Well hello there, breakfast.

I was looking for a way to get a little extra protein on our Saturday morning waffles because everyone needs to have enough fuel to get through till creamy jalapeno ranch chicken tacos at Chuy’s.

Just me?

Anyhoo!

I googled a couple recipes for peanut butter syrup and they all seemed essentially the same and [...]]]>

Well hello there, breakfast.

I was looking for a way to get a little extra protein on our Saturday morning waffles because everyone needs to have enough fuel to get through till creamy jalapeno ranch chicken tacos at Chuy’s.

Just me?

Anyhoo!

I googled a couple recipes for peanut butter syrup and they all seemed essentially the same and insanely easy. I used:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

To make:

1. Add both ingredients to saucepan and heat on medium heat, whisking occasionally (more often as it gets warmer), until heated and well combined

That’s it! One step, and it’s SO good, and SO filling. Half a waffle with this drizzled on and I was good to go till salsa time.

Enjoy!

I should tell you how carefully I planned this recipe.

I should tell you how I planned for substituting Wheaties for half the oats in an effort to enhance the texture, flavor, and nutrition of the recipe.

I should also tell you that the truth is I ran out of oats.

Ahem.

Regardless of how I arrived at this [...]]]>

I should tell you how carefully I planned this recipe.

I should tell you how I planned for substituting Wheaties for half the oats in an effort to enhance the texture, flavor, and nutrition of the recipe.

I should also tell you that the truth is I ran out of oats.

Ahem.

Regardless of how I arrived at this version, I do make it this way on purpose now and I eat it with my lazy yogurt every single morning. And even the Kiddo loves it. That’s kind of a miracle, folks. It’s based on the recipe from Creative Kitchen because she didn’t use seeds in her recipe; she’s speaking my language.

You will need:

• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (the real stuff, not “pancake syrup”)
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups Wheaties cereal
• 1 cup Craisins or raisins (optional, obviously)

To make:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F
2. Melt butter and honey or maple syrup in a saucepan, then stir in remaining ingredients, making sure everything is well coated with the butter mixture
3. Spread on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the oats are golden brown
4. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then scrape in long strokes with a spatula to aid clumping. Store in a jar or zip top bag in the fridge

Okay, these were meant to be like pop tarts, only with pumpkin pie filling. They turned out to be so much more flaky and tender and decadent than that that I’m not entirely sure what to call them! Other than, ahem, gone.

Moving on.

The long and the short of it: to make these I made pie [...]]]>

Okay, these were meant to be like pop tarts, only with pumpkin pie filling. They turned out to be so much more flaky and tender and decadent than that that I’m not entirely sure what to call them! Other than, ahem, gone.

Moving on.

The long and the short of it: to make these I made pie crust from Ruhlman’s Ratio app on my iPhone, and a pretty standard pumpkin pie filling from Libby’s. I cut the pie crust into rectangles, put some cooked pumpkin pie filling on one, then a little egg wash around the edges, then put another rectangle on top and crimped the edges closed with a fork. A little more egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar on top, then baked at 400 for about 10 minutes.

To make these super fast you can absolutely use refrigerated, pre-made pie crust. Heck, you can buy an already-made pumpkin pie (hello, Publix bakery?) and scoop out the filling — see how fast this just got? Life is short; do what it takes. Here’s the longer way around, for those who are game:

You will need for the pumpkin pie filling:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated (not condensed) milk

You will need for the pie crust:

• 340 grams (2.4 cups) of flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 227 grams (1 cup) of butter
• 113 grams (1/2 cup) cold water

You will also need:

• One beaten egg + a little bit of water to make an egg wash

First make the pie filling:

1. Mix together sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves
2. In a larger bowl beat eggs, then stir in pumpkin and sugar & spice mix, then slowly stir in milk
3. Bake in a buttered glass dish at 325 F for about one hour, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Since this is technically a custard, I set my glass dish in a larger dish, then filled the larger dish with enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the smaller dish (a water bath — aren’t we fancy?)
4. Leave in the water bath to cool, then move to the fridge after an hour or so

On to the pie crust:

