  Then remove them from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

Unwrap and eat your brownies.

They should keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Nutella Scones-Leave your Link

How long ago did you discover Nutella ?  Sad to say I didn't discover it until about 10 years ago and I can't imagine how I lived without it all that time. Nutella, pronounced "new-tell-uh" has been around since the 1940's . It was created by Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker and founder of the Ferrero company. According to the history of Nutella , during the 1940's chocolate was in short supply due to World War II food rationing.  So Chef Ferrero used hazelnuts to extend his chocolate supply. Don't you love the combination of  roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and  just hint of cocoa? Check out the Nutella website , doesn't Pietro Ferrero look like James Dean ?

And if these Nutella Scones don't satisfy your Nutella cravings  head over to World Nutella Day site (which by the way will be 5th February 2011) and bake your heart out with all the Nutella recipes they have listed .



BAKED Explorations has a Homemade Nutella recipe on page 198 of the book-did you buy your Nutella or make your own for this recipe ?



I have a confession to make-I chose this recipe knowing I was heading to Oregon before this posting date and would have access to fresh picked hazelnuts !  I loaded up on them for my holiday baking and set aside some just picked,freshly roasted hazelnuts for this recipe. I can't wait to see everyone's results . Post your link and any comments under this post.

And a huge thank you to Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito for letting us post the recipes here. If you haven't done it yet, BUY THE BOOK - BAKED EXPLORATIONS-Classic American Desserts Reinvented ! 

NUTELLA SCONES
Yield: 6-8 scones

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark sweetened cocoa powder (like Valrhona)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts,coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Nutella

Baked Note
Matt & Renato's advice: Do Not Knead Too Much. Stop working the dough the minute it comes together and don't worry if there are a few dry bits scattered throughout.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place the rack in the center.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until combined.
Add the butter. Use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until the butter is pea size and the mixture is coarse.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. 
Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until the dough just comes together.  Gently and briefly knead the dough with your hands. 
Add the toasted hazelnuts and knead gently to incorporate. 
Flatten the dough into a rectangle approximately 6 by 12 inches. ( it doesn't need to precise) and spread 1/4 cup of the Nutella on top in a criss cross pattern. 
Roll the dough up to make a cylinder about 6 inches long, turn it on its end, and gently flatten it into a disk about 1 3/4 inches high. Do not overwork the dough.
Cut the dough into 6 or 8 wedges and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the scones for 18-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean.  Do not over bake.
Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool completely.  Place the baking sheet with the parchment still on it underneath the rack.

Assembling the Nutella Scones:

Heat the remaining 1/4 cup Nutella in a microwave until pourable, about 10 seconds on high.  Pierce the tops of the scones a few times with a fork.  Use a spoon ( or two spoons-one to scoop, one to scrape) to drip the warm Nutella in a zigzag pattern over the tops of the hot scones.  Transfer them to a refrigerator to set for 5 minutes, then serve immediately.

Most scones have a lifespan of 24hours or less; however, these scones taste pretty darn good on day two provided you wrap them tightly and store them at room temperature.

Helpful Hints for Scones
Break up your butter in small cubes and then freeze them-helps prevent your butter softening/melting before you have your scone dough formed.
Let your scones be crumbly. Barely mix the cream into the butter and then press the dough. Remember the scone mantra-Don't Overwork the dough.

BAKED Sunday Mornings

Have you bought this book yet ?  If you haven't , you must-you are in for a treat.  Especially if you love old fashioned recipes but with a twist.  Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito have taken your mother's recipes and made them hip. Kind of  like what Mad Men has done for the advertising world.  As a matter of fact these recipes would be perfect for Mad Men.  Can't you just see Joan baking the Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting and bringing it in to the office !  But I digress,as soon as I got this book I sat down and read it from cover to cover in one evening.  When I finished reading I wanted to start baking.  And after reading some other blogs I could see my fellow bakers felt the same way.  So I thought it would be fun to form a group that would bake it's way through BAKED Explorations.  I hope you join me at BAKED Sunday Mornings . Check out the RULES and join the group.
Email your blog link to me at seattlepastrygirlatgmaildotcom and I will add you to our list of Baked Bloggers.
Come and join the fun and Get Baked !