TWD/BWJ: Pecan Sticky Buns

Fifty-*something* years old and I've made my first brioche dough. Well technically, my trusty middle-aged Katie (KA mixer) made the brioche while I stood by with sweet words of encouragement. Another two-day recipe, but all's well that ends well. Half of the dough was transformed into not-so-sticky buns (but I'm not complaining - sticky is overrated). The other half of the dough waits patiently in the freezer for a day when our bodies need an infusion of butter. OK, "need" may be too extreme a word.

And now that I think about it, this probably wasn't the best day to go for that blood draw. I thought it was just a check of my vitamin D level.  Last time I was at the endocrinologist's office, she prescribed the mega-dose-once-a-week variety cuz I'm not so good at remembering to take vitamins. And then I forgot to take it the first couple of weeks.  Duh. Anyway, long story short, when I arrived for the blood test, they had a list of several other things to check.  Here I expected a finger prick (well, a girl can dream) and ended up donating 4 tubes full, about an hour after consuming a fresh-from-the-oven sticky bun. So when  they call to alert me of cholesterol and triglyceride problems, I'll have to fess up. Enough about me.  Let's get on with the pictures. The recipe can be found here or here, and other blog links are here.

Guess what I discovered?  See that "lock" lever?  Would have
been so helpful to know about that during the making of
the white loaves...

Never mashed butter with a
scraper before.
It was fun. 

♪♫... Rolling, rolling, rolling up some
sticky buns...♫♪
(think "Proud Mary" - sorry!)

There they are hanging out between the blackberries and the broccoli.
Thought they'd feel healthier that way.  Oh, and did you notice on
the shelf above?  Uh-huh.  Rhubarb.  You know I'm going back
for a second round of that Hungarian Shortbread...

Ready for the oven.  See that potholder in the back?
It says "The Queen does not cook" and it's
burnt from when I accidentally dropped it on
an element in the oven, LOL!

Close Enough. Yum!

This shoe reminded me a little of that butter-smashing...  Actually, there's a story here.  I saw it under the edge of this dumpster by the library.  A few weeks later it was still there, miraculously enough - with it's mate!  Can't find that picture right now, but it'll show up one of these days. Then I'll have to make that second batch of sticky buns.

TWD/BWJ: Hungarian Shortbread

Oh my, I'm so very late posting this, but it's been quite a week.

I took a five-day Carol Taylor workshop at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. And yes, I went home on Tuesday evening (after sewing from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and baked! Thank goodness I was staying at my sister's house and had access to an oven.

Couldn't find rhubarb in Paducah. Believe me, we tried. So I ended up with a jar of raspberry preserves as the filling. Shared the finished product with the other quilters on Wednesday and suddenly became very popular. The executive director of the museum even came in and declared that he was in love with me, LOL!  So there you have it, a success! The recipe can be found here or here.  And other blog links here.

Love the exposed brick walls in my sister's kitchen.

Wonder who first thought "Hmmm, maybe I should freeze that dough and grate it...?"

Baked the bottom layer for 15 minutes before adding the filling and second layer.

Didn't add the powdered sugar til the next morning.

Oh my goodness, they were LUSCIOUS!

First a picture to give you a little taste of what I spent the week working on playing with. Not finished, not even sure this will be the final arrangement but it'll give you an idea.  

And, I have to say that I saw several shoes in the road on this trip but wasn't fast enough with the camera to get one picture. So I'll show you a picture of one of my favorite shoes from another Paducah trip. I especially love this shoe because a teenage boy spotted it and even showed me where to find it.  He'll be graduating from high school this year. Thanks Philip!