Monkey Bread!

I am in such a baking frenzy that I made fresh bread from scratch two weeks in a row! Last week, I made red bean buns (in honour of Father's Day), which turned out pretty but a little dry. That recipe was a no-egg recipe, so the bread was crumbly and pasty white in colour.

This weekend, I made MONKEY BREAD! What's monkey bread? I'm not quite sure where the name comes from but it is essentially all the goodness of a cinnamon bun in little bite-size pieces! Who doesn't love cinnamon buns?



Little mounds of cinnamon buns all baked tightly in a pan, and so fun to pull apart and eat! It's also commonly referred to as cinnamon pull-apart bread. Are you ready for this delicious treat that is so versatile you can have it for breakfast or dessert?

*Note: No monkeys were harmed in the making of this bread.*

I'm sure you could totally make this if you've got strong arms and a kneading technique to boot, but without either of them, I chose to engage my handy bread machine for this important task!

Before I move on to the recipe, I must give a shoutout to whoever tossed that bread machine by the road one fine day, where I happened to chance upon it and bring it home! It still works perfectly fine and I've had it for over a year now! But I only ever had the chance to use it just recently. It is just so amusing to watch and makes breadmaking a breeze!

Alright, here comes the recipe!

Ingredients for the dough:

• 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 2 and 1/4 teaspoon yeast


• 1/4 cup melted butter


• 1/3 cup warm milk


• 1/4 cup warm water


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 2 eggs

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1/4 cup butter


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Place all dough ingredients in a bread machine pan and switch on the dough setting. This was 20 minutes of kneading and 1 hour 10 minutes of rising for my bread machine.

Here's some pictures of the process! What else would I do while waiting for the dough to mix and knead and rise? :D



















In the meantime while the dough is rising, melt the 1/4 cup butter in a small pot until brown. Be careful as it may splatter.



Then, in a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar and stir to mix well. Be sure to use a dry bowl; my bowl had a few droplets of water and I ended up with little clumps of cinnamon.



After the dough is done rising, remove from the pan. This might also be a good time to line your baking pans with parchment paper.



On a surface covered with flour, knead the dough with your hands for a couple of minutes until it comes together nicely.



Divide your dough into small, two-inch mounds and shape into little balls. I did this by dividing half the dough into quarters, and then more quarters.



If you are adventurous (unlike me), you can go ahead and dip your dough balls into the melted butter. Otherwise, place them in straight rows in your parchment-lined pan. Don't worry if they are touching each other -- you want them to be right next to each other. This is just to see how many you can fit in your pan.



After deciding how many dough balls to put in your pan, place a few of the dough balls on your kneading surface and drizzle the melted butter over them, tossing them around but maintaining their round shape. You can also dip them into the melted butter in the pot.



Here comes the fun part! You now put your butter-coated dough balls into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and make sure it is well coated with the sweet goodness! I think putting the mixture and the dough balls into a large plastic bag and shaking them also works; I may try that next time. I found this step to be the most time consuming and nerve-wrecking (was I gonna have enough cinnamon/sugar for the rest of the balls?!?!).



After you are done with these two steps of coating, place the dough balls back to the pan.



Now, let them rise for about 15 minutes until they are nice and puffy. After they are done rising, put the pans into the oven at 350°F for about 30 minutes.



This is the hard part -- letting them stay in the oven for 30 minutes! After 10 minutes, I was already dying to open the oven door. This was just before lunch, mind you. It took every ounce of my being to resist the temptation to open the oven! I actually took them out after 25 minutes because they looked ready, but the bottom was still a little soft, so I put them back for another 10 minutes and they came out a little too brown on top.



I just have to show you what they look like inside! They are easy to pull apart into bite-sized pieces and every bite is full of cinnamon sugar! The eggs in the dough really give it a nice golden shine and soft texture like those you see in the bakeries. If one could taste heaven, this must be what heaven tastes like!



And there you have it, cinnamon pull-apart MONKEY bread! Golden brown on top, fluffy and soft on the inside, this is a delicious treat for either breakfast or dessert! Be sure to consume it within 48 hours, as the taste of the bread will change after that. Easy to make for a party or potluck, this sweet bread is sure to astound your friends and family!



Quote of the day (by me):

The world is at your fingertips if you have a bread machine and some parchment paper.

♥ Nikki

Macaron Class @ French Made Baking!

Today's post is a special feature on learning how to make macarons with David Introligator of French Made Baking! French Made Baking, a spanking new bakery on Kingsway in East Vancouver, opened its doors in December, 2011, and the grand opening was in late March this year.



The store offers all sorts of French pastries such as caneles, choux pastries and of course, macarons!



Owner David Introligator is offering classes to teach you how to bake the all-too-popular macarons!



Macarons are taking the world by storm right now, including Vancouver! These smooth, delicate little rounds sandwiched with creamy fillings are sweet, crunchy, light with just the right amount of melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Not to be confused with the French coconut macaroon (OO!), a macaron is a sweet merignue-based cookie. Look at this awesome macaron tower display in the shop!



