Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" celebrates the best of American home cooking.

-Succulent tender pork.

The two sauces are perfect together.

-Give that a whiff.

-Ooh-ooh!

-Mmm, mmm!

-We highlight classic comfort food... -This is burger perfection.

-It's so good.

-You can taste the crunch.

-...and share shortcuts to make low-fuss, big-flavor weeknight meals.

-It was really easy to make.

-High payoff.

-We find regional favorites, uncovering the people and history behind exceptional recipes.

-Those bell peppers remind you of being in the South.

-This is "Cook's Country."

Today on "Cook's Country," Morgan makes Bridget Dollywood-style cinnamon bread.

Hannah reviews mixing bowls, and Lidey makes me pumpkin cream cheese blondies.

It's all coming up right here on "Cook's Country."

Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills Denali 605 Pro, made for the family cookout and weeknight dinner.

With 900 square inches of cooking space, several accessories, and Bluetooth capabilities, it's designed with the host in mind.

Monument Grills -- The Everybody, Everywhere Grill.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -More than three million people a year visit Dollywood, not just for the thrill rides and the entertainment, but for the food.

And the most legendary out of all the offerings is the cinnamon bread.

Luckily for me, Morgan's here and she's going to show us how to make this at home, because I had this back in the late '80s.

I think it was the Grist Mill that used to sell it.

-Yep.

So, the Grist Mill.

It's so popular there, they turn out 350 loaves an hour there.

But as much as I would love to be there every day, I can't be in Pigeon Forge every day.

So, I'm going to start by making the dough.

So, here I have 1 and 2/3 cup of flour, and I'm going to mix in 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.

And then I'm also going to add in 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons of warm water.

I'm going to mix this on low, just until the dough comes together.

All right.

That is looking pretty good.

I don't see any big dry pockets of flour.

Everything's pretty well incorporated.

So, now I'm going to let it hang out for 15 minutes before I add any of the sugar or salt.

So, that's a process called autolysing the dough, and it really just gives you a fluffier dough.

-Yes, autolyse is really important when making a dough, because the sugar and salt will compete with the flour for the moisture from the water.

And you don't want that because water mixed with flour is where gluten forms.

-Yeah, exactly.

So, it's going to hang 15 minutes, and then we'll keep mixing.

-All right.

-All right.

It's been 15 minutes.

Doesn't actually change how it looks.

-No.

-But it makes for a much better dough.

-Yes.

-Now, stick this back on here.

Now I'm going to add in a little bit of butter.

This is 2 tablespoons.

I'm also going to add that sugar and salt.

So, I have 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

And then I have a teaspoon of table salt.

-All right.

-Now I'm just going to mix these on medium-low until that butter is nice and incorporated.

It'll only take about 30 seconds.

Then I'm going to turn it up to medium, and I'm going to let it go until it's smooth and elastic, which is somewhere between six and eight minutes.

-Okay.

-I think that butter is looking good.

I'm just going to crank it up a little bit.

All right.

This is looking good to me.

So, I'm looking for it to be smooth and elastic.

There's some a little bit sticky on the bottom, but it's pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

So I'm just going to scrape this out and shape it into a loose ball.

And then I'm going to put it in a greased bowl, cover it with plastic, and let it hang out for about an hour.

But what you're really paying attention to is when it's doubled in size.

-Okay.

-Okay, what makes this bread so good is its cinnamon sugar layers.

-Yes.

-So, in order to do that, I have 4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter.

And then I've got my stuff for cinnamon sugar.

So, I have 1/2 cup of light brown sugar in here.

And then to that I'm adding 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

And then I've got 4 teaspoons of cinnamon.

So, that's a good amount of cinnamon.

It's going to pack a lot of flavor in there.

-And it wouldn't be cinnamon bread without cinnamon.

-Exactly, exactly.

To that, I'm going to also add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

And I'm just going to mix this up.

-Now you do know that any kind of cinnamon bread, bun, sticky bun, anything is my weakness.

-Mm.

Well, good.

-Yes.

-I knew you'd be the perfect person to cook this with.

