Butter Loves Company, Author at butter loves company

sugared brioche doughnuts

August 11, 2016 by Butter Loves Company

Check. Check 1-2. Check 1-2-3-4.

Hello…

it’s me!

I am (honestly) in California dreaming about who we used to be. That is, food friends! Life has been quite busy lately and I’m going to blame my temporary break on the new doughnut in my life. No, I’m not talking about these sugared brioche doughnuts that I hope you’re grabbing for on the screen (they are that good, I promise). I’m referring to the newest member of the Butter Loves Company family, our precious calico kitten—say hello to Nori! She is my new kitchen assistant, contributing mostly by sleeping curled into an adorable doughnut shape. I couldn’t be happier to be her mama.

Cute cats aside, I am bursting with excitement to share this recipe with you. Imagine biting into a sweet, buttery cloud with egg-y richness and a kiss of vanilla. Sounds pretty amazing, right? That’s what you’ll get with this perfect sugared brioche doughnut recipe. As soon as I tried Thomas Keller’s recipe from Bouchon Bakery, it was game over.

If you’re thinking, “Homemade doughnuts? That seems difficult,” let’s take it step-by-step. You’ll prepare a simple dough, which is a mostly hands-off process, allowing your stand mixer to do the heavy lifting. You’ll let the dough proof for an hour and then again overnight in the fridge. You’ll roll out and cut the dough into your doughnut shapes. You’ll heat the oil and fry those pretties for just a couple minutes. Remove from the oil, let cool and toss them in vanilla sugar. Give one to everyone you see around you—well, maybe not the cats!

turkey quinoa poblano chili

January 13, 2016 by Butter Loves Company

Warming Turkey Quinoa Poblano Chili is your answer for cold days, game days and all the days you want to curl up with some ‘healthier’ comfort food. Also, it’s perfect for feeding a group!

I’ve made this easy turkey chili recipe a handful of times within the past year and, each time, Greg and I seem to be surprised by how delicious it is. The more I think about it, though, the more I’m surprised that we’re surprised. With tender turkey, mildly spice from the poblanos, and slight nuttiness of quinoa all simmered with the heat of chili powder and cayenne, plus a touch of sweet from cinnamon and cloves, this dish has so many comforting flavors. When topped with creamy avocado, tangy lime and a dollop of cooling Greek yogurt, you really can’t go wrong with this not-surprisingly delicious turkey chili.

While this chili is a great alternative to the traditional beef chili when celebrating game day, you could also make a batch to have for lunch throughout the week. I bet you could even make this one vegetarian if you wanted to sub out the turkey for a variety of different beans and the chicken broth for a vegetable broth.

Depending on your brand of chili powder and the specific poblano peppers you use, the heat level can vary. If you are wary of spice, I would recommend starting with about half of the chili powder and then adding more to taste.

rosemary honey buttermilk biscuits

January 5, 2016 by Butter Loves Company

These rosemary honey buttermilk biscuits are what dreams are made of. From their soft, buttery layered centers and lightly crisp edges to earthy rosemary and sweet honey flavors, these biscuits are the real deal.

Four and a half years ago, I bit into the best biscuit of my life. It was a Monday night, right after Greg and I began dating and we were perched at the bar of one of our favorite Boston restaurants, Island Creek Oyster Bar. We had made it a little tradition to go there for oysters and doughnuts. An odd pairing, yes, but doesn’t a meal that consists of the freshest, most cleanly shucked, perfectly chilled oysters on the planet and piping hot, homemade, seasonal doughnuts sound heavenly? We think so. How could it get better?

Enter: The biscuits. A tip from a fellow diner led us there and, after one bite of the rosemary, honey coated buttermilk beauty, we were in dreamland. With crisp edges that balance the soft, buttery layers within, this is a biscuit you will definitely fall in love with.

Many thanks to Saveur Magazine for sharing our love of “The Biscuit” and getting the Island Creek team to reveal the recipe. I could have sworn there was rosemary inside the biscuits as well as on top, so I adjusted the recipe to meet my memory. The real key here is shredding frozen butter into the dough with a box grater. It will give the biscuits their many layers. Get ready to fall in love.

cheddar cheese gougères

December 27, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

These cheddar cheese gougères are the perfect nibble for a New Year’s Eve gathering. They are flavorfully cheesy, yet light and uncomplicated—allowing you to really appreciate the flavor of any champagne or bubbly you might be sipping on for the festivities.

