Monkeying Around

To begin monkeying around I often find it best to start with having a monkey around, and luckily for us, we do!  Siena, our sweet, clamoring, gripping, screeching chatters sounding little girl is just that for us.  Ever since we brought her home from the hospital it was one of the nicknames we gave her, drawing inspiration from the adorable monkey babies climbing around on their parents, hugging them close when afraid, starting to explore and running back to safety, cute baby animals we’ve see on so many animal related shows.  There is a human connection with ape-kind, they are not so different from us.  Plus, Siena’s toes are all about the same length, and I think she could grip a pencil with those toes and draw, much in the same way I imagine a very bright monkey might do.

With the stage set for monkeys, it may now make sense (or not) that I decided to make Monkey Bread for Labor Day.  Brian and I were discussing something fitting to take to the end of summer celebration barbecue held at one Randall Sharp’s house.  Our resident grilling master/vegetarian typically bookends the summer with an opening Memorial Day Celebration and closes with Labor Day, leaving another summer of memories behind us.  The kids are all headed back to school and mother’s and father’s can stop pulling out their hair and running around so much, finally getting a much deserved breather. 

It’s a melancholy thing to see another summer through to its end.  Summer has such an elevated place in our hearts and minds from the time we are children.  The season represents magical wanderings and sunbathing, first loves and romance, ice cream, cake and all the happiest of happy dreams pertaining to relaxation and escape.  Our summer with Siena was amazing and we have certainly been going non-stop.  She seems happiest on the go, as are we, and travel and adventure have been a primary objective for both Brian and myself, something we want Siena to enjoy as well. 

Our weekends have become full of old and new destinations, finding excitement in places revisited and learning of new locations that may require a return trip next year.  Since Labor Day weekend is three days long we thought it would be fun to invite our resident Miss Butt*r, Kassi, to come for a trip north toward the Catskills.  Last year we headed to Sharon Springs to see the Fabulous Beekman boys and buy some fancy goat soap, but this year it was decided to go and visit Hudson, NY a town in the midst of a revival, and one I had periodically heard of the past couple of years as someplace I might enjoy.  I guess people know me quite well at this point because how could I not like a place with so many registered historic buildings and antiques shops?

Hudson is about two hours north of us, and seated not ironically by the Hudson River, its namesake.  Primarily settled by whalers from Nantucket in the late 1700’s, Hudson became one of the largest cities in New York State.  Over the years it has had it’s ups and downs like many towns becoming a “center of vice” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically known for it’s gambling and prostitution in the red light district…at least they knew how to have fun.  The rise and fall continued until the late 1980’s when several antiques dealers moved to the area and set up shop.  The town continued to grow and attract more business, antiques and otherwise, restaurants and art galleries, all with a mind toward preservation of the town and it’s buildings.   To say the town is “cute” is an understatement.

We arrived a little late in the day because, well, because we always seem to arrive late these days.  I suppose we should be more masterful about time management with a baby by now but to put it simply, “we’re not”.  Miss Butt*r arrived in Ossining by train Saturday afternoon.  Driving from the train station north we stopped off at Cold Spring, one of our other favorite river/antiques towns for a bite of lunch at the train depot.  The restaurant there has the best fish and chips.  Onward and upward we went into the mountains, crossing none other than the Rip Van Winkle Bridge (thank you Washington Irving) finally coming to our destination as the sun began it’s five-o’clock golden spectacle. 

The brick buildings were lit up with sunshine.  Up and down the street most of the shops were closing up for the day, but we were only there to see and investigate, leaving serious antiques purchases for another day.  Making our along the “main drag”, Warren Street, we peeked in windows of stores and buildings, taking pictures and talking while we went.  For me it was a photographic paradise.  Having recently purchased a new camera in anticipation for an upcoming trip to Italy I have been learning how to use it, dare I say taking more pictures than usual in an attempt to gain mastery over my new toy.  It’s the Canon PowerShot S95, recommended by several friends at work as well as Consumer Report’s, and I think I have fallen in love all over again.  It’s light and compact with a huge screen, tons of features and it’s a good tool to rejuvenate my photographic passion.

