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Since we’re friends, we’ll just go along like it hasn't been, oh, FOREVER since my last entry, ok?  And while I have not miraculously discovered a way to eke out a couple of extra hours in a day, I have at least determined that putting in some extra effort to keep things updated here is worth a little extra in the motivation department.

So, just to catch us up, here’s what’s been happening…

This little man:

…has turned into THIS little man:

He’s celebrated two birthdays since then…

And Eureka!  I have (for now, anyway), ended my search for the perfect cinnamon roll recipe.

I would have included a ‘glamour’ shot here, but as you can see, SOMEONE got to them first…

Quick Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

 2 packets Active Dry yeast (the ‘Quick Rise’ is fine, too)

¼ cup sugar

1 cup + 2 Tbs warm water (about 110°)

1/3 cup melted butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt

2 cups bread flour

1 ¾ cups A/P flour

1/3 cup softened butter

½ cup (or so) brown sugar

¼ cup vanilla sugar (regular is fine, too)

1 tsp cinnamon

In the bowl of a mix stand, combine the first 4 ingredients.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes to give the yeast time to ‘bloom’.  Beat the egg slightly and add it to the yeast mixture, along with  the vanilla, salt and flours.  Mix on medium-low speed using a dough hook attachment until the flour is completely combined.  Mixture should be soft and slightly tacky, but not sticky.  If it is, add a little more flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead just enough for it to all come together.  Roll into a rectangle approximately 18” wide, 12” deep and about ¼” thick.  Spread softened butter evenly to within about ½” from the edges.  Cover evenly with the sugars and cinnamon.  Beginning with the long side closest to you, roll up jell-roll fashion, pinching the roll closed and evening out the thickness.  Divide evenly into 12 slices and place in a 10 x 13 baking pan (I usually line mine with foil to make for easier clean-up).  Cover with plastic wrap and place on top of the oven (the residual heat will help the rolls to rise).  Set oven temperature to 400° and allow the cinnamon rolls to sit for 15 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and place the cinnamon rolls in the oven.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove and allow to cool slightly before frosting and serving (and by 'slightly', in our house, at any rate, that generally equates to 'in the time it takes to cover them in frosting').

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz softened cream cheese

2 Tbs softened butter

¼ - ½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs milk

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  If too thick, continue to add milk until you reach the desired consistency.

Since The Little Man has entered our lives, it hasn't exactly left scads of time for theatrical pursuits.  But I was able to perform in a short-run production of ‘The Daly News’, a musical about a family in WWII-era Milwaukee, scattered across the globe in various service roles.  I've always hated the term ‘short-run’, which makes it sound like there wasn't as much work involved somehow.  3 months of rehearsing begged to differ.

Anyway, I played the quippish matriarch of the family, and at one point lamented rationing, and the difficulties it caused in making a ‘Krantz’ for one of the kids’ birthdays.  I had never heard of such a beast before, so naturally I did a little homework and came up with my own approximation of the recipe. 

In all fairness, the original recipe was a bit different, more involved, etc.  But I figure, if you got a good thing going, why mess with it, right?  So, I ever so slightly tweaked my cinnamon roll recipe and used it here.

Chocolate Almond Krantz
 

Dough:

2 packages active dry yeast

¼ c sugar

1/3 c butter, melted

1 c + 2 Tbs warm water (about 110°F)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

2 c bread flour

1 ½ c all-purpose flour

Filling:

1/3 c butter, melted

1/3 c dark chocolate chips

½ c good-quality cocoa

½ c confectioner’s sugar (plus more if needed)

¾ c slivered almonds, toasted

2 Tbs sugar

Sugar syrup:

2/3 c water

1 ¼ c sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, sugar, butter and water.  Stir to combine.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes so the yeast can ‘bloom’ (prepare the filling below while you wait).

Attach a dough hook to the mixer and add the salt, vanilla, lemon zest and egg.  Mix for a few seconds to break up the egg a bit.  Add the flours all at once (the bread and a/p flour was the combo I used, but I’m sure you could do it with all a/p – it just won’t be quite as tender of a dough) and turn mixer on a medium-low setting, allowing to mix until all of the flour is incorporated into the mixture.  If the dough seems too sticky to work with, add an additional ¼ - ½ cup of flour.

