June 2019 – The Misanthropic Hostess

Hawaiian Rolls

Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t like Hawaiian bread?

Yeah, me either. While more than just fine served warm and topped with butter, this enriched and slightly sweet bread is a delicious tableau for a whole host of other concoctions. Think bread pudding. Think French toast.

When TD decided to try out pulled pork on his Big Green Egg for Memorial Day Weekend, I knew it was time to try my hand at these Southern California mainstays. I’ll admit it felt a little like taking on Goliath considering we live in the city that calls itself home to the King’s Hawaiian headquarters. But as you know, I like to live on the edge.

First things first–can you guess the secret ingredient? Think Hawaii.

Nope…not coconut but close: pineapple. Makes perfect sense.

These rolls are really fun to make (and not because the stand mixer does most of the work) but give them time. The enriched dough has both eggs and butter in it, meaning the first and second rise will be on island time.

I couldn’t find an original recipe from King’s so used one from King Arthur Flour instead. The recipe calls for a couple of tablespoons of potato flour. Despite following my own rules and reading the recipe through days in advance, I forgot to pick up potato flour so I just omitted. I don’t think it made a noticeable difference but just to be safe, I’ll include next time and report back.

If sliders in any form are on your Fourth of July festivities list, consider trying your hand at a homemade version of these summer icons. They’ll make your guests feeling like royalty (sorry, I couldn’t help it).

King’s Hawaiian Rolls

from King Arthur Flour

makes 16 buns

Ingredients

Sponge

1/4 C all purpose flour
1 TBS instant yeast
2 TBS water

Dough

1/2 C pineapple juice, canned
1/4 C (4 tablespoons) softened, unsalted butter
1/3 C brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, white reserved
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 TBS potato flour
1 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

For the sponge: In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the sponge ingredients. Allow the sponge to rest for 15 minutes.
Add the pineapple juice, butter, brown sugar, eggs and yolk, and vanilla to the sponge mixing until well combined.
While the wet ingredient mix, in a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, potato flour, and salt before adding to the liquid ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to wet dough in stand mixer.
Beat with the flat beater for about 3 minutes at medium-high speed; then scrape the dough into the center of the bowl, switch to the dough hook, and knead for about 5 minutes at medium speed. It may have formed a very soft ball, but will probably still be sticking to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough isn’t coming together, add a tablespoon or two of flour.
Lightly grease a large bowl; round the dough into a ball, and place it in the bowl. Cover, and let rise until very puffy, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan.
Gently deflate the dough. Divide it into 16 equal pieces, by dividing in half, then in halves again, etc. Round each piece into a smooth ball. Space the buns in the pan.
Tent the dough gently with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in the pan for 1 hour, until it’s nicely puffy. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mix the reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water, and brush some onto the surface of the rolls; this will give them a satiny crust.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 190°F on a digital thermometer.
Remove the rolls from the oven, and after a few minutes, turn them out onto a cooling rack.
Serve warm. Store leftovers, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Browned Butter Coconut Cookies

Nowadays, the recipes I choose to bake generally either center on new ingredients or techniques I’ve yet to master.

However, every once in a while I make something for the singular reason that I want to eat it.

That’s exactly what happened when these browned butter coconut cookies popped up in Smitten Kitchen’s Instagram feed. There I was, casually scrolling one weekday afternoon and there they were: nutty, coconutty and buttery. I’m not kidding when I say it took a herculean effort not to grab my car keys and flee my office so that I could go home and start browning butter.

Luckily for my employment status, I held off until the weekend.

They were SO worth the wait: browned butter and coconut were meant to be together. Even better than peas and carrots. I’m telling you. Cripsy on the edges but chewy through the middle, I really can’t think of a more appropriate summer picnic treat.

As if you needed further incentive, in my book, there is nothing that smells better than browning butter. Forget the potpourri or scented candle. If you want to sell your house, brown some butter before the open house.

While the original recipe only calls for coconut chips, the first time I made these I added a cup of butterscotch chips. The second time I used cinnamon chips. I have big plans for the third batch.

Coconut Brown Butter Cookies

From Smitten Kitchen who got the recipe from The City Bakery by way of The Martha Stewart Show. Adapted by The Misanthropic Hostess.

Ingredients

1 C (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter
2 TBS water
1/2 C plus 2 TBS (125 grams) granulated sugar
3/4 C (145 grams) packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 C plus 3 tablespoons (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Slightly heaped 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 C (240 grams) dried, unsweetened coconut chips
1 C chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter or cinnamon chips (optional)

Directions

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Once it is a deeply fragrant, almost nut-brown color, remove from heat and pour butter and all browned bits at the bottom into a measuring cup. Adding 2 tablespoons water should bring the butter amount back up to 1 cup.
Chill browned butter in the fridge until it solidifies, about 1 to 2 hours.
Scrape chilled browned butter and any bits into a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars and beat the mixture together until fluffy.
Add egg and beat until combined, scraping down bowl as needed, then vanilla.
Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour half of flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined, then add remaining flour and mix again, scraping down bowl if needed. Add coconut chips in two parts as well.
Fold-in additional chips if using.
Scoop dough into 1 inch balls, flatten each slightly and arrange all onto a baking sheet (separating layers with parchment paper). Refrigerate for an hour up to over night.
When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
Arrange a few with a lot of room for spreading on the baking sheets. Bake cookies until golden brown all over, about 10 minutes (rotate halfway through cooking). Repeat to bake all cookies.
Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cookies keep for up to one week at room temperature. Extra dough can be stored in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for a month or more.