1. Using a food processor, a pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the flour, salt and sugar till the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, then pulse or cut in water till flour is just moistened; refer back to here to see what that will look like (i.e. it will not look like pie crust yet). Shape into a disc, wrap in saran wrap and stash it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, but up to a day
2. Retrieve your pumpkin pie filling and make little pies! Go crazy. Use cookie cutter shapes, make rectangles, use biscuit cutters and make half moons — whatever entertains you. For each roughly pop-tart-sized rectangle I made I put in about 2 Tbsp. of chilled filling, but you can kind of eyeball it. The good news is that it’s not runny so it’s not going to go everywhere. Use a little egg wash around the edges before you seal them closed, then put a little more egg wash on the top and sprinkle sugar over it just to be pretty. Poke a couple holes in the top for steam to escape
3. Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 400F for about 10 minutes, but just keep an eye on them — you want lightly browned
4. Enjoy with coffee and remind yourself that this is a breakfast pastry containing pumpkin, which is a vegetable; you’re totally not eating pie for breakfast

This is based on a muffin recipe by Mark Bittman; I tweaked it to use some orange juice and — shocker — some Crasins. These are so good for breakfast, brunch, or even a snack! The Mickey Mouse muffin pan is not required, but certainly adds some cuteness. It does not, however, convince the Kiddo [...]]]>

This is based on a muffin recipe by Mark Bittman; I tweaked it to use some orange juice and — shocker — some Crasins. These are so good for breakfast, brunch, or even a snack! The Mickey Mouse muffin pan is not required, but certainly adds some cuteness. It does not, however, convince the Kiddo to eat any; your mileage may vary. Recipe made one dozen Mickey muffins.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups  flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk, plus a little more if needed
• 1 cup Crasins, fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries (no need to defrost first)

To make the muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Mix dry ingredients together, then either mix egg  through milk separately or in a well in the middle of the dry ingredients (my preferred method). Add in berries and gently fold everything together till it’s just barely incorporated; lumps are your friends
3. Bake in a well greased or paper lined muffin pan for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. Cool in a metal or glass pan pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack, longer for a silicone pan (wait for silicone to be cool to the touch for best results)

These. Are. Amazing. I can say that without bragging because it’s not my recipe; I just made ‘em.

This is a Mark Bittman (I love him) recipe that I scribbled down on a piece of paper without much documentation; I’ll assume it’s either from one of his NYT articles or from How to Cook Everything. These [...]]]>

These. Are. Amazing. I can say that without bragging because it’s not my recipe; I just made ‘em.

This is a Mark Bittman (I love him) recipe that I scribbled down on a piece of paper without much documentation; I’ll assume it’s either from one of his NYT articles or from How to Cook Everything. These top every single homemade tortilla I’ve ever made or eaten, and they’re quick and easy to boot. NO BRAINER.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups (7 oz) AP flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. lard (yes, lard, people — don’t be afraid)
• 1/2 cup warm water

To make:

1. Dust off your food processor and dump in the flour, salt and lard; pulse about ten times to cut in the fat
2. With the machine running, add the water till the dough kind of all the sudden comes together in a ball
3. Dump it on the counter and knead by hand for about one minute, then wrap in plastic wrap to rest for at least 15 minutes, but up to all day at room temperature
4. Cut the dough into six pieces and heat a large (cast iron if you have it) skillet for 4-5 minutes on medium; roll out or press the tortillas till they’re quite thin, then cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, till little browned spots appear. Eat immediately (duh), or keep warm by wrapping in a towel, or cool then keep in the fridge in a large zip top bag.

I used these to make quesadillas with some leftover steak and cheese, but they’re also heavenly for veggie wraps, or slathered in butter and cinnamon sugar and rolled up for breakfast. Enjoy!

It’s been at least a week since I posted a recipe with Nutella! What am I thinking? I can stop anytime I want. Ahem.

ANYWAY!

This will shock you, but this is a ridiculously easy recipe; a riff on the also ridiculously easy shortbread two ways.

You will need:

I got a new shortbread pan from King Arthur Flour last week and it included a recipe booklet. I had NO idea shortbread was so easy to make! The Yankee has taken several batches to work already, with more requested. Check this out!

