These buns are delicious, soft, sticky and sweet. Definitely a staple recipe for your yeast repertoire!
Recipe adapted from: The Boy Who Bakes
Ingredients - brioche
70mL milk
1 tbsp honey
1 packet dry instant yeast (7g)
150g plain flour
150g bread flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
125g butter (room temperature)
Ingredients - topping
75g butter
100g brown sugar
Pinch of salt
75mL cream
25mL water
(Instead of this topping, I used leftover butterscotch sauce from sticky date pudding)
75g pecans
Ingredients - filling
75g brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
30g butter
Method - brioche
1. Microwave the milk until it's lukewarm. Mix the honey and yeast into the milk and let it sit for a minute.
2. Combine the yeast mixture with the plain flour, bread flour, salt and eggs - mix until combined. I used my Kitchenaid with the dough hook attachment. Knead at low-medium speed for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Chop the butter into small pieces and, while the mixer is running, add the butter a few pieces at a time. Once all of the butter is added, knead the dough for a few more minutes until smooth and the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
4. Grease a bowl lightly with butter or oil and place the dough in, then cover with cling wrap and let it sit in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. You can also refrigerate this overnight.
5. When your dough has risen (or, if you refrigerated it, you're ready to bake the buns), make the topping and filling.
Method - topping
1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sugar and mix until combined.
2. Reduce the heat to low and add the salt and cream, simmer for a minute.
3. Take the pan off the heat and add the water.
4. Once this is all mixed, set it aside to cool.
5. Chop the pecans roughly and set aside. You can toast these for some extra crunch if you want!
Method - filling
1. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.
2. Melt the butter.
Method - assembly
1. Lightly flour a clean work surface and tip the dough out, pat it into a rectangle with your hands.
2. Flour the dough lightly and roll it out to about a 40x50cm rectangle.
3. Brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mix over it evenly.
4. Roll the dough into a log from the long edge (so you get a long log).
5. Cut the log into about 12 slices.
6. Butter two 6-hole muffin tins (these tins have bigger recesses than regular cupcake tins) - you can use a large round tin as well. I used one muffin tin and one large round silicon cake pan.
7. Pour the caramel topping evenly between your baking tins and top with the chopped pecans.
8. Place your buns into the muffin tins so the cut side is facing up.
9. Cover the tins with cling wrap and let them rise for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size. Preheat your oven to 170C (340F).
10. The caramel topping may bubble over the sides of your muffin tins, so just in case, place the tins on baking trays lined with baking paper to catch any spills. This wasn't an issue for me but better safe than sorry!
Bake the buns for about 35 minutes, or until they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. If you're using a cake tin with the buns smooshed together rather than separated in muffin tins, you may need to bake a bit longer.
11. Let the buns cool for a few minutes in the tins and then invert onto a plate.
These buns are best served while fresh and warm (though be careful, the caramel is very hot straight out of the oven!) If it's been a day or two, just heat them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to get that softness back.
Enjoy!
...with chocolate chips, because almost everything is improved with chocolate. Despite being packed with caramel, chocolate and sugar, the oats make these bars seem almost - dare I say - healthy!?
Recipe adapted from: My Baking Addiction
Ingredients - 21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin
290g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
310g flour
2 cups rolled oats
277g brown sugar
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup pecans
1 cup caramel (recipe here)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Line your brownie tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the butter in a large heatproof bowl. Add the vanilla essence.
3. Mix the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, bicarb soda and salt into the melted butter until all is combined.
4. Press half of the mixture evenly into the lined brownie tin - this is your base.
5. Bake for about 8 minutes, and chop your pecans into rough chunks.
6. Take the base out of the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over it. Then pour the caramel on top.
7. Using your fingers, break the rest of the oat mixture over the top of the caramel.
8. Bake the slice for another 15 minutes until the top is golden.
9. Let the slice cool before slicing into bars or squares or whatever shape you like. I dug straight in with a fork and let me tell you, it was amazing! However, it's much easier to cut the slice up when it's completely cool.
Enjoy!
I have seen many 'turtle' recipes on the internet, all involving caramel, pecans and chocolate. I now know that there is a certain sweet called turtles, but I've never seen them in Australia.
All that aside, these brownies are gorgeously dense and chocolatey, and the caramel-pecan layer adds some extra sweet crunchiness. My favourite way to eat these is either fresh out of the oven or, for a similar effect, briefly heated for about 10 seconds in the microwave so that the caramel oozes out of the middle and the brownie goes soft and warm.
Recipe adapted from: Averie Cooks
Ingredients - 21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin
115g butter
170g dark chocolate
2 eggs
185g white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp instant coffee granules (optional)
115g flour
1 cup pecans
About 1 cup (250mL) salted caramel (recipe and method here, just add salt!)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F). Line a brownie tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate, mix them until combined.
3. Let the chocolate mixture cool for a bit, then whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and coffee in.
4. Stir the flour into the mixture.
5. Chop the pecans into chunks (not too fine).
6. Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared tin. Bake it for about 15 minutes until the top has just crusted over - don't overbake it!
7. Take the brownie out of the oven and sprinkle the pecans evenly over the top, then pour the caramel on.
8. Carefully spread the rest of the brownie batter evenly on top.
9. Bake the whole brownie for another 25 minutes.
10. Let the brownie cool for a while before cutting it, as it will be difficult when the caramel's all warm and liquid. You can even put it in the fridge for a while to make sure that everything's set.
