Joy Wilson's Blog, page 76

Let It Be Sunday, 203!

Hello friends!

I would argue that it’s the most glorious week of the year, this space between holidays, and I can feel myself grasping at it with my fingertips trying to hold on to every minute. These are reflective days, don’t you think?

I hope you’ve had good holidays and, while some years that’s easier than others, I hope at least you’re staying steady and asking for what you need.

I’m trying to take rest and trying to chill the part of my brain that wants to stack up goals and tasks for the year ahead because, rest first PLEASE.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 203! at Joy the Baker.

Overnight Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

Hello my dears!

We’re in the home stretch. Literally – I’m currently stretching my way across the country to go home to Los Angeles for a few days.

With hope that you’re home and cozy, I bring you a Christmas morning breakfast hybrid: tender buttery biscuits in the style of cinnamon rolls.

Continue reading Overnight Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 202!

Hello dear friends and Happy Holidays! Have you made it through the madness to a moment of rest? Last week was a swirl of tasks to complete before, as it would seem, EVERYONE takes a brake for the new year. I hope you’re included in that rest.

This week my friends and I pulled off the holiday dinner I’d been dreaming of for the past month – a Reveillon Dinner. We held it at my friend Sara’s floral studio.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 202! at Joy the Baker.

Confetti Holiday Shortbread

There are a handful of glossy Christmas traditions that I’ve only daydreamed about as an adult trying to make the holidays my very own.  A few years ago I got my own Christmas tree which means that now I’m the proud owner of a collection of Christmas tree ornaments.  I’ve toyed with the idea of a Gingerbread House for a few years now and while I really want to make one, I have yet to muster the energy to build an edible mansion.  

This year I did tick off a daydream:  the holiday cookie tin – a collection of classed-up homemade cookies, nostalgic and delicious.  I made cookie tins this year and sold them at my Bakehouse Holiday Market.  Life goal, done!  

These shortbread cookies, an iteration of them at least, were part of this year’s cookie tins.

Continue reading Confetti Holiday Shortbread at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 201!

Hello my friends!

Thank you for all of the kind words last week.  Surgery recover is a wild ride and I’m still learning lessons of ease and asking for help.  

We’re barreling towards the holidays and this time of year (and maybe my slower pace) has me feeling reflective of the past year. Bearing witness to the different ways that ambition took shape, to the exciting and unexpected moments of the year, to the growth, and the places where I might still feel a little stuck.  In all the reflection, I’m trying to be easy.  Trying.  

I teach my first big-time yoga class this morning.  I’m nervous but the good news is, I can be nervous about a thing and still do it at the same time.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 201! at Joy the Baker.

Cranberry Jam Doughnuts with Spiced Orange Sugar

My parents make specific requests of my sister and me for our time home together over the Christmas holiday.  My sister, now that she is Seattle’s Queen of Ice Cream (a title I’ve given her solely because she’s earned it) is tasked with bringing at least a dozen pints of ice cream on the plane with her from Seattle to Los Angeles.  It seems like an arduous task that involves dry ice and for that we are all so so grateful.  I show my deep appreciation by hiding a pint of her Lemon Bar Ice Cream in the back of the freezer in hopes that no one will dig it out for themselves.  

I’ll be tasked with making a dessert – an old family classic like Texas Sheet Cake or my dad’s pie crusts.  Much easier, it all requiring far less dry ice.  This year I’m coming in strong with the doughnut game.  Fresh fried, after church, Christmas morning doughnuts.  (My mom is reading this and she’s into it – I already know.)  

The only right thing to do will be to combine my sister’s ice cream with fresh fried doughnuts.  The audacity to call this breakfast will be our Christmas gift to each other as we count our many many blessings.  

Today, in lieu of ice cream, homemade cranberry jam. 

We’ve got all sorts of doughnut options for you around here if these cranberry jammers are your deal: 

See: 

Browned Butter Baked Doughnuts

A Recipe for Two Doughnut Twists

Banana Bread Baked Doughnuts

These doughnuts come together in three parts, but really – I promise, nothing is too complex:  

the doughnut dough is an everything-in-the-mixer kind of move after the yeast has been activated with a bit of warm water and a pinch of sugar.

Continue reading Cranberry Jam Doughnuts with Spiced Orange Sugar at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 200!

