Breakfast

Overnight French Toast

Breakfast.  The most important meal of the day.  It also happens to be the most boring meal of the day for me most of the time.  I am not organized enough, and I don’t get up early enough to fix anything more exciting than a bowl of cereal and some fruit.  Every now and then I have enough time to scramble a few eggs, but that is rare.  So, when I have an opportunity to make something good for breakfast I make the most of it.

This weekend our great friends Carrie and Jason came up to visit.  We had such a nice and relaxing time together.  Sunday morning we had French toast casserole and migas for breakfast.  It was quite a delicious feast and something I plan to make again when we have guests.

The French toast is prepared the night before and allowed to sit in the fridge overnight to let the bread soak up the sugar, butter, eggs and milk.  I was pretty exhausted the night I was supposed to make the French toast and I almost felt like skipping it and just going to bed, but it took me less than 15 minutes to put it all together and pop it in the fridge so don’t let time be your excuse not to make this.

This breakfast is so very simple and easy.  In the bottom of a 9×13 pan goes a mixture of butter, brown sugar and corn syrup that has been melted together on the stove. The thick slices of French bread are placed atop this sugary sticky goodness, and the mixture of eggs, milk and vanilla is poured on top of everything.  Cover this in foil and go to bed.  When you wake up bake the dish for 45 minutes and voilà.  Breakfast.

The tops of the bread slices are golden brown as they come out of the oven.  The inside of each slice is creamy and delicious.  The bottom of each slice is covered in the rich buttery sugar sauce that has caramelized and become something very special thanks to its time in the oven.  So delicious.  Next time I will add some ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the milk mixture.  I served it with butter and syrup, and my husband had the ingenious idea of putting the sliced strawberries we had at the table on his slice.  Any kind of fruit or berry would be a good complement to this sweet, rich and crazy good French toast.  Make this some Saturday morning and make your breakfast guests very, very happy.

Overnight French Toast

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons corn syrup
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, sliced
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Combine the corn syrup , butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar has melted. Pour this mixture over the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch casserole dish.
  2. Place the bread slices over the sugar-butter mixture in the dish. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt; pour this mixture over the bread. Cover the dish and let it stand in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  4. Uncover the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Serve while hot or warm or the French toast will harden in the pan. It can be reheated.

Cinnamon Sugar Cake Donuts

There are times in my life, for reasons unknown, that I just crave something.  There isn’t always a good or rational reason for the craving.  It just happens.  Last weekend I was craving cake donuts.  I was really craving blueberry cake donuts from Lone Star Bakery in Round Rock, Texas.  But seeing as how I live about 500 miles from there now I would have to settle for these homemade donuts.  Maybe settle is not the right word.  To “settle” implies that I was accepting something less.  These were no bakery donut, but I would not classify them in the “settling” category.  These were some yummy donuts.

I found these donuts to be very simple and delicious.  The texture was delicate and sweet.  I liked the coating of cinnamon sugar and the contrast of soft donut to crunchy sugar.  The slight nutmeg flavor is perfect.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com and I followed it word for word.  Well, I guess I refrigerated the dough for more than an hour.  It was more like 2 hours.  But I don’t consider that a modification.  I consider it more like bad planning.  With the good results I got with the increased chilling, you could probably make the dough the night before and use it in the morning.  I love things you can make ahead of time.

Cinnamon Sugar Cake Donuts
Ingredients
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 quarts oil for deep frying
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup white sugar
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg.
  2. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  3. Heat oil in a deep heavy skillet or deep-fryer to 370 degrees F (185 degrees C).
  4. On a floured board, roll chilled dough out to ½  inch thickness. Use a 3 inch round cutter to cut out doughnuts. Use a smaller cutter to cut holes from center.
  5. Fry doughnuts in hot oil until golden brown, turning once. Remove from oil to drain on paper plates.
  6. Combine the remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ cup sugar in a large re-sealable bag. Place a few warm donuts into the bag at a time, seal and shake to coat.  Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee.

Candied Ginger Scones

These are lovely and delicious.  Fresh flavors with just enough sweetness.  Fall apart goodness with pieces of spicy, sweet ginger.

