Coffee Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

Ingredients:

Streusel
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Cake
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugr
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream

Brown butter glaze
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk, if needed
pinch of salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10-inch bundt cake pan and set aside. Butter and flour is key. Don't use cooking spray.

Streusel
Whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, cocoa and salt. Add the butter pieces and using your hands, mix together the flour and butter until the flour is incorporated and in tiny pieces. It's okay if the mixture looks like sand.

Cake
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, then add the sugar and beat for 4 to 5 minutes on medium speed until fluffy, scraping down the sides if needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well for a minute or so after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat well. Beat in the sour cream, again scraping down the sides if needed.

Gradually add the dry ingredients with the mix on low speed. But until they are just incorporated. Spoon half of the batter into the greased bundt pan, then sprinkle with two thirds of the streusel. Add the remaining batter on top then finish off with the remaining streusel and swirl it into the batter with a knife. Bake until a wooden pick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. My cake needed the full 55 and it was perfect. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Invert the pan on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool completely. Don't attempt to move it or it will break apart.

Brown butter glaze
Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the butter begins to bubble and as soon as brown bits start to appear in the bottom of the pan, remove it from the heat. This will take about 5 minutes. Add the brown butter to a bowl and whisk in the sugar and vanilla extract. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, whisk in the milk if needed. Pour over the cake once it has cooled and serve!

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French Crullers

Ingredients

For the French Crullers

1. 1 cup water
2. 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3. 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1 cup all-purpose flour
6. 3 large eggs
7. 2 egg whites, slightly beaten
8. canola oil for frying

For the Glaze

1. 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3. 2-3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

1.  In a saucepan, stir together water, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a rapid boil and stir in all of the flour. Continue cooking over medium-high heat and keep stirring. Mixture will be ready once a thin film starts to form over the bottom of the pan. The longer you can cook the mixture, the lighter your crullers will be. Just be careful not to burn the dough.
2. Transfer the dough to the bowl of your electric mixer and with the paddle attachment, stir it for a minute or two. Add first egg and stir until completely incorporated. Repeat with second and third egg. Finally, stir in egg whites and mix to combine. Dough should be smooth and glossy.
3. Heat the canola oil in a large saucepan until it reaches 370 degrees F or preheat your oven to 450 degrees F (if baking). Cut out 12 parchment paper squares (about 3x3 inches) or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray lightly with cooking spray.
4. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the dough. Pipe a ring of dough onto each individual square or onto the lined baking sheet.
5. For those that are baking these crullers, place baking sheet in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 15 minutes or until crullers are golden. Turn off heat, open the oven door and let crullers sit for 5 minutes before removing and glazing. For those that are frying these, line a plate with paper towels and place next to the saucepan containing the oil. Place one or two crullers at a time into the oil, paper side up. Remove parchment paper from the hot oil using kitchen tongs. Fry crullers two minute per side, remove from the oil and place onto prepared paper towel-lined plate to get rid of excess oil. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool. Repeat with remaining crullers.
6. While the crullers are cooling, prepare the glaze. Combine all of the ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Drizzle glaze over crullers while still slightly warm.
   
      Enjoy!

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Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients

Dough

3/4 cup whole milk

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 tbs granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1-4 tbs cream

Instructions

Heat milk until it reaches 105 degrees either on the stovetop or in the microwave. Stir in yeast packet and sugar and let it sit until the top becomes thick and frothy, about 3 minutes. Pour mixture into bowl of stand mixer and add melted butter, beaten egg and salt. Mix until combined. Add half of the flour and mix on low speed. Once combined, add the rest 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is sticky but workable and doesn't get stuck on your hands. Once dough is together, knead for another 5 minutes on low speed.

Work dough with your hands to form a ball. Grease a large bowl, or use the same bowl, and place dough in. Cover and set dough in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. I like to turn my oven on to 200 degrees, turn it off and place the bowl in there.

Once doubled in size, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle shape. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Brush on melted butter and cover in cinnamon sugar mixture. Cut dough length-wise into 5 long strips. Stack them on top of each other. Cut 6-7 sections across your stacks.

Grease a 9x5" loaf pan and loosely stagger your stacks in the pan. If they aren't snug to the edges of the pan, don't worry about it. It will bake up fine. If there is extra cinnamon sugar that spilled off while transferring the stacks into the pan, don't waste it! Sprinkle it on top of the dough in the pan. Cover dough with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 45 minutes to an hour until it doubles again in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 22-27 minutes or until very lightly browned on top. Remove from oven, run a knife around the edges and allow to cool in pan for 20 minutes. During this time, whisk glaze ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside (add more cream/milk for desired consistency). Flip pan over and very carefully remove loaf and set on a large plate or platter. Drizzle glaze on top and serve!

