Asian Chicken Burgers on Pretzel Rolls

This post is going to be a two-fer. Not only will you get a recipe for a juicy, flavorful, unique chicken burger, you will also get a recipe for the bun you serve the burger in! I recently saw both of these recipes in Food Network Magazine, and I immediately got the urge to try them together.



First, let me talk about these pretzel rolls. They come from Food Network personalty Guy Fieri, who incidentally has been making soft pretzels since he was just a kid. You learn something new every day! Anyway, I skipped right over the recipes in the article for stuffed pretzels, and went straight for these Pretzel Rolls. We've bought pretzel rolls and eaten them here at home, and we've always thought they were so good. There's just something about the combination of yummy burger and soft, slightly salty pretzel roll that I find hard to resist. A match made in heaven!

Though making these pretzel rolls is a guaranteed time commitment, I firmly believe that they are worth it. The dough is very simple and very easy to work with. I had a blast forming the rolls; the hard part was just waiting through the two rise times. Once they have risen, you throw them in a huge pot of boiling water and baking soda, just for a couple minutes each, and that gives them their unique, pretzel-y crust. You take them from the water, drain them, and then transfer them to a baking sheet. Sprinkle them with some salt, and they're ready to be baked!

I was so excited when I peeked into the oven and saw that they were forming a crusty top, and I could already tell that they smelled like pretzels! I probably could have baked them even longer than I did; they're a bit lighter than pretzels tend to be. Inside, though, they were unbelievably soft and tender, yet they held together quite well and were the perfect vessel for a burger.

Man, that burger! I haven't even told you about it yet! It's an Asian Chicken Burger, and it tastes pretty much just as it sounds. There's a variety of Asian flavors included in the patty, such as soy sauce, sambal oelek, and hoisin sauce. You grate down a bunch of onion, carrot, and ginger and add it to the rest of the ingredients. I couldn't get over just how moist the grated veggies made the burgers! You totally couldn't tell I used such lean meat in the patties; there was so much flavor and good burger texture. You top off the burgers with a marinated mushroom and red onion mixture, and that just makes the whole thing. Oh, it was yummy! Some may say that an Asian burger with a pretzel roll is an odd pairing, and I may be inclined to agree. But I've tasted it, and I'm here to tell you that it worked! Plus, it was just super cool to be able to say, "Hey, honey, I made burgers for dinner, from scratch! Including the buns!"

Guy's Pretzel Rolls

from Food Network Magazine

makes 4-6 rolls

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling (I used fleur de sel for sprinkling)

Vegetable oil, for the bowl

Cooking spray

1/3 cup baking soda

Directions

1. Put 1 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F) in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside to bloom, 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

2. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and mix with the dough hook on the lowest setting until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 8 minutes.

3. Form the dough into a ball, place in a large, oiled bowl, and turn the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, 30 to 35 minutes. Line a baking sheet with foil or a silicone baking mat, coat generously with cooking spray, and set aside.

4. Punch down the dough, then turn out onto a floured surface. Knead just until the dough is smooth and springs back when poked, about 1 minute. Divide into 4 pieces and form into 5-by-5-inch oblong rolls. Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet and cut four 2-inch diagonal slashes across the top of each. Cover with a damp towel or cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.

5. Stir the baking soda into the boiling water (it will foam up slightly). Add 2 rolls and poach 2 minutes per side. Using a slotted spoon, remove the rolls, drain, and place on the baking sheet, cut-side up. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the reamining rolls.

6. Bake the rolls until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet before enjoying.

Asian Chicken Burgers

from Food Network Magazine

makes 4 to 6 burgers

Ingredients

Cooking spray

1 small carrot

1 small red onion, halved

1 lb. ground chicken (I used a combination of 99% lean ground chicken and lean turkey)

1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp. grated, peeled ginger

4 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce

3 tsp. hot Asian chili sauce, such as sambal oelek

8 oz. white mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Juice of 1 lime

4-6 burger buns

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray. Grate the carrot and 1/2 onion into a large bowl. Add the chicken, panko, 2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce, the ginger, 3 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 tsp. sambal oelek and mix until combined. Shape the chicken mixture into 4 patties and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, thinly slice the remaining 1/2 onion. Toss with the mushrooms, sesame oil, lime juice, and the remaining 1 tsp. soy sauce in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce and 2 tsp. sambal oelek with 1 Tbsp. water in another bowl.

