Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pecan Sticky Buns: Tuesdays with Dorie



A great Mother's Day Brunch, 2012.  When you have 2 grown daughters who are also mothers, then sometimes you get to host the Mother's Day brunch!  And what better than Pecan Sticky Buns to serve at said brunch?  Umm, maybe Quick Coffee Cake.

Menu:
Basque Tortilla (Around My French Table, p. 142)
Spinach and Green Onion Tortilla (Around My French Table, p. 143)
Breakfast Casserole (by son-in-law Rick)
Bacon
Fruit Salad
Pecan Sticky Buns (Baking with Julia, p. 190)
Quick Coffee Cake (Joy of Cooking - Jan 1967 printing?? purchased in 1970, p. 577) with Struesel
    Topping (same cookbook, p. 681-2).
Stuffed With Love Strawberries (younger daughter Lori made these, yum.  Recipe is here.
Juices & Coffees, and milk for kiddos




Winners:  Both Tortillas, Basque and Spinach and Green Onion.  This was part of my catch-up since the group made the Basque Tortilla before I joined.  Plus, when I was in Puerto Rico in March I had a wonderfully similar dish to the Basque Tortilla at a famous Tapas Bar in Old San Juan.  Rick's Breakfast Casserole was also very yummy.  I forgot to ask him for the recipe...I'll remedy that.

1st Runner up:  My old standby:  Quick Coffee Cake.  Always a favorite of my girls and now of the grandkids.  Can't beat it for satisfying taste with coffee or milk.  It's so good, I'll put the recipe at the end of this post.  Sorry, no pictures this time...later.

2nd Runner up:  Pecan Sticky Buns. Yes, 2nd runner up.  Now, on this menu, 2nd runner up is not a bad showing, just not the star.

 I don't know if I did something wrong with the Pecan Sticky Buns, but the bottom (later the top) did not really get sticky & gooey.  The sides did, which saved the recipe.  But for all the work and cost of ingredients, NO, I will not be making these again.  It does make me want to find the perfect Pecan Sticky Bun recipe, though.  A quest for the future.



Making the Brioche



And then the Pecan Sticky Buns


To see what others did this week with this recipe, you can visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

Here's the Quick Coffee Cake recipe:

Quick Coffee Cake (from Joy of Cooking)
a 9 x 9 inch pan (I use an 8 x 8 corning ware square pan - yes, also from 1970!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Have all ingredients at about 75 degrees.
Sift before measuring:
  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Resift with:
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  2 teaspoons double-acting baking soda
Sift:
  1/4 to 1/2 cup  sugar  (I use 1/2 cup.  Note:  all the sifting specified is not really necessary with today's ingredients where they are all pretty much pre-sifted.  My opinion)
Cream until soft:
  1/4 cup butter (I use KA mixer)
Add the sugar gradually and cream these ingredients until light.  Beat in:
  1 egg
  2/3 cup milk
Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture.  Add:
  3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla  (I use vanilla)

Stir the batter until smooth.  Spread in a greased pan [at this point I cover the top with the Struesel, see below] and bake for about 25 minutes.

Streusel Topping for Quick Coffee Cake (From Joy of Cooking)

Combine:
  4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  4 Tablespoons butter
  10 Tablespoons sugar
  1 teaspoon cinnamon


Blend these ingredients until they crumble.  I use my hands to get it to right consistency.  (By the way, I have doubled the streusel topping recipe - makes the Quick Coffee Cake very yummy!)

I know I still owe you all the Dog Treat recipe.  I'm running low again, so I'll take better pictures and post very soon.

Happy Mother's Day to all!
  


5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful brunch!
    The sticky rolls were nice, but I agree that the topping wasn't quite what I was hoping it would be.
    Lovely job

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  2. How lovely to serve these for Mother’s Day brunch! Everything on your menu looks delicious! Simply beautiful! Nicely done!

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  3. That is some menu! 2nd place in that line up is a winner! We loved these sticky buns and while the topping was a bit too sticky I'll make the rolls again!

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  4. All of the food looks really tasty! What a lovely Mother's day celebration! I just joined the group and have not had a chance to make any of the recipes. I think I would love this one though. I am a big fan of butter. Nice photography also.

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