These brownies can be enjoyed cold...
Or they can be warmed up in the microwave so that the caramel's melted. So delicious!
Ahh, pecan slice, how you fill me with delicious joy!
Ingredients - crust (17 x 26 cm (6.5 x 10 inch) rectangular cake tin)
230g flour
60g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
80g cold butter
Ingredients - pecan filling
185g brown sugar
230g corn syrup (2/3 cups)
100g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp table salt
2 eggs
4 cups pecans
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Line a 17 x 26 cm (6.5 x 10 inch) baking tin with baking paper.
2. Make the crust - add all the crust ingredients to a food processor and whizz until combined. It should look like a powder.
3. Press the crust mixture into the baking tin. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden.
4. While the crust is baking, begin making the filling - start by melting the butter.
5. Whisk the sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, vanilla extract and salt together. I do this by hand.
6. Add the eggs and mix them in.
7. Chop the pecans roughly and mix into the batter. If you like, you can skip the chopping and leave them as halves.
8. Once the crust is done baking, pour the filling straight on top (make sure that the pecans are distributed evenly) and bake for another 30 minutes. Cracks should have appeared on the surface and it should be golden brown.
9. Let the slice cool in the tin. The filling will solidify more as it cools so it will be easier to cut and serve.
9. Cut the slice into squares or rectangles and enjoy!
Want a rich, bittersweet, fudgy cookie with the smooth crunch of pecans? Look no further, this is your recipe.
Recipe adapted from: Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich
Ingredients
225g dark chocolate
25g butter
2 eggs
100g white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
40g flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter/margarine)
170g chocolate chunks or chocolate chips
200g pecans or walnuts, chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F).
2. Melt the 225g dark chocolate with the butter and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence together.
4. When the chocolate mixture is cool, mix it into the chocolate.
5. Stir the flour, baking powder and salt (if you're using it) into the batter. Resist the urge to add more flour - due to the high concentration of chocolate, this batter hardens up pretty quickly!
6. Stir the chopped nuts (I used pecans) and chocolate chunks into the mixture until they're evenly distributed.
7. Scoop out spoonfuls of batter and place onto your baking paper/silicone sheet covered baking tray. Make sure to let the batter fall exactly where you want it because it's difficult to move these babies without making a mess! Keep them quite far apart because they flatten out quite a lot.
8. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until the surface of the cookies looks dry and has cracked. Don't bake them too long because you want the centres to be gooey.
9. Let the cookies cool on their trays and then transfer them to a drying rack to cool completely. Alternatively, eat them fresh out of the oven when the chocolate's still melty inside.
Yum.
Do you ever have those days when you're feeling down and only a long-time-loved, tried-and-tested recipe will make you feel better? For me, that recipe is brownies. There's something calming and therapeutic about licking the batter off the spatula and the sides of the mixing bowl while the batter that made it into the brownie tin is baking in the oven.
For this batch of brownies, I tried something a little different and ended up dousing them in caramel and coconut and pecans. They were absolutely mouthwatering.
(21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin)
Recipe Adapted From: How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson (the brownie), and Sugar High (the caramel topping)
Ingredients - caramel
2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup (I used Queen Glucose Syrup)
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp butter
1/2 shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Method
1. In a heavy-based saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook over a medium heat and stir occasionally until the mixture reaches 175 C (350 F) on a candy thermometer, or turns a light brown colour. This should take a while, so don't expect it to happen immediately!
2. After the mixture goes brown, remove it from the heat and quickly add 1/2 cup of the cream and all of the butter. Mix until combined. It will froth a bit, but keep stirring and it'll go down.
3. Stir the rest of the cream into the caramel.
4. Take about half of the caramel away (for use later). Stir the shredded coconut and chopped pecans into the remaining caramel.
5. Set the caramel aside and start making your brownie batter! I used Nigella Lawson's awesome recipe, the ingredients and method of which can be found here on my blog.
6. For this particular brownie, I decided to load up with the caramel because I had extra and, why not? So, I poured a layer of brownie batter into my tin and then drizzled plain caramel on top. (You can skip this step if you want - it makes the brownie deliciously sweet and chewy, but if that's not your thing, move right on ahead!)
I topped that off with another layer of brownie batter, making sure to cover up all of the caramel.
7. Now it's time for the coconut-pecan topping. Blob it on top of the brownie...
...then swirl it around a bit with a knife.
8. Bake for 30-40 mins, or until the top is crackly. A skewer inserted in the middle should come out a bit gloopy, because you don't want your brownie to be all cakey! (Unless, of course, you like it that way - but I prefer my brownies to be sludgy and dense).
9. Leave the brownie to cool in the tin for a while then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I left mine in the fridge overnight to make it easier to cut.
10. Chop into whatever size pieces you desire and enjoy!
The drizzle of caramel that I sandwiched between the layers of brownie batter sunk down to the bottom, giving the lower half of the brownie a chewy texture and the rich caramel taste. Meanwhile, up top, the coconut and pecan mixture provided a crunchy and chewy texture to break up the heaviness of the brownie. This combo is definitely a winner.
