Brioche Sticky Buns with Homemade Toffee Sauce

Hey guys...you see I'm still playing hide and go seek with you? Things have been so hectic that I hardly get the time to write. Don't get it twisted though...I still cook most every day but my hands don't go past the sentence or two attached to the pic I send to facebook to show what I made.  But no more excuses, here is the recipe for the Sticky Buns I made about two weeks ago. These are so soft, buttery, and decadent. I don't like nuts so I opted to use raisins (even though I cant stand those too much either) in the dough. I soaked them that morning for about an hour in a mixture of rum and water. Plain water or juice is fine if you cannot have alcohol. As for the toffee sauce, make it before you roll out your dough. I have extra vanilla bean pods laying around from when I scrape out the pulp. I just threw those into the mixture to boil and give it exceptional vanilla flavor.  These really were a treat for the entire family.
The brioche is a super quick method from the book "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day". The bread is mixed up in a few minutes, no kneading or kitchenaid necessary, then chilled in the fridge overnight or up to 5 days. I made my dough the night before I wanted to bake it and let it chillax in the fridge. I must say handling this dough is no easy feat as its on the wet side. I used my silpat, a bench scraper, and a handful of flour to make it a bit easier. This dough is supposed to yield four loaves but it gave me a 10 inch pan of sticky buns and 2 full sized loaves. I left one loaf plain and the other I filled with a crushed almond, cinnamon, butter, rum, and raisin mixture. Everything was just spectacular. I hope you enjoy eating this as much as I did.

Brioche Sticky Buns with Homemade Toffee Sauce

Makes 10 large sticky buns

1/3 of Brioche Recipe

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup rum

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground clove

pinch of  ground allspice

1/2 cup brown sugar

Toffee Sauce

1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp dark corn syrup

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 1/3 cup heavy cream

vanilla bean pods, optional

- Place raisins in small bowl to soak in mixture of 1/2 cup rum and 1/2 cup water, set to the side.

- Make toffee sauce first by combining brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla if using over medium heat.

- When mixture comes to a boil add in cream and cook over low heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.

- Turn off mixture and place to the side.

- Remove brioche dough from refrigerator and roll out to a large flat square, about 1/3 inch in thickness.

- Combine cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice, and brown sugar. Sprinkle mix over rolled out dough.

- Drain raisins from liquid (reserve liquid) and sprinkle evenly over dough.

- Start to roll dough into cylinder shaped log.

- Cut dough into even rolls

- In a 10 inch pan pour all of the toffee sauce into the bottom and place buns on top of the sauce.

- Let dough rest an hour before placing in a 350 degree oven.

- Bake 35- 40 minutes.

- Unmold immediately and serve.

** Toffee sauce from Foodnetwork.com

Gone for a bit but hopefully not forgotten...Spiced French Toast

Its been a while.. hasn't it? I still cook everyday but I've been going through some things and writing took a back seat for a moment there. I hope you all can forgive the absence. I'm back with something perfect for the fall. Rich, buttery french toast accented with pumpkin pie spice and hints of rum. I cannot tell you all the failed attempts Ive had with french toast. I managed to take something so simple and ruin it by making it too soggy, or too eggy, to burnt...just wrong! This time I told myself if I messed up that I would throw in my french toast towel indefinitely. With a couple slices of my whole wheat country flax bread I made a few days prior and the "eye of the tiger", I went about one last attempt to prove I was worthy of the french toast badge...wait do the Girl Scouts have that?..I dunno..whatever. I followed Alton Brown's recipe which had rave reviews on the food network website. I noticed that the recipe didn't use any extracts or spices and already knew my taste buds wouldn't find that too appealing so I used some pumpkin pie spice I picked up at Trader Joes the day before in lieu of plain ole cinnamon. I also splashed in some mixed essence, vanilla extract,my favorite Angostura rum, and it was time to rock and roll. One thing I have to note with the recipe is that you may need to increase your custard mix by a third if you're like me using 1 inch thick slices of bread. The recipe overall is really easy and cannot be messed up. It was so nice that I made the recipe again within a few days using some challah bread I baked. I cant tell you all how absolutely delicious this french toast is(thanks to my changes). Just grab a couple slices of day old bread and try this out for yourself. Its perfect for breakfast or brunch and so versatile in that you can top it with anything from apple pie filling to fluffy whipped cream.