Hudson appears to be very well maintained, at least from the portion of the town we saw.  All the buildings were cleaned up and painted, window boxes full of flowers, friendly people all along the street, endlessly idyllic and worth an extended stay.  We stopped off at the local, homemade ice cream shop, hilariously called Lick, for a sundae because that’s what you are supposed to do when exploring cute hamlets.  I always try whatever kind of coffee ice cream I find and adding a little hot fudge and whipped cream never hurts either.  The family had their ice cream followed by a photo session against a brilliant orange exterior of a building.  I’m sure there was some kind of battle with the historical society on that color, but obviously the creative party won out.  I’m glad they did because the warm sunny glow striking the acidic orange was such a cheerful site.

We returned home to have a late night, backyard cookout of fresh vegetables from the market.  There is nothing I like more than simply prepared squash and corn on the cob grilled just long enough to caramelize the sugars a bit and bring out the natural sweetness.  Throw on a couple of foil packs containing fresh onions and potatoes and you have a healthy feast for everyone in no time.  Finish off the sultry summer meal by grilling a few peaches or nectarines and you won’t find anyone wanting for more…except maybe a little more vanilla ice cream thrown in for good measure. 

Sunday brought about it’s usual scramble of chores and home projects, but also the excitement of baking for Randy’s BBQ.  Research into Monkey Bread led me to a multitude of recipes, the consistent thread being bread smothered in brown sugar and butter, baked in a coffee cake pan and easily pulled apart into pieces with your bare hands.  Apparently monkey bread is a specifically American dessert originating sometime in the 1950’s.  The origin of the name isn’t known, but people have tried to connect it with the South American monkey-puzzle tree, I’m assuming because of its strangely shaped leaves.  Additionally the act of pulling apart the bread with your hands is indicative of monkey behavior.  Both these thoughts seem pretty loose to me, so I choose to enjoy it for the flavor and relate the name to my own little monkey.

I’m becoming more and more of a fan of making things or compiling flavor profiles in an unexpected way.  Of the various monkey recipes I came across, many were made with standard Pillsbury frozen dough.  Gasp!  There were many variations with homemade yeast rolls and the one I liked best was from Food Network’s Alton Brown.  I used to love his show Good Eats; full of scientific explanations for why food cooks the way it does and the chemical reactions going on behind the scenes.  In this case, I knew what the yeast was up to, but this particular version of the monkey bread called for using rosemary.  The rosemary proved to be the surprise wild card element that most people commented on, the flavor that you couldn’t quite pinpoint but knew you liked.  Alton’s recipe for Monkey Bread is as follows:

Rosemary Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

Dough:

4 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 large whole egg, room temperature

2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup

3 ounces unsalted butter, melted, approximately 6 tablespoons

6 ounces buttermilk, room temperature

20 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 cups, plus additional for dusting

1 package instant dry yeast, approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

Vegetable oil or cooking spray

       

Topping:

8 ounces unsalted, approximately 16 tablespoons

8 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 cup packed

1/2-teaspoon ground rosemary

3 ounces raisins, approximately 3/4 cup

Coating:

2 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, melted, approximately 5 tablespoons

1-teaspoon ground rosemary

For the dough: in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough and add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the 8 ounces of unsalted butter, brown sugar, rosemary, and raisins. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Pour half of the topping into a medium bowl and set aside. Cover and store the other half of the topping in the refrigerator until the next morning.

Once the dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Portion the dough into 1-ounce pieces; roll each piece into a ball. (You should have approximately 36 balls.) Roll the balls in the melted butter and rosemary.

Divide the balls evenly between the 2 bundt pans. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Remove the bread from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the bread. Close the oven and let the bread rise until slightly puffy looking, 20 to 30 minutes. Once the bread has risen, remove it and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Once the oven is ready, place the bread on the middle rack and bake until slightly golden on top, approximately 25 to 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.

