The Last Vinaigrette

I know what you're thinking. It's just a salad dressing. What could be so good about a simple vinaigrette? There's almost nothing to it.

Enter Banyuls vinegar. Oh, you've never had it? You don't know where to find it? I thought so. That's why you were so skeptical about it. Trust me. You can thank me later. You may never be the same.

My love for Banyuls vinegar is no secret at this point. Not only have I written about it before, but I'm also a walking infomercial to anyone who will listen. At the risk of being redundant, here I go again. Banyuls is traditionally a dessert wine made from old vine Grenache in the Banyuls Sur Mer region of France. Ironically, Banyuls vinegar is a more savory vinegar than most. Comprised of 50% grenache noir, 40% grenache gris, and 10% carignane, the vinegar starts it's 5 year aging process in large tanks in a cool cellar, and is later transferred into smaller barrels and placed outside for the next 4 years. Here, it's exposed to the hot sun and cool winds of the Pyrenees, which help accelerate the aging process. The result is a nutty, slightly briney vinegar that goes with just about everything.

I've never seen Banyuls vinegar in the store, with the exception of Dean and Deluca in NYC, who carry just about everything. Never fear, Amazon is here (!) and they sell everything. Get some.

Banyuls Vinaigrette
makes about 1 1/4 cups

1/4 cup Banyuls vinegar
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp water
1 small shallot, minced
1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the mustard, water, and vinegar. Slowly add the oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly to emulsify. When all of the oil has been added, add shallots and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

George's Limequats

This is George. George is the owner and farmer of Betty B.'s Ranch out of Ramona, California.He's been there since the late 70's and owns over 30 acres. He's only got crops on less than half of it, due to the water shortage. We first met about a year and a half ago when I was still selling my stuff at the La Jolla farmer's market. At the end of the day I'd go around and trade my leftover pastries for produce and groceries, and I stumbled upon George and his citrus. Lucky for me George has a sweet tooth and a grand daughter, too. Most grand daughters have a sweet tooth...

Here in California, it is always citrus season. There are also about 14 million citrus farmers at every market. But George is different. His passion for his craft is contagious. He is genuinely excited about his produce. I love that.

When we met, I was making yuzu tarts with fresh yuzu from a friend's garden. Yuzu is incredibly hard to find fresh, and these things were selling faster than I could make them. But I gave one to him because I knew he'd appreciate it like no other. And then he told me that soon he would have limequats. Limequats!? Yeah, limequats.



A limequat is a hybrid of a key lime and a kumquat. I grew up eating kumquats off of a friends tree. With there candy sweet tartness and edible skin, they were the perfect afternoon snack for a couple little girls that hated to have to wash up before lunch. Eventually I learned to loathe those little bastards when I had to candy a trillion of them at a time at a very busy restaurant. It wasn't the candying of them that I hated, it was how long it took to slice them paper thin and remove all of their seeds. But a LIMEquat!!! Yes, please.

George also grows orangequats. By now I'm sure that you can tell by their name what they are...a cross between an orange and a kumquat. While a limequat is about the same size as a kumquat, and orangequat is about the size of a small tangerine. Last year, with the orangequats, I made an orangequat upside down cake. In my mind's eye, it was beautiful, with it's perfect layers of thinly sliced, glistening orangequats. In reality, it was heinous looking. So heinous looking, in fact, that I didn't want to sell it. It was, however, unbelievably delicious. So I gave it out as samples to lure people in. I ended up selling the whole thing.

The limequats were the perfect garnish for my yuzu tarts. I candied them even though it brought back horrific memories of being knee deep in the weeds with kumquat slices. Nowadays, I'm doing something a little more rewarding with those candied limequats, and I suggest you do the same, if you can get your hands on some. George and his citrus can be found every Sunday at the La Jolla Farmer's Market and also up in Santa Monica a couple times a week.