Spiced French Toast

serves 4

1 cup half and half

3 eggs

2 tbsp warmed honey(I used 4)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp mixed essence
1tbsp dark rum (I used Angostura Single Barrel)

(8) 1/2 inch slices of day old country bread, challah, or brioche bread

4 tbsp of unsalted butter

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees

- Place a cooling rack on sheet pan and set to the side.

-Whisk together half and half, eggs, honey, salt, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, rum, and mixed essence.

- Place slice of bread into mixture and let it soak for 30 seconds on each side. 

- Place soaked slices on bread on cooling rack for 1-2 minutes.

- Place a skillet over medium heat with 1 tbsp of butter.

- When skillet is hot place 2 slices of bread in it and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden.

- After removing from skillet places french toast slices on a heat proof rack in the oven for 5 minutes.

- Remove french toast from oven, serve and enjoy!

Alton Brown's French Toast

Barley Oat Pancakes wit Apples in Caramel Rum Sauce

So its January and that means everyone is 7 days into their new years resolutions. The number one resolution amongst Americans is always to "Lose Weight!" I guess that's explains why the gym is packed like money was giving away in there and it also explains why every other advertisement on television is for some form of diet product. In an effort to aid my own fitness efforts I will try to post more diet friendly recipes. While doing some shopping in Whole Foods the other day I wandered into the baking aisle( I know I cant help myself) and came across some barley flour from Arrowhead Mills and it had a recipe for barley oat pancakes. I was shopping for healthier eating options and i thought this would be a great way to make traditional pancakes a little better for you. I picked up the ingredients I would need to make it and headed out the aisle. Yesterday I tried out the recipe on the back but I must say that I cheated a bit and used buttermilk instead of regular milk because I had  extra from Christmas that I didn't want to go bad and throw out, It gave the pancakes a thick fluffy texture and a slight tang. I will post the given recipe on the blog but I'm sure you can use whatever milk you like such as soy or almond milk. Ok so now on to pancake business...so when my first taster (my sis) took a bite she wasn't fond of my new healthy option...gosh its so hard pleasing a pancake purist! My sister suggested I add something to make it more appealing. I didn't have anything other then pancake syrup to dress it with but then I remembered a apple was sitting in the fridge and I had an "Ah Ha" moment and that's when I said I would pair it with apples in a caramel rum sauce.  Caramelizing fruit is something quick and easy to do and can dress up pancakes, french toast, or any breakfast food.  I was also excited to be using the REAL cinnamon that my mom bought back from a recent trip to Trinidad and Tobago(we all know that the widely available cinnamon in most stores is not real cinnamon but a cheap Asian variation that's no where as good as the real thing). Well I could "blah, blah, blah" about these delicious pancakes for hours but its better if I have someone to discuss it with so without further ado here is the recipe so that you all can try it out and we can talk later.

Barley Oat Pancakes

makes 1 serving of double stack pancakes

1/2 cup Arrowhead Mills barley flour

1/2 Arrowhead Mills cup oat flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg or 1/4 cup egg substitute

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

- Heat Oven to 200 degrees and line a small pan with a sheet of parchment paper

- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until combined

- Cook on lightly oiled medium heat skillet, turning once when edges begin to dry and bubbles form on the surface. This recipe can also be placed in a waffle iron and cooked according to manufacturers directions.

- Place finished pancakes on baking sheet and allow to stay warm while you start to caramelize apples.

Apples in Caramel Rum Sauce

1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into half inch segments ( I used granny smith)

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1/2 cinnamon

1 tsp amaretto

1 tbsp rum

- Heat a sauté pan under medium high heat and add butter

- When butter is melted add apples to the pot and and coat with butter

- Add in sugar and cook apples until fork tender

- Sprinkle lemon zest and cinnamon over apples, mix in

- Finish with amaretto and rum, cook one minute more or until thickened

- Turn off and serve on top of the pancakes.