To make the filling:  in a medium mixing bowl, melt the butter and chocolate chips (either in the microwave or over a double-boiler).  Stir in the cocoa and powdered sugar.  The mixture should be the consistency of room temperature butter, so add more powdered sugar if your mixture is too runny.  Separate from the chocolate mixture, process the almonds and sugar in a food processor until the almonds are finely chopped.

Sprinkle a work surface with flour and turn out dough.  Form into a rectangle and roll out to about ½” thickness.  How wide should be determined by how you intend to form the krantz – for two loaves, roll out to about 20” long.  For individual (‘mini’) size, roll out longer.  Spread surface of dough with the chocolate mixture to within about ½” of the edge.  Sprinkle evenly with the almond/sugar mixture.  Roll the dough into a log starting at one of the long ends and then even out the log so that it is a consistent diameter from end to end (about 2” for minis and about 4” or so for the loaves).  With a sharp knife, cut the roll lengthwise down the center.  Moisten one of the ends with a little bit of water and press the other cut end to attach.  Wind the two pieces around each other, forming a ‘rope’, and keeping the cut side facing up.  Attach the other two ends together in the same manner that you did the first end.

For loaves, cut the rope in half and place in two greased loaf pans (cut side up).  For the minis, cut into 2 – 3” pieces and place cut side up into two greased muffin pans.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise an additional 15 – 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.  When dough has finished rising, place in oven.  Bake approximately 15 – 18 minutes for minis and approximately 30 minutes for loaves (test for doneness by inserting wood skewer into center – should come out clean).  If tops begin to brown too quickly, loosely cover with a piece of aluminum foil.

While krantz is baking, prepare sugar glaze**:  Combine water and sugar in a saucepan on the stove.  Bring to a full rolling boil and then remove from heat.  Allow to cool slightly.

When the krantz is done (and still hot), remove from oven and immediately glaze with sugar syrup.  As glaze is absorbed, add more.  You will use most, if not all, of the glaze.

Serve krantz warm or at room temperature.

**The sugar glaze is a good way to ‘doctor’ the flavor a bit.  Add brandy, rum or bourbon (a Tablespoon, or up to ¼ cup) to the water and sugar before cooking (reduce amount of water to compensate).  Or add a scraped vanilla bean to the sugar syrup after cooking and allow to steep for a few minutes.

Sometimes Not Cooking is a Good Thing

Saturday was my birthday.  I didn’t have any particular plans for the day and decided to bake myself some scones.  After rifling through the cabinets to see what was on hand, I opted for some chocolate chip/almond scones.  No muss, no fuss, just like I planned the day to be.

Chocolate Chip Almond Scones

2 cups flour

1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
6 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup + 2 Tbs  heavy cream
1/2 cup lightly toasted, sliced almonds
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry until butter is well incorporated into the mixture. Add the almonds and chocolate chips.

Stir in the cream until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly to bring the mixture together.  Form into a flattened rectangle, about a foot or so long and about 3/4” thick. Cut into wedges.  Place s on a lined baking sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown.

* * *

Offspring 1 and 2 decided to make dinner for me.  Now, my girls have been raised in a household with someone who cooks to relax, so they are on familiar terms with, shall we say, more complicated offerings than mac & cheese from a box (Which I buy on sale and use as a topping for popcorn – the cheese, at least.  Not the pasta.  Obviously).  That said, neither has exactly inherited my great love of being in the kitchen, either.  But I have to say, I was duly impressed with the menu.  O1 made a chicken and zucchini pasta with lots of garlic (Yes!) and cherry tomatoes.  She also roasted some asparagus.  O2 whipped up some garlic biscuits and then made various renditions of crepes for dessert (I opted for chocolate/apricot/almond).  And aside from an evening spent hanging out with my girls, laughing and having a great time, the best part was that I didn’t have to clean the kitchen afterwards!!

Sometimes Only a Doughnut Will Do

I have an important question to ask.  Are you of the DOUGHnut,  or the DOnut  persuasion?  Me, I prefer the former.  I think Shakespeare would approve.

