Swedish Vanilla Buns

Y'all need to get yourselves some Swedish friends. If you do, you will find yourself the lucky recipient of delicious gummy treats, and sehr lecker (German for very delicious) confections. Plus, you can listen to Abba and Ace of Base without irony or shame. We have these really fun Swedish friends in our Crew. Thanks to them, we have been able to enjoy some really great foods. We've had Köttbullar, Lussebullar, Swedish candies, and these wonderful vanilla-filled buns, Vaniljbullar. We've also bonded over our favorite TV Show, and what we feel is the best Döner Kebap spot in all of Berlin—so these are obviously my people. We made these the other week and goodness gracious, they were a delight. 

I realize it's kind of mean of me to post these on here, because some of the ingredients are specialty ingredients that you can't just pick up at the local grocery store, unless you live in Sweden. BUT, maybe that is what Amazon is for? Or maybe you can just try to find Swedish friends—and I'm really just promoting international relations and should be commended for doing so. 

Vanilla filled buns (Vaniljbullar)

Yields: about 20

Dough:
1 cup of milk
25 g yeast
75g butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
about 3 1/2 cups flour

Filling (makes about 1 1/2 cups of vanilla cream, but I would make a little extra):
1/2 cup dream powder
1/2 cup milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons maizena
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
**this site has a recipe they use for the filling that doesn't use the powder
Topping:
Melted butter
Sugar

Making the Dough:

Heat the milk to 98° and dissolve a bit of yeast in it. Stir butter and sugar until smooth in a large bowl. Add the egg, the rest of the yeast, the warm milk and yeast mixture and stir. Add the flour and stir until it's a smooth dough. Let rise under a cloth until doubled in size.

Making the Filling:
Mix cream, milk, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla sugar in a saucepan and stir. Heat gently, stirring until the cream almost begins to simmer but do not boil. The cream will thicken. Take the pan off the heat and place in cold water in the sink or pour over the cream in a bowl (otherwise the residual heat in the pan to make vanilla ice cream becomes too hot and it can curdle).

Making the buns:
Roll out the dough into a large square. Cut out round holes, about 10 cm in diameter. Add a good sized dollop of filling and pinch the bun into a little bundle. Place the bun on baking paper with the seam facing down. Let the buns rise for an hour under a cloth. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes at 450 degrees.

When the buns are cool, brush them with melted butter and dip them into sugar. Now EAT!

(You can freeze the buns before you brush them with butter and sugar, if you want to save them for a later date; or if you live by yourself and can't eat 20 buns in one sitting, no matter how badly you want to.)

cinnamon toast bread pudding

She did it again!

My sis wrote a rad post and made something super delicious and made me feel like I should just hand over the blog to her, cause seriously, I want to make these things and eat them voraciously. Also, remember how she's a writer and I'm not? Now I'm off to go find something with cinnamon and sugar...



My family totally dissed me today.

While on the elliptical this morning I was watching one of my favorite to-exercise-to
shows, Sunny Anderson’s Cooking For Real (don’t ask me why or how watching food
motivates me to exercise in any way), and I was inspired to make this incredible looking
bread pudding and skillet egg dish for dinner. Being an eat-breakfast-whenever-you-feel-
like-it kind of person, I immediately went to the store (after taking a shower) and bought
all the needed ingredients for my breakfast-for-dinner meal.

Little did I know that the husband and three of four kids would golf all afternoon, only to
text me at 8pm with the news that they WENT OUT TO EAT.

First I was angry. But after my first serving of bread pudding, I only felt sorry for them.
See for yourself! Oh, and this is an adaptation of Sunny’s dish, only because I wanted a
more cinnamony crust (more cowbell) and less custard, plus I thought I was feeding six.
Also, Sunny added grapes in her custard…and cooked grapes just seem wrong.

