We made it to another Friday!
Hi friends -- I hope that you and your families are all safe and well. This is such a weird, unprecedented time, and so many of us are having weird, unprecedented emotions: anxious and busy and sleepless and stressed and also constantly bored, all at the same time? Be gentle to yourselves and other people; we're all reacting to this in different ways, and I've been trying really hard to be patient with the whole world right now. I made myself change out of pajamas and went for a walk yesterday, and it helped a lot to see some sun and flowers and the dad teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. There's still a world out there waiting for us.
Today is Good Friday, and normally on Good Friday my mom and I go to church and stay as long as we can stand it and then we leave, starving, and go to our favorite restaurant and get their delicious fish sandwich and french fries and cocktails and talk about our Easter brunch and dinner plans and chat with our favorite waitress. Next time I get that waitress, I'm going to give her just the most enormous tip.
Like many of us, I've been diving into comfort reads a lot lately. For those of you L.M. Montgomery fans out there (which, if you subscribe to this newsletter, it's like 3 to 1 odds that's you) -- did you know that you can find many of Montgomery's short stories (she wrote hundreds) as ebook collections? Not the just ones that were published in book collections, but lots and lots of others. There are lots of them (all either free or 99 cents) -- here's one, and if you search you'll find a bunch more. I love SO MANY of these stories; a lot of them show up as scenes in some of her more well known works, so that's always fun to see how and when she tested her material, but there's also lots of stuff I'd never seen before. They are cozy and familiar and occasionally surprising and often delightful. Lots of orphans who have no one finding family they never knew (often the new family is rich!), long lost lovers coming back together, people who did something wrong and get what's coming to them, a person with spunk succeeding when everyone doubted them, sly tales of gentle revenge, a dress that saves the day (seriously, there are a few of those, I love them), people being generous to one another...just what we need right now. Some of my favorite stories are "The Romance of Jedediah," "Charlotte's Ladies," "How We Went to the Wedding," "Lilian's Business Venture," "Dorinda's Desperate Deed," "Her Own People," "Penelope's Party Waist," and my favorite, "The Strike at Putney" which makes me smile just to think about it. Read these stories and be happy.
Often for Easter brunch I make Monkey Bread. There are a lot of different kinds of recipes for Monkey Bread -- some sweet, some savory, some people just use packaged biscuit dough to do it, my great grandmother used to make it as basically dinner rolls all in a tube pan -- but the general idea is that it's a bunch of balls of dough all stuck together and at the table everyone pulls it apart to get some. It's fantastic. The recipe below was in the LA Times over ten years ago, and I've been making it for brunches ever since. I've always done the cinnamon version for brunch; maybe I'll make the butter version all for myself for dinner (or like, a snack?) as I shelter in place?
Monkey Bread
Basic dough
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
3 1/3 cups flour (14 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) soft unsalted butter
In the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir to combine; let sit for a few minutes. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Beat the softened butter into the yeast mixture (in a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment). Keep the mixer running and add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all is combined. Beat in the mixer for about two more minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured board for about five (until the dough still looks sticky but is smooth to the touch). Form the dough into a ball and put in a lightly greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, an hour to an hour and a half.
Cinnamon Walnut Monkey Bread
(Note: I never use the walnuts in this recipe but I bet they'd be delicious!)
1 recipe basic monkey bread dough
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the brown sugar dissolves, about five minutes. Remove from heat, and pour one third of the mixture into a greased 10 inch cake pan (I've also used an 8x8 square pan for this, though a cake pan is prettier; a springform pan would also work). Then sprinkle in half of the chopped walnuts (if using) in an even layer.
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
Pour out the monkey bread dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into four equal pieces. Take one of the pieces (cover the rest of the dough with plastic wrap), and roll it into a 12 inch log. Cut the log crosswise into ten equal pieces, and tuck and roll each piece into a little ball. (Here's an excellent, and intensely soothing, video to show you how to do that). Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and put side by side (touching, but not tightly packed) on top of the walnuts and butter/brown sugar mixture. Do this with all of the dough. Once all of the dough is in the pan, sprinkle the rest of the walnuts (if using them) over the dough. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 350 while the dough is rising. Pour the rest of the butter/brown sugar mixture over the dough (if it's cooled down too much to be pourable, reheat it gently and let cool again so it's not hot to the touch first). Put in the oven and let bake until golden brown and puffy, about 35-45 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes, then invert on a plate. Serve warm.
Butter Monkey Bread
1 recipe basic monkey bread dough
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted
Pour out the monkey bread dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into four equal pieces. Take one of the pieces (cover the rest of the dough with plastic wrap), and roll it into a 12 inch log. Cut the log crosswise into ten equal pieces, and tuck and roll each piece into a little ball. (Watch that video from above again). Dip each ball into the melted butter, and arrange in a very well greased or nonstick Bundt pan until all of the dough is in the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled (about an hour to an hour and a half). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the pan in the oven and bake until puffed and lightly golden on top, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then invert on a plate. Serve warm.
I hope you're all save and well (and for those of you celebrating Passover, I just realized I sent you a lot of words about bread right now, sorry about that, please save it for when Passover is over!).
xo
Jasmine
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