Place the remaining topping in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Reheat until the mixture is pourable, approximately 5 minutes. Fifteen minutes into baking, pour the remaining topping over the bread, and finish cooking. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then invert onto a platter or cutting board. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two large “cakes” full of the delicious yeast bread.  Many times monkey bread contains pecans, but when I’m taking something to a large function I often leave out the nuts because you never know who likes them or doesn’t, who’s allergic, etc… and the bread didn’t suffer in any way.  The large amount of butter commingling with rosemary, raisins and brown sugar was completely addictive and I could have sat and ate the whole pan of “sauce” all by itself…I would have been grievously ill, but I would have enjoyed it up until the moment my body went into sugar shock. 

Both at the barbecue and at work (since their were two monkey breads) people seemed to enjoy it.  There is something fun an communal about literally pulling and breaking bread with one another, especially bread so thoroughly flavored and immersed in sugar and butter.  It’s also one of those party friendly desserts that you can make ahead, leaving the rolled balls of dough quietly sitting in their cake pan in the fridge overnight.  Pull them out of the fridge in the morning, let them warm up and raise, and you are ready for a quick weekend brunch or end of summer celebration.

If rosemary was the unexpected component in the monkey bread, then banana bread was the unexpected component in the truffles I also made for the party.  When Brian and I had brainstormed about monkey bread we were afraid it might be too simple of a dessert or potentially not serve enough people depending on the number of party guests.  The solution was to make another dessert, a companion dessert if you will, to go along with the monkey bread.  What goes better with monkey bread than banana bread?  Groans and sighs abound…they were a magical pair.

Banana bread is easy.  Almost everyone has made banana bread at one time or other, and its nearly foolproof.  Banana bread didn’t sound like a particularly elegant solution to our sugary conundrum, but it seemed such a perfect marriage with our other dessert.  What to do?  When in doubt, dip it in chocolate.  I’ve baked and eaten banana bread with chocolate chips, but then I had the thought that we could make it a little more upscale by cutting it into large bite size pieces and dipping it in chocolate ganache like so many people do with strawberries for Valentine’s Day.  Ganache, also being a simple thing to make with only chocolate chips and cream for ingredients, was our answer!

Basic Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2-cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1-teaspoon baking soda

1-teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1/2-cup sour cream

1-teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Once the bread has cooled completely it’s easily cut into “clean” cubes because it’s so dense and moist.  I found that cutting the loaf into seven, large and equal slices was a good size to start with.  Each slice gets cut in half lengthwise and then into thirds yielding 42 cubes of banana bread. 

Chocolate Ganache (enough to coat one loaf of Banana Bread cubes)

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is an easy to find brand I like)

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

1-cup heavy cream.

Combine the chocolate chips with cream over a double boiler (a glass dish set atop a pot of simmering water) and stir until melted.  Once the chocolate is ready turn the burner to low, keeping a small amount of heat going so the ganache remains smooth and pliable.  Similar to dipping strawberries, truffles or other petit four type treats, there are fancy tools you can use to cover your bread in chocolate, or you can use a wooden spoon and fork like I did.

The wooden spoon is good to periodically stir the chocolate, retaining the fluidity, otherwise it will begin to crystallize on the side of the bowl and get a little lumpy.  Toss one cube of banana bread in at a time, turning to coat each side with the fork.  Remove the cube with the fork and let the excess chocolate drain off, back into the bowl.  This process will give you the smooth finish you are looking for.  Place the chocolate banana bread cube on a parchment lined baking sheet to cool and firm up.  Once you have a tray full of “truffles”, place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  Continue coating all the bread.  Once all the pieces are chilled, roll in sifted cocoa powder for an added visual, textural and flavorful component.

I think people were most pleased by the banana bread truffle surprise extravaganza.  They looked like brownie bites but had that wonderful, familiar banana flavor lurking inside a pretty chocolate package.  The components are easy, but dipping the bread in chocolate does take a little time if you are concerned with getting a refined, smooth look.  The unexpected never fails to impress, and when it’s a marriage of favorite flavors presented in a different way then a new dessert memory can be created.  Banana bread truffles for everyone!!!

More friends are coming to stay this weekend and who knows where we will end up?  What inspiration is lurking around the corner?  The unknown and unexpected dessert path we may cross is a thing of wonder and excitement for me.  If it’s sweet, I’m bound to like it, but if it’s imaginative, decadent, considered and unconventional then I might fall in love.  It’s just who I am.