Anyway, this weekend I woke up with a craving for doughnuts, quite possibly brought on by O2’s dash south to pick some up at Voodoo with a friend of hers, almost causing me to be late for an appointment.  Anyway, while I appreciate the novelty of a good Voodoo Doughnut (and by the way, THEY happen to be of the DOUGHnut persuasion), my tastes tend to run to the basic and boring myself.

And, while I was motivated enough to make them myself, rather than driving across town to pick one (or two) up, I wasn’t patient enough to put together something with a long wait time.  So raised doughnuts were out.  Instead, I dug around and pieced together a couple of recipes and came up with these.

I’m not sure that using an actual vanilla bean made a whole lot of difference here.  It did make me feel better about my ‘quickie’ doughnuts, though, so we’ll call them integral to the success of the dish.  Seriously, though, you can get away with just amping up your vanilla extract if you don't want to mess with the vanilla bean.

I tried these two different ways (ok, three).  One in their pristine condition dunked into a little chocolate, and one sprinkled with a bit of vanilla sugar I had on hand.  I also ate several of them as is, and I think I liked those best.

For leftovers, I popped a few in the oven just to heat them through.  They didn’t have quite the same consistency as fresh (they lost that nice crunch to the outside), but they were still very tasty.

Vanilla Bean Quick Doughnuts

2 Tbs butter flavored shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk

Oil for frying (I used canola)

In a mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Beat in the egg.  Add the seeds from the vanilla bean, along with the vanilla extract and stir to combine.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Add to egg mixture.  Add buttermilk and stir until ingredients are combined.

Flour a surface and roll out dough to about 1/3” thick.  Cut with floured doughnut cutter, re-rolling scrap pieces and cutting until all the dough is cut out.  Allow to stand while oil is being heated.

In a large saucepan, add oil until it is about 2” deep.  Heat on medium to medium-high until oil reaches a temperature of about 365°.  Add dough a few pieces at a time (don’t overcrowd the pan) and allow to cook on each side until the doughnut is a golden brown, maybe a minute per side. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain.  While still warm, roll in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, if desired.

Or dunk in a glaze.

Or chocolate.

You get the idea.

Cushioning for Your Caffeine

I’m not much of a breakfast person.  Never have been.  My main focus in the morning (aside from trying to keep my eyes open) is enjoying my morning espresso, which for me, consists of 3 – 4 shots of espresso over ice.  But without something to act as a buffer between my stomach lining and a 16 oz cup of hard-core java, I’d soon find myself feeling the morning coffee burn.  So to compensate, I make sure I get a little something down the gullet before the main event.  I don’t really have favorites in this category, although more often than not, it consists of a baked good of some sort.

With the show’s opening night looming (You know.  That OTHER thing I do??), I thought I’d put together a batch of biscotti, since I knew there’d be enough to last me the week.  Biscotti are kind of like pizza.  You’re only limited by your imagination.  But I decided to keep things pretty basic here and stuck with some mini chocolate chips and roasted (and salted) almonds.  This recipe will yield tender biscotti, so if you prefer them to be crisper, you might need to lower your oven temp and cook them a bit longer.  But I find that a few minutes in the toaster oven at work yields me something warm and crisp and completely satisfactory.

Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti

1 cup sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 Tbs brandy
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup whole roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
½ cup mini chocolate chips

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and melted butter.  Mix on medium speed until sugar dissolves and the mixture is thoroughly combined.  Add the brandy and extracts, followed by the eggs (add one at a time).  Stir to combine.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix, slowly at first, then increase speed, just until dough comes together.  Stir in almonds and chocolate chips.

Cover and chill for 15 – 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Divide dough in half and form two logs, about 3” wide and 12” long on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake in center of oven for 30 minutes.  Remove and let cool for 15 minutes, then cut each log across into ¾ inch pieces.  Spread evenly over baking sheet, cut side down, and then return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.  Cool.

Is it Breakfast? Or Dessert?

I was going to lead this off by saying that we don’t really eat a lot of peanut butter at my house. But, of course, as I’m typing this, O2 has a plate of graham crackers smeared in marshmallow fluff and, you guessed it… peanut butter.

Kids.

Anyway, both kids have been doing a lot of camping this summer, so I seem to have a constant supply of s’mores fixings on hand. With that in the back of my head, it only seemed natural that when I ran across this on another blog (sorry, don’t remember which one), I thought, “I could do that”.

So, how does this all tie in to peanut butter? Well, I for one, don’t like the stuff. And as a matter of fact, one of my biggest pet peeves (and oh, there are many of them) is finding a spoon or knife that has been used in the peanut butter jar and then just tossed in the sink.

Because the smell of wet peanut butter initiates an instant gag reflex in me. Truly, nasty, nasty stuff.

But I digress…

My substitute for peanut butter happens to be Nutella. Or a chocolate/hazelnut/vanilla concoction that I buy from time to time. And that’s what I used here.

Basically, this is a ‘stuffed’ French toast. I used a decent quality sourdough, spread one half with the hazelnut spread and the other half with marshmallow fluff. Then I dipped the sandwich in my standard French toast mix, dipped it in crushed graham crackers and fried in butter.

It was really, really good.

And lest you think I’m a terrible mother feeding her children butter and sugar for dinner, I did offer up a very nice little frittata to go along with this. But that’s just how I roll.

So, I guess the question is whether this is more of a dessert or a breakfast?

I suppose the answer to that is ‘Who cares??!!’

S’mores French Toast

6 slices firm bread
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 - 1 ½ cups crushed graham crackers
Marshmallow fluff (crème, whatever term you use)
Nutella (or vanilla/hazelnut spread)
2 Tbs butter

In a shallow bowl or pie plate, beat the eggs. Add milk, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour the graham cracker crumbs in another bowl.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add butter. Allow it to melt and then begin to bubble.

Spread one slice of bread with marshmallow fluff and another slice with Nutella. Put the two pieces together and dip in egg mixture. When bread is saturated on each side, dip in graham cracker crumbs.

Place sandwich in skillet and cook until it is browned on one side, 3 - 4 minutes. Flip over and cook other side just until golden.

Frugal Fridays - Dutch, Dutch, Baby

So, I thought I’d introduce a new ‘segment’ to the blog called ‘Frugal Fridays’. Basically, I’m going to highlight a particular meal and give the rundown of the cost. This is by no means scientific. It is mostly to force me to make use of all those good grocery deals I get and make a conscious effort to further reduce my grocery budget.

And this one’s probably cheating a bit, but baby steps, Grasshopper, baby steps.

Next, I would like to say that no leafy greens were harmed in the making of this meal. But I was in a bit of a hurry, so I went really basic. But if you’re in a bit of a hurry, this isn’t a bad meal to turn out, I’ll have to say.

A Dutch Baby is basically an oven baked pancake. Took me about 5 minutes to put it together, another 5 minutes to load a baking pan with bacon and toss it in the oven alongside, and the potatoes were done cooking by the time everything came out of the oven. Start to finish, about 30 minutes total.

Now for the cost breakdown:

½ package of bacon - $1.50
1 lb potatoes - $ .79
Various and sundry additions to the fried potatoes
     (oil, ¼ of an onion, seasoning, etc) - $ .15
Dutch Baby ingredients - $1.04
Strawberry Freezer Jam (already on hand) - let’s call it $ .30 total
Total for the meal (feeding 2 people): $3.78, or $1.89 per serving.

This is what it looks like when it first comes out of the oven. It’s kind of like a soufflé in that it starts to sink very quickly once removed from its heat source.

Dutch Baby

4 Tbs butter
3 eggs
¾ cup milk, heated slightly (just toss in the microwave for about 30 seconds)
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs sugar
1/8 tsp salt
¾ cup flour

Preheat oven to 400º. Place a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the butter. Heat just until butter is melted. In a blender, combine remaining ingredients and half of the melted butter from the skillet. Process on high for at least a minute, until ingredients are completely combined and mixture is frothy. Pour mixture into the skillet and place the skillet in the oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes. The pancake will ‘climb’ the sides of the pan and get brown around the edges, but make sure it cooks long enough to finish cooking the center of the pancake. Serve immediately with jelly and a bit of powdered sugar.

Or fresh fruit.

Or yogurt and a bit of lemon peel.

Whatever blows your socks off, really.