Sables Bretons

Butter is my favorite food. Not kidding.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten it on its own (though I’ve been tempted); but it does make just about anything better. Especially butter cookies. Especially, especially French butter cookies.

I made my first batch of sables Breton years and year ago after TD and I returned from France. Brittany the region in the Northwest corner of the country, is famous for its high fat, ultra rich butter. Enough years have passed since that trip that I am no longer embarrassed by how many of these cookies I ate while there. These French biscuits are everything I want in a cookie: simple, just barely sweet and sandy in texture.

The sandy element is incredibly important: sable is French for sand. And, made possible by the letter B for butter. The first recipe I used was from Martha Stewart. I made that recipe several times and then drifted away over the years. As one does.

When I came across David Lebovitz’s recipe, I was reminded of our early fall trip to Bayeux and immediately pulled the butter from the freezer.

These cookies are known for the deep criss-cross pattern on the tops. I made this batch over the course of a weekend and chilled them after cutting them into circles but before adding the cross hatching. Cold butter doesn’t make for easy criss crosses and I did not press hard enough. Do as I say, not as I do.

While butter is the front and center flavor in this cookie, the salt is equally important, so use the good stuff.

The uniformity in shape of these crumbly cookies make them lovely as gifts packaged up in a clear bag with some red and blue ribbon (think Bastille Day or Fourth of July).

Sables Bretons

by David Lebovitz (adapted just slightly by TMH)

Ingredients

2/3 C (5.2 ounces, 150g) high quality high fat butter at room temp (I like Plugra but for best results, David Lebovitz recommends a cultured butter)
2 tsps flaky sea salt
4 large egg yolks
1 C (200g) sugar
1 3/4 C (210g) all-purpose flour
4 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp water

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and salt together on low speed until smooth (about 30 seconds).
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar while whisking until the yolks are light and fluffy–about a minute. With the mixer on low, add the egg yolk mixture to the butter, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides. Mix until everything is incorporated.
Sift together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Stir into creamed butter mixture until it’s just, but completely, incorporated.
Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1-inh thick. Wrap in plastic and chill for an hour (dough can be made up to five days in advance and stored in the fridge).
Line baking sheet with parchment. Cut the rectangle of chilled dough in half and place the first half between two pieces of parchment. Roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thickness. Using a 2-3 inch cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Set aside scraps and repeat with second half of dough. Once you have completed the first layer of cut-out circles, top with two sheet of parchment and start with the second. Top circles with another piece of parchment and into the fridge for another 15 minutes.
Gather your scraps. Roll again between pieces of parchment. If dough is still cold enough, cut out more circles. If not, pop in fridge until cold. Repeat process until all dough is used.
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Adjust oven rack to middle of the oven. Line baking sheets with parchment. You want to bake-off cookies one sheet at-a-time.
Beat an egg with 1 tsp water. Place first round of dough circle on pan leaving a couple of inches in between each. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg wash then use a fork to cross hatch a pattern on the top of the cookies.
Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown, rotating baking sheets halfway through, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Repeat with dough until all cookies are baked.

Paprika Peanut Butter Cookies

Move over chocolate, peanut butter has a new love interest and her name is smoked paprika.

You read that right. Paprika.

When you think about it, pairing peanut butter with earthy, slightly spicy paprika makes a whole lot of sense. Think of how much better peanut butter is on toast than just plain bread (toasty and smoky are similar…just go with it). Now, add a little heat. And to that, think of the sandy, crumbly texture of a perfect peanut butter cookie. You picking up what I’m putting down here?

This recipe incorporates smoked paprika is both the dough and on top.

The overall effect is pretty perfect. I found this recipe through David Lebovitz who came across the original recipe in the book Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit by Lisa Ludwinski.

Since I’ve been baking for a million years and new things are what keep me going, I’m always on the hunt for new flavors. Sometimes flavor combinations aren’t meant to be (I’m thinking of the holiday 2012 pink peppercorn and white chocolate sables…ew). Others you think, ‘where have you been all my life?’ These smoked paprika and peanut butter cookies are definitely the latter.

P.S. Lest you feel bad for chocolate’s new rival, I dare you to make these, throw in some dark chocolate chunks and call it a threesome.

Peanut Butter Paprika Cookies

As seen on David Lebovitz’s blog and originated from Sister Pie: The Recipes & Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit

Ingredients

For the paprika topping

1 TBS turbinado or raw granulated sugar

1 TBS granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

Directions

To make the cookie dough, in a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole wheat flour with the baking powder, baking soda, 1 tsp kosher or salt, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, beat the butter, peanut butter, and the light brown and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract, stopping the mixer between adding each egg to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Stir in the dry ingredients until completely incorporated, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, as you’ll likely find some unincorporated flour underneath the dough.
Scrape the dough into a shallow bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or up to 3 days (TMH: I scraped everything into a gallon size freezer ziplock patted into rectangle–evenly distributed, the dough chills more quickly and evenly). (Dough can be frozen for up to three months–scoop into balls first.)
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC.) Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
In a small bowl, mix together the turbinado and granulated sugar, paprika, and flaky sea salt.
Scoop the dough into balls about (I like using a 1 1/2 TBS scooper). Roll each ball in the sugar and paprika mixture so it’s evenly coated, and place each on the baking sheet so they’re about 2 inches (5cm) apart.
Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets in the oven midway during baking, until they are golden brown across the top, about 8-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a spatula to gently tap the tops of each cookie to flatten them slightly, which makes them more attractive, and chewy when cool.