Cinnamon Toast Bread Pudding

Ingredients
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
8 (1-inch) thick slices French bread
5 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
juice from 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla
maple syrup, for drizzling
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Microwave for about 15 seconds
to slightly melt butter for easier spreading. Generously butter both sides of French bread
with butter mixture. Toast on a baking sheet in oven about 8 minutes, or until bread turns
golden brown. Set aside. When slightly cool, cut toast on a diagonal into triangles and
arrange in prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, yogurt, orange juice and vanilla. Pour

over bread slices in baking dish. Let rest 10 minutes for bread to absorb some of the egg
mixture, gently pressing down a few times to help absorb. Bake 20-25 minutes until crust
is golden and crispy in parts and custard is set. Remove from the oven, drizzle with maple
syrup and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm.

Adapted from Sunny Anderson on The Food Network.

dinner rolls with rosemary and flaked fluer de sel

(Sorry this photo is so crappy, but it's hard to take pics when you are busy and stressed while making food for 30 people!)

I made these rolls for another dinner I worked on with my awesome chef friend, Tom Call. He asked me to come up with some yummy and buttery dinner rolls. I went to my Go-To Baking Mentor (my mom) and asked what she would recommend trying. She suggested this recipe from Sarabeth's Bakery cookbook. I'm so glad she did! It looks like a lot of instruction, but it's pretty simple to put together. Plus, I added the rosemary and fluer de sel to try to make them a little more special. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. For the dinner, we made these more of a "tasting size" in little mini muffin tins instead of making them in the two pans like in the recipe below. If you make them that way, I would suggest using a scale and weighing the dough. Each mini roll weighed about 30 grams.

Dinner Rolls with Rosemary and Flaked Fluer de Sel (adapted from Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours)

3 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk, divided
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, as needed
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, well softened
4 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary, divided
1-2 tablespoons flaked fluer de sel

Sprinkle yeast over 1/4 cup, 105° to 115°F, milk in a small bowl. Let stand until the yeast softens, about 5 minutes, then stir well to dissolve. Pour into the mixing bowl. Add 3/4 cup cold milk, the sugar, egg, and yolk, whisk to combine.

Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed, adding 2 cups of the flour and the salt. One tablespoon at a time, beat in the butter, letting each addition become absorbed before adding another. Add another cup of the flour and 2 teaspoons of the chopped rosemary to make a soft dough that cleans the sides of the bowl.

Using a silicone spatula, scrape the dough into the center of the bowl. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed until the dough is supple, about 4 minutes. One tablespoon at a time, add as much of the remaining flour as needed for the dough to become smooth.

Generously butter a medium bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into a ball. Place the ball, smooth side down, in the bowl, and turn right side up to lightly coat the ball in butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Lightly butter two 9-inch round cake pans. Cut the dough into 18 equal portions (if you have a kitchen scale, each portion will weigh 2 ounces.) To shape into balls, one portion at a time, place the dough on an unfloured work surface. Cup one hand over the dough and move your hand in a tight circular motion, letting your palm gently touch the top of the dough. For each pan, arrange 7 balls inside the perimeter of the pan, with 2 balls in the center, spacing the balls equally apart. There will be space between the balls until they proof. Choose a warm spot in the kitchen for the proofing. Cover with a tea towel. Let stand until the rolls look puffy, about 45 minutes.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Remove the tea towel and spray rolls with water, sprinkle with the last two teaspoons of fresh rosemary and lightly sprinkle with flaked fluer de sel. Bake unti the rolls are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Remove from the pans, then separate the rolls from each other and serve hot.

NOTE: If you need to re-heat the rolls, generously sprinkle them with water and put them in a 350°F oven for about 5-10 minutes. Just keep a razor sharp eye on them so that they don't get too golden and dry out.

buttermilk biscuits

I love cookbooks. I could collect all of them for days and I wouldn't have enough. Even it it's just to look at them. I have a huge wish list that is ever-growing. My mom got the Sarabeth's Bakery cookbook last Christmas from my dad, and I made no secret of my envy. Imagine my delight when I received it this year from my parents! It's so simple and clean and I want to make and eat everything in it. This biscuit recipe is the first recipe I've made from it, and oh my goodness, they were divine. Salty, buttery, light and flaky. In a word: Perfect. Next time you want/need a savory baked good, make this happen to your face and belly.

