Pecan Sticky Buns

Tracie came for another visit and guess what we made?

Ok, so my title and this picture gave it away. As promised, we made sticky buns!!





When I first opened the cafe, we used to make them a different way. Instead of making the Goo, we mixed butter, brown sugar and pecans together and then put that mixture into muffin pans and then put the pecan roll on top of that and baked them that way.

As I have mentioned previously, I have this penchant for the Food Network and I love Bobby Flay. He has a show called Bobby Flay's throw down. It's where he competes against someone who is the best at what they make and then asks them to a throw down where he tries to out beat the thing they are known for. He'll add a twist to make the recipe his own to see if he can win against the other person. I love it!!

One time I was watching it and saw him do a throw down against a woman in Boston that had a bakery and was known for her sticky buns. I wasn't real fond of the way we made them, so I came in to work the next day and proclaimed to Tracie that we are changing our recipe!!!

Do you know how hard it is to get Tracie to change her ways? She can attest, we fought for weeks on this one. But being the owner, I won out!!

I love them this way. Tracie likes them the old way. I know our customers loved them this way. But I also know some of our customers liked them the old way. This is still a winner either way!!

So Gail, without much ado, here is our recipe for sticky buns.

Teri
p.s. Tracie hated it when I watched the food network. :-)

Notes: We used to make this in glass baking dishes. You might notice my batch wouldn't fit in one pan so I had to use two. One was glass and the other was metal. The glass batch actually turned out better. So if you make this and have a 9 x 13 glass pan, make these in it. They should all fit.

You could add raisins to the roll part if you like. You could probably use chopped apples, craizins or any other type of fruit (dried or fresh) you like. I'm sure it would all be good!

You can make the roll ahead of time (we used to) and freeze the roll. Freeze them at the point after you cut them. Just let them come to room temperature and rise with the goo before you bake them.

 Roll recipe

1/2 cup luke warm milk
1/2 ounce active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs room temp.
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
4 tbls butter

 

Goo recipe:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 170 grams, 6 ounces) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups (345 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup (110 grams) honey

1/3 cup (80 grams) heavy cream

1/3 cup (80 grams) water

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

 

First, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that's ok).

Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt. Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar. Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature. You should have about 3 cups. (The mixture can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

 

While the above is cooling -

 

Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave until an instant-read thermometer registers 110°–115°. Transfer milk to a 2-cup measuring cup; stir in 1 Tbsp. sugar. Sprinkle yeast over milk and whisk to blend. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs; whisk until smooth. Combine remaining sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add milk mixture. With mixer running, add  4 tbls room-temperature butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Knead on medium-high speed until dough is soft and silky, about 5 minutes.

 

If you don't have a stand mixer, fit your food processor with the standard chopping or dough blade. Combine remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, flour, and salt in food processor. Pulse to blend. Add milk mixture; process until combined. With processor running, add 1/2 cup room-temperature butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions. Process until dough is soft and silky, 2–3 minutes longer. Dough will be sticky but should not be greasy. If it is greasy, process for an additional 1–2 minutes.

 

Brush a medium bowl with some melted butter; place dough in bowl. Brush top of dough with remaining melted butter; cover with plastic wrap. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic; chill.

 

 

Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, 1–1 1/2 hours (or 2–2 1/2 hours if dough has been refrigerated).

 

Also a quick way to proof your dough. Set your oven to the lowest temp. Mine will go down to 125. Place covered dough in oven for about 15 - 20 minutes and dough should be doubled in size. (Keep a close eye on your dough if you are going this route.)

 

To put together -

Roll dough out on floured surface to a rectangle aproximately 12x16. (if you don't have a rolling pin a wine bottle works just as well!!)  ;-)

 

With longer edge facing you spread 4 tbls. of room temp. butter over dough. Mix 1/2 cup of white sugar with 1 tbls of cinnamon and spread over dough. Sprinkle 3/4 cups of chopped pecans over dough.

 

 

 

Beginning with the long edge closest to you, roll dough into a log, tightening as you roll, and patting in ends if they begin to taper. Pinch together the seam where the long side meets the roll to seal. Arrange the log seam side down on the work surface.

 

Using a large knife, cut the log crosswise into equal pieces. (we got 13 1 inch slices) Lightly flour the knife between slices if the dough is too sticky.

