I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been on a bread baking kick lately. From simple White Bread (made with milk and brushed with butter before baking for optimum yumminess) to the loaves and loaves of Brioche I made tonight, our house smells absolutely heavenly.

Speaking of Brioche: apparently, this is what Marie Antoinette actually said in her infamous line. Not Let them eat cake, but Let them eat brioche- so what she actually meant was, let them eat sweet eggy bread made with tons of butter.

Let them eat Brioche Recipe
Recipe from Bon Appetit

1/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
1/4 cup warm whole milk (110°F to 115°F)
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Combine 1/4 cup warm water and warm milk in bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium-low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 minutes (dough will be soft and silky). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, 8 to 9 minutes.

Lightly butter a large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 minutes until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight.

Butter 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup (dough will fill cup). Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 inch to 1 inch above top rim of muffin cups), 50 to 60 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven). Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 minutes. Remove brioches from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

It’s Halloween! Among other, pumpkin-related things, we’re serving up these spooky sugar cookies tonight. They may not be perfectly decorated (I need a lot of practice piping Royal Icing!), but you know what? They taste awesome. I might even dare to say that they taste better than any other sugar cookies I’ve ever had. They’re buttery, crispy-edged, soft inside, a little chewy- and, paired with the icing, possibly the best-tasting thing on my Halloween table tonight. I’m serious. Try these today:

Spooky Sugar Cookies
(from Martha Stewart’s Ideal Sugar Cookies recipe)
Makes two dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons milk (or use brandy for a kick)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix until incorporated. With mixer running, add egg, brandy (or milk), and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To bake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I used Martha’s Royal Icing recipe, tinted black (with Americolor Super Black gel) for the black cat. Left it plain white for the white cat.

“Lemon Butter” is hands-down my favorite sauce for fish dishes- and, surprise surprise, it translates exceedingly well in a cake! From light-as-air loaves, to ones filled with poppyseed, I have a nice collection of lemon pound cake recipes. Here’s a particularly good one:

Lemon Butter Cake Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 cup granulated white sugar, PLUS 1/3 cup
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, PLUS 1/3 cup

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease & flour (or spray and line with parchment paper!) a 6-cup loaf pan.
In a medium-sized bowl, blend flour, baking powder and salt together with a whisk.
In the bowl of your stand (or hand) mixer, cream butter. Add 1 cup sugar, and cream until light and fluffy. Turn mixer down to the lowest speed, and add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, etc.) and 1/4 cup lemon juice to the mixer in alternate batches, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Mix until JUST incorporated.
Pour into pan, and bake for about 30-45 minutes.

While it’s baking, make your glaze: in a small bowl, stir together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice until the sugar is dissolved.

Once your cake is ready, put on a cooling rack, and begin pouring the glaze over the cake while it’s still hot. You might want to poke holes in the cake with a skewer.

Let cool completely… and enjoy.

Isn’t that a pretty looking pie? Let me tell you, though, about that filling. For me, apple pie is all about the filling – and this is my favorite recipe yet. Because:

• It’s not runny,
• It’s not dry,
• It doesn’t contain flour or cornstarch,
• It tastes like apples (and not just cinnamon), and (perhaps most importantly)
• it doesn’t shrink!

The secret? Pre-cooking the filling. Here’s how:

Rocking Not-Runny Apple Pie Filling

7 to 8 medium large apples. I like to use a combination of Fuji and Gala. Peeled, cored, and sliced around 1/4 inch.
3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons simple syrup (or you can use Calvados or rum)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a large skillet, melt the three tablespoons of butter and cook until sizzling. Add the apples, and toss so you cover them well with the butter. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until softened slightly- around 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine sugar, syrup (or alcohol), cinnamon, all-spice, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well. Add to the apples in the skillet, and increase the heat. Cook until the juices are thick- this happens quickly, so I’d say around two to three minutes.

Use in your favorite pie-crust.

I’ve posted before about my favorite frosting, which is an Italian Meringue Buttercream, but today I want to talk about what is perhaps the easiest buttercream ever: sometimes called American Buttercream, it’s based on a fluffy mixture of butter and powdered sugar, and is particularly popular for cupcakes. Yeah, I said cupcakes… mmm.

The problem with most recipes of this type is that the resulting frosting is gritty or too sweet. Believe me, I’ve tried many, many of these recipes- until I found this one.

Now, American Buttercream isn’t for everyone. It’s good for sweet-tooths, a dream to pipe because it crusts, and is perfect for hot weather. The cupcakes pictured above, for example, were made for a party at an orphanage with kids of all ages- and I didn’t want to risk using raw eggs. Besides, with all those sprinkles and colored sugar- they loved them!

Vanilla Buttercream, American Style

4 oz. (about a stick) of unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the good stuff- you can totally tell with this recipe!)

Cream the butter and salt until creamy (but NOT melty). Add half of the powdered sugar and all of the milk, and beat again just until combined. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat until combined. Scrape, scrape, scrape the bowl again- and now beat on high speed for about three minutes, or until it looks nice and fluffy.

And that’s it. Delicious, not-too-sweet Vanilla Buttercream. Color with food color gel or paste, and use in your next cake. Or make cupcakes and spread some joy.