Buttermilk Brioche Sticky Buns with Banana Caramel and Cashews
A year as a cookbook seller!
Greetings from Prospect Park! I’m getting ready to run the Brooklyn Half Marathon this weekend and stopped by the duck pond on my way to pick up my race bib today. 🦆🦆
I thought i’d use the first part of today’s post to mark the one year anniversary of starting my job at the cookbook store. The year has zoomed right by and has been one of adjusting, learning, and enjoying sharing my interest in cookbooks with so many people. I’ve enjoyed getting to meet so many authors this year and so many cookbook fans. I’ve shared a little about this before but for anyone who is new to my newsletter..
I started buying cookbooks when I was in graduate school. I was relearning how to cook all on my own, far away from the comfort of Hamburger Helper and the fast food drive-thru haunts of college in the American South. Michigan’s comparatively diverse foodways and the influence of an international cohort of graduate students inspired me to explore new-to-me cuisines. I would spend my time out of class making kimchi or learning how to perfect the Iranian crispy rice dish, tahdig. I was baking sourdough, making yogurt, sprouting grains, you name it - I was interested in exploring it and cookbooks taught me how.
This quickly grew to hosting potlucks in my apartment for fellow graduate students. Twenty to thirty people would bring dishes over to my place and I always encouraged them to bring something that reminded them of home. A citrus and roasted beet salad would nestle on the table beside a huge pot of ash-e reshteh, beside a tray of empanadas, next to the crockpot of mandatory midwestern buffalo chicken dip. We’d feast, drink, laugh, and share memories relating to each dish for hours. My growing cookbook collection helped fuel these potlucks and as my cramped living room filled with warmth and stories, I felt myself being pulled closer to a career in food and community building.
What I’ve learned after one year of working in a cookbook store…
These observations are my own and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of my employer. They are based on my subjective experiences and may not align with what happens at other bookstores.
People are really excited and passionate about cookbooks. A simple question from a customer browsing in the store will often spark a full lengthy conversation. Often, another customer will then join in and before long the entire store is sharing recommendations and insights on a book or topic. Something that I don’t see happening in regular bookstores.
Even though some cookbooks have become more specialized and focused, many customers are still timid about specificity. Customers often ask for a book “on baking” or a book that will “make cooking easier”. Broadness and heft is still appealing and even more so as the price of cookbooks has gone up.
While we place a lot of importance on the cover of a cookbook, the spine is the part of the book seen the most. A book’s cover might be visible during it’s release week but for the remainder of it’s life the spine will be the only opportunity to catch a reader’s eye. (many many books have very poorly designed spines!)
I think authenticity is just as valued as authority. People love a personal story and a connection to a cuisine or style of cooking rather than a long list of accolades or achievements. It’s actually pretty rare that a customer asks for a book by the name of the author. It’s way more common that they’re looking for a specific experience, insight, or worldview that leads them towards a purchase.
And lastly - it’s been very eyeopening for me to see how little the effect of recent scandals and revelations has been on the sales of certain books. I think it speaks to the divide between social media/food media and the actual real world fan bases of certain chefs. Books that I thought would take a hit after the publication of recent articles or events stretching back to 2020 have become some of our bestsellers.
Today’s recipe…
I was really surprised last year when one of the top most baked recipes from my newsletter was these sweet potato almond butter rolls . I had always assumed that yeasted recipes requiring mixing, shaping, and proofing would have less of a following but I was tagged again and again in photos from folks who had taken the time to make the rolls and who really enjoyed them!
For this recipe I wanted to use some of my favorite ingredients to slightly reimagine the classic sticky buns. While I didn’t reference either of these recipes during development, looking back through social media after testing these buns I remembered that Holly Haines has an amazing turon sticky buns recipe and Paola Velez has a plantain sticky bun recipe that you should check out!
A few notes…
Because this bake has three components and some assembly, I recommend reading through all of the instructions before you begin so you can visualize the steps before you get started.
Use the ripest banana you can find and puree it really well for the caramel. The finished caramel will have a concentrated banana flavor so you don’t want to use a green banana here.
The acidic buttermilk in the brioche acts as a tenderizer and flavor enhancer. The additional yolks make up for the lack of dairy fat usually found in milk or cream. Use store bought buttermilk rather than homemade (vinegar added to milk) and be sure to shake the carton really well before measuring.
Cashew Sticky Buns with Buttermilk Brioche and Banana Caramel
Makes one 9x13 inch tray equaling 12 buns
Buttermilk Brioche