Citrus Baked French Toast

        I must let you guys know the most important fact about this before I go any further: it is the most ridiculously simple, sweet breakfast, which yields irresistible results. You can throw it together in minutes the night before, get up on a lazy morning and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Sip on your coffee and relax, then voila yourself and others will beam with happiness. 
      French toast already has a simplicity appeal.  However, this kicks it up a notch to essentially all hands off in the morning with still getting to eat an epic breakfast. Isn't that just so awesome? 

     It was particularly perfect for my purposes of a brunch potluck on Sunday. The night before, my roommate and I went out to a concert that we had been long awaiting. Around 8 o'clock, I took the whole 10 minutes this requires to put it together, placed it lovingly in my fridge, and prepared to dance the night away. 

        After a luxurious sleep-in sesh the next morning, I woke up, took it out of the fridge, preheated the oven, and popped it in. I walked away and got ready for company-you might be able to hear my sigh of relaxation right now. Thirty minutes later, I was meet with puffy topped, golden brown, custardy, warm, blissful French toast and the guests began to arrive. My friend was kind enough to bring a whiskey and cayenne maple syrup that make the custardy texture and bright citrus flavors simply sing with happiness in my mouth. 

      For brunch party folks or those simply wanting a mouth-watering, smell-wafting dish in their house on a lazy Sunday morning, I cannot emphasize enough how much this is for you. A lot of baked French toasts call for much more of everything: more eggs, both milk and cream, more this, more that. I can fully attest it is not necessary for the texture you seek. You only need the basic things you probably already have on hand to create a whimsical weekend morning of French toast, coffee, and appreciation of the finer things in life. 

Ingredients:
1 loaf challah (nothing fancy needed)
3 c whole of 2% milk 
3 eggs
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 TSP salt
1/4 TSP cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon

Instructions: 
1. The day before, slice the challah in 3/4-1" slices. Lay it out and let it sit on your counter for the day, flipping over when you happen to be in the kitchen (no worries if you're not around though).
2. At night, arrange the slices in a 9x13 baking dish in two layers. Sprinkle half the zest on the first layer, lay down the second, and sprinkle the rest on top. 
3. In a bowl, melt the butter, let it cool for a few minutes. Next, whisk in the milk, eggs, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
4. Pour the mixture over the bread, cover, and place in the fridge over night. 
5. The next morning, take the French toast out, uncover and let it sit out while the oven preheats to 350F. Bake for 30 minutes until the top is lightly golden and puffed up. Remove, cool for 5 minutes and serve with butter and maple syrup.  

For the Whiskey Maple Syrup:

Melt 4 TBSP of butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Next add in 2 C pure maple syrup, 1/4 TSP cayenne, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, 1/4 C+ 1 TBSP whiskey, and stir until the ingredients have mixed together evenly. Remove from heat, allow the syrup to cool, and transfer into a glass serving bottle. 

This could be you. 

Love,

Boulder Butter 

Buttermilk Chess Pie

       When I was a kid, My Grandfather used to come down to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with us. During one of his visits, my dad, sister, grandfather and I were driving in the car, and we got into a discussion of everyone's favorite types of pie. (For the record, mine was apple with crumble topping at the time.) Dad and Hattie listed theirs and finally Grandfather named "Chess Pie." Much to Grandfather's disappointment, none of us had even heard of Chess Pie. We inquired as to what it was and Grandfather explained "It is like pecan pie, without the pecans." To this, my Dad responded, "So you mean it is just the goop?" At this moment, my Grandfather become endearingly indignant, and in a deep tone spoke the voice of a wise pie sage, "It is so much more than just goop, Scottie." The three of us of course burst out in laughter.

       Although it was the pie my Grandfather named as such an ultimately tasty treat many years ago, I only just now bought my large jug of buttermilk and went home ready to experience this pie. From when I finally looked up what was in it-cornmeal, eggs, lots of delicious buttermilk, and some bright citrus- I knew Grandfather had been right to take such a tone with us. It is so much more that just goop.

       It is a lusciously gentle lemon custard, just slightly and pleasantly textured by a small amount of cornmeal. The filling is reminiscent of a southern grain style pudding which is then baked inside a perfectly, flakey, buttery crust. The buttermilk gives the classic smooth, buttery, goodness so characteristic of its presence in baking. However, the biggest and most welcomed surprise was the top of the custard. Instead of being soft and pudding like, the sugar and cornmeal form an extremely thin sugar top crust. Therefore, when you first tap your fork down over the top to sink in, there is the smallest and most satisfying crunch. This is the Southern pie the majority of America still needs to find out about, because it is just gosh darn delicious. Thank you Grandfather for being the sage of pie eating, even when your younger generations were clueless!