I found the recipe on Epicurious.  It is a basic scone recipe consisting of simple and pure ingredients: chilled butter, flour, cream, salt, sugar and baking powder.  They stray from the basic scone with the addition of lemon zest and chopped candied ginger.  The only problem I had with these was that the dough seemed a little too crumbly, so I added a bit more cream.  Be careful not to over-mix the dough, or the scones will end up a little tough.  Other than that, this is an easy recipe that produces great results.

scone3

Candied Ginger Scones

(courtesy of epicurious.com)

Ingredients
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest (about 1/2 lemon)
  • 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
  • 4 1/2 ounces candied ginger, finely chopped into 1/4-inch pieces to equal 2/3 cup
  • ¾ – 1 cup heavy cream, plus extra for brushing the tops of the scones
Directions
  1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder, and pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the lemon zest and butter, and pulse on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is pale yellow and the consistency of fine meal.
  3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the ginger. Make a well in the center and pour in the cream. Using one hand, draw in the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
  4. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times to gather it into a ball. Roll or pat the dough into a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Cut out the circles, cutting as closely together as possible and keeping the trimmings intact.
  5. Gather the scraps, pat and press the pieces back together, and cut out the remaining dough. Place the scones 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  6. Brush the tops with the remaining cream.
  7. Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, until the surface cracks and they are slightly browned.

First Days and the Start of a Beautiful Friendship…Bread

My Amish Friendship Bread on Foodista

I survived my first 2 days with 6th graders.  I realized that I’ve kinda missed teaching.  I didn’t miss staying at school for 11 hours, getting home after 6pm, sitting down and realizing just how exhausting it can be to be on your feet all day, well, except for a 25 minute lunch.  That’s right 25 minutes.  All of you office people out there who enjoy hour lunch breaks where you get to eat at a real restaurant with waiters and such should be thankful.  And on those days where you have to have a quick lunch, think of the teachers out there who don’t ever get to leave the building they work in for lunch.

Sorry!  I forgot this wasn’t about self pity,  but about Amish Friendship Bread.  I wish I knew these kids…they look so very friendly.

Amish_Children

Photo courtesy of hiddenvalleys.com

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Cinnamon Rolls in Durango

cinnrolls1These cinnamon rolls began their life in Amarillo, Texas and will see the end of their days in Durango, Colorado.  My family,all 13 of us, are spending the week in Durango.  My brother-in-law’s family has about 80 acres of land just outside of the city that backs up to National Forest which means that we are completely isolated in peaceful, beautiful, glorious nature…well, I still have internet access and cell phone service.  It is incredible out here and I am going to really enjoy the next 7 days of vacation.

My parents, my sister, her husband and my nephew all drove up to Amarillo on Friday evening to stay the night.  I decided to make cinnamon rolls for Saturday morning before we left for Durango.  I found this recipe for “Overnight Cinnamon Rolls” on the Food Network website, from Alton Brown.

I started the rolls on Friday night.  The dough was nice and soft after mixing it up, and so I set it aside to double in size which, according to the recipe, should have taken between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.  Not so, Alton!  I let the dough sit, covered, in my kitchen for almost 3 hours and it increased a little, but not near double.  I was ready to admit defeat and I was prepared to make a trip to Donut Stop on Saturday morning.  I decided to keep going with the rolls and see what would happen.  Maybe there was still some hope.  I rolled out the dough, brushed on some melted butter, sprinkled the cinnamon sugar filling, rolled the dough into a cylinder and cut the rolls into 11 pieces (it should have been 12, but 11 would have to do).  I placed the rolls into a 9×13 pan, covered the pan in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for the night.

In the morning, there was no change in the size of the rolls.  Ok, so now I was REALLY thinking we’d have store bought donuts for breakfast.  But I continued with the recipe, letting the rolls sit in the oven with a tray of boiling water for 30 minutes.  No rising occurred in this time either.  But I was determined to finish this recipe to the bitter end, so I baked the rolls for 30 minutes…a miracle!  They finally spread out, rose nicely, turned a golden brown, filled my house with a warm cinnamon aroma and were practically begging for some cream cheese icing.  I spread the icing on the warm rolls, and they were ready to be eaten.  We did not finish the pan, so we brought them in the car up to Durango and just finished them off.

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Bacon, Mushroom and Spinach Breakfast Strata

Breakfast is always a bowl of cereal for Ben.  Not only that, he uses the same bowl and sits in the same spot to eat it every morning.  I love that about him.  I usually eat some fruit and yogurt.  Sometimes I make banana bread and we’ll eat that for a few days, and if we’re really getting crazy, scrambled eggs.  Needless to say, breakfast is not too thrilling around here.

When company comes I tend to get a little excited about breakfast.  This breakfast strata is very adaptable to anyone’s personal taste.  I used bacon, mushrooms, spinach, and a combination of swiss and cheddar cheese.  Ham would be delicious, or spicy breakfast sausage…mmmm.  It would even be great with just vegetables.

strata2

There are easier overnight breakfast casseroles.  I made one once that used a box of croutons instead of fresh bread and I’ve seen recipes that use frozen hash browns.  I liked that this one was completely from scratch.  It didn’t take too long to put it together on Friday night.  The hard part was getting out of bed early to pre-heat the oven and bake it for an hour and a half.  But it was worth it.

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