The Big Fat White Guy: German Chocolate Sticky Buns and a Different Kind of Ensaimada

Okay. Ganito iyon... (Okay, so it's like this...)

I'm not really running out of things to write. But I have been so busy lately that getting back to writing is so far next to impossible. Anyway, if you have been reading my last post and watched the extensive "how to" video, you would be amazed by the various things one can make with brioche. This blog entry would describe variations on that. While there is no video, I have the pictures to show it.

Anyway, I showed in my video how to make sticky buns and the Philippine style Ensaimada. As mentioned, one cam make so many goodies with brioche and that the possibilities are endless. So far I will be showing two variations on the sticky bun-ensaimada theme with the following recipes.

A different ensaimada: this contains Bleu d'Auvergne,
Jarlsberg and Parmigiano-Reggiano as the chesses.

German Chocolate Buns

The first one is a play on the theme of "German Chocolate" which is a misnomer because the combination of Coconut and Chocolate did not originate in Germany and therefore not a German concoction. But at the same time, it is a German concoction because the person who first made the chocolate cake with a filling consisting of "caramel made with egg yolks and evaporated milk" with coconut and pecans stirred in is by the name of Sam German. Anyway, whenever anyone makes a dessert of chocolate cake with a coconut filling in whatever form is called German Chocolate.

German Chocolate Cake

In this take of the German Chocolate recipe, we use desiccated young coconut meat that is rehydrated and sweetened, mixing it with chocolate morsels from leftover chocolate bars.

A few months ago, I bought Philippine brand of Dried Young Coconut in Costco. It is very much like the packaging of Philippine brand Dried Mango and produced by the same company and very much owned by the same person (Justin). Anyway, thinking that the taste would be reminiscent of the Philippine coconut which I miss and it would be as edible as the Dried Mango slices, I went ahead and bought a bag.

So I thought that the Young Coconut would be
as soft and edible as the Mango.

Sad to say, it was not a good decision. The coconut slices were tough and bit irritatingly crunchy with a taste that is like any other desiccated coconut product that can be used to make macaroons. So the thing sat on my pantry for months and what were tough crunchy coconut slices because hard and inedible. I was ready to throw them away but with the Betty Crocker "waste not want not" mentality, I hesitated. Why not use them as filling for a "German Chocolate" sticky buns?

The chocolate I used in this recipe is a leftover from a birthday chocolate bark I got from a good friend of mine in Seattle - Jeromie Heath who is a thoughtful school teacher and the husband of my best friend, Philip. The chocolate is a Godiva. But knowing I needed more, I went ahead and looked for additional chocolate bars in the pantry and here I have the 90% cocoa chocolate bars which Mike bought from the Lindt store a few months back. So, the chocolates are first rate.

The following is the recipe and how to proceed with making them German Chocolate Sticky Buns.

Ingredients.

1/2 recipe of brioche (See previous entry)
2 cups of Philippine brand Dried Coconut (good substitute: two cups of desiccated coconut; another good substitute, even better - 1 bottle of "macapuno" - which is a mutant meaty form of coconut sweetened with sugar syrup available in Asian stores)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups of chocolate morsels (chocolate chips or chop some leftover chocolate bars)
Loads of margarine
Loads of brown sugar
Liberal amounts of cinnamon powder

Prepare the coconut by boiling it in 3/4 cup of water to simmer until tender. Add the brown sugar until dissolved. Using a food processor, puree this mixture. When using macapuno, the coconut is essentially prepared and therefore you can skip this step.

So, I got some of the coconut and softened them by
simmering in water. Then I added some sugar
and in the food processor they go.

Puree the mixture until spreadable.

Using a sharp knife, dice the chocolate bars to small chips measuring about 1/2 centimeters squared.

Leftover Godiva birthday cake bark - now
diced into bits.

And so goes with the Lindt dark chocolate.

As with any sticky bun, roll the dough thinly at least 1/4 inch thick and evenly. Liberally spread the butter to the edges and in the following order, spread the following: coconut, chocolate chips, brown sugar and cinnamon powder. If one prefers, small dashes of nutmeg may be added.

Roll the dough until flat.

Spread generous amounts of butter - more the merrier!

Throw in loads of sugar - more the merrier!!

Next, the chocolates and sugar.

Generous amounts of cinammon and if desired, a bit
of nutmeg.

Roll and cut in equal sizes and lay them on the side.

Notice here I used cupcake pans

lined with cupcake paper.

Did the same using conventional pans.

Let's eat. Yum yum, yeah!

Roll evenly like a jelly roll and slice into equal pieces. Line a baking pan with the pieces laying them on the side. Rise further until double in bulk and bake at 400F for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool and serve with a confectioner sugar-butter glaze.

The next recipe is a variation on the Philippine Esaimada. But instead of making a roll by filling each piece of flattened dough with cheese, butter and sugar and rolling it into a bun; I decided to make it the "Sticky Bun" method. Also, the cheeses used were a bit unconventional. You see, I have some left over French blue cheese, Bleu d'Auvergne which I love. It is rather strong, pungent and very sharp. So use sparingly. Likewise, I have some leftover Jarlsberg, which in contrast to the Bleu d'Auvergne, is rather mild and would provide a nice contrast. To this is a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano which is sharp and salty but not very pungent - reminiscent of the edam.

Using the same technique as above, the flattened dough is treated with generous amounts of butter, white sugar, 1/2 cup of the French Bleu d'Auvergne, 1 cup of thinly sliced Jarlsberg and 1 cup of grated Parmagiano-Reggiano. Again, roll as in jelly roll and cut in equal sized pieces and lay them flat on the side to rise until double in bulk. Bake in a 400F oven for 15-20 minutes.