Hallo, and Coconut Encrusted French Toast

Aaaaaaand we're back! I've had a few friends try to talk me into getting the food blog back up and running, but for a while, I had approximately three jobs and was planning a move to Germany and then adjusting to said move. So, it's been a bit busy. But now, I've adjusted to my new life and and my terrible attempts at the German language and not getting lost in Berlin all day, errrrrryday.

There are definitely some adjustments that I've had to make—with different ingredients and measurements and other factors. For instance, cream cheese is lighter here and doesn't make as dense and thick of a cheesecake. Additionally, you can't find the brown sugar that we know and love (people always think I'm talking about turbinado sugar which is not even close) in the bigger grocery markets, but you can find it in some Asian markets. How am I supposed to make chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar?!? Also, the granulated sugar is beet sugar, not cane sugar. These are only a few examples, and I'm sure I'll talk about more of them over time. So, this blog will be about new recipes, and different things I'm learning from living in a "new to me" place and also food love from my travels.

On to the goods...

As a freelancer, I have the luxury of working from home. Which means sometimes I make a fancy breakfast for myself because, I do what I want! American-style breakfasts aren't readily available and I needed some french toast. So I did a search through the recipes that I've clipped over the years and found this one from Two Peas & Their Pod. I obviously had to make some adjustments due to using what I had on hand—also, note that the coconut or "kokos" you can find here is different than the sweetened flaked coconut you can find in the states, which the original recipe calls for.

Coconut Encrusted French Toast

Batter:
3 eggs
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup coconut flakes (we only have this kind here)
6 slices of whole-grain, nutty bread

Maple butter:

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup butter

Coconut yogurt sauce:

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup yogurt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

Blueberries for serving

Directions:
1. In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place the shredded coconut on a plate. Dip both sides of each slice of bread into the egg mixture and poke holes in bread so it absorbs some of the batter. Dip both sides of the coated bread into the shredded coconut. Drizzle a little egg mixture on top of the coconut to make it stick to the bread.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick frying pan or a griddle to medium to medium-high heat. Cook the slices of bread until golden brown on one side and then turn and cook the other side.

3. Serve with maple butter, coconut yogurt sauce, and blueberries. (I also suggest fresh ginger or "ingwer" tea and poached eggs on the side—breakfast is the best/most important meal of the day, so get it proper!)

guest post: overnight french toast with orange gala syrup

A little while ago—totally out of the blue—I was asked by Appliances Online (out of the UK) to do a guest post for their blog. They asked if I could do something related to family traditions and I immediately knew what I wanted to make, eat and gush about. If you want the recipe for something that has the words "Orange" and "Gala" in the title, I suggest you go to this link.

streusel coffee cake

When I was in New York last year, I finally got to try the Clinton Street Baking Company for breakfast. I wanted to eat every single item on the menu. My Mom has had the cookbook for a while, so I knew I needed to go to the real thing while I was there. It was a crazy wait, but like all good things—worth it. My parents gave me the cookbook this year for my birthday and I couldn't have been more pleased. I am so excited to make everything from this book! I found this recipe for Buttermilk Streusel Coffee Cake and I knew I had to make it. I didn't have buttermilk, which was a problem, but I did have greek yogurt and some left over half and half from another recipe and decided to take the gamble and substitute this concoction for buttermilk. The gamble paid off, everyone loved the cake, and now I have a new favorite in the arsenal of breakfast coffee cakes.

Streusel Coffee Cake, adapted from Clinton Street Baking Company

Streusel Topping

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup graham-cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup half and half or milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan. Mix all the Streusel Topping ingredients together in a mixing bowl and set aside.

For the cake, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, two at a time, mixing until well blended. Mix in the greek yogurt mixture and vanilla extract. Sift together and sir in the remaining dry ingredients. (Mixture will be very thick, almost like cookie batter)

Fill the pan halfway with the batter. Sprinkle with two-thirds of the Streusel Topping. Add the rest of the batter. Top with remaining on-third streusel.

