Sticky Buns

One intention I had for learning to cook was to cook better and healthier for myself. This recipe is healthy in butter and sugar content. Aside from that, I think my actual healthier cooking will be sticking to tradition and occurring along with my continual New Year's resolution of eating better. But in my defense, Mom wanted sticky buns for Christmas breakfast, and that's what she got.

Yesterday, between listening to Mom's repeated statements of disbelief at how little I knew how to cook, I was reminded yet again of one of the key reasons why I don't and haven't taken the time to learn to cook. This recipe took forever to prepare. I spent what seemed like at least an hour picking out a cinnamon bun recipe from a variety of about eight different recipe books and then did a search online to see if I liked anything I saw there better. I did, however, get entertainment value out of guessing how the index in each cookbook would list my chosen rolls. Many listed them as a variation on cinnamon rolls. But my favorite books were the ones that listed them as: buns, sticky.

I settled on a recipe that included dry milk (no clue what that was until yesterday) and potato flour (didn't know that existed until reading the recipe either), mainly because it seemed easy and didn't include any overnight prep time for the dough. I should also note that this recipe was made possible by being at Mom and Dad's house in New Hampshire for Christmas where Mom actually keeps food in her pantry and had things like parchment paper and a rolling pin on hand.

After returning from the grocery store yesterday morning, in search of corn syrup, potato flour and dry milk, I tried to start working on the recipe. Then I read the first direction, and realized that I was supposed to let the first part of the dough rise for 12 hours before proceeding with the rest of the dough ingredients. Well, guess who hadn't actually read the directions when I thought I had. Given that it was already 10 in the morning, I skipped that step. To my darling sister Amy, if you just read that and cringed, the recipe turned out fine anyway. That step just seemed totally pointless to me after I realized that I was supposed to let the dough rest for another hour with the majority of the yeast added in the next step of the directions. (What I should really say here is that I am sure that my tendency to not follow directions properly will come back to haunt me in future recipes. It just didn't this time.)

There were few other exciting events that occurred in the preparation except that it took far longer, with more breaks required, and me considering how nice and lovely it must be for adults who don't have to work and can stay home working on cooking projects all day. On that note, I really think my ideal time to have been alive would have been the end of the nineteenth century, basically raised in one of Edith Wharton's novels. In that scenario, I would have had the desired money to live the lifestyle that I think would have been ideal for me, which includes long periods of travel through Europe and having plenty of time to paint and do other crafts. And I guess in that scenario I could cook as well, but I would likely have servants who would do a much better job than me... and that just pretty much sums up that time period, right?

Oh, one other note on the sticky buns that I found entertaining: The sixty-two degree daytime temperature of Mom and Dad's house meant that not only have I once again worn a winter hat inside the house for five days straight, but the yeast took twice as long to do anything as the recipe called for. All in all, I think this was about a six or seven hour project including grocery shopping, and the dry milk and potato flour were so expensive that it would have been cheaper to buy the sticky buns pre-made. Go figure. Oh, well. I would definitely like to make this recipe again. Six of them have been frozen for New Year's and I managed to consume at least a week's worth of sugar in one sitting.

Merry Christmas!

PS. For some reason the photos loaded in reverse order. The second two show half of the dozen sticky buns in the pie pan before sitting to allow the yeast to rise yet again, and the roll as I was cutting the individual pieces.

The recipe came from the King Arthur Flour Baking Companion Cookbook.

Why I'm finally learning to Cook

The last straw came on Thursday night. I was hosting a holiday party and when one of my friends showed up he immediately headed for the kitchen... okay, that's not entirely true. First, he changed around the lighting in my apartment to improve the ambiance and then went straight for the kitchen. He opened all of my cupboards, suggested that if I was planning on serving the pastry puffs in the freezer, I should take them out to let them thaw, and then asked if I had been planning on making the spinach and artichoke dish for which I had two cans of artichoke hearts sitting on the counter. My response was something like, "I thought you had to cook the pastry puffs."

Forty-five minutes later, when one friend had finished making a spinach and artichoke concoction and another friend had pointed out that I forgot to put napkins and utensils on the table with the food (which was all store bought), and I was officially tipsy, I vowed that if and when I ever host another holiday party, I will know how to cook.

So great, I finally have the theme for a blog, and no, I will not be doing a search to see just how many other people thought to write a blog about learning how to cook. This way I can pretend that I am still unique, original and creative, and when that movie deal as the sequel to the movie Julie and Julia is proposed, I will be ready.

My plan for 2011 is going to be to cook and prepare one new recipe per week from my collection of over 10 cookbooks that hang out in my apartment looking pretty and colorful with their glossy photos that I sometimes like to look at. I love buying cookbooks, thinking about how maybe this cookbook will be different. Maybe this time I'll actually be able to develop some signature dishes. Maybe this time I'll learn what different spices do. Maybe this time I'll learn how to improvise when I don't have the correct item. Maybe this time I will fill my fridge and cupboards with food and I won't be told that my kitchen might as well be a bachelor pad (It did come in very handy storing all the alcohol and store bought items for Thursday night. What do people do for parties when they actually have other food in their fridge?).

I really thought that a lot of this knowledge would just come to me over time after finishing college. Unfortunately, it appears now, as I've reached almost 4 years graduated, and the knowledge from my cookbooks has not simply transmitted itself from the pages into my brain, that I'm going to actually have to teach myself how to cook, and work for it.

So, that's what I'm going to do. At the end of 2011, I will hopefully have 52 new recipes, and I'm looking for at least 30 of them to have come out decently. Maybe then I won't feel like such a cooking loser at my own party.