Sticky buns

Hubby and I both are fond of cinnamon rolls/buns or any other sticky sweet buns I gave this recipe from my go-to-baking-site King Arthur Flour, sticky buns, and as always they came out delicious. The only thing that didn’t seem to necessary was the blobs of brown sugar that you see in the picture. Other than that just perfect – yummy!

I did halve the recipe because otherwise it makes just too many for two people!

DOUGH

• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cups lukewarm water* (may need additional 1 tbsp of water)
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 5/8 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
• 1/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
• *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

GLAZE

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup diced pecans

CINNAMON FILLING*

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tablespoon King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Instructions

1. First, make the dough. If you're using active dry yeast, dissolve it with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.
2. Combine the dissolved yeast (or instant yeast) with the remainder of the dough ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—I used my food processor here—till you've made a smooth dough.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk. Rising may take longer, especially if you've kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy. I kept it in the oven (since it was winter here and house is probably a little cold).
4. While the dough is rising, lightly grease a 9" round cake pans.
5. To make the glaze, whisk together the syrup, and melted butter.
6. Spread the glaze in the pan. Sprinkle the sugar and pecans atop the glaze.
7. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat or roll it into a 8" x 12" rectangle. It's a nice, soft dough, and pats out easily.
8. To make the filling, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour.
9. Sprinkle filling evenly over the dough, leaving an uncovered strip about 1" wide along one short end of the rectangle.
10. Starting with the sugar-covered edge, roll the dough into a log the long way.
11. Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 8 slices. In order to cut down on drag, it helps to rinse the blade in hot water, and wipe it off, between slices.
12. Space the buns in the prepared pan. Cover the pan, and let the buns rise till they spread out and touch one another, about 60 to 90 minutes. Again I put them in my (cold) oven.
13. Once the buns had risen, I took them out of the oven and then preheated the oven to 350°F.
14. Bake the sticky buns for 15 minutes. Tent them lightly with aluminum foil, and bake till they're a light golden brown, about 10 more minutes.
15. Remove the buns from the oven, and loosen their edges with a knife. Carefully—the sugar is hot!—turn them out onto a rack or parchment-covered sheet pan to cool, scraping any glaze that may have stuck to the pan onto the warm buns.
16. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Wrap airtight and store at room temperature.

A man called Ove

Author: Frederick Backman

Wish you all a very happy new year! Every time a new year begins, I always wonder how one year had passed. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that that year had started. Then I start counting on my fingers what all happened during the year – the good and the bad but mostly it’s only fun to count the good – and I fall short of fingers. That’s when I realize no matter what all happens in a year it always feels like yesterday… And I want it to be like that! So I enticed you with the book cover, laying bait that there was a book review to be read and rambled on with my philosophies…

With a new year, I’m so happy to start with a great book review! After a long, no a really really long time, I read a book that I just didn’t want to put down. And that was not because the author was withholding some suspense – simply because it was such a pleasure reading it. I absolutely loved the author’s style of writing and his humor! There were some sentences that were so funny that I read them aloud to my husband (poor thing they were totally out of context but he listened!).

Like I tell everyone when I give them a summary of this book, that a summary will not do it justice. It’s all about the way the store is written. Anywho, so the story is about an old man who has lost his wife and been laid off by his employer. With both these events happening in succession he suddenly find a lot of time on his hand and doesn’t know what to do with it. He decides that life is not worth living without his wife so he must take his own life too. The story weaves around his failed suicide attempts, how he annoys every one by being a purist and at the same time helps every body around him – even the cat! Every action of his is guarded by what his late wife would’ve wanted him to do. And that is just so sweet!

All in all – I had a ball reading this book! In the last few months this is one of the few books (if not the only one) that I’ve completed and completed at such a fast pace!