Sweet Potato Buttermilk Sticky Bun Mix and Gift Kits

Gifts of Good Taste never go out of Style

During the month or two previous to the Christmas season, I spend a lot of time making Gifts of Impeccable Taste Mixes and Chef Tess 52 Method Jar Meals to give to friends and family. Don't you wish you lived closer to me?  Today I'm sharing a new mix recipe for sticky buns! I'm so excited!  I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse, having amazing buns ingredients on-hand for whenever the urge to have sticky sweet potato buttermilk caramel pecan rolls overcomes your better judgement...but I'm thinking it is a blessing. You know, like chocolate is a blessing? Oh...and cheesecake is a blessing. Oh...count your blessings! One sticky bun, two sticky buns, three...mrfllrh brrunnns (stop counting with your mouth full). If you want to make the sticky buns without using a mix you can see my evil-genius post Pumpkin Spiced Peach Sticky-Buns-o-Glory. It works magnificently well.  I love to give out baking kits to busy families. It gives them an excuse to bake with the kids without having to measure ingredients. 

My practical side takes over because I usually use an empty can from one of my many Thrive adventures as the containment unit (oh stars...I just sounded like a science geek) for the kit.

Decorate it however you like. Today I just tied a cute ruffly Christmas apron around the can and just added a note inside with baking directions. 

Chef Tess' Sweet Potato Buttermilk  Roll Dough Mix

4 cup Artisan Bread Flour or Panhandle Milling  whole wheat blended flour

1/2 cup sweet potato powder

1T tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar 

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 T Whole Egg powder

1/4 cup powdered butter 

To Prepare Dough You will Add:

1 3/4 cups water (cool to the touch)

Spiced Sugar Smear Mix:

1/2 cup powdered butter 
1/2 cup sugar
2T Cheftessbakeresse Wise Woman of the East Spice blend or 1 T cinnamon and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

To Prepare Smear you will add:

3T water to this mix and spread inside the cinnamon rolls

Sticky Bun Cream Caramel Glaze mix:

3/4 cup  brown sugar 

1/2 cup  powdered butter 

2T buttermilk powder

1 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts 

Prepare you will add:
3T water

Directions:
1. Combine everything in the dough mix in one-gallon size bowl or mixer. I like that. Knead 5 minutes by hand or 3 minutes in a mixer on medium setting. This is a less developed dough as far as gluten is concerned.
Form into a ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a lid for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

2. Take out of the bowl and place on a floured table or countertop. On a lightly floured counter top, roll into a rectangle, 2 feet long by one foot wide. It will be about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure you lift the dough a couple times and dust underneath with more flour so it doesn't stick to the table.

3. Prepare the smear by adding 3T water to the smear mixture. Spread the smear over the dough in a light coating. Leave about 1 inch on the ends and sides that don't have butter and/or sugar mixture. It will help the rolls seal better.

4. Combine the caramel topping ingredients and heat in a saucepan with 3T hot water, just until the sugar is dissolved, do not boil longer than 2 minutes.

5. Pour nut caramel mixture into a 9 inch by 13-inch casserole pan or divide among individual jumbo muffin pan.
Place rolls in the pan,  1 inch apart (or just in each muffin compartment). Now...lightly mist the tops of the rolls with oil and cover with a loose fitting piece of plastic wrap (or lid). You are going to have to raise the rolls completely, about 1 1/2  hours.

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and invert onto a serving dish immediately, using caution to not let the hot caramel coating burn your skin.

More detailed Directions...

Baking Directions:

Combine everything in the dough mix in one-gallon size bowl or mixer with 1 3/4 cup cool water. Knead 5 minutes by hand or 3 minutes in a mixer on medium setting. This is a less developed dough as far as gluten is concerned.

Form into a ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a lid for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

 On a lightly floured counter top, roll into a rectangle, 2 feet long by one foot wide. It will be about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure you lift the dough a couple times and dust underneath with more flour so it doesn't stick to the table. Prepare the smear mix by adding 2T water to the smear mixture. Spread the smear over the dough in a light coating. Leave about 1 inch on the ends and sides that don't have butter and/or sugar mixture. It will help the rolls seal better.

Now roll them up tightly. Pinch seam tightly. Slice the roll into 12 sliced pieces.

Combine the caramel topping ingredients and heat in a saucepan with 3T hot water, just until the sugar is dissolved, do not boil longer than 2 minutes.

Pour nut caramel mixture into a 9 inch by 13-inch casserole pan or divide among individual jumbo muffin pan.

 Place rolls in the pan,  1 inch apart (or just in each muffin compartment).

Now...lightly mist the tops of the rolls with oil and cover with a loose fitting piece of plastic wrap (or lid). You are going to have to raise the rolls completely, about 1 1/2  hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and invert onto a serving dish immediately, using caution to not let the hot caramel coating burn your skin.

There you go!


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Easy 3 Ingredient Holiday Artisan No-Knead Bread Mix

Happy Mix-Monday my darlings!  

