Merry Christmas! Happy first night of Chanukah!

It is a quiet morning for Dave and me. Due to various family challenges we find ourselves solo this Christmas. The girls won’t join us until after dinner – so we’re both a little listless without presents to open and play with. We had a lovely, romantic Christmas Eve. Dinner consisted of an appetizer buffet. We had Rumaki (water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, glazed with a soy sauce and brown sugar mixture), Spinach and Artichoke Dip, a cheese plate, chilled shrimp cocktail and mini quiches. The name of the game was ease and convenience – so several of the items were store-bought. Yes I said it - store-bought. Egad! We lit the candles and the fireplace and noshed while watching “A Christmas Story”. It was wonderfully peaceful and romantic.

This morning we opened the gifts in our stockings while sipping the traditional Christmas Morning Mimosa. I received two Oxo Y-peelers….which I have been wanting! One has julienne teeth on it…so I will be a garnishing whiz soon, no doubt! Dave just shakes his head when I get giddy over kitchen gadgets.

After stockings, we had Pecan Sticky Buns. This was the first batch I had tasted made with Plugra – and I thought they were very yummy. They were light and flaky, rich and sweet. I wish they would have risen a bit higher, but I think that may have been due to the pan, or lack thereof.

You see, when I was planning Sticky Bun Fest 2005, I figured out a way to give everyone their own batch of rolls in a reheatable ‘pan’. Although, it is not a true pan. These neat containers are pan-shaped and made of some type of paper/cardboard that you can bake, store and serve in. So, I made batches of 8 pecan rolls each and baked them in this cardboard pan. Then, when they cooled I wrapped them festively and attached instructions for reheating and serving. I sent a package for each family ‘household’ up to Cleveland with my niece, Amanda. Hopefully theirs reheated and unmolded as easily as mine did.

A few notes on the sticky buns themselves. They are probably the most time-intensive thing I have made….but the results are more than worth it. The recipe is from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s “The Bread Bible”. I love Rose because she always clues you in to the science behind what you bake. This recipe starts out as a recipe for brioche. Brioche is a bread that contains eggs and butter. There are many risings – 3 rising periods of 2 hours each, plus more than 8 hours of chill time in the refrigerator. One of the key steps is to let the dough sit in the ‘fridge overnight, so I actually had to map out an hour-by-hour schedule so that the overnight chill time would coincide with bedtime. I think I’ve figured out that if I start the recipe by 4:00-5:00PM it will work fine with my 11PM bedtime.


Then, there’s the making of the caramel and the filling, the toasting of the pecans, etc. As I said, it is time-consuming but worth it. The result is definitely a labor of love.

I hope all of you who received them enjoy!

To all a Merry Christmas. May Santa bring you all what your hearts desire.