3. Warm the burger buns in the oven (or use pretzel rolls warm!). Serve the burgers on the buns with a drizzle of the hoisin-sambal sauce and some of the mushroom mixture.

Mexican-Inspired Calzones

I got the inspiration to make these calzones when I was thumbing through Ree Drummond's cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, not too long ago. She has a great recipe for pizza crust that she shares in the book, and then she lists a couple of different recipes for pizza, and finally a calzone recipe. They just sounded and looked so good, but I didn't have everything I needed on hand to make her version. No problem; I'd just make up my own variation!



First, you whip up a batch of Ree's pizza crust, which is easy and straightforward, as far as pizza crust recipes go. The thing I liked about the calzone recipe is that it uses up the whole batch, as opposed to pizza recipes which would only use up half the batch. Waste not, want not! Meanwhile, you prepare the calzone filling: brown some sausage, add in onion, then throw in a can of diced green chilies, 3/4 of a block of cream cheese, and a generous heap of salsa. Let everything become all incorporated, then let it cool some before assembling the calzones.

For the assembly, first you need to divide the crust into 8 equal portions. Roll each out, then add 1/8 of the filling to the circle. Fold it up, pinch the ends together to seal, then pretty it up by pressing the tines of a fork into the edges. Once you have every calzone assembled, spray them all down with some cooking spray (the higher-fat option would be to brush each with olive oil).

They bake up in about 15 minutes, and they taste like a gourmet Hot Pocket. But way, way better. The mixture is ultra creamy and slightly zesty, thanks to the cream cheese and salsa. The dough is perfect and delicious, and I loved how easy it was to work with. Plus, the possibilities are endless with calzones; the sky is the limit as far as fillings go. I can't wait to play around with other ideas for this. In the meantime, here's the recipe for this version.

Mexican Calzones

created by Bri

makes 8 calzones

Ingredients

1 lb. spicy pork sausage

1/2 onion, diced

1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies

1/2 - 1 cup salsa, any kind

6 oz. cream cheese, cubed

1/3 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

Flour, for dusting surfaces

1 recipe Pizza Crust (recipe follows)

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large skillet, brown the sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. When sausage is nearly cooked through, add the onions. Saute until onions are soft and meat is fully cooked. Remove the skillet from the heat, then add the diced green chilies, salsa, and cream cheese. Stir constantly until cream cheese has melted completely and the salsa is fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Set aside.

2. Take your pizza crust and divide it into 8 equal-size balls. With a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-inch circle. Place one-eighth of the meat and cheese mixture in the middle of each circle. Fold half of the circle over the other half, gently pressing to slightly spread and flatten the filling inside. Press a fork along the edge to seal closed, then transfer the calzone to a greased baking sheet. Repeat this with the remaining 7 balls of dough and the remaining filling. Lightly spray each calzone with cooking spray.

3. Bake the calzones for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the calzones to a serving platter or wrap individually in foil.

Pioneer Woman's Pizza Crust

from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

makes 2 pizza crusts (or just enough for these 8 calzones)

Ingredients

1 tsp. or 1/2 packet active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Directions

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water.

2. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle in the olive oil until just incorporated. In a separate bowl, gently stir the yeast/water mixture, and then drizzle it into the flour/oil mixture; mix until the dough forms a ball.

3. Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. Toss the ball of dough in the bowl and turn over to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, or cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 2 days. If refrigerating, bring the dough back up to room temperature before using.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Monkey Bubble Bread

So last week, when I made the Nutella Scones for the Baked Sunday Mornings group, I was really supposed to have made Monkey Bubble Bread. However, I knew that I had been wanting to make the Monkey Bread for Christmas morning, so I decided to make and post about it one week late. In this case, it's definitely better late than never. This recipe's a killer.

This is some of the most addictive, rich, gooey, coma-inducing stuff I've ever made, hands down. It is not for the faint of heart. That said, I had an absolute ball making it (no pun intended!). The yeast dough is very easy to work with; you divide it into 60 little balls, which you then dip into butter and dark brown sugar/cinnamon. You take all your balls and arrange them in a bundt pan as though you are building a brick wall. Once all the yumminess has baked, you wait 5 (agonizing) minutes before flipping the bundt pan over and releasing the bread out into the wild. Once the bundt pan has been removed, all the melted butter/brown sugar gooey-ness oozes down the sides and the middle and just soaks in and envelops everything in its decadence.

