If you follow me on Instagram then you already know that Currey has recently left his job at Starbucks. We are thrilled that he will be able to focus all his time and energy on work at our church but the fact that that chapter of our lives is over still seems surreal.
He was hired at Starbucks less than 2 months after we got married and had been there ever since. In case you’ve lost count, that’s 9 ½ years. Starbucks provided us so many wonderful things during Currey’s time with the company. We had amazing health insurance that we were eligible for with Currey’s part time status. We meet sweet friends who have loved us well. We’ve enjoyed countless meals together, they’ve celebrated the birth of our babies with us and have shown incredible support of our adoption journey. And of course, the perk of a free pound of coffee every week and a great discount on everything else didn’t hurt either.
This transition has been a long time coming and I wanted to make sure that Currey was celebrated well. He has worked diligently even though he knew this job was just for a season. He poured into coworkers and formed friendships with customers. There was much to celebrate!
While there will be lots of changes to our current schedule, the one I’m most excited about is being able to enjoy breakfast together. Currey opened at Starbucks so he was gone most mornings. The 2 mornings that he wasn’t at work are the days that I’ve worked at the hospital overnight so I’m asleep by breakfast. I can’t wait to try out all sorts of new breakfast recipes and to start our day as a family around the table.
When looking for epic treats I always go to my Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook. The recipes are challenging and incredibly delicious. I made Cinnamon Bun Pie for dessert for our celebratory date night and had dough left over. As I was looking at other recipes for this dough, I discovered Bagel Bombs and knew they’d be a breakfast hit. A simple dough is wrapped around a ball of bacon and scallion cream cheese, brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with seasonings. How could you go wrong?
The flavor was amazing and they were so easy to make. The dough is incredibly easy and forgiving. I can guarantee that you’ll see a couple of variations of these on the blog in the weeks to come. I just can’t get enough!
Recipe adapted slightly from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, by Christina Tosi
ingredients
6 slices bacon (the smokier the better)
8 oz cream cheese
3 scallions greens, thinly sliced
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups water, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon water, at room temperature
½ teaspoon dried garlic
1 Tablespoon dried onion
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
3 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 tsp kosher salt
instructions
- Fry bacon in a skillet over medium heat until it's auburn brown and crunchy. Remove it from the pan and chop it into small pieces. Set bacon aside and reserve the bacon grease in the pan.
- Put cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream it on medium speed. Pour in the reserved bacon fat and continue creaming at a lower speed.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the chopped bacon, scallions, sugar, and salt. Continue mixing until everything is well incorporated.
- Scoop the cream cheese mixture onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper in 8 even lumps. Freeze until rock hard (about 1 to 3 hours).
- Stir together flour, salt, active dry yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer -- do it by hand, using the dough hook like a spoon. Continue stirring by hand as you add 1 3/4 cup water, mixing for 1 minute, until the mixture has come together in a shaggy mess.
- Engage the bowl and hook and have the machine mix the dough on the lowest speed for 3 minutes, or until the ball of dough is smoother and more cohesive. Then knead for 4 more minutes on the lowest speed. The dough should look like a wet ball and should bounce back softly when prodded.
- Brush a large bowl with 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil and transfer the dough ball into it. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof at room temperature for 45 minutes. *Once proofed divide the dough in half. This recipe only requires a half recipe of mother dough.
- Preheat the oven to 325 (F).
- Punch down and flatten the dough on a smooth, dry countertop. Use a dough cutter to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (Again, make sure you’ve half the original dough. This recipe only requires ½ recipe of Mother Dough.) Use your fingers to gently stretch each piece of dough out into a small circle between 2 and 3 inches wide.
- Put a frozen cream cheese portion in the center of each dough circle. Bring up the edges of each round and pinch to seal so that the cream cheese plug is completely contained, then gently roll the ball between the palms of your hands to ensure that the bomb has a nice, round, dinner roll-y shape. Arrange the bombs 4 inches apart on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.
- Whisk 1 egg together with 1/2 teaspoon of water to create the egg wash. Brush a generous coat of this wash on the buns. In a small, separate bowl, stir together the salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic and onion. Sprinkle a heavy, even coating of this mixture all over the bagel bombs.
- Bake the bagel bombs for 20 - 30 minutes. While in the oven, the bombs will turn golden and a few may have cream cheese explosions. (Once they have cooled just a little, you can use your fingers to tuck the cream cheese inside, or leave them as is.) Continue baking until you see this happen.
- Serve warm. Leftovers can be kept in an air-tight container in the fridge and warmed in a toaster oven before serving.