Sweets for a Saturday #50

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!!!

And now, here's the Top 3 from last week:

1. Buckeye Bars - A Well Seasoned Life


2. Christmas Cookies - Heidi's Recipes



3. Candy Cane Blossoms - Hannah in the Kitchen

The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
   
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
   
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
   
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
   
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Buttery Dill Monkey Bread

I made this bread for my family and they were blown away (and believe me, they are tough critics when it comes to food). I kept hearing them say . . .

Best bread I have ever eaten!

Mmmmm.

So fluffy.

I could eat this bread forever.

When are you going to make this again?


In fact, I made two mini loaves that night and my dad and sister devoured the first loaf in record time. The second loaf was gone by the next afternoon.


The dill flavor is not at all overpowering and it's just fun to pick off the little buns and eat them one by one. I highly recommend making this and eating it warm right out of the oven. It's the best!



Buttery Dill Monkey Bread (from Confessions of a Bright-Eyed Baker)

2 Tbsp. warm water
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/4 c. bread flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk, lukewarm
1 egg
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. dried dill

Dill Butter:
4 Tbsp. melted butter, divided
1 Tbsp. dried dill

Combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar and let sit for 10 min. until foamy.

Add the milk, egg, butter, and dill to the yeast mixture. Add the salt and the flour gradually until the dough no longer sticks to the bottom of the bowl. Knead lightly by hand and place the ball of dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30-60 min.

Meanwhile, combine 2 Tbsp. of melted butter with 1 Tbsp. dill to make the dill butter.

Once the dough is ready, punch it down and shape into 1-inch balls. Dip each ball into the dill butter and place in small greased ramekins or mini loaf pans (I used two mini loaf pans). The dough will rise more, so don't cram too much dough into too small a space.

Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 20-25 min. Preheat your oven to 375F. Right before baking, brush some of the remaining 2 Tbsp. of melted butter over the dough. Bake for 15-20 min., brushing again with the butter twice throughout the baking process. Enjoy warm from the oven.

This recipe is linked to:
My Meatless Mondays
Hearth n' Soul Hop
These Chicks Cooked
Made it on Monday
Friday's Potluck

Pumpkin Chai Bubble Bread

I had previously made a savory monkey bread for my sister. She absolutely loved it. Then, I told her about the buttery, sugary version of it, and well, she begged me to make that too. I agreed.

Since I've had pumpkin yeast bread on my to-do list for practically forever, I knew I wanted to do a pumpkin version of it. I used the pumpkin yeast bread recipe found on Willow Bird Baking, and then took it from there, adding my own twists on it. Instead of rolling the dough in cinnamon-sugar, I rolled them in a mixture of sugar and my chai spice blend. For comparison, I also made one loaf with cinnamon-sugar.


I couldn't wait for the loaves to be done. They smelled so good baking away. Peeking in the oven, I could see a beautiful sugary crust forming on top with little rivulets of butter melted in between the mini buns.

My family eagerly tried the breads. The chai spice version won hands down. My sister said she could taste the pumpkin in it more and that the flavor of the spices really blended well with it. I think the only changes I'd make next time would be to add some spices to the bread itself to pump up the flavor even more and use brown sugar instead of white sugar for rolling the dough. But, other than that, these were fluffy, sweet mouthfuls of bready bliss.


Pumpkin Chai Monkey Bread (adapted from Willow Bird Baking and created by Lisa of Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

For rolling:
1 c. sugar (I'd use brown sugar next time)
5-6 tsp. chai spice
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Chai Spice (Sweet as Sugar Cookies blend)

4 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. ginger powder
2 tsp. cardamom
2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. white pepper

Grease three mini loaf pans and set aside. Heat the milk to 100-110F and melt the butter in it. Stir in two teaspoons of sugar and the yeast and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 min. Add the pumpkin and salt and gradually add the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl (it will still be slightly sticky but not tacky). Knead until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a dishtowel, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. When dough has doubled, punch it down and roll into 1-inch balls, about 40-50 of them.

Roll them in the melted butter and then in the mixture of sugar and chai spice. Stagger the balls of dough in the loaf pans (do not put them in too tightly). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 min.

Preheat your oven to 375F. Bake the loaves for 20-22 min. until golden brown on top.

This recipe is linked to:
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
A Little Birdie Told Me
These Chicks Cooked
Made it on Monday
Full Plate Thursday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday