Making Budgets Beautiful (and Berry Buns!)

This post was taken from Cultivating the Beautiful Life, my Substack newsletter. Subscribe here.

I can think of loads of other things I’d rather talk about than money — clipping toenails, mopping floors, or maybe plucking chin hairs.

But here at The Elliott Homestead, we are focused on cultivating a beautiful life together, intentional pouring efforts into our families and homes in a way that fosters what is good, true, and beautiful. I know so many of you, like me, work tirelessly on this charge. I see you!

The reality remains that money is something we have to talk about as keepers of the home — someone has to. Much like laundry, when money is left unaddressed in the home the results are overwhelm and chaos. Left too long, you’ll smell the stench. Ask me how I know.

I want to make all the pieces of my home beautiful, even the tough bits. A few weeks ago, we tackled laundry together but even laundry is a bit easier to make beautiful, with cleaning soaps and linen sprays.

Money is trickier.

In this week’s new video, we’re sitting down together to talk about our money management system — it’s not expensive, complicated, or unsustainable. Pretend like we’re just sitting together over coffee as I share some management techniques that have worked for us for the past fifteen years, and then you can tell me what’s worked for you, too.

You’ll have to watch the video for the details, but here’s how we make money management beautiful in our home and calm the money chaos:

• Designating a time to pay bills/balance accounts each week

• Having a set budget for both obligations AND fun, so purchases can be made with zero guilt

• Having a place for bills/receipts/paperwork that’s sustainable

• Saving automatically for bigger goals (Italian getaway, anyone?)

• Checking in with our money/accounts multiple times each week… I recommend an easy app that we use for organization

If you’ve been needing a gentle nudge in the right direction, I hope you find value in our conversation today. Whether you have a lot or a little, money is still a part of life. Let’s make it organized — let’s make it a source of joy (yes, joy!) in our homes.

Now onto something delicious…

Lemon-Glazed Berry Buns

Originally published in The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community. If you’d like encouragement and inspiration in the kitchen, we’d love to welcome you into our intimate community.

Flaky, chewy, and available to fill with just about anything, these make for a wonderful treat any time of day. In this version, I’ve layered in some summer berries and glazed them with sweetened lemon juice to keep the flavors bright and lovely. Adjust the glaze to your desired thickness by increasing or decreasing the amount of powdered sugar used.

Makes 16 buns.

For the dough

• 135 grams (about ⅔ cup) maple sugar or sugar of choice

• 100 grams (about 7 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

• 7 grams (about 1 teaspoon) active dried yeast

• 1 egg

• 200 grams (about ¾ cup) warm milk

• 100 grams (about ⅓ cup) warm cream

• 700 grams “00” flour, all-purpose einkorn flour, or flour of choice

• Pinch sea salt

For the filling

• ½ cup maple sugar (or sugar of choice)

• 1 cup whole almonds

• 8 tablespoons butter, room temperature

• 1 cup mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries

For the glaze

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 cup powdered sugar 

Instructions:

1. Start by making the dough. In a mixer, combine the sugar and butter and whip together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 

2. In a separate bowl, combine the yeast, milk, cream, and egg. Stir well to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes, allowing the yeast to hydrate. 

3. Pour the yeast mixture into the stand mixer with the butter and sugar. Add in the flour and salt. Gently mix together until combined. Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough for 10 minutes. This can also be done by hand on a floured work surface. Cover the dough and set aside in a warm location for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 

4. While the dough rises, mix the filling by combining the maple sugar, almonds, and butter together in a food processor. Mix until it’s well combined. The berries can also be added and blended in with the mixture or left whole. 

5. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

6. When the dough has risen, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into a ¾” thick rectangle. Spread the almond filling evenly over the dough (you can also add the berries at this point if you didn’t blend them into the filling). Fold the dough in half, and then in half again. Roll the dough out into a rectangle until it’s ½” thick.

7. Cut the dough into ¾” strips, widthwise. You should end up with about 16 strips. 

8. Roll each strip up, like a snail shell, and transfer to a parchment-lined baking tray. Repeat with the remaining dough. Set the rolls aside and allow them to rise for an additional 30-45 minutes.

9. Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes, until golden and set. 

10. Combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Brush over top of the baked buns. Serve immediately. 

Fresh in the shop from Italian makers! These beautiful pantry goods won’t sort your bills for you, but they will taste delicious smeared over your breakfast toast. Keep the Italian chocolates as a treat for balancing the accounts each week, cook up the sun-dried orzo into a delicious pasta salad for a quick lunch while you do your paperwork, or dunk some thin breadsticks into truffle honey with a glass of Italian red wine as a treat when you’ve finished your money-managing-efforts.

I promise your home will be all the better for your hard work. Let’s make money-management beautiful together, my friend.