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Chocolate and Orange Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake
1/2 spent (juiced) orange, cooked and puréed
300g | 10.5 oz chocolate buttons
100g | 3 1/2 oz or 7 tsbp unsalted butter
200g | 1 cup light brown sugar
100g | 1/2 cup ground almonds
150g | 1 1/4 cup self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 eggs

2 tbsp Campari or orange juice

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch salt

For the syrup
Juice of 1 orange
Equal volume of water
100g | 1/2 cup caster sugar
2-3 tbsp Campari (or other orange liquer)

For the chocolate glaze
150g | 5.5oz dark chocolate buttons (or mix dark and milk)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
Orange peel strips to decorate

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180C | 350F. Grease 1x20cm/8inch bundt tin.

Juice the orange. Keep the orange segments and set the juice aside.

Chop half of the juiced orange (peel and all) in small pieces and put in a pot. Cover with water and boil for 10-15m until soft. Blitz in a food processor (or small food chopper) with a couple tablespoons of water until puréed.

Melt the chocolate over a bain marie (or in a microwave but be careful the chocolate doesn't burn). Set aside to cool. Sift the flour, cocoa, soda, salt and almonds together.

Beat the butter and sugar for several minutes until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, with 1 tbsp of flour. Beat until well incorporated. Add the puréed orange and 1/3 of the flour and beat on low speed until well mixed.

Fold the melted chocolate and remaining flour mix  into the batter with a wooden spoon. The batter will be quite thick. Pour into the bundt tin and level.

Bake for 1h - 1h 10m until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean or with a few small crumbs attached. Check the cake is firm on top. Cool in the tin and then carefully invert on to a drying rack.

To prepare the syrup, put equal amounts orange juice and water plus the sugar in a pot. Bring to the boil then simmer until syrup is reduced - about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and stir the Campari in. Brush the syrup over the cake with a pastry brush.

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate in a bain marie (or microwave), add the butter and honey and stir together. Put the cake on a rack with a piece of baking paper underneath. Pour or spoon the melted chocolate over the cake. Decorate with orange strips.

The cake keeps well at room temperature. In fact, it tastes even better on the second day when the flavours have had a chance to mellow. Server with some whipped cream and a spoonful some of the syrup.

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Monkey Bread (Cinnamon bites)

Ingredients:

DOUGH

·         1 package (2 and 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast (recommended: Red Star Platinum)

·         1/4 cup warm water (110F-115F)

·         1 and 1/4 cups warm 2% milk (110F-115F, 2% or higher milk fat, no lower)

·         1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

·         1/4 cup granulated sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         5 cups all-purpose flour

COATING

·         3/4 cup unsalted butter

·         1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar

·         1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

·         2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

VANILLA GLAZE

·         1 cup (120g) confectioners' sugar

·         3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream (or milk for a less creamy texture)

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1.     Make the dough: In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir it around a bit and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes (using a dough hook if you have a stand mixer or using a hand mixer). By hand add enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. About 5 cups total.

2.     Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Do not over-knead, which will yield a tough, chewy bread. The dough is ready when it is smooth and when you can poke it with a finger and it springs back. Form dough into a smooth ball and place into a large greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. I greased the bowl with cooking spray. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

3.     Make the coating: melt 1/2 cup of butter in a small bowl. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon together in another small bowl. Set aside. You will use the rest of the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla later.

4.     Spray a 10-12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray. Set aside. Punch the cold dough down very gently to allow the air bubbles to release. Pull apart pieces and roll into balls, about 1.25 inches in diameter. You will need 40-45 balls total, so be modest with their size. Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat them. You may need more cinnamon-sugar depending how heavy you coat each ball. Arrange them in the bundt pan as you go. If you did not use Red Star Platinum yeast, cover the pan and allow dough balls to rise again for about 45 minutes at room temperature. If you did use Red Star Platinum yeast, move ahead to the next step and bake right away.

5.     Preheat oven to 350F. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter and whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla until combined. Pour the buttery mixture over the dough balls in the bundt pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly. Cool for 5-10 minutes and invert onto a large serving plate.

6.     Top with the glaze. Simply whisk all of the glaze ingredients together and pour over the bread. You may either cut the bread into generous slices or let everyone pick off the gooey pieces themselves. Monkey bread tastes best served on the same day, but will stay fresh for 3 days if stored covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

 

Enjoy it! 

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Glazed Lemon Sugar Cookies

Serves: 2½ dozen

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

·         1/2 cup butter

·         1 cup sugar

·         ½ tsp vanilla

·         1 egg

·         1 Tbsp. lemon zest

·         1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

·         1½ cups flour

·         ¼ tsp baking powder

·         ⅛ tsp baking soda

·         ¼ tsp salt

Garnish:

·         1/2 cup powdered sugar for rolling

For the Glaze:

·         1½ tablespoons water

·         ¾ cup - 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Lemon Cookie Dough:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Slowly add flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Stir well to combine. Use a cookie scoop or roll dough in 1″ balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes, or till set and crackly. After a couple minutes, remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

For the Glaze:

2.    In a small bowl, heat water in microwave for 30 seconds. Slowly add powdered sugar until a thick consistency forms. Drizzle over cookies.

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