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (My bundt pan may have been a little small, cause some of the batter spilled over while baking, so make sure you have the right size pan and put foil on the bottom of your oven, just in case.)

Cool. To unmold, place a plate firmly on top of the pan and flip, being carful to preserve the streusel.

apple streusel coffee cake

(pic via Instagram)

I really super hate grocery shopping, so I seem to always run into the problem of, "I want to bake something, but I am out of ingredients x, y, and z, but dangit, I really want to bake something!" So, when I'm looking for a treat to concoct, I tend to look for recipes where I can easily swap ingredients— or that call for items that I already have on-hand. Recently, I was gifted a few cookbooks (lucky me!) and one of these wonderful new books is a breakfast cookbook called, The Perfect Start To Your Day. My friend who gave this to me knows me very well. My friends can attest that I think breakfast is pretty much the best. Always n' forever. Me + breakfast = true love, etc. So, this cookbook led me to this recipe for Apple Streusel Coffee Cake. I easily adapted the recipe to fit my pantry-deficit needs and here you have it! Awesome breakfast cake in no time! It's a win for us all.

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake, adapted from The Perfect Start To Your Day

10 tablespoons softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup almond meal
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2 golden delicious apples, thinly sliced

topping:
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon water
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°, grease and line 8" round pound with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and almond meal in a small bowl. Add to butter mixture. Stir in greek yogurt until incorporated. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the sliced apples on top. Spoon remaining batter on top. 

To make the topping, combing the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and incorporate the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the water and pecans and break into lumps. Sprinkle over the cake evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

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.

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.

some foods from my new york trip

Last week, I went to New York with a good friend of mine—then proceeded to eat my way through the city. Here are some photos from some of the gastronomic highlights.

 On the way there, I sat next to a native New Yorker on the plane who said I had to go to Ferrara since it has so much history. It's been around since 1892. They are famous for their cannoli's and other Italian pastries. Above is a Lemon Meringue tart.

Part of a GIANT Lobster Tail pastry, also from Ferrara.

We went to Brooklyn to meet with some of our dear friends, Dallas and TJ, and they took us to a place I've been dying to go: Four & Twenty Blackbirds. They have incredible made-from-scratch pies. Clockwise from the top left 1) Maple Buttermilk, 2) Salted Honey, 3) Plum Crumble and 4) Salted Caramel Apple.

Here is the storefront.

Vanilla Buttermilk Waffle with an apple sauce and raspberry coulis with vanilla creme fraiche and some kind of amazing sauce that seemed caramely and super delish from Clinton Street Baking Company. My mom has their cookbook, and every recipe looks amazing. I would eat anything on their menu. Every day. All day. Anytime.

blueberry peach crumb muffins

When blueberries are on sale, I can't seem to help myself from buying as many as possible. So, due to my recent influx of those little blue bits of glory, I needed to find an awesome blueberry muffin recipe. I've made a lot before, but when I saw this recipe from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, I knew I had to try it. I'll be honest, he had me at "Crumb Topping".  Also, I needed to add peaches, cause well, peaches are awesome. Do I really need another reason? Didn't think so. Without further ado, here is the recipe...

Blueberry Peach Crumb Muffins
(This says it makes 12 standard muffins, but I definitely had batter leftover. I bet it could make 18, with my muffin tins)

Crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Muffin batter:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, barely softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries, rinsed, drained and picked over (I personally would use more than this next time)
1 peach peeled and diced


1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. For the crumb topping, combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Melt the butter in a small pan. Remove from the heat, then add the brown sugar to the pan of melted butter and use a small heatproof rubber spatula to stir them together. Scrape the butter and sugar mixture into the flour mixture, stirring it in until the flour es evenly moistened. Set aside while preparing the muffin batter.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.


4. Combine the butter and sugars in the bowls of an electric mixer fitter with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute, or until well mixed and a little lightened in color. Beat eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each.


5. Decrease the mixer speed to low and beat in 1/2 the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and beater.


6. On low speed, beat in the milk. After the batter has absorbed the milk, beat in the remaining flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and beater again.