It is truly one of those treats that I just could not fathom making on any other occasion than Christmas, that one day out of the year where I can justify myself eating something so evil (in a good way, of course!).

I'm glad I finally got to make Monkey Bread from scratch. I have made it several times before, but always the "cheat" way, with tubes of refrigerated biscuit dough. Let me just tell you, this way is so much better and so well worth the extra time and effort it takes to make. As my five year-old son told me on Christmas morning, "Mom, there is nothing in the world that tastes better than Monkey Bread!" So there you have it!

Since I'm about the last one to blog and post about this, make sure to check out the other posts on this scrumptious bread by clicking over to the Monkey Bread Leave Your Link, here. That is also where you'll find the full recipe. Enjoy!

Pepperoni Deep-Dish Pizza

After making a pizza last week for my Craving Ellie group, and failing pretty miserably at making my crust from scratch, I wanted to show everybody that I actually am capable of making a knockout pizza! I actually made this Pepperoni Deep-Dish Pizza about two weeks ago, but for some reason I'm just now getting around to posting about it. Please don't think for a second that I forgot about this recipe, because it's been quite the opposite. We're all still thinking about that pie, and my son keeps wanting to know when I am making "that really yummy pizza" again. I'm hoping the answer is soon!

I keep my back issues of Cooking Light magazine for at least six months, if not longer. I remembered recently that they had done a special feature on pizza back in their May issue, and there were several things that had caught my eye. Plus, I really had been wanting to graduate from pizza dough made in my bread machine to a more complicated, from-scratch dough that required a bit more from me. So I decided to try my hand at deep-dish dough, just to get my feet wet.

The dough was actually much easier to assemble than I thought it would be. In fact, the most challenging thing about it was the fact that you need to refrigerate the dough for 24 hours before using. Just add warm water and flour to a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, mix together, then add a mixture of water and yeast, along with some olive oil and salt. Allow all of this to mix together for about 5 minutes, then it can be covered and kept until the following day.

Once the dough has come to room temperature, it can be pressed into a 9x13-inch baking pan. In this particular recipe, the secret to a perfect crust with no soggy middle is the cheese. You divide the cheese so that most of it is layered underneath the sauce, thus protecting the dough from coming into direct contact with the liquid. The pepperoni covers the sauce, then the cheese tops it off. The pie is baked all the way on a rack in the very lowest part of the oven, further ensuring that the crust will be baked through completely and evenly.

This pizza tastes like heaven. It's an amazing blend of creamy, tangy, spicy, and savory, all on an abundant crust that tastes too good to be homemade. I think if I served this to company, they would have a hard time believing it came out of Cooking Light. It just tastes way too good to be healthy (but it totally is!). I think part of the reason is because I swapped out the recipe's basic pizza sauce, and subbed in a tried-and-true sauce that has been a winner here every time. My son thought the sauce was really pretty spicy, and it is. But it can always be toned down to please more sensitive palates, and in the end it didn't stop him from gobbling down two big pieces! Oh, one more thing: I used turkey pepperoni instead of the recommended "regular" pepperoni, and we didn't miss a thing. Dare I say, I actually made the recipe even healthier than Cooking Light did?

Pepperoni Deep-Dish Pizza
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees F), divided
12 oz. bread flour (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp.)
4 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
2 oz. turkey pepperoni slices
2 Tbsp. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions
1. Pour 3/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour to 3/4 cup water; mix until combined. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining water and yeast in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add yeast mixture, oil, and salt to flour mixture; mix 5 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated in cooking spray; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated in cooking spray. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until the dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Roll dough out to a 14x11-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Press dough into bottom and partially up sides of a 9x13-inch metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.

3. Place a baking sheet in the oven on the bottom rack. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

4. Arrange 3/4 cup mozzarella evenly over dough; top with pizza sauce, pepperoni, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella. Place pan on baking sheet in oven; bake at 450 for 25 minutes or until crust is golden. Cut pizza into 6 rectangles and serve.