Adapted from Sarabeth's Bakery

3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used 1 1/2 cups milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. Add the butter. Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size pieces of butter. Add the buttermilk (or milk with lemon juice), mixing just until the dough barely comes together.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until the dough is smooth. Sprinke the top of the dough with flour and roll our a little more than 3/4 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into flour between cuts, cut out the biscuits and place 1 inch apart on the pan. Gently press the scraps together (do not overhandle the dough—this is very important!). Repeat rolling and cutting.

Bake until the biscuits are well risen and golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Serve hot or warm. To reheat the biscuits, wrap them in aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes.

banana bread: re-visited

One of the dreamiest smells in the world is banana bread—baking in the oven. Another joy in life is eating this warm, aromatic bread right out of the oven. I've tried a lot of banana bread recipes over the years, and whenever I try a new one, in the back of my mind, I think about re-visiting this one. I remember how crispy the edges were, and how dense and moist the center was. I tried this again without any nuts, and used two ripe bananas from the counter, and ripe bananas from the freezer. (Remember how we learned from this Ultimate Banana Bread recipe that when you thaw them out, you get some awesome juices that add a lot of flavor?) So, the results are: I seriously LOVE this bread. The texture is seriously perfect. Even the next day, when most banana breads get sort of slimy on the edges, this still has crispiness, but still so... you know... moist on the inside. Also, I mentioned this before, but toasting day old banana bread before eating it is incredible.

Here is the recipe again:


2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas (two of them frozen and thawed)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Don't get nervous if the banana bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that's no mistake, it's typical. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Note: The top of my bread was getting too brown, so I placed a piece of foil on top after about 45-50 minutes.

sourdough bread: guest post by 2.0

I've discusses my sister-in-law quite a bit, and she's pretty much the best sister-in-law of all time. Sorry everybody else, my sisters' and I won the jackpot in the "Who Is My Only Brother Going To Marry, Please Just Let Me At Least Like Her A Little Bit Jackpot". She's one of my best friends, and she's totally down for food like the rest of us. It's so fun to share with her our favorites, and trying some of her family favorites as well. Remember the Oatmeal Cake? I do, because it's the dreamiest (...aaaand now I'm craving it, this is trouble...). Anyway, I've spoken to my sisters about each of them doing a guest post for me, since they've all got mad skills(z) and so many great recipes to share. When I was visiting in November, 2.0 made this sourdough bread that she's spent a while perfecting. It is NO JOKE. Sooooo good. I asked her to share it with us, but she said she had a few more tweaks to make, so she recently fulfilled her promise to me, and below is her post to share with us. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce Caroline 2.0...

I would look so different if I didn't love bread as much as I do. There is something almost spiritual for me in eating the perfect artisan bread, the chewy crumb, the contrast between the crust and the melty insides, the way your jaw tells you about it if you eat too much. I'm talking about bread that has the gal and personality to make it's own shape and not rely on a bread pan to keep it corralled. I grew up right up the street from a little market that had incredible, made that day, Italian and French breads that were central to most of my meals. I also had a Father who was the proud bread-maker of our family. He loved the feeling of his hands in the dough and it was common to find crusty little remnants on his wrists or under his nails. Okay, I'll stop it with all my bread pedigree, all you need to know is that this recipe comes to you from someone who really truly loves bread and it's taken me lots of tries to get it to this wonderful place. Also note that you might need to mess with this recipe a little. I've found that often a bread recipe needs to adjusted because of humidity, flour you're using, your particular oven, the yeast you have etc. There are a lot of variable factors, so try this then make whatever tweaks are necessary to make it magical for you. 