Hello my dears!  

Bless up! We’ve made it to another fine Sunday.  Can you believe this marks our 200th edition of Let It Be Sunday!?   It’s the most visited post on my site each week and it fills my heart that we hold this space together. 

I’ve been a bit quiet and still this week, a result of a little bit of a laparoscopic surgery I had early in the week.  I say ‘little bit’ because that’s how I had it situated in my mind, but I’ll tell you what… surgery is surgery and it’s a big deal – if not to my mind then certainly to my body.  The good news is, I’m fine!  This body is doing an amazing job of healing itself.  The other good news is that this week was full of lessons about slowing down and asking for help that my stubborn self is still processing.  This week I am truly thankful for a boyfriend that carried me out of bed and friends who came with flowers and groceries and offerings to just sit with me and make me some oatmeal.  I feel very fortunate even though I’m still running at about half speed and despite the fact that it still hurts to laugh. 

Anyway – how you been?    

Here’s the offering this week, I hope you find a thing or two that inspires you to slow down and share more compassion with yourself and others.  The first three links are very intense but feel important and very human to me: 

•  Inside the story of death and survival as the Carr Fire’s tornado of fire stormed Redding – and changed firefighting in a warming California.  150 Minutes of Hell  (San Francisco Chronicle) 

•  Stepping back from the edge:  My mom’s suicide changed everything.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 200! at Joy the Baker.

Caesar Salad Gnocchi

Caesar salad is the dessert of salads.  Hear me out.  It’s creamy, it’s indulgent, there’s cheese, there’s buttery toasted bread… and sure, there’s lettuce but it’s the friendly kind- crisp and green and watery.  And it’s SALAD.  Except, like just about everything, I can’t leave well enough alone and we’re turning our dessert salad into a pasta dish.  It just feels like a really good idea! 

Listen, life comes at us fast and I want to be sure I have a belly full of comforting gnocchi when it does. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

•  a package of store-bought gnocchi.  I used DeLallo because I’ve made a disaster of my kitchen and my emotional well-being trying to make my own homemade gnocchi.  

•  Italian sausage though, if that’s not your thing you could totally leave out the meat or add a roasted broccoli for extra veggie. 

•  cubed bread, olive oil, salt, and pepper to toast up some croutons.

Continue reading Caesar Salad Gnocchi at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday , 199!

The question is, how am I still working through Thanksgiving leftovers?  I’ve said goodbye to the last of the stuffing and gravy, the mashed potatoes I turned into waffles, the turkey is stocked, but this pound cake (made from my friend Nicole’s grandmother’s recipe) seems to do nothing but regenerate itself every time I take a slice.  I’ve taken to browning each slice in melted butter, topping it with whipped cream and jam and… leftover are divine, especially where more butter is involved.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday , 199! at Joy the Baker.

Chocolate Babka Coffee Cake

I unlocked the wonderful mysteries of Babka for myself last year with these Babka Pull Apart Muffins which now makes every December around these parts BABKA SEASON. 

I love a new tradition, especially one that involves chocolate and encourages coffee so in celebration of another December together, I’m back atcha with a MOUNTAIN of a Chocolate Babka Cake.  

We’ll start with dreams of coffee cake.  Amplify those dreams by make a coffee cake that’s more closely related to a pound cake than anything.  Great!  Next, subtract the streusel filling and add in a chocolate-y rich spreadable chocolate filling that’s dark as midnight.  Factor in an hour of cozy oven time.  Consider a shower of powdered sugar while you brew up a cup of hot coffee and just like that you’re in my kitchen with me – and there’s cake thank goodness!  

This recipe is brought to us in partnership with AeroPress because every good coffee cake obviously needs a perfect cup of coffee.  

Here’s what’s so cool about an AeroPress – it brews a simple single cup of coffee with low acidity and really no bitterness at all.  It’s like brewing up a french press of coffee except you press the coffee through a filter at the bottom, leaving behind any coffee sludge and any over-brewed bitter flavor.  

It’s really so simple!  

The AeroPress (and honestly, a Chocolate Babka Cake) would make such a lovely holiday gift for our coffee loving friends.  It’s on my list of gifts to give!

Continue reading Chocolate Babka Coffee Cake at Joy the Baker.