Candied Limequat Mojitos
makes enough for 2

4 oz white rum
12 mint leaves
10 candied limequat slices (recipe follows)
2 Tbsp candied limequat syrup
1 oz fresh lime juice
4 oz soda water
turbinado sugar for rim of glass

Wet the rim of two glasses with a lime and dip in the turbinado sugar. Add crushed ice to each glass. In a cocktail shaker, add the mint leaves, limequat slices and syrup and lime juice. Muddle until leaves are broken. Add the rum and shake to mix. Divide between two glasses, top with soda water.

Candied Limequats

1 pint limequats, washed
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt

Slice limequats as thin as possible, discarding the seeds. (Leaving the seeds in will make the syrup bitter.) Bring sugar, salt and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add limequat slices. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating. These will keep, covered and refrigerated for a very long time.

Meyer Lemon Brown Butter Cake

I've been seriously laid up. Last month was extremely busy for me and the whole time I kept thinking...I almost wouldn't mind being sick, if it would allow me to lay around the house for a while. Uh, wrong. Insert a head full of snot, an itchy throat, and sore abdominal muscles from coughing so much, and I'd be happy to swap for the alternative.

The worst part about being sick is that just because I'm sick, it doesn't mean the rest of the world stops. And although I know that I should be in bed, drinking tea, and being generally lazy, I'm having a hard time with it; mostly because of things like a basket full of meyer lemons and a half pound of Tahitian vanilla beans showing up at my door. Yeah! Can you believe it?! I've got friends in high places. Well maybe not, but I do have friends with fruit trees and vanilla bean connections...so I've got that going for me.

While the vanilla beans can wait until I'm feeling a little better, the meyer lemons could not. I've been wanting to make a brown butter cake for quite some time now, and I thought the sweet-tartness of these particular lemons was the perfect compliment. In my opinion, often times lemon desserts are far too sweet, because the person making the dessert is perhaps trying to cover up what makes a lemon so, uh, lemony...the sourness. The nuttiness of the brown butter in this cake coupled with the distinct flavor of meyer lemons, is the perfect combination for a not too sweet, moist little gem of a cake. Let's get started.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Susan G. Purdy's book A Piece of Cake, which very well may be the best $2 purchase I've ever made. I first discovered this book when my friend Sharon, an amazing pastry chef, served up a blueberry molasses cake that she had found amongst the hundreds of cake recipes that Ms. Purdy's friends were kind enough to share with her for the writing of this book. It was so delicious, I wanted to see the book. She too had bought the now out-of-print book for about $2. Run my friends, don't walk, to your computers to see if Amazon still carries this little treasure.

I've made the Lemon Tea Cake many times, and it has never dissapointed. Almost everyone that tried it said it reminded them of something their grandma used to make. Perfect! That's what I was going for. I like to bake this in 6 mini bundt cake pans. (I got mine at Michael's in the baking section.)After they're baked, and still hot, they're glazed with a hot mixture of sugar, lemon juice and a ton of zest. Then they're finshed with a powdered sugar and lemon glaze. These glazes are responsible for the almost donut like texture of these little cakes.

Brown Butter Meyer Lemon Cake
Adapted from A Piece of Cake, By Susan G. Purdy

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (4 oz)
1 cup superfine sugar (7 oz)
1 1/2 cup cake flour (6 1/4 oz)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp (3 1/4 oz) butter*see note about brown butter
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 tsp meyer lemon zest
2 Tbsp meyer lemon juice
7 Tbsp buttermilk, room temperature

Hot Lemon Glaze
1/3 cup (2 1/4 oz) sugar
1 Tbsp meyer lemon zest
5 Tbsp meyer lemon juice

Lemon Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp almmond extract

*To brown the butter: Begin with 5 oz (1 stick + 1 Tbsp) of butter. On medium heat, cook butter until all of the milk solids have fallen to the bottom of the pan and caramelized, producing a medium brown, nutty butter. Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter. You should now have about 6 Tbsp butter. Chill until the butter is about room temperature. If it gets too cold let it sit out for a couple minutes.

For the cake:

Butter and flour the mini bundt pans or a 9x5 loaf pan.