Let's get started, shall we? We were fortunate to be invited to observe one of David's macaron classes. Each class is limited to six spots and is two to three hours long. David covers both the French and Italian methods to make macarons.



Participants gather round a large table to watch David demonstrate the making of the macarons in the kitchen behind the shop front.



Basic ingredients need to make macarons (same ingredients but different proportions for the French and Italian methods):

• Almond powder (ground almonds, basically);


• Confectioner's sugar (aka icing sugar, powdered sugar);


• Egg whites (best if aged for a day or two);


• Granulated sugar;


• Any flavourings you like such as cocoa powder, green tea powder etc.

Equipment needed:

• Weighing scale;


• Sieve;


• Bowls;


• Spatula;


• Food processor;


• Hand mixer or stand mixer (stand mixer is highly recommended for Italian macarons);


• Piping bags and tips;


• Oven trays.

First, before making the actual biscuits, David shows us how to make chocolate ganache for the filling with three simple ingredients -- chocolate chips, heavy cream and butter.



Start by boiling the cream in a pot.



When the cream is boiling, pour over the bowl of chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks broken into small pieces).



Gently stir the mixture until the chocolate is melted and the cream is totally incorporated with the chocolate. Add a small nub of butter and mix well. You should have a glossy smooth chocolate mixture. Place into the fridge to set for a couple hours and you should end up with something like in the bottom right picture.

The French Method

Now, we can start making the biscuit part!



Combine the almond powder, icing sugar, and your choice of flavouring (here, David used cocoa powder) in a large bowl and give it a rough mix. Then, pour it into the food processor for a good grind.



After blitzing it in the food processor for a few minutes, sift the mixture and discard the bits left in the sieve.



Time for the meringue! With the egg whites in a big bowl, use a hand mixer to get fluffy soft peaks, then add the sugar and continue mixing at high speed until stiff peaks form. You'll know its done when you can hold the bowl upside down over your head and nothing falls out!



Finally, add the dry mixture to the meringue all at once and fold it gently until most of the air from the meringue is gone and none of the dry mix remains. You should end up with a runny batter.



Time for piping! David gave tips on the right way of holding the piping bag and how to prevent batter from dripping from the tip.



A handy tool to have while piping the macaron batter is a template of rounds so you can be sure that all your circles are uniform and of the same size (more or less). You can find templates on the Internet or draw your own circles on a piece of parchment paper and piping on the opposite side. When using a template, place a piece of parchment paper over it and slip the template out when you are done, and it is reusable again!



With swift and practiced hands, David expertly pipes the batter onto the cookie sheet, at the same time explaining the batter will spread out and the rounds will flatten, so it is important to leave some space between them.

After piping, the batter gets a 30-minute rest as you want them to dry up and be smooth to the touch (the dried batter should not stick to your fingers). It is now time for hands-on practice for the participants!





While the batches of macarons rest, David shows us the Italian method , which is slightly more complicated than the French method. He uses the Italian method to make the macarons he sells in the store.



Same procedures for blending and sifting the dry mixture, and this time, you add some of the egg whites directly into the dry mix. If you wish to add food colouring, it is advisable to put a few drops of gel colouring on the egg whites.



The Italian method involves boiling sugar and water to a temperature of 118 degrees Celsius (you will need a candy thermometer for this!).



While the sugar syrup is coming to a boil, begin whipping your egg whites in a stand mixer. When the syrup has reached the right temperature, pour it into the stand mixer while it continues to whip the egg whites. Be careful as the sugar is VERY HOT! Turn up the speed on the mixer and continue mixing until you get a thick, shiny meringue (but not too firm).

Add some of the meringue into the dry mixture and mix well, and add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the batter. Then, pipe the batter into rounds in the same manner as the French method, and leave the rounds to rest.



At this time, the batch of French-method macarons have rested enough and is ready to go into the oven!



Every oven is different, so you may have to experiment at different temperatures to get the right setting for your oven at home!



Take a look at the baking macarons and make sure they don't burn! They don't take very long -- about 12 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.



When they are out of the oven, wait for a few minutes before you remove them from the parchment paper. Have your choice of filling ready and pair up the cookie rounds. Then pipe a small dollop of filling (David used good ol' chocolate ganache) and gently press the two sides together.



Class participants get to take home a batch of their macarons made during the class, as well as a box of six macarons from the store and ingredients to make a batch of their own macarons at home.



And today's chocolate macarons are done! It is best to let them mature in the fridge for at least 24 hours before consuming -- this is so the biscuit has a chance to meld with the filling and the flavours combine for a more textured taste. When mature, the cookies should not open like an Oreo cookie; the two sides should be tightly fused together by the filling.



Here's a mini macaron tower to end this post! Happy macaron making everyone!

♥ Nikki