Very slightly adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day

Ingredients:
1 9-10" unbaked pie crust (I used Back in the Day's but pick your favorite)
4 TBSP (1/2 Stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 C sugar
4 eggs
1 TBSP all purpose flour
2 TBSP yellow cornmeal
1 pinch of fine sea salt
3/4 C buttermilk (low-fat)
1 TBSP lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 of an orange and 1/2 a lemon

Oven Temp: Start 350 (first 10 minutes), down to 325 (last 45-55 minutes)

Instructions:

1. Roll out your pie dough to a 12" round and place it into a greased 9" baking dish. Cut off the excess piecrust and poke the crust with a fork. Allow the piecrust a final rest of an hour in the fridge.
2. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven.

3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with a hand mixer (or paddle attachment in your stand mixer) until it is light and fluffy.

4. Add in the eggs in, one at a time, until they are fully incorporated.

5. Add the flour, cornmeal, and salt and beat on low until just incorporated.

6. Add the lemon juice, buttermilk, and zest and mix to combine.

7. Remove the crust from the fridge, pour in the mixture and bake at 350 F for the first 10 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 325 and continue to cook for 45-50 minutes, until the filling is set.

8. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cook for at least 2 hours at room temperature before cutting.

Chocolate Orange-Raspberry Scones

       During college, I never felt comfortable saying, "I am a baker." I would explain I was an English major, and I really liked to bake. As for my plans after college, they were a loose "ehh, find my way" kind of thing. However, the generic response was not because I did not know what I wanted to do, but rather because I was scared of saying "I want to bake."

      Now, when an English major gets asked what they plan to do when they graduate, most people expect them to respond: "I am going to teach." However, I had that area covered. I knew I was not going to be a teacher and I was ready and armed with the feeling of being comfortable that I simply studied what I enjoy.

      Instead, the fear of saying I wanted to bake stemmed from wanting to avoid the phrase "I am a baker." I was afraid after college the dream of being a baker would not come to fruition, and I did not want people to know that I did not achieve what I had set in my mind as the ideal life. 

        After a whirlwind of change in my life, I finally worked up some damn hutzpah and I told some people. It started with one of my best friends, then my boyfriend, my parents and onward: the phrase "I want to bake" was finally permissible in my mind.

        However, it still took until about 4 months ago, after I had graduated and I could no longer hide under the comfort of saying, "I am student" that I started saying, "I am a baker." The moment it rolled off my tongue I was filled with an almost ecstasy of excitement because good-golly y'all, I freaking love what I do and you better bet your bean-eatin' tootin' self I am one.

        I had three moments of confirmation of this in the past week, and I am sure that more are still on the way. The first was I when was getting dressed one morning and I pulled on a sweater I had not worn in about 2 weeks. As it turned upside down, a teaspoon fell out of the pocket onto my bedroom floor. I have enough measuring sets I had not noticed it missing. Baker's moment #1. A few days later I was hanging some artwork in my room with a nail. I did not have a hammer, so I went for my heaviest, thickest book, The Culinary Institute of America's textbook. Baker's moment #2. Today as I went to grab the snowbrush out of the back seat of my car in preparation for the morning, the brush knocked an old cookie cutter out from under my passenger seat. Baker's moment #3. So world: I am Maisie, I am Boulder Butter, and I am sure as hell a baker. Today I made scones: bitter chocolate, sweet raspberry, bright orange, flaky, crumbly, yet moist breakfast awesomeness-scones. 

Inspired by the America's Test Kitchen's "Baking Illustrated" Cream Scones with Currents

Oven Temp: 375 F

Ingredients: 
9 ounces all-purpose flour*
1 ounce cocoa powder*
1 TBSP baking powder
3 TBSP sugar
1/2 TSP salt
5 TBSP cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/4 C macerated raspberries (recipe and ingredients below)
1/4 C chocolate chips
1 C + 1 to 2 TBSP heavy cream

*If you do not have a scale, this should be 2 C of fluffed/sifted flour total. So if you wanted to convert it, do 1 3/4 C +1 TBSP all-purpose flour and 3 TBSP cocoa powder. 

Macerated Raspberries:
Place 1 C raspberries, 1 TBSP sugar, the zest of half an orange, the zest of half a lemon, 1/8 TSP vanilla extract, and 1/8 TSP orange liquor in a bowl and let them sit for 30 minutes. You can use left overs for oatmeal, on top of ice cream, ect. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven and combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the dry ingredients together until they are combined. 

2. Add the butter and pulse again in about 12-one second pulses until the butter is mixed into the flour, but still has larger pea sized pieces.

3. Add in the raspberries and chocolate chips and pulse two more times. Transfer the flour mixture into a large mixing bowl.

4. Slowly add the heavy cream, mixing with a rubber spatula until the mixture comes together.

5. Dust the counter with cocoa powder and turn the dough out onto it. Finish gathering it together, knead it slightly into a ball, and then gently pat it out into a square. 

6. Roll the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick and cut with a sharp ring mold, pastry cutter, or knife.

7. Transfer the scones onto a prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with course sugar.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the scones are set and the tops have just slightly darkened.

9. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly on a metal rack and enjoy warm or at room temperature. 

They were absolutely delicious, and then they were gone.