Caramel Peach Sticky Buns

Sometimes I like to tell you about my life. 

But other times, the food is just so much better than anything I could possibly ramble about. So let's just get right to it, shall we? No foreplay. All buns. 

Caramel Peach Sticky Buns

makes 8 buns

filling:

2 cups chopped fresh peaches

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup rum

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp cornstarch

dough (adapted from here):

1 cup non-dairy milk, warmed

1 0. 25 oz. package active dry yeast

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

First, grab some beautiful, ripe peaches and chop 'em up. I thought about skinning them too, but that's just so much work and the skin really just ends up cooking into the sauce.

Once your peaches are nice and diced, grab a saucepan and toss in the peaches, cinnamon and brown sugar. Salute Captain Jack and add that splash of rum. Heat over medium low heat, stirring constantly until the peaches are nice and mushy. Combine the water and cornstarch in a separate bowl and add into the peach sauce. Stir until thick and remove from heat.

Now onto the hard part: yeasted dough. If I can do it you can.

Sprinkle the yeast over the warmed soy milk and let sit for about 10 minutes or until frothy. Meanwhile, stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Once the yeast mixture is ready, add the applesauce and whisk until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together.

Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 2-3 minutes or until smooth (add some flour if it's too sticky). Let it rest for 5 minutes, then roll it out into a 9x12" rectangle.

Spread the peach filling all over the dough, leaving a 1" border. Begin to roll the whole thing up, jelly-roll style, taking care that the filling doesn't squeeze out the edges.

Slice the log into 8 equal pieces and place in a 9" round pan. Cover with a dish towel and the buns let rise in a warm place for about an hour. 

Turn on some music and dance around while you clean up a bit :)

Preheat your oven to 350º. After the buns have worked their magic and doubled in size, stick them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until they turn a lovely shade of golden brown. Let them cool for about 15 minutes. But wait, you can't eat them yet.

While the buns bake or cool, whip up a batch of caramel sauce. I used this recipe, but used almond milk instead of coconut milk. Just make sure you are paying attention the whole time, otherwise it will boil too much and turn back into granulated sugar!

See these buns? I know they look good...

But let's kick it up a notch.

Ooooh baby, pour that caramel sauce.

Now we're talkin'.

Pull apart and enjoy the best summer breakfast ever. 

Happy Friday!

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

Well this is turning out to be one of the most random internships I could have imagined. Yesterday I spent all day folding origami butterflies for a monarch exhibit and scanning pictures of wildflowers from the 1940s. Today I folded more butterflies and cut out little magnetic pictures of plankton. 

Among these funny little crafty things I'm doing, I am learning some interesting stuff about the inner workings of museum curation and the collection of local natural history. Plus I get to go to the Pacific Grove monarch sanctuary and film and take pictures of the butterflies as part of my job... not too shabby!

When I'm not working, I'm off exploring Monterey, shopping at little thrift stores, and cooking and baking with my friends who are hosting me! My friend Maria, who is an expert baker and has even made award-winning cookies, has never actually tried vegan baking before. I knew I had to find an incredible recipe to prove that baked goods can be just as delicious without all the dairy and eggs. Angela's Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake turned out to be the perfect thing.

Unfortunately, Trader Joe's does not carry brown rice syrup, so we used a different recipe for vegan caramel. The cake still came out amazing- everyone in the house was blown away!

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Spice Cake

For the caramel (adapted from The New Vegan Table):

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup earth balance
3/4 cup soy creamer
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the cake (from Oh She Glows): 

4 apples (we used sweet fuji apples- yum!), peeled and sliced thinly

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup sugar
1/3+1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

1. To make the caramel, stir together the sugar, water and maple syrup in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let cook until it reaches 248º. Carefully add the earth balance and soy creamer and whisk quickly. Lower the heat and stir for about 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.

2. Grease a 9-10" round pan and once the caramel has cooled slightly, pour about 2/3 of the batch over the bottom of the pan. Place apple slices on top, layering them if necessary. 

3. Preheat the oven to 325º. With a mixer or by hand, mix the earth balance and sugar until fluffy. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a small bowl, and combine the dry in a medium bowl. 

4. Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, mixing well as you go. Pour the batter over the caramel and apples and spread evenly with a spatula. 

5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 10-20 minutes, then flip onto a plate and pour the rest of the caramel sauce on top. Serve and enjoy!

This cake is warm and comforting on a chilly day!

Monkey Bread

Okay I'll admit, I still get ridiculously excited on Christmas morning and tend to wake up at 6:30 or 7am to go open my stocking with my brother. Maybe slightly embarrassing, but hey, I'm not sure if the Christmas morning magic ever fades. My dad lights a fire in the fireplace, we turn the tree lights on, and take our sweet time enjoying each and every present we unwrap. 

Our beautiful Christmas tree!

Christmas loot

Continuing with the theme of tradition in the last post, our holiday breakfast tradition is to make monkey bread- a delicious twist on traditional cinnamon rolls. Of course we're all in a sugar coma by lunch time, but it's totally worth it. Again, we had never tried making this vegan before, but my mom and I made a few adjustments and everyone agreed it was actually the best we had ever made!

Monkey Bread with Caramel Glaze (adapted from the Martha Stewart Holiday Magazine 2002)

Bread:
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus a pinch for the yeast
1 package yeast
2 tbsp earth balance
3/4 cup soy milk, warmed
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce or 1 egg replacer
3 1/4 cups flour

Coating:
1/2 cup earth balance, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Caramel Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tbsp earth balance
6 tbsp soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

1. Put the warm water and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Stir and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
2. Place the earth balance, warmed soy milk, salt and applesauce in a large bowl. Grease a medium bowl.
3. Once the yeast is foamy, add it to the bowl and mix well. Slowly add the flour and knead for 5 minutes. Put the dough in the greased bowl, cover with plastic and let it rise for 20 minutes.
4. To make the coating, pour the melted butter in a bowl and combine the cinnamon and sugar in another. Grease a bundt pan.

5. Divide the dough into 4 sections and roll each section into a long rope, about 1/2" thick or less. Cut the ropes into tiny pieces and roll them into balls. Dip each piece first in the butter, then coat it in cinnamon sugar and place in the bundt pan. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

6. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about an hour. 
7. Preheat the oven to 350º and bake bread for 30 to 35 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes in the pan before turning it onto a plate.
8. Make the caramel glaze by combining the brown sugar, 2 tbsp of earth balance and 2 tbsp of soy milk in a sauce pan. Cook over low heat until dissolved, then cover and cook for 3 more minutes. Take the cover off and let it simmer without stirring. 
9. Turn of the heat then stir in the remaining ingredients. Drizzle it over the monkey bread right before serving. 

It's a little labor intensive, but can be really fun if you get family and friends involved in rolling up the dough balls. I guarantee this bread will give you a great reason to wake up in the morning, even if it's not Christmas!

This post was featured on Sweets for a Saturday!