meandering eats

Yet another sleepy Saturday. I'm so glad we've had a few weekends where we had very few obligations. I'm going to attempt making cinnamon buns this weekend. I’ve had quite a bit of practice with yeast breads lately, so the dough should be ok. It’s all about the icing, though. I think I might try Giada DeLaurentiis’ hazelnut filling from her cinnamon bun recipe. It sounds pretty good, even though I’m not a big fan of nuts in cinnamon buns. Perhaps I’ll chop them semi-finely in a food processor first.

This week was a week of desserts. Went to Heaven Sent Desserts in North Park for their excellent crème brulee. I think simplicity is key to that dish and they keep it light and simple. The custard is creamy with lots of little vanilla seeds from fresh vanilla bean. All I could taste was the cream, the vanilla, and the crunch of the burnt sugar. They use bigger granules of sugar for the crust, so it was nice and grainy.

I made apple pie for work. Bon Appetit (July 2007) has a great pie crust recipe. A high-powered food processor made it all possible, so I’m glad D. had the idea of buying one as a joint anniversary gift. The dough’s hard to roll out because minimal water is used to bind it. Still, with careful rolling and minimal water, the crust is incredibly flaky and still tender to the bite.

Hopefully, those cinnamon buns turn out well. That'll wrap up the week, dessert-wise, nicely.