Gougères might seem fancy, with their golden crust, eggy insides, and distinctly hollow cores. However, they do most of the work on their own—the dough is simply spooned or piped onto baking sheets and the cores are a natural result of the dough puffing up during the baking process…an example of baking magic if you ask me! You could easily turn these into a heartier appetizer by piping a savory filling into the baked puffs, just as you would pipe sweet cream into their spherical cousins, cream puffs or profiteroles (both made using the same magical pâte à choux dough).

These are undeniably cheesy thanks to a generous addition of extra sharp cheddar cheese—while untraditional, I like how they create a flavor reminiscent to that of a Cheez-It cracker. For a more traditional version of the French gougère, feel free to substitute grated gruyère cheese. You could even sprinkle a little nutmeg or cayenne into to the batter, or top the uncooked scoops with a little fresh cracked pepper to make them your own.

Grab a glass of champagne, laugh about the year’s (sometimes failed) resolutions, and grab a light and fluffy gougère. Now you’re ready to ring in the New Year!

NOTE: You can make the dough and freeze the uncooked, shaped mounds ahead of time and bake right before eating. Hot, cheesy gougères on demand? Nothing wrong with that!

Cheddar cheese gougères recipe perfect for a New Year’s Eve gathering (make ahead optional). Undeniably cheesy and seemingly fancy, with their golden crust, eggy insides, and distinctly hollow cores. Add a glass of champagne and you're in business!

pecan sticky bun babka recipe

October 27, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

The ultimate sticky bun babka recipe with tons of buttery, cinnamon, pecan swirls between buttery brioche dough. Don’t let the recipe length scare you…each step is totally manageable and your efforts will be rewarded with a show-stopping breakfast!

Whoa! Is it really the end of October? Where has the time gone? Sorry for my recent absence…life has been very busy between moving apartments, starting new projects, travel, birthdays—all exciting and amazing things, but, the bottom line is, I miss you!

Will you accept this Pecan Sticky Bun Babka as an olive branch for leaving you for so long? I think you’ll love its sweet, caramel scent and beautiful nut-studded swirls. And I hope you’ll embrace its messy, ooey-gooey glory! If you’re looking for a great special occasion breakfast item or brunch recipe, this is certainly one to add into the rotation.

For the dough, we’re going to use the same basic brioche recipe as we used for the Flour Bakery Pan aux Raisins. You’ll only need half of the basic brioche dough for one babka loaf though. If you’d like to make two babka loaves, double the filling recipe below. Otherwise, wrap the extra half of the uncooked brioche dough tightly in a double layer of plastic and freeze for your next craving.

Note: This is one of those breads that can take a while to cook in the center. You will likely have to tent some foil over the top after it has been in the oven for a half hour or so to prevent it from browning too much before it is cooked through.

Please don’t fear the steps! While not a speedy snack, it makes for a great weekend project! As always, feel free to reach out to me with questions! Oh, and definitely use any extras for a bread pudding. Because, um, hello, it would be dangerously delish.

If you like this sticky bun babka recipe or sticky bun things, you should totally check out this Sticky Bun Bundt Cake. It’s one of my faves!

You’ll roll that all up!

You’ll cut the roll down the center to reveal the inner layers.

Twist it all up and then place it into your prepared pan.

One Month Ago: Triple Chocolate Cookies

Six Months Ago: Hong Kong Style Bubble Egg Waffles (eggettes)

One Year Ago: Warm, Lemony Crab Dip

triple chocolate cookies

September 9, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

“I keep a bag of dark chocolate candies in the freezer and then just have one at night after dinner as my dessert. It is just sweet enough to curb all my chocolate cravings.”

Have you ever heard anyone say something like this? I’ve heard this a lot coming from a family that doesn’t necessarily love sweet treats. I’m not even a chocolate person and all I can say is that sounds like real life magic. One bite of bitter dark chocolate and all your dreams of chocolate layer cake or brownies or ice cream subside? I’m not buying it.

These triple chocolate cookies are for the people who don’t believe that a teensy bite of chocolate is enough. They are filled with mouth-coating, fudgy, rich chocolate flavor. On top of that, they are studded with melty, bittersweet chocolate chips and creamy white chocolate chips. There is no ‘hint of chocolate’ here. These are cookies that need a side of milk, in the best way. Every bite is deeply chocolatey.

If you make a batch, you could then tell everyone that you too just have one piece of dark chocolate at night. Feel free to omit that the dark chocolate is actually a palm-sized cookie that has three kinds of chocolate in it and is basically fudge in the middle. I’ll never tell.

