Urban Hounds Easter

Easter:

Bonnets:

Picture of Ping in her Bonnet Easter 2009, from the pug archives

Bunnies:

Bob Easter 2011

Norbert Easter 2011

Baskets:

Tubby Easter 2011

and of course breakfast!

 This year for breakfast the Hounds had an Egg Salad kibble topper.  Eggs are a great source of protein for dogs and the Whole Dog Journal recommends them as a people food to add to your dogs kibble to give it a nutritional boost.


Egg Salad Kibble Toppler

6-8 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 cup baby carrots diced fine
1 cup chopped watercress or green pea tendrils, I used Mr McGregor's
1 12 ounce box Cascadian Farms frozen green peas
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt

Stir all of the ingredients together and spoon a little bit on top of your dogs kibble.


The peeps had Pecan Maple Sticky Buns, this recipe was mom's first experience with making a yeast dough and had her working for two days but it came out great.

Pecan Maple Sticky Buns from Bon Appetite

Sweet Dough

• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature, plus 1/2 tablespoon, melted

Heat milk in the microwave for about 20 second until it reaches the temperature of 110-115 degrees Farenheit, as measured by an instant read thermometer.  Stir in 1 tsp of sugar and sprinkle the yeast over.  Set aside for five minutes so the yeast has a change to foam up.  Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.


In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook combine the sugar, flour, and salt.  Add the milk mixture.  With the mixer running at medium speed add the soft butter 1 tbsp at a time.  Mix for a few minutes after each addition until the butter is entirely incorporated.   Turn the mixer up to medium high and mix one minute.   Turn down to medium and mix or knead for five minutes.  Dough should be sticky and elastic, but not all greasy.


Brush a large metal bowl with the melted butter and place the dough in the bowl.  Brush the top of the dough with more melted butter.   Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night (I had mine in the fridge for about 16 hours and the buns where fine).

The dough will look like this at stage 1

Topping/Glaze

• 1 3/4 cups chopped pecans (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 and toast the pecans, stirring frequently, for 8-12 minutes until golden brown.  Set aside to cool.


Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and stir in the sugar, cream, maple syrup and salt.  Stir until completely combined.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for five minutes.  Set glaze aside. 


Cinnamon Filling

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Beat the butter,sugar, spices and salt in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium high speed until very creamy, about five minutes. 

 Assembly 
1 egg
1 tbsp water
flour for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350

Pour 1 cup of the topping/glaze into an 8x8x 2 inch metal baking pan and tilt to ensure the glaze covers the entire surface.  Sprinkle over 1/2 cup pecans.  Set the remaining glaze aside.


Flour a wooden cutting board.  Take the dough out of the fridge, punch down, and place on the cutting board.  Sprinkle the dough with a little flour.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 12x16 inches.   Flour the rolling pin if necessary.  Spread the filling all over the dough leaving a one inch filling free border.   Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of pecans.  
 It will look like this:

 Turn the cutting board, if necessary, so that one of the long sides of the dough rectangle is facing you.  Roll up to make a fat cigar, keeping the roll tight.  Pinch and pat to close the seam.  

Turn the dough roll so that the seem side is down.  Cut in 8 pieces using a sharp knife.   Place the cut rolls cut side up in the glaze lined pan and give each a gently pat.   Make sure the buns don't touch in the pan.

Whisk the egg with the water in a small bowl and brush each bun with the egg wash. 
 
 Cover loosely in plastic wrap and let rise one hour (you can also refrigerate the buns at this point) and let them rise for 2 hours in the morning.


Bake for 50 minutes, turning half way through.  Watch closely and tent with foil if they brown too quickly.  Take them out of the oven and let them sit for five minutes.  Then drizzle over the remaining glaze and sprinkle the last of the pecans on top.


The result!  Yum







 After breakfast we took a nice walk in the Van Horst Park in down town Jersey City.  We saw beautiful pink flowers that reminded us of Payton, we miss her so much and feel so badly for her mom and dad and grandparents but we are so greatful that she beat the PDE monster and lived with that dreaded disease for years.   Our friend Winston has the wonderful idea of planting pink flowers in Payton's memory so please consider doing so.  We don't have a garden so we took some pictures of pink flowers instead.

