Hello from wherever you are. I hope you are safe and doing well.
If you have a trader joe’s near you, it’s possible you’ve seen this ‘pumpkin brioche twist’ ; a pumpkin-flavored brioche twisted around a spiced cinnamon sugar filling. Each slice comes with it’s own little wrapper and opening it feels like unwrapping a special occasion gift. The bread is only available in the fall but more than wanting to have it year round I wanted us to have a recipe for it so we could get super creative with it….(see below!)
new on bbs
Pumpkin Brioche
idk how you look at that slice and not say GIMME. It’s so soft, days later too! This is an enriched yeasted dough so there’s eggs, butter, and in this case a whole lotta pumpkin puree. You can make it as a loaf or as rolls. Or, get twisty with it (and me!) below.
updated on bbs
Brown Butter Vanilla Cake with Whipped Salted Caramel Ganache
One of my dreamiest cakes! This takes your classic yellow birthday cake to town: the yellow cake is made with vanilla bean brown butter, wonderfully moist and flavorful, the frosting - the frosting, is salted. caramel. dark chocolate. ganache. Whipped! It’s such a unique cake experience.
I’ve been meaning to make you a pumpkin cookie bar recipe all week and tried with a blondie but it was not great =( in the meantime, I offer you:
Gooey Pumpkin Spice Bars
This one got released to subscribers two years ago, tested by a few awesome supporters and once it had the green light, moved to the blog. It’s kind of like a blondie but a bit gooey-ier and you get to top it with cream cheese buttercream AND caramel swirls. If that isn’t autumn decadence idk what is.
reader review =)
apple cider muffins
“These were so good!! Really nice apple flavor. I made them standard size and the ones I filled higher got a really good dome. Definitely would not skip the turbinado sugar and apple slices on top, they definitely added a lot to the recipe. Also, my cider concentrate kinda congealed after I took it off the stove and I was worried about it being weird in the final result but you couldn’t even tell once they were baked.” - Audrey
notes
this week sucked =( I save the notes part of my newsletters for last so I’ll tell you now that writing this week took a lot longer than usual as I have been distracted, closely following what’s going on in Israel and Palestine. Some of you know my former professional background is in ME politics, so I am experiencing this news in two ways: my heart & chest tight over the attacks on the innocent and powerless, and my brain screaming in frustration at the barrage of dangerous misinformation that has been spreading.
Now I know you don’t come here for my ‘stance on politics’ as some IG followers occasionally like to tell me, so I’ll ‘stick to baking’ but there’s one thing that my research-trained self can’t leave unsaid: don’t believe the first thing you read, and read from multiple outlets, checking their sources to ensure they are reliable and verified before you share information with your family/friends/followers. This is especially for fellow baking bloggers with social followings, please share responsibly.
Back to brioche: within this awesome chocolate chip cookie bread is a brown butter brioche recipe. I really need to give it it’s own page as a stand-alone recipe because it’s so versatile and makes an exceptional tasting bread slice. You can slather it with chocolate sauce to make a swirled babka bread, make rolls or buns out of it or just a standard pull-apart brioche loaf.
I really really want to make something like this for us: passion fruit curd and cream cheese danishes. If you aren’t into the filling (and I’m not a passionfruit person myself) consider the pastry: a laminated brioche that’s ultra flaky and crispy. The filling options are limitless! Lemon curd?? Pumpkin pie?? Cranberry curd?!
Guys, remember I told you I wanted to make a pumpkin curd? I did it! It turned out very tasty but unfortunately, it had a gritty texture from the pumpkin. Unless I can persuade you to use a cheesecloth for it or figure something else out, I think I’ll table it for awhile. However, an apple curd is absolutely coming, and soon! :)
just for subscribers…
Pumpkin Brioche Twist: Two Ways!
Something a little different this week: I’m using that new pumpkin brioche dough recipe to give you a couple of ways to dress it up. One is a loaf shaped, babka-style, cinnamon swirl bread and the other a wreath shaped cheesecake filled bread. idk if you can choose, I almost couldn’t!