We hung our first bit of holiday decorations tonight. My son impressed us all with his intricate snowflake designs----a nod to his excellent origami skills, I suppose. As we sat around our small kitchen table, I thought of all the years I patiently helped them with this tradition... the many times the snowflakes were cut in two; the paper folded the wrong way; even fingers nicked with scissors. Tonight, however, it was my son who showed me new designs and helped his sister when she became confused in folding... Growing up.
And even as cozy as our little snowflakes look in our front window, our house pales in comparison to the light displays of our neighbors! I'm living in a winter wonderland!
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A few of you asked for the recipe for Monkey Bread. I use a very basic bread recipe that I place in my bread machine. I set my machine for the "dough" cycle and when it is complete, I separate the dough into balls that are the size of ping pong balls. In this previous post, I explained the process of first dipping the dough balls in melted butter and then a mixture of granulated sugar, cinnamon and a hint of cardamom.
Here is the bread dough recipe:
Sweet Milk Bread
- 1 1/2 C. whole milk
- 2 T. unsalted butter, at room temp and cut into pieces
- 4 C. bread flour
- 2 T. sugar
- 1 T. + 1 tsp. vital wheat gluten
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 1/2 tsp. SAF instant yeast
Place the ingredients into your bread machine according to your machine's guidelines and set the machine for the "dough" cycle. Alternatively, you can make this bread by hand: place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until it comes together. Check the dough for proper consistency-----it should be a little on the sticky side. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (when you pull up a piece of the dough, it should stretch readily without tearing).
Once again, this previous post explains the process of making Monkey Bread and if you have any further questions, please email me. Enjoy!