7. Add the blueberries and peaches to the bowl and beat them into the batter on the lowest speed for no more than 2 to 3 seconds, to crush some of the berries slightly.


8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to give a final mixing to the batter.


9. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pan. Break the crumb topping into small crumbs with your fingertips and scatter over the top of each muffin. Bake the muffins until they are well risen, feel firm to the touch, and the topping is golden, about 30 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

foods from my trip home

Mom's homemade Rhubarb Pie.






Lunch from Dottie's. Zucchini cakes with poached eggs grilled cornbread. Grilled cornbread is the best thing ever.






My favorite ice cream from childhood and just life in general: Chocolate Malted Crunch from Thrifty's.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

steel cut oats with a bunch of other stuff

 (not great photo, courtesy of my phone)

This is the breakfast of champions. Well if I gave this to a champion of something—then it would be. But, I do CHAMPION this breakfast (see what I did there?). In the winter, this is the way I prefer to start my day (when I'm in town, and have the time to make something.) You can mix and match a few things, but this is my basic formula:

1/4 uncooked steel cut oats
1 tablespoon of uncooked quinoa 
1 cup water
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves or cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground flax
2 teaspoons toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup almond milk
a few drops of vanilla
a handful of frozen blueberries
a handful of sliced almonds

Bring water to a boil, add the oats and quinoa and turn down to medium-low heat. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the almond milk and stir. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Let cook until desired consistency (I like mine pretty thick) and serve. This set of portions feeds one fairly hungry strawberry blonde.

**In OTHER NEWS: I will have a normal life again, starting a week from today. So, I will be back to more regular posting, testing, and maybe I'm thinking about reviewing places. We'll see what 2011 has in store, but I'm thinking this year will be tops.

raspberry cranberry crumb breakfast bar

The other day I saw some good-looking raspberries on sale, so I bought a few pints and was looking up some ideas for how to utilize them. I came upon this recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, and realized I needed to make and eat this, but I didn't have enough raspberries. As soon as my wheels started turning, I remembered I had some frozen cranberries, and I sure do love cranberries mixed with other berries. And I always like a little more tart with my sweet. At first, I wasn't sure I should make it because of the word "breakfast" in the title of the recipe, but in reading the intro, it looks like this bar is good for any time. And that sure came out to be true. These were the perfect texture and consistency, and very much hit the spot. In fact, I'm craving some right now...

Raspberry Cranberry Crumb Breakfast Bar
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

For the crust and crumb:
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

For the Raspberry Cranberry filling:
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 pound raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 pound cranberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Make the crust and crumb:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of 9-by-13 inch pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.

Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the butter and pulse until loose crumbs form.

Reserve 1 cup of the mixture and set aside. Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands or the back of a large wooden spoon to push the crust into an even layer in the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the raspberry filling.

Make the Raspberry filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and flour together.

Add the raspberries, lemon juice, and butter and use your hands to toss gently until the raspberries are evenly coated.

Assemble and bake the bars:
Spread the raspberry filling evenly on top of the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved 1 cup crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble around edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then cut into squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

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.

cherry upside down cake

i keep buying as many cherries as i can find, before they are completely gone till next year. which tends to leave me with an extra cherry or two. i was making a brunch for some friends and wanted to make something a little fancy, so i decided to turn our family favorite, blueberry short cake, into cherry upside down cake, but with a few tweaks, i added 1 tsp. almond extract and 1/4 cup of cornmeal. best decision ever. it had the perfect consistency and flavor and crumb and just overall goodness. why are cherries so darn good? why can't summer last forever? i need fresh fruit and veggies at my disposal every day—as well as this cake.

muffins in the morning

i'm conducting a little survey on this here blog to see what your top 3 favorite muffins are in the morning. you can write in the comments any flavor you like, but i'll give a few options here to jog your memory.

bran

blueberry

poppyseed (lemon or almond or just plain)

chocolate

what about pumpkin or something with coconut or cornmeal? and think as if it's something you want to buy in the morning as a breakfast muffin. lemme know your thoughts, please!

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?