Morning Buns

By now many of you are familiar with Morning Buns--somewhat incorrectly named because this baker tends to enjoy them with her cup of afternoon tea or even for supper.

Morning Buns getting their sugar coating

What are they? you ask. In generalities they are cinnamon rolls made with croissant dough and a touch of orange zest added to the filling. Sounding good yet? They are not your average Cinnabun, although those are delicious in their own right. They are flakey and slightly crispy and the filling cooks down into an orange-cinnamon-sugar syrup which coats the bottom of the bun and caramelizes.

For this creation I have two sources to thank: Tartine and Julia Child. I first tried a morning bun at Tartine in San Francisco, and thought to myself "I need to learn how to make these." I found Tartine's recipe which called for croissant dough, butter and the filling. After several batches, I came up with a variation of their ratios which suited my taste (I believe I have told many of you that I make that which I crave). I still had to figure out croissant dough though.

This is where Julia Child came to the rescue. Page 100 in volume 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking details the first recipe I tried. For a novice bread maker, looking at a recipe which takes 12 hours to make seemed a little daunting, but I don't think my first attempt was too bad if you were just expecting a dinner roll. The basic  steps are as follows:
        1)Make dough.
        2)Let it rise, and punch down, let chill
        3)Perform the beurrage (butter layering technique involving a heavy rolling pin and REALLY cold butter)
        4)Fold the dough like an envelope, and roll it out again and chill, Repeat 3-5 times
        5)Ready for use as croissants, pigs in a blanket or Morning buns

The Folding of the dough is what makes it so special. In essence what is happening is that you are tripling the number of layers of butter for every fold you make. Each time the layers between the butter and dough are getting smaller and more wafer thin like. After so many folds you have a dough which will make delicate layers.

Because of Julia's guidance I have created the recipe I use today

Pumpkin Chai Macarons

Welcome to Fall!!!

The days and nights are finally getting cooler here on the central coast. This makes one feel more in the appropriate holiday spirit, as Thanksgiving is just around the corner. In honor of the season of cold noses being tickled by mugs of steamy chai lattes (or hot cocoas), I decided to play around with the combination of pumpkin and chai. 

As I hadn't played with macarons in a stretch, I thought, what better way to dive back in to experiments (which might be successful*).

The shell is where the chai flavor is coming from, and then the filling is the silky, mild pumpkin spiced buttercream.

I hope you can try it while it is the season!

The colors in these apples, pomegranates, Turks Turbans, and grape leaves capture so much of what I think of fall! Go jump in a pile of leaves. It's okay, I give you permission. :)

Sweet Pea's Vacation and Gluten Free Bread

This week is the harvest festival here in Arroyo Grande. On Saturday what seems like the entire town, turns out to see the parade of autumnal cheer. My mother, in particular, is very excited about driving a tractor in the parade. I hope to see you all there in a festive mood!

Not only is this week harvest festival, but it also lends host to my paternal grandmother's 80th birthday, my sister-in-law's 27th birthday, and last (and least) my vacation.

So what have I been doing on the first couple of my days off? Well, Sunday I kidnapped my mother and we drove 315.5 miles up to Elk Grove to visit my aunt (Sweet Pea Senior, side note, in the family I'm Sweet Pea Junior). Then yesterday we whirlwinded around town, going to Restaurant Depot, and The Nugget (one of my new favorite places). At the Depot we were searching for King Arthur Flours, and chocolates and quality ingredients in bulk. I'm guessing that they don't get much call for many of those items and so do not keep them in stock.

At The Nugget, I fell in love (don't tell my boyfriend). Think of it as a cross between New Frontiers and Whole Foods, and I believe that I don't have to describe it any more than that. Being so far up north, they carry different products than those stores I frequent down here. Of course, I stopped by the bakery department where I purchased two items. One was this gorgeous chocolate tulip cup filled with chocolate cake, chocolate ganache and raspberry jam. Then whipped cream piled on top, with chocolate batons and fresh raspberries. It was a showstopper, but as fond as I am of raspberries, I would have preferred more raspberry. The second pastry was a magic bar, which might be the inspiration for a new bar. Think of a seven layer bar, based on a brownie. Have I attracted your attention?

After leaving the Nugget (we spent 2 hours roaming the aisles), Mom and I departed for home, where we snuggled up into our own routines and wished for sweet dreams


Then some fun experimenting occurred!

If I didn't know that this bread was gluten free, I would probably assume that it was a type of quick bread. In fact, it tastes almost exactly like beer bread, it is just not as sweet, and instead of baking soda, I used yeast. Next time I would let it "ferment" in the fridge overnight.