 

Pour goo into lightly buttered pans. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of pecans (whole or chopped, what ever your preference is.

Turn the buns cut side up and gently pat the top to flatten slightly. If needed, reshape to form round edges by cupping lightly floured hands around each bun and gently pushing and turning them in a circular motion.

 

Place the buns in prepared pan; space them evenly apart (buns should not touch each other). Cover with tea towel and let rise until almost double.

 

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake, rotating pan halfway through until buns are golden brown, and filling is bubbling.

 

Take out of oven and let sit for about 5 minutes. Then place platter over pan and turn over and serve.

 

 

These are best warm. They are also good the next day warmed up in the microwave or room temp.

 

Enjoy!

Hilltop Salad with Raspberry Chipotle Vinaigrette

Have you ever been to San Antonio? Walked the river walk? Ridden the trolley to the Missions?

If you have not done any of the above, you need to!! San Antonio, Texas is beautiful. I would go back there in a heart beat.

My travel buddies and I (Renee and Chris) went there for a long weekend. There is a trolley you can ride that will take you all over the city to the tourist areas. You can ride the trolley all day long and get on and off at the sites you want to see.

One of our stops was in the German area where the Guenther family had a flour mill. The house where the Guenther family lived is now a restaurant appropriately called the Guenther House. After touring the grounds we decided to eat lunch there, which is where I discovered this wonderful salad dressing. It was so good, I decided to create a salad that would go well with the dressing and put it on the menu.

I love the combination of sweet and savory and that combination is what this salad is all about.

Sich erfreuen y'all!!

Teri

Notes:
You can use any type of lettuce you like. I used a spring mix for this salad. It worked well.

Candied walnuts

1/2 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups walnuts

Melt butter and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Take off heat and add walnuts. Stir until Walnuts are coated. Spread in single layer on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. (I use my silpat) Let cool.

Raspberry Chipotle vinaigrette 

1 cup raspberry jam 
1 tbls of pureed chipotle pepper in adobe sauce(you can add more and make it as spicey as you would like)
1 cup of oil
1/2 cup of vinegar (I use a white wine vinegar, but you could use a raspberry or cider if you like)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all of the above in a bowl. Put in cruet or bottle. Something with a lid that will allow you to shake it up without going all over the place!

To assemble the salad 

I use a spring mix for my salad, but you can use any type of lettuce/spinach you like. Sprinkle a handful of craisins on the salad, a handful of Gorgonzola cheese and then a handful of the candied walnuts. Top with the Raspberry Chipotle Vinaigrette and enjoy!!

Meatloaf Sandwich with Chipotle Mayo

My Grandmother Ann (my mom’s mom) made the best meatloaf I've ever had. We lived in Chicago and she lived in Springfield. During the three hour ride to her house, all I could think about was that meatloaf I would have when we got there!! I couldn't wait!!

My Grandma Ann was my favorite person ever and boy could she cook.

Unfortunately I never got her recipe and my mother’s meatloaf…….well let’s just say it was never like my Grandma’s!!

I have tried to make it from memory, but to no avail.

One day I was eating salsa and a light bulb went on. Most of what was in salsa, my Grandmother put in her meatloaf. Onions, peppers, spices…everything but the ketchup on top. So I decided to make a meatloaf with salsa and I added cheddar cheese to the mix and called it my “Mexican Meatloaf”.

My kids loved it and it was almost as good as Grandma’s!! My son Danny picked my meatloaf to be his birthday meal, that’s how much he loved it!! And his birthday was on Thanksgiving several times. So we had Meatloaf instead of turkey!!

My friend Maria knew my meatloaf was really good and she had found a recipe one time for a meatloaf sandwich with chipotle mayonnaise. So I thought I would give it a try. I tested it on my guinea pigs (my co-workers at OCC) and it got two thumbs up; so on the menu it went.

It was a pretty popular sandwich and now I’ll share it with you!!

Teri

Notes:

I discovered a salsa that Dominics makes. (Dominics is a grocery store in the Chicago area) It’s peach pineapple salsa and that’s usually what I use for my meatloaf. I like the little bit of sweet with the savory; it makes for a great combination. You can use your favorite salsa. A black bean and corn salsa might also be good!!

I make the sandwich with a whole grain bread. I think it’s good on a nice hearty bread!! But you can use your favorite.