A (Somewhat) Reformed Black Thumb

I noticed while cruising through some of my favorite food blogs that it seems to be the norm to post photos of up and coming gardens, but before I jump on the band wagon, I should probably point out that as a general rule, I don’t grow gardens.

I murder them.

Not intentionally, of course, so I guess that makes it more of a manslaughter thing?

Anyway…

My mother’s verdant green thumb never seemed to filter down the gene pool to any of us. At least not in the same capacity. And while I believe both of my sisters are capable of at least some level of adeptness when it comes to gardening and horticulture, I have been known to kill cacti. Repeatedly. But I always seen to succumb to the romanticism of growing my own garden. Until recent years, this has invariably been an abject failure.

A few years ago I decided to try my luck at a few herbs. Just made sense given the amount of cooking that I do. And I actually did pretty well, for whatever unknown reason. Since then I’ve kept a year-round herb garden as well as ventured out into a few hardier fruits and veggies. But I will have to say that although I can now be cautiously optimistic that something I plant may actually yield results, it always gives me a thrill when I seem to be winning out over my black thumb.

For instance, I spied this little guy this weekend…

And these little speckled lettuces actually seem to be thriving…

Go figure.

I can’t get too full of myself with zucchini, because last year I tossed a couple of plants out in a forgotten mound of dirt dug up from my patio renovation, and they went crazy. But I was happy to see some good potential for stuffed zucchini blossoms…

All of this I was contemplating while sipping coffee and munching on a couple of these biscotti. Now and then I make a batch of spiced candied nuts, which O1 absolutely loves. As I was going through the pantry over the weekend, I noticed several bags of nut ‘odds and ends’. And so the thought occurred to me that I should throw them all together and make candied nuts. But then I also wondered how well they’d fare being cooked a second time inside biscotti.

I think they came out pretty well, and they seem to store very well. This will be something I bake over and over because it actually makes a large enough batch to get me through about a week’s worth of breakfast.

Sure beats Pop Tarts.

Spiced Candied Nuts

1 cup of mixed nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)
2 Tbs corn syrup
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 325º. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray, or use non-stick foil (I LOVE this stuff). Pour nuts into a pile on the cookie sheet, then add remaining ingredients. Using a spoon, carefully combine all ingredients. Spread nuts evenly out on pan. Place in oven and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or just until nuts begin to turn golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Break up into small pieces.


Spiced Nut Biscotti

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs, slightly beatened
3 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup Spiced Candied Nuts (from above), chopped

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray, or line with non-stick foil. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and slowly add vanilla and eggs, mixing until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine blour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Slowly add to butter and egg mixture, mixing just until combined. Dough will be soft. Stir in candied nuts.

Place dough on prepared baking sheet, creating a flattened 'log' about 14" long and 5" wide.  Press down slightly.

Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow the biscotti to rest 5 minutes.  Cut into pieces about 1" wide.  Lay flat on sheet and return to oven for 15 minutes.  Flip over to other cut side, return to oven again, and bake an additional 12 - 15 minutes until golden.  Cool completely before storing.

Yard Workin' and Puppy Watchin'

Summer seems to have finally arrived here in Oregon. I had every intention of launching Phase 2 of my back patio project (the only thing out there when I moved in was a concrete pad and a whole lot of weeds), but life has intervened, and I’ve decided to keep it very simple.  So, I've put in a small garden and am just generally trying to maintain what was put in last summer.

I suppose I would have been wise to put together a hearty breakfast before sweating over yard and garden work for several hours, but breakfast just really isn’t my thing. So I made scones instead. I happened to still have a few cans of organic pumpkin in the pantry, and before long I had a spice-scented house that even got O2 out of bed before 10 am.

Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Scones

2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger
6 Tbs cold butter
½ cup canned pumpkin
3 Tbs milk
1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 Tbs melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 Tbs milk
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the pumpkin, milk and egg. Gently whisk the wet ingredients with a fork, then slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Use hands to form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface, forming it into a 1-inch thick circle. Use a large knife to cut into 12 wedges of equal size. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Allow to cool.

To make glaze, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, adding the milk last (start out with 1 Tbs and add more until it is of the desired consistency). Drizzle over scones.

