Joy Wilson's Blog, page 50
April 15, 2021
Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Daisy Conchas (Mexican Sweet Breads)
Your next spring baking project has arrived!
We’re making spring-themed conchas, also known as pan dulce, also known as Mexican sweet breads.
Conchas translates from Spanish as seashells – usually appropriate because the sugar top traditionally resembles a seashell. This season we might want to call these conchas fresas (strawberries) or flores (flowers) because we’re making fruit and flower shaped tops for our sweat breads!
Each Mexican sweet bread is a tight-crumbed, lightly sweetened, butter roll topped with a sweet crust that expands in the oven as the bread breaks as creates cracks along the surface. It’s my favorite thing to pick up at a panaderia save for every other baked good at a Mexican bakery. There is no wrong choice.
This is a perfect weekend baking project. The kind of recipe you spend a few hours in the kitchen about with enough rest time to keep the kitchen mostly clean, and make a few friend phone calls you’ve been meaning to catch up on. It’s a sweet time with lightly sweet rewards and the perfect excuse for afternoon coffee and a treat.
This recipe was inspired by Instagram friend KC Hysmith. I saw her sweet little daisy conchas and set straight away to the kitchen to play. The internet is generous that way.
After three batches of rolls in as many days, this recipe came together with a sweetbabystrawberry version to boot.
It is my instinct to put warm bread, all warm bread, directly upon my face.
Not necessarily in my mouth, though most certainly eventually in my mouth, but I’m here to tell you that warm bread upon the face is one of life’s hidden treasures.
Here’s what you’ll need for this Mexican Sweet Bread project.
Continue reading Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Daisy Conchas (Mexican Sweet Breads) at Joy the Baker.
April 11, 2021
Let It Be Sunday, 317!
Hello friends!
I woke up last Monday determined to get after it. The week prior felt lost to gloomy weather and equally gloomy body aches so I just let myself be. This week though? Sunshine and not a moment to lose. I visited with a few friends (one of them being my real estate agent because I’ve got big, cross-your-fingers-style plans in the works for The Bakehouse), I’ve eaten several pints of strawberries, I ironed new shower curtains, I swam and didn’t sink….
April 8, 2021
No-Chop One-Pot Chicken Meatball Dinner
I just spent two workdays in the kitchen testing and perfecting next week’s recipe.
It’s a recipe for conchas. You know, Mexican sweet breads that are somehow even more delicious a day after baking. Perfect dipped in milky coffee. I found myself surrounded by four dozen conchas too many, trying to get just the right texture, translating a bakery recipe into a home baking recipe. I got it, friends. They’re darling and delicious and absolutely worth the double pile of dishes and oven burn on my knuckle.
It’s work, sure… and it’s work I feel lucky to do (dishes included).
Continue reading No-Chop One-Pot Chicken Meatball Dinner at Joy the Baker.
April 4, 2021
Let It Be Sunday, 316!
Hello, friends! Happy spring! Happy floral dress season! Happy Easter!
We made it through another April Fool’s Day and I gotta say, April 2nd might be my favorite day because we have an entire year mostly free of pranks. You’re either a prank person or you’re not and, as your most gullible friend, I’m here to say that I’m just not a prank person.
I had a friend post an entire wedding photoshoot on Instagram on April Fool’s Day to announce their um… marriage?
April 1, 2021
Vegan Chocolate Chip Corn Cookies (with a gluten-free option!)
In my cheese drawer right now I have a half eaten block of fancy gruyere (that’s the snacking cheese I eat in the morning while my coffee brews… I dunno), there’s a bag of shredded cheddar cheese for impromptu nachos, and there’s a bag of vegan jalapeno jack cheese that make my favorite grilled cheese sandwiches. I like options, you know?
I can’t even tell you about the collection of spelt, rye, and brown rice flours I have in the pantry (meticulously labeled with packing take).
Continue reading Vegan Chocolate Chip Corn Cookies (with a gluten-free option!) at Joy the Baker.
March 28, 2021
Let It Be Sunday, 315!
Hello friends, welcome!
You’ll forgive me this Sunday, won’t you? I don’t have a lengthy Sunday post for you today but I feel like we have such a tradition here every week, I didn’t want to leave you with an entirely blank space.
I spent much of last week in Pittsburg Pennsylvania helping a dear friend adjust to a big life change. That means I was mostly in her kitchen simmering red beans and rice, baking bread, and making cookies.
March 26, 2021
Creamy No-Bake Carrot Cake
This week I found myself taking the long way to a tube of toothpaste at the drugstore.
(Somehow, well into adulthood, toothpaste is one of those things that even with daily use, an empty toothpaste tube always seems like a surprise.)
The long way to toothpaste, in case you aren’t familiar with this technique, involves meandering through the nail polish aisle and staring in disbelief at the anti-aging skin care section before wandering into the candy section. In the candy aisle I usually talk myself into a box of Red Vines but this week, friends – we hit the jackpot: Easter candy. Spring candy is more righteous than even Halloween candy.
Continue reading Creamy No-Bake Carrot Cake at Joy the Baker.
March 21, 2021
Let It Be Sunday, 314!
Hello friends! Happy Sunday, I’m so glad you’re here!
We made it to Spring, didn’t we? I cut these fine snapdragons from the front garden yesterday and felt pretty dang proud of myself for nurturing a plant outside long enough to bring it inside to nurture me further. Tron is pretty pleased, too.
Yesterday I received my first COVID vaccine shot. I don’t have one of those teary-eyed vaccine selfies.
March 18, 2021
The No-Bake Neapolitan Birthday Cake
I do have the best of intentions. It’s best to assume positive intent, right? Even of yourself.
Over the past year I’ve noticed a commonality in the apps that have made home on my phone. There’s an app to help me be a better runner (be a runner at all, honestly). There’s an app to help me meditate, an app to help me sleep, an app to talk me through a few yoga poses.
Continue reading The No-Bake Neapolitan Birthday Cake at Joy the Baker.
March 14, 2021
Let It Be Sunday, 313!
Hi friends, good morning!
How are you? Feeling good? Feeling strong? It’s ok if you’re not. It’s ok if things feels a little blurry. Sunday, afterall. A day to eat crackers in bed if you want to.
This week I’ve been holding on to small victories: a few good laps in the pool, my fastest two mile running time, two good hair days, a handful of neighborly kindnesses, and time spent listening to true crime podcasts in the garden.
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