Snacks – Jordan Hamons

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

There are a few kitchen tasks that I absolutely dread doing: peeling and deveining shrimp, cutting brussels sprouts, trimming sugar snap peas, and peeling fava beans are a few that come to mind. Usually, it’s those menial, repetitive processes that take all day and bore you out of your mind.

But, there are also things that I look forward to cooking no matter how many times I’ve made them or how simple the task. Chocolate covered strawberries fall in that category.

I love the process of melting the chocolate, dipping the berries, and then drizzling the strawberries with more melted chocolate or sometimes decorating them with sprinkles, crushed pretzels, or toasted nuts. No matter what you do, they always look elegant and pretty.

Chocolate covered strawberries work for so many occasions – Valentine’s Day, dinner parties, a healthy dessert, cocktail hours, holiday parties – and I’ve even heard reports that chocolate covered strawberries work as an aphrodisiac. Whatever your goal is, with a little bit of work, you get a big reward.

I like the idea of freshly baked sticky buns on a cold, snowy weekend morning. But, I like the idea much more than the actual work and preparation of making the dough the night before, then waking up early to proof, assemble and bake the sticky pans. That’s a lot of work for a weekend.

Here’s a way to have the same freshly baked sticky bun experience without all of the work and preparation. A marshmallow is dipped in butter, then cinnamon and sugar, wrapped in crescent roll dough, then dipped in more butter, cinnamon and sugar. The magic happens in the oven when the marshmallow magically disappears, melting with the cinnamon and sugar and creating the gooey sauce that makes a sticky bun so good. Drizzle generously with cream cheese glaze, top with toasted pecans, and you are done. Freshly baked pecan sticky buns in less than an hour and you did not have to wake up early.

My mom first remembers making these when she was in the 3rd grade and they would often have them for breakfast on the weekends or for holidays. She had no idea where the recipe came from but after a little research, I found a variation of this recipe won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1969 and has remained popular ever since.

Retro Pecan Sticky Buns | The Hungry Traveler

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