* * *

G & C have welcomed a new member into their family. It’s this precious girl, Josie…

In addition to two full-time jobs and their new sleep-stealer (house training a puppy is not for the faint of heart), they are also remodeling their kitchen AND Carley has just started rehearsal for a new show.

Crazy, crazy people. I think that’s why I love them so much. We suffer from the same form of insanity.

Anyway, O2 and I offered to hang out for the afternoon to keep an eye on Puppy and make sure she got her potty breaks, and I offered to put together dinner, thus freeing them up a bit to work on staining the 40 cabinet pieces they have in their garage.

Did I use the word crazy???

I’m not sure we gave them a lot of bang for their buck in the puppy-sitting department since shortly after we arrived, Miss Josie passed out near the dining table and only woke briefly… once. G & C assured me this was NOT the norm.

Always eager to experiment on my friends (heh heh), I put together some new dishes, as well as a few standbys. We had barbecued pork ribs, corn on the cob, an Asian savoy cabbage slaw, some roasted baby potatoes and a new cornbread recipe I was auditioning.

You’ll have to excuse the rather boring photo, but there wasn’t a lot of time between the cutting of the bread and the devouring of said bread (mostly by O2) to warrant a photo shoot.

Don’t let the rather thick batter make you nervous. I almost added more buttermilk to it, but it turned out just fine as is.

Jalapeno Zucchini Cornbread

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup buttermilk
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 medium jalapeno, finely minced
1 cup flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup cornmeal

Heat oven to 350 º. Use the butter wrapper to lightly grease a 8” square glass baking dish.

Combine melted butter, eggs and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Mix in zucchini and jalapeno. On a sheet of waxed paper, or in another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and stir together, just until blended (remember, the mixture will be thick). Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake in center of oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 - 60 minutes.

The Anti-Snooze Button

If I could have hot biscuits waiting for me every morning, I might be able to convince myself to get out of bed early enough to enjoy one or two. But since I’d have to be the one doing the creating of said biscuits, well, it just ain’t gonna happen. As I’ve said (a time or twelve), I am not a morning person.

More a morning ogre.

Anyway, I was looking for something not-too-sweet to go with my morning espresso, and I think these fit the bill. Not a lot of sugar (relatively speaking when it comes to traditional gooey type breakfast pastries) and using a bittersweet chocolate (although you can certainly go for a semi-sweet if you need that extra boost of sweetness) really put these just on the edge of savory and sweet.

Of course, feel free to douse them in a vanilla glaze if that’s the way you roll.

Vanilla sugar is, of course, optional here. It did add a nice extra ‘note’, though. You can substitute regular sugar or brown sugar, add nuts, etc. Go crazy. You may see these again later in a totally savory rendition.

Chocolate Morning Biscuits

2 cups flour
1Tbs sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
5 Tbs cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup half & half
3 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
3 Tbs - ¼ cup vanilla sugar
4 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate, cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350º. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well blended. With a pastry cutter (you can also use a couple of knives in a pinch), cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly but pea-sized pieces of butter still remain. Pour in half & half and stir until mixture is combined. Turn out onto floured surface and knead just until mixture comes together. Using a rolling pin, roll into a 13” x 11” rectangle.

Spread softened butter evenly over dough, then sprinkle vanilla sugar and chocolate chunks evenly over entire surface. Beginning with one long side, roll up jellyroll style and pinch loose edges when finished. Push in both ends to even up edges.

Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 equal portions and place cut side up on a baking sheet, about 2” apart.

(option: You can brush the tops with a mixture of egg and milk, then sprinkle with sugar if desired. I left this out.)

Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 18 minutes. Best served warm.

A Little Chocolate Love in the Morning

I am not a morning person. Ask anyone who knows me at all. They would probably also tell you that I’m not always very pleasant-tempered before my morning espresso. I’m not saying it’s a particularly charming aspect of my personality.

I am also not a breakfast person. Perhaps those two facts are connected…

Anyway, my theory on breakfast is that its purpose is to provide some buffer between my stomach lining and the quad espresso I’ve just tossed down my gullet.

But saying that kind of discounts how yummy these scones were. And they were just as good two days later for breakfast (although next time I won’t glaze all of them right away so I can reheat - because they’re just awfully good warm).

