Doughnuts, 3 ways

Doughnuts. Little bits of fried dough. Whether they're dusted with powdered sugar, or filled with cream or jam, they're the perfect sweet treat. Most cultures have their own version of fried dough, usually made for special occasions or holidays, but the American version is the everyday doughnut. Bouchon's version, which they only sell in the bakery on weekends, is similar to a brioche dough, either coated in vanilla sugar or filled and glazed. Our bakers had varied results with this recipe, but overall produced delicious results.

Hot Cross Buns

With bites of currants and cranberries and a lovely spiced icing with cinnamon and cardamom, these brioche buns have the marks of a fall treat. We couldn't wait till Easter to try this recipe. Warm bread with a spiced topping - Happy First Day of Autumn!

Sticky Buns

This week we start a new chapter, Brioche and Doughnuts. These sweet treats are made with an enriched dough, which usually has butter and eggs in it. Not quite breads, not quite pastries, this dough is yeasted and usually used for morning sweets. The perfect example is this week's recipe, sticky buns! Now, these are not your run of the mill sticky sweet sugar bombs that you might find at the mall or airport. These are elevated, rich but not too sweet, refined but still utterly satisfying. And they definitely live up to their name, sticky.

Unfortunately, our bakers have dwindled over the weeks of this project, but hopefully delicious recipes like this will encourage more baking and sharing. Don't be shy, please share your delicious results with us!

Gougeres

We went savory this week to finish off our chapter on Pate a choux. These gougeres or savory puffs are seasoned with salt, pepper and gruyere. Chef Keller recommends piping them in molds like for the sweet cream puffs but our bakers made them freehand. Have a look!

Paris-New York

The story behind this week's recipe is quite unique and interesting. This is a traditional French pastry, but is usually with an almond praline filling. However, to "Americanize" it, this version uses peanuts and peanut butter, which is so specifically and uniquely American. The filling is made up of buttercream, peanut butter, and diplomat cream, which uses both pastry cream and whipped cream. So rich!