Caroline (2.0)'s Sourdough Bread:

Ingredients: 

Dutch Oven or something you can put in the oven with a heavy lid on it. This is what I use, but if you have another version that's fine too - you need to trap the moisture in with the bread. Also, you need to replace the plastic lid handle with a metal one - I got one at home depot- it was pretty easy - if need be, just take the handle out and be really careful with the lid. 

2 cups water (warm to 110)

2 tsp yeast (no rapid rise, and don't use more, less would be better)

1 cup sourdough start (I used a heaping cup, this can vary a little too)

2 TBS sugar

1 heaping TBS salt

6 cups flour (this one will vary for sure - it's a feel thing, but around 6)

 (2.0's sourdough start—do not throw away)

1. Put the water into a large bowl with the yeast. Let the yeast dissolve, about 3-5 minutes and add to this your sourdough start, sugar and salt - stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve.

2. Add flour only a cup at a time - I insist on this - it's the only way to get to the right texture, if you add to much and try to put water in it's a mess. Just go one cup at at time, stirring with spoon, until it's not possible to stir with a spoon and then take off your rings and get your hands in there. Keep adding flour a cup at at time until the dough is starting to come together in one lump. You will need to do some kneading, and as you knead your bread will get wetter. Of course you'll need to add more flour as you knead in small amounts so you can handle the dough, but don't add to much. Put flour on your hands and although many say to knead on a floured surface, I think it's okay to knead in the bowl, then you pick up all your scraps. Just make sure your dough is still a little wet, so it's sticky but not completely stuck to you as you knead. You should knead about 8-10 minutes until it's smooth and elastic with a little sticky to the touch.

3. I usually pull my ball of bread dough out, put it on plastic wrap and scrape around my big bowl with a spatula getting the flotsom and jetsom out then I spray that same bowl, plop my dough back in and turn it around once so it has some oil on top. Make sure to cover the top with plastic wrap.

4. Let this rise overnight or 6-8 hours then pat it down, and give it a good knead - like 5 minutes of just working out the air and getting it back into a smaller ball - you might need to put it on a floured surface for this part - and coat your hands with flour to make it manageable.
5. Spray your bowl again, put the dough back in, flip it and put plastic on top again. Let this one rise a good 4 hours or so until it's doubled in size. The two rises are what give this bread such a nice sourdough flavor. While this is rising spray down your dutch over with lid - it's the only way to make this bread work.
6. When your bread dough has doubled, push it down and knead it out a little, not as much as before and shape it into two loaves. You can do this in one big loaf but I find two a lot more manageable. The way I put these in my dutch oven is by separating them down the middle with aluminum foil - which I also spray. You can put down a little cornmeal on bottom if you wish. Put these two oval loaves into your dutch oven.
7. Put plastic over the top of the dutch oven and let the bread rise about 2 hours or less - until the loaves look nice and raised. Pre-heat oven to 450 during this time.

8. Take off the plastic, put on the lid and put your bread in the oven for about 40 minutes.

9. After 40 minutes take off the lid- your bread should be starting to get light brown and look shiny. Keep the lid off - reduce heat to 375 and bake another 10 + minutes until it's nice and brown and when you check the center by checking halfway down the foil it doesn't look doughy - it needs to give you a little push back when you press in that center area between the two loaves.
10. Immediately take bread out of dutch oven and cool on wire racks.

vacation: re-visited

It's time for my obligatory Christmas vacation trip re-cap. Of course, the food was incredible, and amazing and was one of the main focuses of my trip. I'm going to post all the photos and names below. If you guys want any of the recipes that aren't linked, let me know which ones, and I'll try to coax them from my Mom. The only one I know for sure that she won't give up is the Special Christmas Torte She Holds Sacred So Don't Even Ask. (All the photos taken by my phone, mostly with Instagram.)

Whole Wheat Waffles with fruit and yogurt and a sauce from the Clinton Street Baking Company cookbook (which I covet greatly - remember how I ate there in New York?). 

 Citrus Wassail (recipe here)

My adorable Mom writes out a menu for the time that I'm home.  