These would be a really nice Valentine’s Day breakfast surprise along with some strawberries and a mimosa.

I mean for you. Not for me.

Chocolate Scones with Vanilla Bean Glaze


2/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or chips

1 large egg
1 Tbs heavy cream

Glaze:

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped into a bowl
1 cup (approximately) powdered sugar
4 tsp (approximately) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 375˚ and place rack in center of oven.

In a small bowl whisk together the whipping cream, egg, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chunks (chips). Add the cream mixture and stir just until the dough comes together (add more cream and/or flour as necessary).

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Shape the dough into an 8 inch circle. Cut into pie-shaped wedges (about 12). Brush excess flour from the bottom of the scones, and place them on a baking sheet. Make an egg wash of one well-beaten egg mixed with 1 Tbs cream and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until they are firm around the edges but a bit soft in the center. A toothpick inserted into the center of a scone will come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

In the meantime, prepare glaze. Add powdered sugar to a bowl with the scraped vanilla bean. Mix in cream, 1 tsp at a time until you have a glaze that is thick (about the consistency of maple syrup). Drizzle glaze over scones or pour glaze into a plastic sandwich bag, cut a small corner out of it, and ‘pipe’ over the scones).

Makes about 12.

And the Critics Rave

Hands down the biggest success over Thanksgiving was the breakfast I prepared the next morning using leftovers from dinner.  And I had two of my harshest critics to satisfy - namely, my two nieces (ages 5 and 3).

I opted for pumpkin pancakes using some of the leftover pumpkin from my dessert (and using the caramel sauce as a 'syrup') as well as bacon sweetened ever so slightly with brown sugar.  I also had some of the pecan/vanilla butter left from the Brussels sprouts and used that as well.

After breakfast, my 3-year-old niece marched through the house chanting 'puh-kin pah-pay' AND asked for them again at dinner that night.

I'll take that as a victory.

Sugared Bacon

Bacon strips
Pepper
Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375º.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place bacon strips side-by-side on pan.  Season with pepper and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Bake about 15 minutes, or until bacon is done.  Go as light or heavy on the sugar as you'd like.  Using a solid coating of the sugar will give the bacon more of a 'candied' finish.  I went pretty light on it just to give it a hint of sweetness.

Puh-kin Pah-pay (Pumpkin Pancakes)

1 cup milk
6 Tbs. canned pumpkin puree
2 Tbs. melted butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves

In a large bowl, stir together first 4 ingredients.  On a sheet of waxed paper, sift the dry ingredients together.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat; pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side.

Mine were topped with the Vanilla-Pecan Butter and Spicy Caramel Apple Sauce.

Another Quickie

Today I was thinking about my girls and what beautiful young ladies they’ve become. That in turn got me to thinking about childhood and the kinds of foods that kids like to eat. My nieces, who are still little, enjoy those little breakfast in a pastry type things. And so I thought I’d put one together for Offspring #2 before she ran out the door for the evening. I opted for one large pastry, but these could certainly be cut down to more portable versions.

Breakfast Sausage Pastry

½ lb. breakfast sausage
3 eggs
2 T. fresh chopped chives
¼ c. finely chopped red bell pepper (I forgot to add this, so you won’t see it in the photo)
¼ c. half and half
Salt and Pepper to taste

Thinly sliced cheese (I used a Muenster, I think)
1 sheet thawed puff pastry dough

Heat oven to 375 º. Brown sausage on stove. Meanwhile, beat eggs with cream. Add chives and season to taste. Add bell peppers to cooked sausage and sauté until softened. Pour off any excess grease and then add egg mixture to pan. Cook and stir until eggs are cooked but still moist. Remove from heat.

Place puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface and roll out slightly. Place slices of cheese across the middle and then add the sausage/egg mixture on top, keeping enough room around the edges for folding the dough. Using a bit of the egg mixture, or another slightly beaten egg, ‘glue’ the edges together and pinch or fold under. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set the pastry on top. Brush with more egg mixture. Bake for 25 - 30 mins, or until the pastry is golden brown. I made a sauce using a bit of sour cream, some Dijon mustard and black pepper and also sprinkled the top of the pastry with a bit of additional sea salt.