I'm just going to make sure any of these big clumps, I'm going to kind of get out.

-All right.

-So, I'm going to pull out 6 tablespoons of this to use later.

-Okay.

-So, I'm just setting this aside.

Our dough has clearly doubled in size.

-It's beautiful.

-It is beautiful.

And... -May I?

-Yeah.

I know there's something very satisfying about it, isn't there?

-Must always touch dough.

-Yeah, exactly.

-All right.

-I'm going to lightly flour my counter and then turn this out.

Now I'm going to roughly shape it into a loaf shape.

So, I'm looking for something that's roughly eight by four inches.

And a little big, but that's fine.

It does not have to be perfect.

And then four.

And now I'm going to cut it into five pieces.

So, I'm just going to do five equal cuts.

I'm using a bench scraper.

It's really easy for this.

Each will be about 1.5 inches by 4 inches.

So, now we start our journey.

So, this piece of dough goes down and goes in a little dunk of butter, nice little butter bath, and then into the cinnamon-sugar bath.

-Oh, I wish I was that dough.

-I know, right?

And then into the loaf pan, nice and tucked away, and then back down.

So, it is such a soft dough that you'll see, like, it'll hold my fingerprints.

It'll look kind of messy.

If you're doing this at home, you may feel like, is this wrong?

-Right?

-It's totally fine.

It's what it's supposed to be.

It's a really soft dough, and that's going to make it super airy, super luscious, and super pillowy down the road.

All right, so I'm going to tuck this last little guy in here.

Now if you wanted you could pause here so you could actually cover this and refrigerate it and let it hang for 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

-In the fridge?

-In the fridge.

Yeah.

You'd want to bring it to room temperature before baking it, but we're just gonna roll through it.

So, now I'm gonna let it hang for an hour.

I'm going to cover it, and it'll double in size again.

Now, in that time, some of that sugar may crack.

Totally fine.

-Okay.

-So, one hour.

You can see how it rose.

-Beautiful.

-I know.

It's doubled in size.

-Yes.

-Like I said, you get a little cracking.

It's actually kind of nice, I think, you know, a little mosaic of cinnamon sugar.

-Gorgeous.

-So, now it's time for us to bake it.

I'm just going to put it in a 350-degree oven.

I'll have it hanging at the middle rack.

I actually like taking a temperature with dough just because I feel like it's nice and consistent.

So with this, I'm going to bake it until it registers between 205 and 210 degrees.

-Okay, great.

-Yeah.

Take about half an hour.

-Since it's enriched, it takes a little longer.

-Exactly, exactly.

And I will get in there and turn it halfway through.

-Okay.

♪♪ -I know.

I'm like, the smell... If you ever need to make your house smell good... Do you mind grabbing that for me?

-Yes.

-Okay.

So, I'm gonna get in here and take a temp.

I just want to get somewhere in the middle.

-207.

Nice.

-Nice.

-Okay, so, that means it's nice and cooked through.

I feel like it's one of the most failproof ways to actually judge if bread is done.

-Definitely.

-So, that's great.

Now, I have the cinnamon and sugar from earlier.

And to that, I'm adding 4 more tablespoons of butter.

Again, unsalted.

-Yes.

-And I'm just gonna mix this up.

Just a little zhuzh, a little lipstick on this bread.

-Oh, my goodness.

-And then I am going to take and brush this all over the bread.

Now you may be thinking, Morgan, that looks like a lot.

-Hey, Morgan, that looks like a lot.

-You know, it is indeed a lot, but you are going to use every little bit of this.

It's going to kind of hang out on top of the bread for a moment, and then it is going to sink in and make this bread deliciously buttery, cinnamon sugary.

It's kind of like some of the best cinnamon roll you've ever had.

-Yes, it is.

And by the way, I would never say that looks like too much.

-[ Laughs ] You're right.

I should know you better than this, Bridget.

We've known each other a long time.

The butter and cinnamon sugar are cascading down the sides.

Okay, now I'm gonna let this hang for 15 minutes.

In that time, some of that butter's gonna soak up, and then we're going to turn it out.

Get in here and get all these edges.