If you just want to make the meatloaf and not make sandwiches, about 10 minutes before you take it out of the oven you can pour some more salsa on top and cover that with shredded cheddar cheese and put it back in the oven for the rest of the ten minutes.

You could also just cover it with ketchup.

Meatloaf Sandwiches with Chipotle Mayo

1 ½ pounds ground beef (I usually use 80/20)
3 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs (I chopped up the crouton’s from a previous blog)
1 cup salsa
1 cup of shredded cheddar
salt & pepper to taste

Mix the above until all is combined. 

Put in pan and shape into a loaf. 

Bake in a 350° oven until meatloaf reaches 160 degrees. 

This will keep the meatloaf nice and moist. YOU DO NOT WANT TO OVER COOK MEATLOAF!! It will be dried out!!

Take meatloaf out of oven. If you are going to have meatloaf for dinner, now would be when you would put the salsa and cheddar cheese on top and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Take out of oven and serve hot.

If you’re going to make sandwiches, take the meatloaf out of the pan after it reaches 160 and let cool. Wrap meatloaf in plastic and put in refrigerator until cold; at least 4 hours.

In the meantime you can make the chipotle mayonnaise.

Chipotle Mayonnaise

1 cup of Mayonnaise
1 heaping tsp – 1 tablespoon of pureed chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)

Chop up the chipotle peppers with the adobe sauce. 

Add the sauce to the mayonnaise and mix.

Assemble the sandwich.

I spread the mayo on both pieces of bread. Then slice the meatloaf about 1/3 of an inch thick and put on bread. Then I put lettuce, the other slice of bread on top and cut in ½.

And then I …….

Enjoy!!

Scones

Tracie came for a visit and we made scones!!!

Tracie was my right arm at the café. I hired her before I even opened my doors and knew when I hired her she would be a big asset!! You see, not only was Tracie my right hand, my adoptive daughter and my friend, she was my pastry chef. And a wonderful one at that!!!

You might wonder why, if I always did such wonderful baking I hired a pastry chef. Well, once I saw Tracie’s portfolio, I knew she would help me take the café to a new level, and that she did!!

We started out making bacon cheddar scones. (I’ll share that recipe one day) Then we decided to make sweet scones. We tried several recipes and this is the one we settled with. The scones are light, moist and packed with flavor!! Our customers loved them!!

For those of you that never tried a scone or have no clue what a scone is, think of a biscuit on steroids!! The combinations of flavors are limitless. Last night we made chocolate chip toffee and cranberry orange. We both decided we should have made our peppermint white chocolate; that was both of ours favorite!!

In addition to selling the scones in the shop, we sold our scones every Saturday in the summer time at the farmers market in Downers Grove and would literally sell out of them!! I let the marketers know we sold them in the café. Not only did it bring them into the café, but it helped them from going through withdrawals of not getting a fix of our scones.

It was so nice baking with Tracie again. My kitchen isn’t the biggest, so fighting over space and running into each other brought back memories of our days in the café. But we had a blast!!! We both decided we will be collaborating again!!! Next time, Sticky buns!!!

Teri

Notes:  I’ve written the basic ingredients and then at the end added substitutions for the flavor. We made Cranberry Orange and Chocolate Chip Toffee. You can come up with any flavors you like. I’ve added the ones we made at the café. The possibilities are only limited to your creativity and imagination!

Scones 

3 ¼ cups of flour
½ cup of sugar
1 tbls + 1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups of heavy cream whipped
1 egg
Sanding sugar

In a large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add ingredients from the list below based on the flavor scone you are making. In another bowl, whip heavy cream to a stiff peak.

Add whipped cream and any other liquids to dry ingredients until combined. Mix with your hands, do not use a mixer!! Over mixing will ruin your scones!!! Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat down to circle or square. Cut to desired size.

 

Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat. Mix egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush triangles with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Bake in 350° oven for 22 minutes or until edges are golden. Larger scones may take longer.

Cranberry Orange - add zest of one orange and juice from one orange and 1 cup of cranberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Chocolate Chip toffee - 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips,  ½ cup chopped walnuts, ½ cup crushed heath bar to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Blueberry lemon - add zest of one lemon and juice from one lemon and 1 cup of blueberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Peppermint White Chocolate - add 1/2 cup crushed peppermint and 1 cup white chocolate chips to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Strawberry - add 1 cup of diced strawberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Cherry almond - add 1 cup of cherries and 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 1 tsp of almond extract to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Enjoy!!