Poppin' Jalapeno Bread

We were lucky enough to have been given a ton of jalapeno peppers recently. Andy's parents grew them this year, especially for Andy and I (since nobody else in their family eats spicy food; go figure!), and a couple weekends ago we received over a hundred! Seriously, this is no exaggeration: they handed us over a hundred jalapenos all at once, thereby leaving me both extremely grateful and a bit overwhelmed all at once. We're certainly fortunate to have access to such a fabulous supply of peppers, lovers of all things spicy that we are. However, I didn't know what I could do to make the most of them before they weren't usable anymore.

My panic disappeared pretty quickly, though, once I started researching jalapenos online and discovered that, among other things, I could freeze some! This was a relief to know, and I set about readying some jalapenos for the freezer. I made up a freezer bag of regular, fresh jalapenos, and another freezer bag of roasted jalapenos with the skin peeled off. Hopefully, they'll survive being thawed out when I need them; I'll keep you posted on that whenever I get around to using some of them.

Anyway, this post is actually supposed to be about this yummy bread I made, so let's get to it! I found this wonderful recipe for jalapeno cheddar bread that I instantly wanted to try. I have been pushing myself more and more lately to make yeast-based goodies, and this one was just the latest effort to make me more confident in my bread-making abilities. Fortunately, it worked out very well, so I'm getting braver and braver with every new recipe I try.

It's pretty simple, actually. You dissolve your yeast in warm water and allow it to get all nice and foamy. Add an egg and some butter, and mix to combine. Next comes a mixture of flour, sugar, and salt, which is added to the wet ingredients to form a dough. The dough needs to be kneaded (knead, need, ha ha!) for just a minute, then shaped into a loaf and placed in a loaf pan to rise and then bake. It's very low maintenance, as far as yeast breads go, because there's hardly anything you have to do with your hands. The minimal kneading that is required of you is effortless, and you don't even have to worry about the shape of the loaf, because it eventually conforms to the shape of the loaf pan anyway. For my particular skill level, this recipe was perfect. I (almost) feel ready to tackle something a little more advanced next time! Almost. We'll see. Maybe. In the meantime, I have this yummy, slightly spicy, cheesy, flavorful bread to reward me for my bravery. Life is good.

Poppin' Jalapeno Bread
adapted from Food.com
makes 1 9x5x3-inch loaf

Ingredients
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
1 cup water, 100 to 110 degrees F
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 Tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
3 small canned jalapenos or 3 small fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (the original recipe used 1 cup)
1/4 cup minced onion
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in the bowl of an electric stand mixer; let sit 5 minutes until foamy. Add the eggs and butter to the bowl and mix until the butter has melted.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together 3 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and garlic salt. Gradually add the flour mxiture to the yeast mixture, beating with the electric stand mixer until smooth. Beat in the jalapenos, cheese, onions, and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Shape dough into a loaf and place into a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

4. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts (I used my oven, which was turned off), 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (but make sure your risen bread is no longer in the oven before you turn the oven on!).

5. Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes or until done and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Well, I am proud to say that I have now made cinnamon rolls, from scratch, without the aid of a bread machine or any other type of "cheating." It's a miracle! Of course, never one to stick to the traditional, I opted to make these ooey gooey Apple Cinnamon Rolls, and they were divine.

These rolls incorporate a sweet, sticky filling of caramel and finely chopped apples into the proceedings, rather than the standard butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture. Just before baking, the rolls are sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, but without all that butter inside, these rolls actually are a little bit better for you, too!

Of course, they certainly don't taste healthy. These are oozy, melty, and decadent just as they are. The apples add just enough tart texture to make them complementary to the sweetness, rather than detract from it. If you're looking for an excuse to use up some fall apples this year, I highly recommend these rolls. Plus, as far as yeast dough-type things to make, I found this to be very doable and not difficult at all.

I'm so happy that I'm finally beginning to conquer my fear of yeast, and these rolls are baked proof that the results are well worth the effort. The recipe makes two pans' worth of rolls, so I was able to bake one pan after an overnight rise, and then I froze the other pan for a rainy day. Oh, and one final note: the caramel/apple mixture that serves as the filling is to die for, and has become the inspiration for yet another decadent treat that you will be seeing me blog about in the near future. Look for it soon!