Today I just wanted to share a quick and amazing bread mix that we've been working on here in the test kitchen that has been a great "grab-n-bake" mix.  It is "no-brainer-bread" at its finest.  It is my basic 4 Ingredient No-Knead Bread made simple  fast.  Follow the baking instructions using a pot to bake it in, and you'll have great success in having a very crunchy, chewy, amazing crust! The secret is the use of a remarkable Artisan Bread Flour . The one I use has the added benefit of malted barley flour and ascorbic acid, which help with the yeast action and the dough development.  This year, I plan on giving this bread mix away with gallon sized pots and little cute bottles of pink kosher sea salt (to sprinkle on top of the loaf just before baking).  The yeast is included in the mix, which means it is only shelf-stable about a year, but what a great year it will be!

Have fun!

Chef Tess No-Knead Artisan Bread Mix

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups Honeyville Alta Artisan Bread Flour 
1 1/2 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. SAF Premium instant yeast (or ½ tsp. active dry yeast)

Directions: Combine the ingredients with 1 ¼ cup water  in a 1 gallon food-grade bucket or a large 1 gallon bowl with a lid, just until everything is mixed and smooth. It takes about 20-30 turns by hand to get it all combined. Cover with a lid and keep it covered 10-12 hours at room temperature until you're ready to your bake bread. Form into a tight ball of dough. Place  ball in a well greased  gallon sized Dutch oven with a lid or a gallon sized covered oven-proof stock-pot/ pan.  Allow to raise until triple in size, about 2 hours (or 1 ½ hours in a lightly warmed oven no hotter than 110°). Preheat convection oven to 425° (regular oven 450°).. Lightly slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp serrated knife. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Bake at 425° for 25 30 minutes.

No Knead Artisan Bread Mix Label:

Directions: Combine the ingredients with 1 ¼ cup water  in a 1 gallon food-grade bucket or a large 1 gallon bowl with a lid, just until everything is mixed and smooth. It takes about 20-30 turns by hand to get it all combined. Cover with a lid and keep it covered 10-12 hours at room temperature until you're ready to your bake bread. Form into a tight ball of dough. . Place  ball in a well greased  gallon sized Dutch oven with a lid or a gallon sized covered oven-proof stock-pot/ pan.  Allow to raise until triple in size, about 2 hours (or 1 ½ hours in a lightly warmed oven no hotter than 110°). Preheat convection oven to 425° (regular oven 450°).. Lightly slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp serrated knife. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Bake at 425° for 25-30 minutes. www.cheftessbakeresse.com

If you have any questions, 
visit the post on my   4 Ingredient No-Knead Bread! Xoxo!!

Another way to do a bread kit is to just give the recipe and smaller packages of the ingredients. No matter how folks get their bread supplies, they'll be excited!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Today's Fox 10 Segment: Christmas and Holiday Neighbor Gift Ideas

Gifts are an expression of the heart. They show your love. They show your caring. During some tight years, neighbor gifts that I made at home were the only thing that really saved our family Christmas budget. Every penny counts for a lot of folks this time of year! So...  

That is why I am excited to share this Segment on Fox 10 this morning at 9:45 AM! 

Easy Christmas Gift Ideas : MyFoxPHOENIX.com

We covered a lot  of "neighbor gift" gift ideas! The small ones that really can add up!

Wise Woman of the East Spice and Floral blend is coming to major stores soon along with my other spices! That's exciting beyond words for me! For now, you can find it here

Oh. As a random side note, but I've been snuggling with this beautiful afghan all week. A darling gal named Lynn made it for me for my birthday. I have to say thanks. It's totally an expression of love to make a gift!

So. Here are the spiced nuts snuggling with that gorgeous blanket. Did I mention it's one of my favorite colors ever?! 

 Here are the recipes and label PDF's for printing and using at home. 

Recipes for your  Neighbor Gift Ideas.pdf

Labels for your gifts:  Neighborgift.labels2011.pdf


My detailed blog entry on the recipes and ideas is here! 

There you go!
Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Mixing Things with Fox 10

Isn't this cookie mix bag looking pretty snazzy? I thought I would do something a little swanky to take into the staff at Fox 10. Thanks my trip to a fantastic culinary store in the Utah valley called Orson Gygi Co. I was able to stock up well for the piece. Thanks Gygi's.

This morning at 8: 20 Fox 10 Phoenix I did another segment. Holiday Giving for Your Kids! This one was so crazy cool. We had mixes, variations of the mixes and some great tips for how to package those fine baking mixes to make them artsy. The great part is we focused on the extreme budget friendliness of the whole project. I had a wonderful time with Wendy and all her adorable kids!

Just another service I am happy to provide my dear friends.

The link is...Make a Mix. For a PDF I'm happy to send you a copy. Please contact me via email at: chef-tess@hotmail.com and I can get that to you. Fox should have the pdf on their website shortly as well. God bless.