Chop nuts in a food proccessor with 3 Tbsp of the sugar until very fine. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the brown butter and remaining sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the lemon juice and zest. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, alternatley add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix well, add nuts and finish by hand.

Divide evenly amongst the prepared pans and bake 35 minutes for mini bundts or 45 minutes for 9x5. Check with a cake tester.

For the glaze:
Heat together the juice, zest, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Reheat before using.

As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, invert them onto a wire rack. Reheat the glaze, and drizzle over the tops of the cakes. Wait a second for the glaze to penatrate, then repeat, using all of the glaze.

For the lemon icing:
Stir together lemon juice and powdered sugar. While the cakes are still slightly warm, drizzle a little icng on each cake.

To freeze the cakes, wait until they are completly cool and wrap them in plastic wrap.

I mess things up, so that you don't have to

In my high school jewelry class (one of my many elective art classes during my senior year) my teacher, Mr. Miller, had a sign behind his desk that read "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well." He also said this aloud during every single class, repeatedly. It's really no wonder it's been running through my head on a daily basis ever since.

During my externship in culinary school, the mantra in the kitchen was "Make it nice or make it twice", which, if you think about it, is really just another way of saying what Mr. Miller was saying. Yes, I realize that these are both very cliche, but cliches are just so for a reason; they are true, thought provoking statements.

Perhaps by now you've realized I'm a little scatter-brained. If not, then, will you marry me? Yesterday I was baking a cake in a hurry. Although I know that when baking a cake, all of the ingredients need to be at room temperature, I disregarded that piece of tried and true information, and went on about my business. Yikes! What a waste of time, money and energy. The result was a batter that looked like curdled milk. Although I knew immediatley that I needed to remake it (correctly this time), I went ahead and baked the cake anyway, for comparison reasons. Unfortunatley, due to my shortage of time, I didn't take a picture of it. The resulting cake had large air pockets and a very flabby crumb. It was delicious, nonetheless.

Let's talk for a minute about why this happens and how to avoid it. When making a cake batter, especially one that contains butter as the primary fat, it's important that all of the ingredients actually mix together, almost emulsify, if you will. When your ingredients are at the correct temperature, this happens easily. You cream your room temperature butter with the sugar, add your room temperature eggs one at a time, and then, generally speaking, alternate adding your dry ingredients with your room temperature liquid. Let's say your ingredients are cold though; this is the play by play of what will happen:

*You cream your cold butter with the sugar, incorporating way too much air along the way because it's taking longer than it should to get the creamy consistency you are looking for before adding your eggs.

*You add your cold eggs one at a time and they never fully incorporate because the butter has, at this point, seized and become even more stiff, due to the addition of something cold. Your batter is now a mess of cold butter and suspended egg.

*You then think to yourself, "The dry ingredients will make all of this come together", so you continue, alternating your dry ingredients with your cold wet ingredients, causing the butter to now be suspended in a mess of eggs, liquid, and flour. It looks like curdled milk in coffee. Yum.

*You bake it. It's not what you had hoped for. It has air pockets and a too loose crumb. It's delicate. You break it trying to invert it onto the cooling rack.

I understand being in a hurry, trust me, but here is how you can avoid all of this, even in a rush.

*Microwave your butter in 10 second intervals until it has softened slightly, or slice your butter, put it in the mixer and begin to mix on medium, while heating the side of the metal bowl with a torch in a back and forth motion.

*Set your cold eggs in very hot water from the tap for about a minute.

*For your wet ingredients, microwave or heat them just to take the chill off. Make sure not to get them hot. If they do get hot, cool them down to room temperature before you use them.

And that, my friends, is all for this episode of "I mess things up, so that you don't have to." Stay tuned though, I'm sure to make more mistakes sooner rather than later.

Rum Pumpkin Pie with Salted Vanilla Caramel

Wow, I've been lazy this past week. I go through phases where I'm so busy I can't even see straight and then there are times like this...when I sit in the same spot for so long that my butt falls asleep. I'm trying to learn to appreciate these times rather than be frustrated with the fact that I'm not frustrated for once. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment and sometimes an emotional masochist.