Note: These cookies are made with Dutch processed cocoa powder. If you have questions about different types of cocoa powder or are unsure which you have, please check out this post before baking!

One month ago: Fresh Fig and Almond Cake
Six months ago: Brown Butter Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
One year ago: Apple Pie Buttermilk Biscuits

WARNING: These triple chocolate cookies are for serious chocolate lovers only. They are filled with mouth-coating, fudgy, rich chocolate flavor and are studded with melty, bittersweet chocolate chips and creamy white chocolate chips. There is no subtlety here. These are cookies that need a side of milk, in the best way. Every bite is so deeply chocolatey and they’re basically like fudge in the middle!

bourbon banana bread

September 3, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

An easy mixer-free recipe for moist banana bread spiked with bourbon for a little deep heat. One of the best banana breads I’ve ever tasted and, trust me, I’ve tasted A LOT of banana breads.

Take a look around the kitchen. Do you see bananas? Yes? How do they look? Please tell me they are so over-ripe that they are almost detaching from the stem. Now, tell me you’re ready to mash them all up and whip up a batch of banana bread!

But we’re not whipping up just any old banana bread, today. We’re taking a pit stop by the wet bar and grabbing the bourbon. Yup. We’re spiking the banana bread and it might just be the best thing you’ve ever tasted. Get ready to start buying those ’nanners just to let them get all brown and speckled. Bourbon banana bread is happening.

Greg tried to throw these bananas out. I was like umm, what are you doing..are you kidding me?!! This is peak bread ripeness! Love ya! 😉

This bread is moist with distinct banana flavor. Cinnamon and nutmeg spice up the flavor while Greek yogurt and, of course, butter add tang and richness. The kicker here is the flavor that the bourbon brings to the party. It adds this little mature spicy heat to the mix. It’s like you know as you’re biting into it that the bread has edge. Something about the whole package is just utter banana glory.

Bonus: You don’t need a mixer for this recipe.

I used Knob Creek because I had it leftover from a party. Though I bet you could use any brand without it changing the flavor too much.

It will be so easy, you’ll just mix by hand and then pop this thaaang in the oven.

One month ago: Iced Brownie Thins
Six months ago: Funfetti Pie Crust
One year ago: Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

An easy mixer-free recipe for moist banana bread spiked with bourbon for a little deep heat. One of the best banana breads I've ever tasted and, trust me, I've tasted A LOT of banana breads.

Interested in more banana bread? Check out this Brown Butter Banana Bread. It’s another one of my faves!

crunchy chewy bakery-style sugar cookies

August 28, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

An easy recipe for big, crunchy, chewy bakery style sugar cookies with beautiful crackle tops and rich flavor. They are not powdery or cakey and are perfect for everyday nibbling!

It seems that sugar cookie recipes typically fall into two categories. There are those for the soft and thick sugar cookies like you find amply frosted at the grocery store, and then there are those for the thin, snappy, cutout sugar cookies you make around the holidays. But, what about that third sugar cookie? In my experience, you can’t find a recipe for that perfect, crunchy, chewy bakery style sugar cookie: the kind of sugar cookie that has a beautiful crackle top and a rich flavor. The kind of sugar cookie that is not powdery and not cakey and does not need frosting or icing to make it whole. This is the sugar cookie I adore, and this is the recipe I’ve been looking for.

After exactly seven recent attempts to create the sugar cookie of my dreams (and maybe yours), I finally cracked the code and am so excited to share it with you. There are a few of secrets to these.

First, instead of using all granulated sugar like most sugar cookie recipes do, we’re swapping out for some light brown sugar: not enough to dramatically alter its core flavor, but enough so it benefits from the natural chewiness of brown sugar.

Second, we’re using a dash of cream of tartar in the batter. This will also help add chew, and the cream of tartar reacts with the baking soda which is what creates the crackled tops.

Third, we’re using bread flour and all purpose flour. Bread flour has a very high protein content and therefore will create more gluten in the final product. Gluten=chew.

Finally, we will let the cookie dough chill overnight. I promise you, I tested baking right away, chilling for a few hours, and chilling overnight and the winner without a doubt was the cookie made from dough that was chilled overnight. While the others tasted mighty fine and had a crunch and some chew, the ones chilled overnight had the perfect moist, candy-like chew in the center.

