ABC - Perfect Christmas Stollen

This month's recipe concludes our ABC baking for 2016, and with that, baking from the Weekend Bakery blog. So we went out with a bang: Perfect Christmas Stollen. Soft citrus-y yeast bread, chock full of dried fruit, wrapped around a log of lemon flavored homemade almond paste. What's not to like?

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Pumpkin Buns

The ABC challenge for the month of November wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin recipe. When I saw these cute Pumpkin Buns, shaped like little pumpkins, I couldn't resist adding them to the list.

Only made two pumpkin shaped buns with an almond for a stalk :)

So light and fluffy!!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Classic Dutch Apple Pie

I baked this October ABC recipe a couple months ago. The Classic Dutch Apple Pie recipe from the Weekend Bakery was amazing! Just the way I remember this childhood favorite dessert :)

There's a big difference between your traditional American apple pie and a Dutch one. Instead of a flaky crust, the crust is more like a sweet cookie crust. The filling has a minimal amount of sugar, allowing the apples to really shine.

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - No Knead Brioche

In May, the ABC bakers were challenged to bake a No Knead Brioche. I was quite intrigued when I saw this recipe on the Weekend Bakery blog. It's an enriched dough which means it has eggs, butter and a sweetener.

Soft and fluffy No Knead Brioche!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Kersenvlaai: cherry pie with bread dough

The ABC recipe for April is a typical Dutch pastry called "vlaai" which is loosely translated to pie. Essentially it's a pie-like pastry made with a lightly sweetened yeast dough, and as with any pie, the filling variations are endless. For this month, we made Kersenvlaai which is made with cherries.

My modified Kersenvlaai which turned out to be more like a sweet calzone :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Veggie Danish

This Veggie Danish recipe from WeekendBakery.com instantly captured my attention. It's like a savory cinnamon roll, and you can use whatever filling strikes your fancy. In my case, I used homemade (nut-free) basil pesto, green olives and an Italian cheese blend. I served it with a bowl of homemade vegetable soup. Everyone loved it! The only downside was that this dough almost killed my bread machine (more on that later).

As for the shape, I decided not to mess with cutting the dough into rolls and made a faux-braid instead. Who said braided breads can be sweet only?

Soft and fluffy bread hugging an aromatic pesto/olive/cheese filling. Yum!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Deluxe Cinnamon Buns

Something I've wanted to try for a long time: custard filled cinnamon buns. So when I came across this recipe called Deluxe Cinnamon Buns on the Weekend Bakery blog, I knew I had to select it for one of our monthly ABC projects.

The other interesting thing about this recipe is the usage of low protein flour. Pastry flour to be exact. It's supposed to make the buns super light and fluffy. I was a bit skeptical but gave it a try anyway. I didn't have pastry flour, so I made my own using 2/3 all-purpose flour and 1/3 cake flour, by weight.

Deluxe Cinnamon Buns. Hubb's half had pecans on them :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Homemade Rondo's

Happy belated New Year! I hope you had a good holiday season with lots of oven trips :)

We're starting 2016 with a new recipe source: WeekendBakery.com. I couldn't be more excited about that. I've baked recipes from this blog before with great results and I'm certain you will too.

The first ABC recipe of the year is: Homemade Rondo's. This is a traditional Dutch pastry consisting of a buttery crust with a sweet almond filling that gets its slight tang from the citrus zest. I love how Rondo's are decorated with a whole almond on top. I grew up on these cookies. I usually got them from the grocery store. Sometimes I'd splurge and buy them from a fancy bakery, eating them slightly warm. Yum! I have to admit that these homemade Rondo's are another step above that.

Homemade Dutch almond pastries called Rondo's

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.