Ingredients

My method has evolved a bit over the years, and my friend Vanessa pointed out recently that my super lazy method never [...]]]> I’ve been making yogurt for about three years now, and no matter how I do it one thing never changes: each and every time I am amazed that it actually turns into yogurt. Amazed.

My method has evolved a bit over the years, and my friend Vanessa pointed out recently that my super lazy method never made it to the blog; I’m here to remedy that. My sweet friend Ginger from Mars Hill (it’s huge; I’m sure you’ve heard of it) taught me this one, and it’s brilliant.

You will need:

• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup dry milk powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla or maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. starter yogurt (1 Tbsp. of a previous batch, or of any yogurt that says live and active cultures; ideally one that does not have pectin)

Three steps!

1. Turn your oven on to 350F for one minute and turn it off, and turn the light on in the oven
2. In a heavy saucepan (I use an enameled cast iron one) heat milk to 180F and whisk in remaining ingredients; let it cool to 120F and plop in the tablespoon of starter yogurt
3. Put a lid on the saucepan and stick it in the slightly warm oven for 5-8 hours or overnight

THE. END. Do you see what I’m saying? Lazy and easy. Please to enjoy.

Apples. Oats. Chocolate chips. How can this possibly go wrong?

It CAN’T.

My friend Vanessa came over while I was in the middle of winging these today, and they turned out to be the perfect dessert after our lunch of chicken and dumplings.  They’re based on Rick Bayless’ recipe for Grandma’s Moist Apple Cake from Rick and [...]]]>

Apples. Oats. Chocolate chips. How can this possibly go wrong?

It CAN’T.

My friend Vanessa came over while I was in the middle of winging these today, and they turned out to be the perfect dessert after our lunch of chicken and dumplings.  They’re based on Rick Bayless’ recipe for Grandma’s Moist Apple Cake from Rick and Lanie’s Excellent Kitchen Adventures. I tweaked and added and subtracted and adjusted and came up with these. And I’m not sorry.

You can add a chocolate glaze or a dusting of powdered sugar over the top of this, but I think they’re pretty great just as is. Let me know what you think!

They’re not biscuits. I promise.

They’re bagels, but without holes. Get it? Unholey? I’ll be here till Thursday!

No, seriously. No holes = more surface area for cream cheese. That’s a total win in my book.

I had a couple bags of clementine puree in the freezerleft over from the Cutie Cakes so I decided to [...]]]>

They’re not biscuits. I promise.

They’re bagels, but without holes. Get it? Unholey? I’ll be here till Thursday!

No, seriously. No holes = more surface area for cream cheese. That’s a total win in my book.

I had a couple bags of clementine puree in the freezerleft over from the Cutie Cakes so I decided to see if I could work them into bagels. Batch #2 was a success! Batch #1 involved dead yeast. D’oh. Anyhoo, work these up like super simple bagels:

Make an overnight starter of:

• 2 1/8 oz bread flour (I actually used AP flour for the starter and it was fine)
• 2 oz. cool water
• a pinch of yeast

and let it sit, covered, overnight at room temperature.

The next day add to the mixture:

• 12 oz clementine puree* (or 10 ounces clementine and 2 ounces water)
• 18 oz flour (bread flour would be great)
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 3/4 tsp salt

And now:

1. Knead, knead, knead, especially if you’re using bread flour. When it’s lovely and smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes in a stand mixer) then let it rise for about an hour; punch it down and let it rise again for another 30 minutes
2. Transfer to a work surface (I use a silicone mat) and either divide into equal pieces, or roll out and cut out with a biscuit cutter if you’re doing the unholey version; cover with plastic wrap and let them sit for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 425F and get a large pot of water boiling
3. At the end of 30 minutes drop the bagels four at a time into boiling water, cooking for 1 minute on the first side, then flipping and boiling for three more minutes, then bake for about 20 minutes or until they’re nicely browned

*Need a refresher on clementine puree? Put five clementines in a pot and pour in enough cold water to cover; bring to a boil then cook at somewhere between a simmer and a boil for two hours; drain and cool, then halve the clementines and run them through a food processor (the whole fruit) until you have a smooth puree. Easy!

Enjoy!