Better Bun Bottoms

Less sticky. More flavor. “And gone-to-heaven” cinnamon sticky buns.

In the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan:
2 tablespoons liquid coffee
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
or
In the bottom of an 11" x 17" pan:
1/4 cup liquid coffee
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Make a sweet egg-rich dough with some sourdough starter, plus lots of yeast. (We use the old Betty Crocker recipe using about 5 cups of flour. This has 2 tablespoons yeast, & we add a cup of starter.)

Roll up sweet roll dough with soft butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon; slice very thin, about 1/2 inch wide. Lay the rolls in the pans of that muddy looking goo. Rise. Bake as usual. Turn out upside down.

Note: Flavor goes a step farther if you use Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon. Yum yum.

Yeast Cookies. An Exception

The Barefoot Baker is dedicated to discovering new flavors. Don’t want to repeat—that’s a part of the policy for avoiding embarrassing memory lapses: never say the same thing twice, never tell the same story, in case you already related it. To anybody. Ever.

But we’ve discovered something new in an old southern recipe book. New to us, and it is yummy.

Yeast Cookie Butterfingers

1 pound butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cake (or one tablespoon dry) yeast
2 eggs, separated
4 cups sifted flour
Choice of topping: 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, or chocolate shots, or toasted coconut

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Add with egg yolks to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Gradually beat in the flour. Chill the dough.
Roll about one tablespoonful of dough into a finger shape. Dip in well-beaten egg whites, and roll in the topping of your choice. (Roll the cookie.)
Bake on a greased (or silpat lined) baking sheet at 3750 about 10 minutes.

Our flour of choice for this old southern cookie is White Lily, but any all-purpose will work; and topping of choice is toasted coconut. (Always toast more coconut than you will need, because it will find its way to a taste test.) If your “finger shapes” look more like little turdlets, don’t worry, they will spread a bit in the oven and emerge oval.