The adorable bunny hat and knitted Easter collars are from All You Need is Pug on Etsy

When we got home it was time for the Easter Basket, this year's basket was even better then last years.

Tubby and Ping got new sweater vests from Archie' mom's store Pug Notes.

   We love her sweater vests and where especially touched that the tag on one of the sweater vests was a picture of our angel sister Dr. Zira, Z loved pug notes sweater vets.   I think you will agree that we look amazing in our new vests

Norbert and Bob got some fun toys in the basket.   A new bunny

And of course we got a bag of treats:

We had a wonderful Easter and we hope you did too!

Puppy Easter

We had fun celebrating Easter here this year.  I made the hounds a basket

It had a bunny ear headband from pet smart in it that Bob didn't seem to mind wearing at all, two neck scrunchies and a Bunny Rabbit hat from All You Need is Pug, two Bonzees boiled wool bones, some treats, and five hard boiled eggs (one for each hound).   The hounds really enjoyed the basket (particularly the treats).

Then we went for a walk in the park

We watched some TV.   The best Easter movie is definitely Easter Parade because it has one of Fred Astaire's best dances in it.   Here is the you tube link

The rest of the movie kind of pales in comparison, but the dance is amazing.

For dinner I made my favorite hard boiled eggs.  I got the recipe from a really cute cookbook Babe' Country Cookbook that I bought used years ago.

Here is the recipe

Deviled Eggs from Babe's Country Cookbook

Ingredients:
6  hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp sliced scallions (green onions)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Paprika for garnish

Method
Slice the eggs in half and remove the yolks to a bowl.  Mash them up and add the mayonnaise, scallions, mustard, salt, pepper and stir.  Spoon the filling bag in the eggs and garnish with Paprika.


I also made the layered salad from the wonderful Pioneer Woman website.   It was delicious, and some corn muffins.

For dessert I made white chocolate coconut cream pie from one of my favorite cookbooks Chocolate American Style.   

Ingredients

For the crust
5 ounces (40 cookies) vanilla wafer
cookies, crumbled
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted
butter, melted
1/4 cup (2 ounces) sugar

For the filling
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (16 ounces) heavy cream
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsweetened
coconut milk
3 extra-large egg yolks
4 ounces white chocolate,
coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) sweetened
shredded coconut, toasted

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the rack in the center position.
To make the crust, place the crumbled cookies in the work bowl of a
food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until the cookie pieces
are reduced to small crumbs, then add the melted butter and sugar.
Pulse until the butter is evenly dispersed among the crumbs. Press the
crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
Bake the crust for 18 to 20 minutes, or until it is fragrant and light
brown, and it is slightly firm to the touch. Remove the plate to a wire
rack to cool. Turn off the oven. (The crust can be made up to 2 days
ahead. Cover well with plastic wrap and store at room temperature.)

To make the filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-quart, heavy saucepan. Whisk the mixture together, then whisk in 1 cup of the cream and the coconut milk. Add the egg yolks and whisk vigorously to combine. Set the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly, making sure to reach into the corners of the pan, as the mixture thickens
and comes to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir or whisk the mixture very well, then return the pan to the heat. Simmer the mixture, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the custard from the heat and
stir in the white chocolate and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate melts. The mixture will be very thick and slightly oily looking. Transfer the mixture
to a large metal bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap onto the top, and refrigerate until cold.
When the custard is cold, beat it with an electric mixer on high speed for
1 minute, until it is smooth. Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream
and beat on high speed until the mixture is thick and fluffy like whipped cream. Fold in 1 cup of the toasted coconut. Pour and scrape the filling
into the prepared crust. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 cup
toasted coconut. Refrigerate the pie until ready to serve.
The pie can be stored in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.

For the toasted Coconut

To toast coconut in the oven, spread it on a shallow, rimmed baking sheet and place
it in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 10 minutes. Use a metal spatula to stir the
shreds, then bake for another 5 minutes, or until the coconut is a very light
golden brown.

We should probably start post Easter diets but it was delicious.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful time as well!