Winter Fruit Salad with Pomegranates (recipe here) 

Butterhorn Dinner Rolls (recipe here) 

Roasted Beets 

 Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Compote

Special Christmas Torte She Holds Sacred So Don't Even Ask 

The best Eggs Benedict In The World, made by my Mom. 

Fig Prosciutto Pizza with Spinach, adapted from this recipe 

Prosciutto wrapped Water Chestnuts

Chocolate Dipped Salted Caramels with Fluer De Sel, adapted from this recipe

Apple Pan Dore. Recipe adapted from Mama's Cafe 

Fancy Hot Chocolate. (You whip cream with cocoa and chocolate syrup then put in in warm milk then drink it!)

One of my favorite things to eat of all time. Croque Madame from Cafe De La Presse in San Francisco.

Chocolate Malted Crunch Ice Cream from Thrifty's. (My favorite!) 

Blackberry Cobbler, made by 2.0. Recipe from Joy of Cooking.

family foods

I was just in Southern California to see family for a last minute, much needed getaway. I really wanted to hang out with this girl (and the rest of my family, too).

I'm sure it goes without saying, that when I'm around my family, the food is always in delicious abundance. Here are a few things we ate/made.

 

My sister made homemade chicken noodle soup (homemade noodles, too!), and My sister-in-law made this amazing sourdough artisan bread, which she's been working on perfecting for a bit. I'd say she hit the mark. My goodness, it was fantastic! I will see if she'll do a guest post and give us all her secrets.

 

Sis-in-law, will heretofore be known as 2.0 (that's my nickname as her, seeing as how we have the exact same name, but she's more awesome than me, hence the v.2.0). Anywho, 2.0 made some awesome sourdough pancakes and put shredded apples in them. They were a delight.

 Here is a photo of the start. I'll share the sourdough recipe at the end of the post. You're welcome. (You'll need a sourdough starter to make this)

And one of my favorites, and 2.0's as well, Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cake.

Now for the Sourdough Pancakes recipe:

1 egg

2 T. oil

¼ c. milk

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 T. sugar

Add 2 cups warm water and 2 ½ cup flour to 1 cup start. Mix together and let sit overnight. In morning, put one cup in with starter again, leaving you with 4 ½ cup batter. Add any fruit or other lil' nuggets you like to the pancakes. For shredded apples, you add it to the whole batter, if you add chocolate chips or blueberries, add them to freshly poured batter. Griddle or pan should be at medium heat, flip when doughy side bubbles. When pancakes are cooked as golden as you like, EAT THEM UP.

              

***For Sourdough Waffles, add 2 more tablespoons of oil.

zucchini banana bread

(sorry about the crappy phone photo)

Zucchini season is here! And there is a LOT of it. I had the pleasure of receiving some gigantor garden variety zuccs recently and had to find a load of zucchini recipes to use up the copious amounts of the veggie I now had in my possession. The first recipe is yummy, moist-deluxe Zucchini Bread, adapted from Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family. It's sooooo good, you must try it! 

Zucchini (with banana and coconut - added by me) Bread.
makes 2 loaves

3 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/2 c. greek yogurt
2 t. vanilla extract
splash almond extract
2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup coconut
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease two 4 x 8-inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat the banana till soft. Combine with the eggs, oil, yogurt, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, zucchini and coconut. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix all ingredients together.

Pour into the pans and bake for 1 hour, or until the centers are no longer soft.

PS: If you haven't tried Banana or Zucchini Bread toasted with butter, you are missing out, so go fix this mistake!

PPS: If you are trying to save your extra shredded zucchini for later, do not use a food saver, if you have one. I learned the hard way that you just need to measure it out into ziplocs and not try to be fancy and food-save it, unless you want green juice all over everything.

six-week bran muffins

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been around these here parts too much lately. I've been traveling to and from San Francisco every week for work. I'm there four days a week and pretty much have no energy left-over for baking + blogging when I get home. Not to mention, it's pretty impossible to keep fresh food around when I can't be in one place long enough to consume it. Which is why this recipe is so perfect for me. This recipe you make overnight and can keep (covered *real* tight) in the fridge for up to six weeks. You can just cook a few at a time and voila! Fresh bran muffins. Plus, when it's just me, the fact that this makes 48 muffins works great, cause I won't run out of that very quickly. In case the germ-freaks are totally grossed out about the length of time you can keep these, just cool out. There are a ton of recipes like this online and it's super legit science and stuff.  (Recipe sent to me by my Momz, and found originally by my eldest sister. I do not know the original source—sorry about that!)