Make sure nothing's sticking.

There is a lot of sugar that could stick.

-Yeah, you wouldn't want to let it cool completely in the pan, right?

-Exactly.

I mean, this sugar is delicious and makes -- coats the pillowy bread, but it could turn into, like, tack.

-Yes.

-All right, so I am just going to kind of get it turned out here.

Oh, there we go.

-Oh, you got it.

-There we go.

All right.

Get it nice and make sure everything looks good.

And then right over to our serving platter.

Now, this just needs to cool about 15 more minutes before we're ready to dig in.

-Okay, I'll keep an eye on it.

-I know, right?

I'll wash my hands.

All right, so, we're almost ready to eat, but I want to make sure we have a little extra zhuzh on this.

At the Grist Mill, you can get it plain, though I think this is far from plain, and it would be delicious like this.

You can get it served with apple butter, or you can get it with a glaze.

So, here I just added a tablespoon of milk and a 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar.

And I'm just going to whisk this until it's smooth and just a little -- a little drizzle.

I mean, come on.

I know, isn't it just gorgeous?

-It's glorious.

-Now it is officially time.

-Yes!

-It is the time.

-All right.

-All right.

I want you to try an edge piece.

-All right.

-I'm going to go in for this one.

-This is about the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

It's soft bread coated with butter, cinnamon sugar, and a glaze.

I just need a moment.

-I'm like, I don't need a moment.

You take that moment, but I'm pulling this thing apart.

-All right.

Look at that.

Super soft and pillowy.

-I know.

It's so pillowy.

It's still warm.

-[ Chuckles ] -Praise Queen Dolly, this is so good.

It's so tender.

It's so fluffy.

-I got chills eating this.

It is so rich and buttery.

-Mm-hmm.

-But the structure is still there, so it pulls apart neatly, and every single bit of me is covered with cinnamon sugar and butter.

-That's exactly what it should be.

We got that double layer of butter, that double layer of cinnamon sugar, and this super luscious, pillowy bread.

-There's always a good reason to go to Pigeon Forge.

Beautiful area of the country.

But now I don't have to go down there to make my own Dollywood-style cinnamon bread.

This is amazing, Morgan.

And I will always love you.

-Oh, I'll always love you, too, Bridget.

-You're going to love this bread.

And it starts by making an enriched yeast dough with melted butter and sugar.

Dip rectangles of dough and butter, then a brown sugar cinnamon mixture.

Arrange in a loaf pan and bake until well browned and drizzle the bread with confectioners' sugar glaze.

So, from "Cook's Country," the amazing, the spectacular Dollywood-style cinnamon bread.

You got to make it.

-I know, I'm like, praise Dolly for this one.

-Praise Dolly!

♪♪ -My Mount Rushmore of the most essential cooking equipment includes a knife, cutting board, heavy-duty skillet, and a lot of mixing bowls.

You're going to need them.

Now, Hannah is here, and she's going to tell us which mixing bowls we should add to the lineup.

-I am.

You know, you could mix in an old helmet in a pinch, but the right design will make things more efficient and more comfortable.

-Okay.

-So, let's talk material first.

There are all different options out there.

We chose not to test plastic or ceramic.

Plastic, you don't want to use with hot stuff, and it can retain scents and odors.

We don't like ceramic because it's heavy and expensive.

We prefer other materials.

-Agree.

-Yes, primarily stainless steel and glass.

Now there are pros and cons between them, but we found a winner in each style because it really depends on what you're doing.

We tested six sets of stainless steel and glass, priced from $30 to $130.

We really tested these things.

We whisked up vinaigrettes, we whipped cream, we folded in brownie batter.

We wanted the mixing bowls to be easy to use, comfortable, and stable as we use them.

-Yes.

-Finally, at the end of testing, we ran them through the dishwasher 10 times to really make sure they were nice and durable.

-So, what did we learn from all of that?

-Okay, first off, rims were everything.

This has a nice rim right here.

That was so nice to hold on to when you're whisking, whipping, maneuvering, carrying.

Just a little bit of edge was really helpful.

Without them, you're doing that clamp thing.