This week I did not manage to clean out the black peppercorns I spilled in my purse a few weeks ago, but I did manage to perfect the rum pumpkin pie I'd been messing around with. It's a tough job, all that pie eating. And it's all for you my friends, all for you.

I had never seen a Rum Pumpkin Pie before. The idea for this delicious twist on a Thanksgiving favorite came, once again, from my friend T.J., who grew up eating these in New Jersey. I used Meyer's Dark Rum and I think the vanilla-ish, slightly tropical flavor of the rum really compliments the chai spices I use in my typical pumpkin pie. I like to roast fresh Sugar Pumpkins when they are available, but in a pie, it really doesn't make much of a difference if you are using fresh or canned, as long as you are using the highest quality that you can find. In any case, I find that the pie turns out the best when all of the excess moisture has been removed from the pumpkin. Not all canned pumpkin is created equally. Some organic pumpkin and also fresh roasted pumpkin will contain more water and definetley need to be drained. The easiest way to do this is to line a fine mesh sieve or colander with cheese cloth, dump your pumpkin in, and allow it to drain, covered and refrigerated, overnight.

Serve this with whipped cream and salted vanilla caramel. Watch the boys swoon.

Rum Pumpkin Pie
oven 325

makes 1 deep dish pie

1/3 recipe Perfect Pie Crust

Line a deep dish pie shell with rolled out crust. Crimp edges, and put it in the freezer until it's very cold, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle very lightly with flour and line with cheesecloth. Fill with pie weights, beans, or whatever else you might use to blind bake a pie shell. Bake at 350 until golden brown on the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove cheesecloth and weights, and pierce the bottom of th shell with a fork. Return to the oven for about 5 more minutes. Cool shell completley.

2 cups pumpkin, measured after it's drained of excess moisture
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dark rum
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 yolks
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp fresh nutmeg
3/4 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Pour into prepared pie shell, smooth top with an offset spatula if neccessary. Bake the pie until it's just set and still slightly wobbly in the middle, about 1 hour. Be careful not to overbake and let the pie souffle....which will result in a cracked pie. Serve cold with slighly sweetened whipped cream and salted vanilla caramel.

Salted Vanilla Caramel

2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 Tbsp water
2 oz butter
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp vsanilla extract
2 tsp sea salt

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla bean (seeds ands pod) and water. Mix until it resembles a sandy consistency. Brush down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush. Cook over medium high heat and do not stir until sugar begins to caramelize. Allow to darken to a medium dark amber. Turn down the heat and add butter and heavy cream all at once. BE CAREFUL and STAND BACK because this mixture will splatter and then seize. When it calms down, stir with a whisk until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and stir until dissolved. Strain and cool.

Food 4 Kids Backpack Program

For the most part, I grew up here in San Diego. My parents were super young, with 3 little girls by the time my mom was 27. We were poor, but didn't know any different, so I never realized it until later in life, and luckily, my sisters and I didn't care either. There was so much love in our lives, it didn't matter. We had a huge garden in the backyard with the biggest compost bin you've never seen and our brown eggs came from our own chickens that were running around amidst the corn, cucumbers, and tomatoes. My dad would go fishing on the beach and bring home dinner in the form of Corvina or Halibut. Because we had a lime tree, Dad made limeade instead of lemonade, and built us a little wooden playhouse with a window for us to sell it out of for 25 cents a cup. We made a killing, but to this day, I still can't drink limeade. Those were truly the good old days.

Unfortunatley, not everyone's story is so romantic. Until recently we never heard much about the issue of hunger in America. The economy has been hard on all of us this year, but it has been hardest on those who were already struggling, more than some of us will ever know. Charitable donations are down, and hunger in San Diego County is up. Those of us who love food and view it as a pleasure are so fortunate to be in that position. The least we can do is try to ensure the children of our community don’t – quite literally - go hungry.