5 cups flour

3 cups sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

5 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

7 1/2 cups (20-ounce box) Post Healthy Classics Raisin Bran (you could add more raisins if this doesn't provide enough, it would be yums to add golden raisins to the mix)

4 cups (1 quart) buttermilk

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs, beaten

Melted butter for brushing the tops of the muffin batter

Ground cinnamon and sugar mixed

1.  In a very large bowl, combine the flour 3 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in the cereal, add the buttermilk, oil, and eggs, and blend until moistened.  DO NOT STIR AGAIN.  Place the mixture into a NON-METALLIC (very important science here, don't think you can be sneaky and get around this - Farrah, I'm talking to you!) container, seal tightly, and refrigerate overnight or for up to 6 weeks.

2.  When ready to bake - preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.  Fill each cup 3/4 full with batter.  Brush the top of the batter in each cup with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar to taste.  Bake 15-20 minutes. (I actually haven't done that the past few batches to make them a little more healthy and they are still super delish!)

**Here's a tip: if you are cooking less than 12 muffins, you can pour about an inch of water in each leftover muffin cup before you throw them in the oven so that the pan cooks everything evenly.

leige waffles

a while back i talked about the best waffle in the world, the liege waffle from bruges, here in downtown salt lake. my whole family became obsessed, and one by one, when each would visit, i would take them and share with them this glory. i took my dad for his birthday when he was in town last september and they had fresh seasonal peaches from the farmers market across the street as a topping option. best. thing. ever. and let me tell you, my dad is the last stop in the family when it comes to a food critic. if he loves something, you KNOW it's legit. so, lo and behold he searched on the internet to find a recipe for my mom to replicate. and a place to buy the sugar pearls that go in these little delights. he sent me this recipe and found one place in utah that sells the sugar pearls. they don't even have them by where they live so i am in charge of getting them their supply. like a dealer of sorts.

so this recipe. it's good. but it's not as good as bruges. it's a little thicker and breadier and waaay more buttery (while that's usually a good thing, it wasn't AS good as it could be in this case). also, it takes some serious time to make these. but when you don't live within a few miles of the original, they would most definitely be worth it. especially if you froze peaches from last summer and made créme fraiche to top them with.

**also, i have no idea where my dad found this, so i can't credit this original recipe**

LIEGE WAFFLES (10 servings)

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TB granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 pkg active dry Yeast
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter (i would actually only do 1 cup)
6.5 oz. cold sparkling water
1 cup (approx.) pearl sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


allow eggs and sparkling water to come up to room temperature first. melt the butter over hot water or in the microwave then allow to cool to lukewarm.

sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then make a well in the middle. beat the eggs in another bowl, then add butter whisking to combine. sprinkle yeast over the top and whisk well. then add the sparkling water and whisk again. add the entire mixture to the flour along with the granulated sugar and vanilla extract. beat the dough for at least ten minutes. it will start out kind curdled looking, but will stiffen and become a slightly sticky brioche-ish type dough. cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 60 – 90 minutes.

begin heating the waffle iron and knead the pearl sugar into the dough. drop by heaping 1/4th cup onto each quarter or section of the waffle iron and bake until well browned. serve warm and top with whatever goodness you like. (avoid too many too sweet toppings like nutella + créme fraiche + peaches unless you want a bellyache like my good friend, tan, experienced).

(ps, if you want probably the best fries of your life, bruges is also the place to be. and the aioli is ridiculously good.)

i know it's a bit late...

