Maple Sugar

Maple Sugar is BACK

But it's HERE now. 

Come see me!

XO

Rebekka

The big news.

Okay. I don't think I can wait any longer to tell all of you this. No, I'm not pregnant! A friend pointed out to me that you all were probably thinking that, and then I put up those onesies, and...oh noooo!!!! How embarassing, no, I'm not pregnant, haha! But here it is. A while back, the adorable and talented musician and baker extrodinairre Michelle Branch contacted me about being head pastry chef/baker of a bakery she was opening here in Nashville. I was hooked on her concept from the beginning: a sweet little bake shop where you can purchase cakes, pies, cupcakes, and other old-fashioned homemade goodies, but also a place where you can go after dinner and have a specialty cocktail or local dessert wine with your slice of French vanilla almond cake. You know?!?! And not only that, but we will be sourcing as much of our ingredients as possible from local farmers...milk, butter, fruit, whatever we can. The rest of it will be kept organic and all-natural. If you are anywhere near Nashville, get excited, because this place is going to be sweet.

And, ya'll, this girl can bake.  As in, she makes up recipes from scratch. Baking recipes. You know how difficult that is. I am so delighted to be working with her, and I can't tell you how excited I am about this venture. Of course, I want to take all of you through it with me, so I've started a blog about it! And, consequently, I've decided to shut down this one. I have loved Maple Sugar and blogging about my leisurely life, and I have REALLY loved getting to know all of you, but I have been feeling for a while that my days of personal blogging were coming to a close. So please follow me over to the new blog! I will miss you sorely  if you don't! Here it is... and make sure you check out the "about" page from time to time for general information and updates about the bakery!

www.blog.thesugarbar.com

XOXOXOXX,

Rebekka

My hydrangeas

No, not really. (But aren't they coming along?)

The truth is, I need a little break. I have a lot going on right now, and all of a sudden! So, sorry Dorie, and sorry whoever else. I'll be back in about a week, and with news (I promise!)

xoxo

Rebekka

Too much fun with this...

Is it just me, or are newborn onesies basically the cutest thing in existence? So tiny, so precious! I updated the shop this morning with some organic cotton ones for expectant mommies (and I suppose for their babies, too!). Happy Wednesday everyone! 

Little chocolate cherry cakes

Well, what did everyone think about this week's Tuesdays with Dorie? I thought they were nothing short of fabulous! But I do have a few comments about them: 

1. I used cherries instead of raisins. For some reason, the raisins sounded really wrong to me...I'm sure they aren't, Dorie, I'm sure they are actually lovely, and I can't wait to look at the other blogs to see how people liked them. But cherries...chocolate and cherries...I couldn't resist.

2. I left out the cinnamon. Again, maybe it's wonderful, but I'm really hesitant to do cinnamon with chocolate. 

3. Setting alcohol on fire is one of my favorite things to do in cooking, and in life.

4. I made it a point to use the highest quality ingredients I could find in these: Valrhona bittersweet chocolate, dried montmorency tart cherries (six dollars for like ten cherries...and worth every penny!), free-range eggs from my favorite amish farmer, Irish butter. I think it made all the difference in the world.

 

I just can't wait to hear what the other Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers have to say about this one...I say it's been my favorite recipe yet. Go check out all the rest!

French Chocolate Brownies

- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Three little cupcakes

Good Sunday afternoon, everybody! Just wanted to let you know that I updated the shop today, with the most gorgeous pillowcases (as in, they were gorgeous BEFORE I embroidered them...350 thread count, satiny cotton...mmmm!). I did a honeybee set, and added a new design...these little cupcakes! 

I was totally imagining them for a grown-up girl...but of course they would be so sweet for little girls, too!

I hope all of you are having a lovely weekend :)

xoxo

Rebekka

Thoughts over afternoon tea

Well, let me first clarify by saying, ahem, that I don't actually have afternoon tea (being neither British, nor Australian, nor nearly as charming as I like to imagine myself). I do, however, tend to have an afternoon snack, sometimes with thoughts.

It hit me today that I have three or four girlfriends that I am very, very grateful for. I mean just immensely grateful! So much so that I'd like to have a shelf for each of them in my basement, label-maker labeled with their names, to stockpile presents for them. So that when I get the new Toast catalog and think "Oh, so-and-so would love those slippers" I could just clip the page and put it on her shelf, for next time she comes over.  You know???!?!

I just realize I am one lucky girl. These friends have all known me for many years, and encouraged, loved, and mostly just not abandoned me through things and phases I will never talk about online! Most of them don't even live here, and it doesn't even matter. I know I rarely get sappy or personal on this blog, but I wanted to let you know...and you know you know who you are...that you bring more depth to my life than you can imagine. 

Sticky buns

Today's Tuesdays with Dorie...honey pecan sticky buns. Wow. They were perfect. Well...I haven't actually eaten one yet (I'm saving it for my afternoon snack!) but they look perfect. And I love brioche. So I'm excited.

I actually have no time to write about these but go look at everyone's! And here is the recipe. Later!

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

Makes 15 buns 

For the Glaze:

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)

For the Filling:

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:

1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)

Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).

To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissovle the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it outasbest you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinle over the pecans.

To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.

To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glae recipe accordingly).

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.

Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns ahve doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.

Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen , center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees  F.

Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.  Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily.  Pull the pan from the oven.

The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven.  If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil.  Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What You'll Need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):

2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

What You'll Need for the Glaze (you would brush this on brioche loaves, but not on the sticky buns):

1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)

The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.

Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)

Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.

Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

***UPDATE*** I loved them! And I was laughing so hard at everyone's comments/emails about how great my "willpower" is. I don't really have any willpower! I just think food is so much more special when it's savored ceremoniously... especially if you're anticipating it. Don't you think anticipation heightens the flavor? Mmmmmmm......

I am grateful

For a friend like this who goes to the flea market and brings me back earrings like this because she thinks I would love them, and she's right, I do.

Dinner parties for everyone!

Hi, it's me! I have been doing so much sewing and embroidering lately, I've decided to finally jump on the Etsy bandwagon and open a little shop. I'll mostly be selling dinner and cocktail napkins, pillowcases, baby clothes, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Picnic kits, anyone?!?!? I only have two items in there now, but I'll be adding more very soon. Click the here to get to my shop.

(Oh...and this isn't even the big exciting secret!)