It's just not comfortable and it's not stable.

So you'll notice we have two different shapes here.

We have wider, shallower, taller sides on this side.

Let's whip up some cream and see what you prefer.

-All right.

Want me to start with this?

-Yes, please.

-All right.

I notice you put a little sugar in there.

We're probably going to eat this cream later.

-It had to be sweet like you.

-There you go.

Let me just get that sugar in there.

All right.

It's going to take a while, Hannah.

-It is.

How comfortable is your wrist at that angle?

-It's not great.

-Not great?

-Not great.

It's almost like I'm straight over it.

-Yeah.

-So, if you were to try to pick it up too, there's nothing to grip on to.

Some people like to whisk like that.

-Exactly.

Your thumb is getting dangerously close in there, so I won't make you finish it.

But do you get my point of this not being ideal?

-100%.

-Grab that other whisk and let's try this shape here.

A little shallower, a little more open.

-Just a lot more comfortable.

I can grip this bowl.

-You're not moving around as much.

You're not making as much of a mess.

You're actually also whipping in air a lot faster.

This is already getting so foamy.

And lookit, that wasn't even, you know, what is that, 15 seconds?

-That's right.

-And you're already making progress, so we don't need to take it the whole way.

But that's really what we learned here.

Shape dictates function, and we did like those nice, wide, shallow bowls because we can get in there.

-Yeah.

It's a lot less effort to use this one.

-Another thing we learned is that material defines versatility.

So, you'll see we have glass and metal in front of us.

We like them both.

But there are differences and pros and cons to each.

Glass is see-through, a little heavier, and it can go in the microwave.

Super handy.

-Pro.

-A little heavy, though, and breakable.

-Definitely.

-Metal, on the other hand, is super light.

You're not going to break this thing.

You could chuck them across the room.

They're going to be fine.

They'll last for years and years.

You don't want to use them in the microwave, though.

-Right?

Right.

-So, there is a downside there.

Pros and cons.

So, the glass bowls, they're heavier.

The metal ones are lighter.

We prefer that little extra advantage -- less to lift.

So, these are our winners right here from Vollrath.

This is a restaurant supply company.

These are fantastic.

Our overall winner.

But you know, there's a place for glass, too, especially in the microwave.

So, we also have a glass winner, and that's by Pyrex.

-Excellent.

So, you don't have to choose.

Get both.

I like that.

-Get both.

-Yeah.

Well, thank you so much, Hannah.

And if you want to add some mixing bowl sets to your kitchen, the best metal option is the Vollrath Economy Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls.

You can make your own set of three for about $47.

Now, for a glass set, the Pyrex Eight-Piece Mixing Bowl Set with Assorted Lids, that will run you just about $32.

♪♪ -Blondies, also known as blonde brownies or even butterscotch brownies, are a classic American bar cookie, and they date all the way back to Fannie Farmer in the late 1800s.

Now, Fannie flavored hers with molasses.

But Lidey's here today.

She's going to modernize it a little bit.

-We're doing a big twist on blondies today.

There is a little bit of molasses because we're using brown sugar.

-Okay.

-We're also using brown butter to make these really rich.

And on top of that, we're going to do a pumpkin cream cheese swirl for a perfect fall treat.

-Oh.

Super fun.

-Yeah.

So, the first thing we're going to do is make our pumpkin cream cheese swirl.

In a bowl, I've got 4 ounces of softened cream cheese.

We want this to be really soft.

If it doesn't get soft enough at room temperature, you can always pop it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.

I'm going to add 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree.

-Okay.

-One large egg yolk.

I'm going to do 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves.

-Okay.

All the warm spices.

-And 1/8 teaspoon of salt for good measure.

-There we go.

-And I'm just going to give this a whisk.

Smell that, right?

-It smells good.

-It's a really concentrated flavor because we want that kind of pumpkin spice flavor to go all through the blondies and use some elbow grease here until this gets nice and incorporated.

That looks good.

All right, so we're going to set this aside.

We're basically assembling our different components, and then we'll put it all together.

-Okay.

-For our dry ingredients, I've got 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.