...but, i've been busy and out of town for work. and prepping for that and recovering have been... intense. anyway, i just wanted to share with you what i had the privilege of eating at my parent's house when i was home for the holidays. (sorry, i know it's unfair and sort of braggy, but wouldn't you do the same?)

this was for our Christmas eve dinner.

butterhorns

i made the brussel sprouts with some olive oil, apple cider vinegar and pine nuts. pretty good, if i do say so myself!

the largest twice baked potatoes of all time.

citrus salad. and we had some other foods, but those were my favorite.

also, this dessert. my mom only makes it for christmas. for a few reasons, one being it's the most delicious thing you'll ever eat in your life so it needs to stay special. and two, it's... not... healthy. in any way. at all. (but so worth it!)

we had hot chocolate and scones Christmas morning before we opened presents. oh and we used some homemade marshmallows i brought home for everyone to try in the hot chocolate. so dreamy!

other breakfast goodies:

don't worry about it. that's just overnight french toast with orange syrup and mixed berries. just another day at our house.

and one of my favorite breakfast goodies: raspberry cream cheese coffee cake.

again, i'm sorry.

who's hungry?

pumpkin bread pudding with cinnamon caramel sauce

i love fall. i love boots and scarves and cardigans and changing leaves. i love thinking about apple cider, molasses infused treats and most of all—PUMPKIN. i keep thinking of new recipes to try which involve pumpkin. in fact, during the spring and summer i have to restrain myself from busting out my pumpkin and whipping up a pie or cookies using this marvelous ingredient. but, i have to stand by my principles, using/wearing/eating/listening to things that are seasonally appropriate. so, finally i've been able to experiment and i'm quite pleased with my first endeavor. i'm pretty sure i've mentioned how much i love bread pudding a few times on this blog and combining these two loves is a match made in fall heaven. i made my mom's recipe for pumpkin bread and combined it with an altered version of the recipe she sent me for a bread pudding from this bed and breakfast in mendocino, ca. dreamy. dream-fest. dream come true. so yeah, i like pumpkin and stuff...

8 large eggs

3 ½ cups milk

2 cups sugar

1 ½ cups whipping cream

1 t. vanilla extract

1 1-lb loaf pumpkin bread

butter a 3 quart baking dish. whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. add milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla. whisk to blend well. stir in bread. pour mixture into prepared baking dish, push down the bread crumbs, making sure they have all been coated by mixture. cover and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours. cook for 1 hour, 45 minutes, or until it is set – 350 degrees (i had to up the tempurature to 375 degrees for the last 40 minutes). before serving, dribble some cinnamon caramel sauce over the top and serve with freshly whipped cream.

cinnamon caramel sauce

1 cup (packed ) golden brown sugar

1 cube butter

½ cup whipping cream

¾ t. cinnamon

stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. add cream and cinnamon and bring to simmer. simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to 1 ½ cups, about 5 minutes. serve warm.

blueberry crumb cakes

i was going to have brunch with a friend of mine this sunday and i was trying to think of something pretty quick and easy, but still fancy enough to be brunch worthy. i was hoping muffins or coffee cake would do the trick, however i wanted to try something new. i ended going through my family cookbook and found this recipe for crumb cakes. i added the blueberries to the recipe and i think it's the perfect addition. but let's be honest, blueberries make just about anything better.

batter:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. cinnamon
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 T. butter, melted
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2/3 c. blueberries

topping:
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 t. cinnamon
4 T. cold butter, cut into pieces
(cut with pastry cutter or two knives until crumbly)

preaheat oven to 375°, grease 12-cup muffin tin. combine dry ingredients till well mixed. whisk wet ingredients till combined. add wet ingredients to dry ingredents and mix with fork until just combined. add blueberries and mix unti l just combined. divide batter between 12 cups (i actually only got 10 cups out of mine, and i used a cookie scoop to divvy up the batter). top with topping and pat down. bake for 12 - 14 minutes. cool 5 minutes and transfer to wire racks.