Apple Cinnamon Rolls
from Breadworld
makes 24 rolls (2 pans)


Ingredients
For the rolls:
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp. RapidRise yeast (2 envelopes)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 large eggs

For the apple filling:
2 large cooking apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

For the cinnamon sugar topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg


Directions
Make the apple filling: 1. Combine the apples, flour, sugar, and butter or margarine in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg; cool completely.

Make the rolls: 1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. In a saucepan on the stove, heat the water, milk, and butter until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

2. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion into 12x8-inch rectangle. Spread Apple Filling evenly. Beginning at long end of each, roll up tightly, jelly-roll style. Pinch seams to seal. Cut each roll into 12 equal pieces. Place, cut sides up, in greased 9-inch round pans. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. (After covering the pans, they can be frozen at this point, or if you're preparing this in the evening for the next morning, you can refrigerate these overnight.)

Prepare cinnamon sugar topping and bake rolls: 1. In a small bowl, combine all of the cinnamon sugar ingredients, then stir well to fully incorporate.

2. Sprinkle the risen rolls with the cinnamon sugar topping. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until browned on top. Remove from pans; serve warm.

St. Louis-Style Gooey Butter Cake

Now that we have lived in the St. Louis area for over two and a half years, I figured maybe it was time for me to learn how to make a delicacy that is considered to be a regional treat. Now, gooey butter cake is something I had never heard of until we moved here. Around these parts, though, you can find it in every grocery store, and there are even bakeries in the city dedicated to this cake. It was supposedly created in the 1930s or 1940s by a baker who accidentally mixed up the proportions of sugar and flour in a cake recipe. This yummy treat was the result of that accident. Nowadays it is made in two forms. One, the easier of the two, involves the use of a standard yellow cake mix for the base. The top layer uses a block of cream cheese and some other ingredients I'm not entirely sure of. The second version of this recipe is the one I went with.



Naturally, I chose the more difficult version of the two. Why would I choose the easy way out? This way, in addition to being more challenging (and therefore, I figured, more fun!), was going to have me use yeast, and I really would like to feel comfortable using yeast. Practice makes perfect, right? So I went for it.

This cake has two layers: the bottom is a basic yeasted cake, not too sweet or heavy, and the top layer is a very sweet, buttery, and gooey (you see, it's not just a clever name) confection. The yeast cake part of the proceedings went fairly smooth, I have to say. I was very nervous about the whole endeavor, and I fretted the night before over the timing of everything, and where I should let the dough rise in my house, etc. It was actually very straightforward and very easy. When I rose the dough, I did so in my oven, with the heat turned off and a pan of just-boiled water on the bottom rack. It worked great! The pan of water kept the air in the oven at just the right temperature and humidity to proof the dough.



After the rising was a success, I felt awesome. I was totally ready to tackle the gooey butter topping. It comes together easily with a hand or stand mixer, and when I had it all mixed together I noticed that it resembled cookie dough. I've seen the grocery stores sell a gooey butter cookie, so I thought that maybe they make those cookies by whipping up this topping and baking it in dollops on a cookie sheet. Who knows? Maybe I'll have to try that sometime....

So you take your topping and drop it by spoonfuls all over the yeast cake layer. Spreading it turned out to be really tricky. The yeast cake is all sticky and squishy, so it becomes hard to spread the goo because it makes the yeast stuff slide and move around underneath. It took some work and some finessing, but in the end I managed to cover the entire surface with the gooey topping. My above three pictures show the yeast cake layer alone, the gooey topping dropped in dollops, and the cake with the topping spread all over the surface (in that order).



And here is the finished product. It looks funny, but looks can be deceiving. Once you taste it, it's not so funny anymore. It's just delicious. The top and bottom layer are a wonderful contrast of light, airy cake and dense, sticky goodness. And I was so proud of myself for making this thing completely from scratch. I could have taken the easy way out and done the yellow cake mix one, but no, sir. I tackled the yeast, and I won! Score another victory for me.

The version of the recipe that I used came from the blog of Deb, from Smitten Kitchen. I highly recommend a visit to her blog; it's so utterly chock full of wonderful-looking photos and recipes. I have gotten sucked in more than a few times, and there's tons of treats that I plan to make from over there. Her post on the gooey butter cake can be found here.