Baked Oatmeal

I can remember as a little girl my mother making warm oatmeal on a cold winters morning. I would put butter and brown sugar and just enough milk on it to cool it down so I could eat it right away. We had it most mornings before heading off to school. 

You see I literally had to walk a mile to school every morning. I went to a Catholic school in Buffalo Grove, a northern suburb of Chicago and we didn't have bus service. That is unless you paid for it or lived in the next town. Okay maybe it wasn't a mile, but it was pretty close. And when you're in grade school and it's 20 degrees outside and you feel like you're walking at least a mile to school, that oatmeal gave me the energy and warmth to make it all the way there!! 

In case you didn't know, I love oatmeal!!

We never had enough breakfast business at the cafe to make fresh oatmeal every morning. One of my occasional customers used to tell me "if I only sold Oatmeal she would come in every day". So I was on a mission!! 

I didn't want to make instant oatmeal, that wouldn't meet our standards. One day I got a spice magazine in the mail from Penzeys Spices and guess what recipe they had in the magazine? Yep, baked oatmeal!!! I showed it to Tracie and said "let's make it!!!"

So baked oatmeal went on our menu and we never looked back. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

Oh, and that customer that said she would come every day if we made oatmeal, well lets just say we kept our promise but she didn't keep hers. But it's okay, our baked oatmeal still had a following.

Teri

Mom, I miss your warm oatmeal, but I miss you most.

Notes,

You can make this with any fruit, cut up apples, strawberries, peaches, blueberries, etc. You could also add nuts. I've made it with walnuts along with the craisins and it's pretty good!! You could also add almonds or pecans.

Baked Oatmeal

2 ¼  cups of quick oats or 2 ¾  cups old fashioned oats, uncooked (I used quick oats, it's what I had)

2/3 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/3 cups skim milk

4 egg whites

1 tsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl.

Combine all wet ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk well.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and pour into an 8 x 8 pan that has been sprayed with vegetable spray. Bake in 350° oven for 55 minutes. 

Cut into 4ths and serve warm.

We served it at the café with warm milk and extra brown sugar. But you really don't need it. It's good to go just the way it is!!

This will keep in the fridge for up to a week. Just nuke it in the microwave for approximately 3 minutes or until desired temp.

1 serving = 293 calories, 5 g of fat, and 54 carbs

Enjoy!

Croutons

When running a restaurant you try to have as little waste as possible. I would tell my employees “this is not food to me, its money”. So with that as my mantra, you need to be very creative with what you do with scraps.

We used to buy our bread from a local bread company in the Chicago area called Labriola Bakery. They had the most wonderful artisan bread!!! We used their 9 grain, whole wheat, white, pretzel bread, assiago rolls and their tomato and their herbed focaccia bread. So any scraps we had of bread (the heel or stale bread) went into the freezer for making croutons!

Croutons really are easy to make and you can literally make them any flavor you need or want. It’s all in the seasoning that you use.

The project I’m working on at work right now has been bringing in lunch for us. Every day it’s something different and local. They don’t use chains, they order from local mom and pops type places which make me really happy!!

Thursday we had pulled pork from a place called McCormick’s. I looked at all the rolls we had left over after lunch and immediately thought of croutons. They had also sent a canister of spices and I decided that would be good for the croutons. I went home that night and immediately went to work! Below is my creation.

So when life gives you heels of bread or stale bread or not enough bread to make a sandwich with, make croutons!!

Teri

Notes: Like I said above, you can make any flavor croutons you like, it’s all in the spices. The mix I used had salt, pepper and Italian spices. (oregano, basil, rosemary, garlic powder) You can also buy any of the season mixes already prepared in the baking section.

You don’t have to use both butter and olive oil, you can just use either butter or just olive oil. There are so many wonderfully infused oils out there that you can use.

Croutons

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) melted
½  cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of spices
8 cups of bread

Preheat oven to 400°

Cut up bread into the size cubes you want. Put in bowl. Mix melted butter and olive oil together and pour half over bread; mix well. Add the rest of the oil butter mixture to the bread and mix well. Sprinkle seasoning over bread and mix well.

 

Spread mixture in a single layer on cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Take out and let cool before bagging.

 

Enjoy!