People who don’t like butter, don’t like butter

Today we carried on a tradition that goes way, way, way back in our family-Sugar Bun day!  It’s a day that makes my heart do this-

I’m too tired to say much and it’s supposed to be Silent Saturday anyway, so I think I will just say that there was much laughing and cooking and many children and lovely family and love and silliness and butter! and more butter! and some sweet sugar and I now feel like this really is the hap-happiest time of the year!  No more grinching from me. I’m ready to hold hands and sing dah-who-doraze with y’all.

Seriously, what could be better than cooking, children and laughing? Nothing, I tell you.

One more important point to make, people who don’t like butter, don’t like butter. Try and argue your way out of that one, why don’t you? 

Ian and his mama get to sugaring the buns

 

Everyone is working diligently!

 

Sam and Ashley-when did my boy get so big?

 

The non-sugaring bunners

 

Visions of sugar buns danced in our heads

 

Love!

 

We are nothing if not strict with the hygiene of our workers! Or this is alternately titled-What happens at sugar buns, stays at sugar buns!

 

Happy ladies!

 

You just have to be a kid at heart to enjoy the sugaring of the buns!

 

Look at the form of this girl! She's a natural!

 

Alien head dough with cool shadows

 

Some of the finished product-delicious!

 

The swollen stollen!

 

My bunners! This picture makes me happy!

 

The recipe for the dough is about 80 years old and it is a very good, sweet, tender dough. It’s very forgiving, which makes it perfect for children.  We used this master dough to make sugar buns-dough rolled out into long thin ish strips, buttered, sugared (or cinnamon sugared) folded in on itself from both sides, buttered again and sugared again, and then cut into buns-and stollens. The stollens were filled with brown sugar and chopped pecans. You can be very fancy and do orange zest and mix up lots of different fillings for the coffee cake.

Here’s the recipe-

Mom Pape’s Coffee Cake dough (No one seems to know who Mom Pape was, but I salute her, whoever she was!)

Dissolve 1 yeast cake (or packet) and 1 TBS sugar in 1/2 cup warm water.

Cream 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup shortening and 1 or 2 eggs.

Scald 1 pint of milk, cool.

Add 1 TBS salt (I will admit to you that I didn’t see this ingredient on the handwritten recipe until JUST NOW and so my 2 batches didn’t have it. And we didn’t miss it.)

Add the milk and salt to the creamed mixture.

Add about 6 cups flour and stir to combine.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until elastic (about 6 minutes).  Put in a bowl and let rise until doubled-45 to 60 minutes.

Punch dough down.

Shape and let rise about 45 more minutes.

Bake at 350 for however long it takes to get done.  Sugar buns take about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

xoxoxo,

jane