Hmmm, I'm finishing up this post the day after the bread was baked, and it became dry very quickly. It tasted amazing straight out of the oven, but it definitely only has a few hours for a shelf life. I'm thinking it is the nature of the beast, but keep experimenting I shall. 

If any of you are interested in the recipe for this bread, please leave me a comment, and I will post it for you.

A Season of Pie, part 1

We are coming into the fall season, even though the temperatures outside seem steadily in the "high" area of the thermometer. Children are back at school. Apples are growing ripe, and riper. Cinnamon fills the air, at least where I'm baking.

The start of a new school year always beckons me to pie, especially those made of the autumnal nectar from childhood: apples and pumpkins. That, combined with more and more questions on whether or not I make new vegan items, or gluten free items, or low/no sugar items, yielded my usual routine to some experimenting, or some playing around. As with whenever I experiment, a success gives me an "on top of the world" feeling, while a failure gives me an Anne Shirley moment where I crash into the depths of despair.

Right now, as I type, I am blind baking an Oat-Nut crust which happens to be gluten free and vegan. The ingredients are rather simple: Gluten free rolled oats, toasted almonds, toasted pecans, cinnamon, salt, agave nectar, tapioca starch, coconut oil, and real vanilla.

Depending on how I like the crust, I will either tweak, keep or throw away entirely and start afresh.

If I keep, I plan on filling with pumpkin pie (made with pumpkin, almond milk, and agave) and an apple version, filled with Granny Smith apples.

Wish me luck!!!

Raspberry Ripple Muffin

Where have I been these last couple of weeks? Time goes by so quickly! Let's see...last week I started two new farmers markets. I'm now in Wednesday mornings in the Spencer's parking lot in AG, and Thursday afternoons in the Spencer's parking lot in Morro Bay.

The great thing about specifically the Wednesday market is that I can focus on morning pastries! After all, who can turn down a muffin or a scone on a nice market morning?

So that led me to decide which flavor of muffin to make. So many choices, but my mother had made this AMAZING raspberry jam with Rutiz Farm berries a couple of weeks ago, so my choice was pretty much made for me.

A Raspberry Ripple Muffin is  a layered pastry/cake/yummy goodness. At the bottom is a cinnamon and orange zesty rich cake background, then there is a ribbon layer of cream cheese lacing through , and of course, a spread of raspberry jam, topped off with streusel. How can you go wrong? Add some more fresh berries with your muffin and you have a gourmet meal at your fingertips.


Oh, and for the scone, I brought my Blackberry (boysenberry, specifically), Lavender, andEarl Grey Scone. Mornings are fun, especially on Wednesdays.

Lavender Shortbread

Growing up, my mother was on the receiving end of a Victorian magazine subscription. Combined with that and frequent visits to the Dana Power House in Nipomo, I came away with a romanticized vision of the Victorian era. During that time period, it was not uncommon to incorporate edible flowers into many of their delicate confections.

Some of these edible flowers are roses, lavender, pansies (including Johnny Jump Ups), violets and even borage. These flowers can be crystallized and used as natural decorations to cakes and cookies.

I had wanted to create something accessible to the modern palate while still paying homage to the bygone era. Thus the quest for the cookie began. I had a general idea of what I had wanted, but I was worried about the strength of the lavender, because if you use too much, it tastes like you are eating soap....yeah, that sounds scrumptious.

What came of this experiment was a recipe which yielded a light, buttery, and amazingly crisp cookie with just a subtle taste of lavender notes, trailing at the tail end of each bite. I decided to finish it off with a drizzle of white chocolate to raise its elegance.

Current Happenings

It has been a couple of weeks since last I posted. What have I been doing? Taking a vacation?

While a vacation sounds nice, it is not what I've been up to. Last week my brother and sister-in-law came into town, and my mother threw them a couples baby shower. (I'm going to be an auntie! I'm so excited :D) It was done very nicely, and thanks to much help from friends, it reached a professional, magazine photo shoot level (at least to my eye).

The invitation was drawn by my mother:

Please note that relevant information has been left out or changed.

The menu line up was fantastic:
Pulled pork, roasted zucchini, asparagus, stuffed baby mushrooms, sausage, coleslaw, salad with raspberries and blueberries, and mom's homemade macaroni and cheese. Oh, it was gorgeous.

Of course, a meal isn't complete without dessert.....and that is where my contribution came in. Mom designed a "Milk and Cookies" bar. Cowboys, Monsters, Lavender Shortbread, Triple Chocolate Chunk, Triple Play (Chad renamed them "Cal Ripkin), Snickerdoodles, and of course, Chocobloc.

This party idea is so cute and refreshing, it makes me want to invite my friends over for milk and cookies. Who can turn down a cookie?