Product Review - Monkey Bread

This is my review of the King Arthur boxed mix for Monkey bread.

If you have not heard of Monkey Bread, it is a delicious creation where cut-up refrigerated dough is rolled in cinnamon sugar, topped with butter and brown sugar, and then baked in a Bundt pan. The recipe is a family favorite, my mom first made this for me when I was in college, and I have been making it ever since. If you follow my blog you know I am always singing the praises of the Pillsbury dough, Pillsbury biscuits are traditionally used to make Monkey Bread and I love the recipe I have as is.

However my hubby got me this boxed mix from Williams-Sonoma knowing how I love Williams-Sonoma cake mixes, and thought it would be fun to make with the girls.

This mix has you make the dough totally from scratch and includes a packet of yeast. I had never used yeast before this, I don't know much about it and frankly I was intimidated by it. To me yeast is for professional bread bakers, and I use Pillsbury or buy bread from a bakery, but I decided to be brave and try it.

Overall this was really labor intensive to make. Don't wake up in the morning and think you are going to bang this out in time for breakfast or even a mid-morning snack. With all the many steps, and the time waiting for the dough to rise, it is hours from start to finish. There are instructions how to make the dough the night before, which I recommended if you do want to eat it in the morning.

For all my worrying, the yeast part was really quite simple, and it was kinda cool to check on my dough and see that it was indeed rising (I did it right!). I actually gave it one more hour past the time indicated on the box, the ambient temperature in my work area may have been a factor, not sure, but I went by size, not time.

The end result bread came out great, cooked well, and tasted delicious. The topping was perfect, I was very pleased (should be after all that work!), and the kids loved it too.

Honestly I would probably not make this again, while the flavor was good, it was not leaps and bounds above the traditional recipe enough to warrant all the added steps and time. For me the whole idea behind using refrigerated dough is that it is quicker and easier, and tastes just as good, so I will probably stick with my good old Pillsbury. But overall it was a success. This mix, given together with a Bundt pan or a cake stand would make a very nice gift.

Product Review - Sprinkles Cupcakes!!

A couple of weeks ago I was in Williams-Sonoma checking out their display of Easter serveware (beautiful) and trying samples of their jellybeans (good!). Whenever I am shopping there for anything I always check out the packaged foods, I like their quick bread and cake mixes, and my hubby buys me their hot chocolate for Christmas every year. As I was looking around I noticed something new that I had never seen before. It was cupcake mixes branded with the name Sprinkles. If you don't know the name Sprinkles, they are a cupcake shop that started in Beverly Hills and they have since opened locations in several other cities. I have seen them featured on Martha Stewart and also in a few of the magazines I read, so the name jumped out at me. I knew immediately I wanted to try them.

The store I was in carried just 4 different cupcake flavors, Vanilla, Banana, Chocolate, and Red Velvet. Red Velvet is all the rage now, and I have never made it before in any form, so I chose that one to try.

The cupcake kit comes with the cake mix, recipe instructions on how to make them, the recipe for the frosting, and those adorable little color-coded candy circles that are the trademark of Sprinkles bake shop. The ingredients that you need to purchase like eggs and butter were clearly listed on the outside of the package like most cake mixes do, so you don't have to open it to know what else you will need.

The mix was super easy to make and let me tell you - red velvet is no joke, this batter was RED RED RED. Wear an apron. Unfortunately for me my stand mixer does not have a shield and the red powder went everywhere in my kitchen as soon as the dry mix was added. Oops. I had a terry hand towel nearby I was using to wipe my fingers on and at the end I looked at it and it was completely smeared red. Rest assured it doesn't stain though, everything came out.

The batter was so yummy tasting, I just knew these would come out great and they did. Really delicious, moist enough, the perfect subtle cocoa taste, and totally red. I topped them with cream cheese frosting per the included recipe, and pressed the little circles on top just like the real Sprinkles cupcakes. Like having a little piece of LA in my suburban kitchen. Fantastic!

I served these to my family and everyone loved them. They were a huge hit! I definitely recommend trying them in Red Velvet or any of the other flavors. $14.00 at Williams-Sonoma stores. For more information on Sprinkles check out their website at http://www.sprinkles.com/.