And I'm going to add 3/4 teaspoon baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt.

We'll just give this a little whisk.

Set that aside.

-Okay.

-And now we're going to brown some butter.

-Mmm.

Brown butter has such a lovely flavor in desserts where that nuttiness can really shine through.

-It's really incredible, especially with these fall spices and the brown sugar.

It really just brings everything together.

And the fragrant aroma that's going to come off the skillet?

Heavenly.

We're starting with 12 tablespoons, or a stick and a half, unsalted butter.

And I'm just going to melt this over medium heat, and then I'll show you what to look for when we're looking to see how brown we want to get the butter.

-I also love that you're using a stainless skillet.

You might be tempted to use a nonstick skillet, but unfortunately that dark surface makes it really hard to tell what color the butter is as it browns.

So stainless is a better bet.

-All right, you can see the butter is starting to simmer.

And first we're going to look for some foam to form.

You can see it's starting to form.

And at this point, maybe turn the heat down a little bit.

You want it to brown gradually.

And we'll just look for little milk solids, little brown bits to start forming.

The easiest way to tell is to just tilt the pan and they'll appear right here.

-Nice.

-This will take about 3 to 5 minutes total.

-Okay.

-All right, Julia, you can start to see just at the edge of the pan there are some brown bits.

So, at this point I really want to keep an eye on the butter.

I don't want to take it too far.

You're also going to start to smell that incredible brown butter aroma, which is a great sign that you're getting close.

At this point, I'm just going to turn off the heat.

I like to kind of let the residual heat finish browning the butter.

It's a nice little insurance policy to make sure it doesn't get too dark.

-Yeah, especially if you're kind of new to browning butter.

-Yeah.

-It means you won't burn it.

-You can always take it further.

You can't go back in time, unfortunately.

-Very true.

-You smell that?

-Mm-hmm.

And I can see those butter solids starting to really brown in the bottom of the skillet.

-I think this looks perfect.

So, I'm using the spatula just to scrape up those brown butter bits, because those are the most flavorful part, and we don't want to leave them behind in the skillet.

So, I'm going to go ahead and transfer this to a big mixing bowl here.

And again, just going to make sure to get all the goodness out of the pan.

We're gonna let this cool for 5 minutes and come back and add the other ingredients.

-Okay.

-It's been about 5 minutes.

The butter's cooled down.

-Yep.

-We just don't want it to be too warm for the eggs.

So we're gonna add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1 and 1/4 cups of brown sugar.

And this is for that classic molasses blondie flavor.

And we've got two large eggs.

I'm gonna break up any chunks of that brown sugar.

Okay, that looks great.

So, I'm going to switch to my spatula, and we're going to stir in our dry ingredients.

I'm going to mix until just combined.

We don't want to overmix this.

And you'll see this batter gets really nice and thick.

-I call these dump-and-stir because they're so easy.

You don't need a mixer.

-There's no fancy equipment.

There are no fancy ingredients, really.

All right, that looks perfect.

So, come on over here.

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to scoop about 1/2 cup of the batter, and we're going to reserve this for when we make a really beautiful marbled pattern on these blondies.

-Okay.

-So, we'll put a little bit to the side.

And then I've got an 8-by-8-inch baking pan that I've lined with parchment.

And then I've greased the parchment so these will come out easily.

-Nice.

-I'm just going to put the rest of our batter right in.

And this is going to be the base layer for the blondies.

Just spread this into an even layer.

The parchment paper can be a little fussy, but you can just take your time.

Okay, now the fun part.

We're going to do dollops of our pumpkin cream cheese mixture all over the surface of the blondies.

-Now is there a method to your madness?

Are you just going at it?

-You know, this is like a little bit like a work of art.

You can kind of do your own interpretation.

I have the image of a checkerboard in my mind where I'm doing little kind of squares, almost like a grid, but it's really not an exact science.

We're going to swirl these batters together afterwards.

So you just want a little bit of pumpkin here and there.

And then I'm just going to fill in the gaps with more of the batter.

-Oh, a little batter on top.

-Yeah.

And this just helps it have that sort of marbled effect.

