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KING CAKE

Parade Rolls Serves 12-15 WHAT YOU WILL NEED FOR THE DOUGH: 1/4 ounce package yeast 1/2 cup warm water 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup sugar 1/3 cup butter or shortening, melted, plus more for spreading on dough and greasing pan 1 teaspoon salt 1 egg 31/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour Optional: chopped walnuts, pecans and/or raisins FOR THE GLAZE: 4 tablespoons butter 2 cups powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 to 6 tablespoons hot water Purple, green and yellow sugar HOW TO PREP Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until very warm and an instant-read thermometer reads 130 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the warm milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth, stopping frequently to scrape batter from side and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula, until flour mixture is moistened. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, as needed, until dough is easy to handle. Sprinkle flour lightly on a countertop or large cutting board. Place dough on floured surface. Knead by folding dough toward you, then with the heels of your hands, pushing dough away from you with a short rocking motion. Move dough a quarter turn and repeat. Continue kneading about 5 minutes, sprinkling surface with more flour if dough starts to stick, until dough is smooth and springy. Place in well-greased bowl, turning dough to grease it on all sides. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 11/2 hours. Dough is ready if an indentation remains when you press your fingertips about 1/2 inch into the dough. When it’s doubled in size, punch down the dough. Using your hands or a rolling pin, flatten dough into a 9” x 15” rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edges together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices. Coat the bottom of a baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a small mixing bowl. Add hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls. Sprinkle with purple, green and yellow sugar. Find more Mardi Gras recipes at www.rouses.com.

photo by Romney Caruso

Cocktail & Sons’ King Cake Syrup by Wayne Curtis

One of the benefits of the cocktail resurgence of the past decade? More and better spirits. Major producers and new-wave craft distillers alike have revived forgotten liquors (like rye and aquavit) and rolled out innovative new products, like bourbons finished in sherry casks. But quality cocktails don’t consist of spirits alone. They also require quality mixers, bitters and syrups. Enter Cocktail & Sons, a New Orleans-based maker of sugar syrups designed for cocktails and developed by Max Messier and his wife and business partner, Lauren Myerscough. The couple makes flavorful, natural syrups, including Honeysuckle & Peppercorns, a Spiced Demerara sugar syrup, and seasonal King Cake, which combines cinnamon, pecan, and lemon with Louisiana sugarcane. The idea for the sugar syrups emerged from Messier’s decade- long tenure behind cocktail bars in New York and New Orleans, and the couple’s goal is to allow home bartenders to make drinks at home that could compare favorably with cocktails made at the better craft cocktail bars. Another of their syrups is Fassionola, a revival of a once-popular ingredient essential to the New Orleans-invented Hurricane. It’s made from Louisiana sugar and strawberries from Johndales Strawberry Farm in Ponchatoula, and given a deep crimson color with hibiscus flowers. It was named best cocktail ingredient this year in Garden & Gun magazine’s “Best of the South.” Thirsty for a Hurricane but not up for a trip to Bourbon Street? Meet Cocktail & Sons, your new best friend. Available at Rouses Markets.

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