The San Diego Food Bank’s Food 4 Kids Backpack Program was launched in 2007 to provide food to get chronically hungry elementary school students through the weekend. Every Friday, participating children receive a backpack with child friendly items such as peanut butter, pop-top canned goods, cereal, juice boxes, fruit cups, raisins, pudding cups, granola bars, shelf-stable milk and macaroni and cheese tucked inside.

The children receive free or reduced cost meals while school is in session, but do not have food available on the weekends or school holidays for themselves and their siblings. Food 4 Kids provides food directly to the children, without requiring their parents to receive a referral to a local food pantry, pick up food at the pantry or prepare it at home.

With this goal in mind, San Diego’s food bloggers and other members of the local community are coming together to raise funds for the San Diego Food Bank’s Food 4 Kids Backpack Program. A little goes a long way - the program costs approximately $7.00 per week per child to fund, and a donation of $250.00 will fund a backpack for a child for the entire 36 week school year. Giving whatever you can afford will help to ensure this program continues to provide a much needed service.

As an added incentive, several food bloggers will be hosting prizes to be awarded in a drawing at our live food and backpack drive at our booth at the Little Italy Mercato on December 12, 2009. We will also be collecting non-perishable, child-friendly food items and backpacks. Come and meet your favorite food bloggers, drop off your donations and celebrate the Holidays at the Mercato!

My contibution to the raffle will be: a gift cetificate to U.S. Wellness Meats (a grassfed meat company out of Missouri), a handmade Svarowski Crystal necklace and earring set made by my fabulous mother, a gift certificate to Blind Lady Ale House, giftcards to both Leucadia Pizzeria and The 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro, and hopefully a few more things that I'm still in the process of negotiating.

So, what's the next step?

*Donate online at the firstgiving.com website.
*Spread the word to your friends, family and coworkers.
*Donate a plain, medium sized backpack (no logos please, and keep it gender neutral). If you'd like to fill the backpack, there is a great need for school supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and child friendly, nutritious snacks (such as granola bars,juice boxes, applesauce, etc.)
•Then bring all your backpacks to the Little Italy Mercato at Date and India Sts. on Dec. 12, along with any non-perishable food you'd like to donate to the Food Bank.

Thank you in advance, and Happy Holidays!

Apple Butterscotch Sticky Buns

Oy.

I mean that. And sometimes I feel like I can't say it enough. I don't even know what it means, or if it really means anything at all. But I feel like it totally sums up the way I've been feeling lately. Oy.

Hah! I was right, well kinda. I just looked it up on dictionary.com, and the definition is as follows:

interjection

(used to express dismay, pain, annoyance, grief, etc.)

Also, oi.



Yep. That sounds about right-ish. The dismay, annoyance, etc. part anyway. Sometimes I look back on different parts of my 28 years and like to laugh a little at how wise I've thought I was in different situations. I'm hoping that this time in my life will soon be one of those funny memories. As a pretty well seasoned impulsive decision maker, for the first time in my life I've decided not to make any decisions, and I think that this is what's driving me mad. At the root of this decision not to decide lies the simple fact that ihavenoideawhatiwant. Ahhhhhhhhhh!

That felt good.

I guess I should explain what I'm talking about. I'm bored. I'm busy. I want to make money doing what I love. I want to be able to express myself, but feel stifled here. I'm a control freak, a planner only when it's convenient for me, in an extremely selfish space in my head. I'm also a do-er. Generally, if I want to do something, I make it happen. But lately rather than doing anything, I just think about how I don't know what to do. It takes up a lot of time, this indecision, you'd be surprised. Mostly I like to fill the indecisive moments with pandora radio, re-runs of trashy reality television, and making dough.

Dough speaks to me. It says "Quit your whining about life and sit down. I'll tell YOU when I'M ready."

I think this is where my affinity towards dough comes from. Especially yeasted doughs. You can't really rush them. Your time doesn't matter to the yeast. The flavor will develop in it's own time, damn it, and if you try to rush it, you could be sorry later.