Woof. That’s a lot of information, but I hope it helps explain how this cookie came about! You can add this cookie to round out the sugar cookie trifecta: soft and thick, snappy cutouts, and now, crunchy chewy. P.S. I’m pretty positive these cookies would be a dreamy as part of an ice cream sandwich. Just sayin’! ☺

My sweet friends over at Cheeky Home were kind enough to send me the adorable paper goods you see in the photos below. I can totally get down with pretty paper products especially ones that help fight hunger! These puppies are available at Target should they strike your fancy!

One month ago: Feta Scallion Buttermilk Biscuits

Six months ago: Brown Butter Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

One year ago: Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe for crunchy, chewy bakery-style sugar cookies yields cookies with beautiful crackle tops and rich flavor. They are not powdery or cakey and are perfect for everyday nibbling!

angel food cupcakes with whipped cream topping

August 26, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

Recipe for pillow-soft, snow white, squishy jumbo angel food cupcakes topped with sweet and creamy whipped cream topping and fresh berries.

Up until yesterday, I pretty much figured I would never make angel food cake at home. There has always been something about the snowy white sponge cake that just didn’t seem right to me. There’s no butter in the recipe, so it can’t taste that good, right?

I would see angel food cake at the grocery store and it often looked as if it would taste like Styrofoam. I would see it on every ‘healthy dessert’ list and my brain had permanently labeled it ‘diet cake.’ Diet cake is not something I’m interested in. When I have cake, I want it to count.

Enter: five leftover egg whites in my fridge. What’s a girl to do? I could use them for an egg white omelette, but that seemed too ‘meh’ for me (Sidebar: is meh an acceptable way to describe things?). I could make French macarons, but, then again, they are my baking kryptonite and I wasn’t in the mood for a mental breakdown.

Within an hour, I had decided to make angel food cupcakes and all but fell in love.

I think you’ll swoon over each pillow-soft, ultra spongy bite of these. The cake is as light as air with a definite chewiness and just enough golden brown crispiness on the outside to keep things interesting. Pair these with creamy, vanilla bean speckled whipped cream and berries, and you’ll forget all that ‘diet cake’ talk from earlier… unless you want to use it as an excuse to have two!

This is what the batter should look like before you divide it among the muffin pan.

I made this quick video to try to show you the squishiness of the cake… it’s so squishy!

One month ago: favorite m&m cookies
Six months ago: fluffy homemade marshmallows
One year ago: 6-inch super s’mores layer cake

Recipe for pillow soft, snow white, squishy jumbo angel food cupcakes topped with sweet and creamy whipped cream topping and fresh berries.

brown butter cookie dough dip

August 21, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

This brown butter cookie dough dip brings me right back to slumber parties as a kid and one of my greatest culinary triumphs…But I’ll get to that in a minute. During these epic sleepovers, my friends and I would watch scary movies, eat junk food, and film ourselves quoting our favorite movies and making comedy sketches with a camcorder the size of an toaster oven.

Our ‘short films’ were essentially all bloopers. We would watch the tapes back and howl into the early morning about how off our attempted-British accents were. We would write embarrassing things in journals (that I still have, thank goodness!) and mastered our ‘pretending to be asleep’ skills when my parents would tell us to go to bed. Sound familiar to anyone?

We were 90’s kids with no cell phones, limited Internet, and wild imaginations that led us to some great ideas. In my opinion, the most impressive idea we had (Here’s the promised culinary triumph.) was to dip chocolate bars into tubs of frosting. Yes, you read that right. And yes, we did it. We were living the life!

The minute I saw that cookie dough dip was a thing, I was transported right back to those frosting dip nights. Just as chocolate bars dipped in buttercream was, cookies dipped in cookie dough dip is decadence to the core: creamy, sweet, and (if you do it like I do) sprinkled with crunchy chocolate chips and buttery toffee bits. Whether you choose to serve this with cookies, graham crackers, sliced apples, or chocolate bars—for old times’ sake—there is no question that this dip is a perfect party treat.

To up the flavor profile, we’re browning the butter in this recipe first. It’s going to add a little more nutty, caramelized flavor to the entire dip. Is it obvious that I love brown butter? (See: brown butter cinnamon sugar pull apart bread and brown butter banana bread).

Anyways, if you start making this cookie dough dip now, you can have this dip on your table in 20 minutes. Just in time for the festivities you may have in store this weekend. How easy is that?

Party perfect brown butter cookie dough dip: creamy, sweet, and sprinkled with crunchy chocolate chips and buttery toffee bits. Serve with cookies, graham crackers, sliced apples!

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11682291/?claim=w9jcs38c7yq”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

« Previous Page