I'm just using this paring knife to kind of create the swirls for that marbled effect.

Again, have fun with this part.

There's no such thing as a perfect marbling.

But the more you do it, the more you get the hang of it.

And it's nice to have kind of big swirls of each.

All righty.

-That looks great.

-That looks pretty good.

-Yeah.

-We're going to go into a 350-degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

-Okay.

♪♪ -Ooh.

These look so good.

All right, you can see these look just set.

We're going to test with a toothpick.

-Okay.

What are you looking for?

-Just a few moist crumbs on the toothpick.

We've got two different batters going on, so you may get some crumbs.

-Perfect.

-Perfect.

Just a few crumbs.

The key with blondies is you really don't want to overbake them.

-Okay.

-Part of what makes them so delicious is when they're slightly underbaked, they have this moist, fudgy texture.

And that's what we want here.

-And also, there's a lot of carryover cooking because this pan is really hot.

-This is piping hot.

-Yeah.

-So, these are really going to finish cooking as they cool.

-All right.

-So, it's important we're going to let this cool for an hour before we do anything.

And after the blondies have cooled for an hour, we'll come back and lift them out with a parchment sling.

-Nicely done.

-See how easily that came out?

-That's the beauty of a sling.

-And I hate to make you wait even longer.

We are going to let these cool for one more hour, and that's just going to help us get really nice slices.

Okay, I'm going to cut these into nine pieces.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm so excited for you to try these.

-Mmm.

-You want an edge piece or you want the center?

-I think I want an edge-middle.

-Okay.

-Mmm.

-Mm-hmm.

-I love that brown butter flavor.

Comes right through.

And a little bit of the warm spices.

And then you get the hit of the pumpkin.

-It's almost like the pumpkin is this little pumpkin pie surprise in the middle of your blondie.

-It is like pumpkin pie filling.

-Mm-hmm.

The brown sugar also gives it this kind of like, cookie dough, almost, flavor.

You know what I mean?

-Yeah.

And the edges have the perfect amount of chew.

I love the different textures.

The very center is nice and smooth, almost satiny.

The creamy pumpkin on top.

-And because we didn't overbake these, we baked them until they're just set, they have the perfect fudgy texture all the way through.

-These are delicious.

-So glad you like them.

-You know, there's some comments from folks online.

"My family loved these.

They were gone within a couple hours," says Monica C. And then this is my favorite from Jillian B.

"These are wicked good."

-"Wicked good."

Thank you, Jillian.

-It must be a local Bostonian.

-I think I did something right.

-Thanks for showing us.

-Of course.

-If you want to make Lidey's wicked good blondies, start by making a spiced pumpkin cream cheese filling, brown all the butter before making the batter.

Then swirl the cream cheese filling into the batter before baking.

From "Cook's Country," Lidey's wicked awesome pumpkin cream cheese blondies.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes, at our website, CooksCountry.com/tv.

Do you ever put chocolate chips in these?

-I haven't, but I should.

-All right.

-Gosh, I love pumpkin bread with chocolate chips.

-Mm-hmm.

-Enjoy this season's recipes, read our ingredient and equipment reviews, and cook alongside your favorite test cooks at CooksCountry.com.

You'll have access to every episode from this season and more, all at CooksCountry.com/tv.

-Your favorite recipes rooted in history, plus the tips, ingredients, and equipment you need to cook them can now all be found in one place.

Introducing our complete "Cook's Country" cookbook now with every recipe from all 19 seasons.

This volume of "Cook's Country" helps with planning, prep, and cooking, and at a cost of $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our shop at CooksCountry.com/TVBook.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills Denali 605 Pro, made for the family cookout and weeknight dinner.

With 900 square inches of cooking space, several accessories, and Bluetooth capabilities, it's designed with the host in mind.

Monument Grills -- The Everybody Everywhere Grill.

-The Black and Decker Vacuum Steam handheld steamer combines the power of suction, steam, and heat to hold fabrics in place and remove wrinkles in one pass.

For all your iron-suitable fabrics.

Now available at Walmart.

Black and Decker.

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