That said, it's pretty obvious that in times like this the only rational thing to do is make Apple Butterscotch Sticky Buns.

These are a little messy, and a little time consuming too, but if like me, you need something to keep your mind off of your mind, these are the perfect distraction. They're also delicious and make for great woe-is-me snacking.

Before I get started with the recipe I'd like to say a word about butterscotch. When I close my eyes and think about the flavor of butterscotch, I taste the buttery, brown sugary, artificial vanilla sweetness of the bright mustard yellow, cellophane-wrapped hard candy that comes from the bulk candy section of the grocery store. To own the title of butterscotch, no other flavor will do. One might be surprised at how many recipes I tried to achieve this artificial flavor, using nothing artificial. But I think I got it. Except mine's a little better.

Apple Butterscotch Sticky Buns
oven 375
makes 12 buns


1 recipe brioche dough (recipe follow)
1 recipe spiced cinnamon sugar (recipe follows)
1 recipe butterscotch sticky bun butter (recipe follows)
2 granny smith apples, chopped and caramelized in a little sugar
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
2 tbsp milk or cream

Prepare a 9x13 baking dish. I prefer glass for no particular reason. Smear the butterscotch butter evenly on the bottom of the pan, Sprinkle caramelized apples and pecans over the top of it. Set aside.

Roll dough on a well floured surface into a 14" x 12" rectangle. Brush the dough with the milk or cream and sprinkle evenly with the spiced sugar mix. Roll up from the long side, brushing off any excess flour as you go. Push in the ends so that the whole log is of even thickness. For ease of slicing throw it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Slice into 12 even buns and lay cut side down in your prepared pan. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place (75 to 85 degrees) until doubled in size. This should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Bake about 10 minutes before opening the oven. If, at this point you feel that they are getting too dark too quickly, you can cover them loosely with foil. Bake an additional 20 minutes. Allow the buns to cool about 5 minute in the pan before inverting them onto a serving plate or clean cutting board.

Brioche Dough (Note: This is a 2 day recipe, don't try to rush it.)
from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Dough Starter: (Sponge)
2 Tbsp (1 oz) water, room temperature
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup (2.5 oz)unbleached all purpose flour
1 large egg

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk by hand for about 3 minutes, to incorporate air. The result should be the consistency of a thick, sticky batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.

Measure out the ingredients for the flour mixture:

1 cup + 1 1/2 Tbsp (5.5 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, cold
1 stick (4 oz)unsalted butter, very soft

In a small bowl,whisk the flour, yeast, and sugar. Then whisk in the salt (this keeps the yeast from coming into direct contact with the salt, which would kill it). Sprinkle this over the top of the sponge, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 2 hours.

Scrape the dough into the bowl of a mixer, and add the cold eggs. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low until the flour is moistened. Turn it up to medium and continue mixing for 2 minutes. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and continue on medium speed for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth, shiny, and sticky. It will not pull away from the bowl completely. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time, waiting until each addition is completely incorporated before adding the next. The dough will be incredibly sticky, but don't be tempted to add more flour. It will firm up when it's chilled.

Scrape the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Chill the dough for about an hour, or until firm. When chilled, scrape the dough onto a VERY lightly floured surface and deflate into a rough rectangle using the palms of your floured hands. Brush off any excess flour with a pastry brush and give the dough a business letter fold. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the closed side is facing your left. Give it a second business letter fold and round the corners. Wrap loosely but securely in plastic wrap, then place in a large freezer bag and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 2 days...

Spice Sugar Mix

1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
2 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients.

Butterscotch Sticky Bun Butter

3 1/2 sticks (14 oz) salted butter
2 cups (1#) packed dark brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/4 cup bourbon
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Lyle's golden syrup or corn syrup

Using the paddle attachment, in the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter, vanilla bean and sugar until creamy. In another bowl combine all ingredients. With the mixer on medium speed. slowly add the wet ingredients to the butter mixture. Beat until creamy and slightly emulsified. This can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.