I was awakened this morning to the industrious sounds of my husband and daughter making these for the rest of the family.  They are an amazing smell to wake up to, and I thought I’d share them.  Oh yeah, they taste pretty good too.

The Dough:

• 1.5 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup milk or apple juic

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Stir together the flours, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender ot two knives used scissor style, or a fork, until the mixture is grainy.  Stir in enough milk to form a moist dough.  You may not use all of it.  You want to be able to plop it from a spoon.

The Filling:

• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
• 2 Tbsp. softened butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Using 2 lightly oiled baking sheets (or with 2 silicone mats)  form each biscuit from a teaspoon of dough and drop in onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Make a small depression in the center and fill it with 1/2 tsp of the filling.  Top with another teaspoon of dough, and another 1/2 teaspoon of filling.  Do this with all of the dough.

Bake at 400F until flakey and lightly browned.

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You can make these ahead and keep the dough and filling separate in the fridge.  IN the morning preheat the oven, assemble and bake hte biscuits.

You can also freeze some of the combined biscuits before baking them .  Just let them stand at room temp. for 10 minutes prior to baking.

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This recipe is from the Breakfast In Bed – 90 Recips for Creative Indulgence by Jesse Ziff Cool.

As we have been making kefir, there have been a few times that I let it sit just a little too long, and it fully separated into curds & whey. Not one to be wasteful, I have been looking for ways to use this whey in cooking. One way is to add it to the sourdough starter in place of water. It adds some great nutrients and a bit more tang. These are good things. But where else can it be used?

Oats.

Yes, you can make a tasty sweet-tart oatmeal using kefir whey and honey.

Oh, and it’s best if you start the night before. Soaking, that is.

The basics:

• 3-5 cups whey, kefir, buttermilk or a combination of the three
• 1 cup pin head oats (often called Irish oats)
• 1 small handful dried cranberries, cherries, raisins… dried fruit.
• raw honey
• brown sugar or turbinato sugar (or both if you feel like it)

In a deep, heavy-bottomed pan combine the whey and oats. Toss in the dried fruit and stir gently. Let this sit overnight and soak.

In the morning, turn the heat on to medium low and let it slowly cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Obviously this only works on mornings that you have extra time.

When it has cooked down to the consistency you prefer, stir in some honey and brown sugar. Let that warm through and serve!
Some options:

• cinnamon
• vanilla
• maple syrup
• butter
• cream

You get the idea. If you want to add spices, add them the night before to let their flavor really meld. I think some cloves and cardamom pods would be a really nice addition too – but that could just be the mood I’m in today.

This will keep and re-heat nicely, so make enough on your day off to last throughout the week, and you have a delicious, nutrient-filled breakfast all week long!

I will warn you though, if you don’t like tangy foods, you won’t like this much. It definitely had a sweet-tart flavor to it, due to the oats fermenting slightly in the whey overnight. Add in the cranberries and the tartness is more pronounced. I love it, my hubby wasn’t quite as fond of it, but ate it just fine. One of my kids loves it, the other hated it. but then, she only likes instant oatmeal to begin with. But then, I never much liked oatmeal before either – too bland.

This is based on a recipe I found over at KefirCheese.com – she has more great ways to use kefir in your cooking! Go take a look.

I was thinking about using my sourdough starter to make dinner rolls last night, but I didn’t get it started in time – isn’t that the usual problem with starter bread? While I was looking at recipes though, cinnamon rolls kept showing up alongside the dinner rolls in google. I love google, it is where I turn for inspiration for just about everything.

The recipe I found was for a bread machine – which I refuse to use – so I have modified it for those of us who are making things by hand.

So now I had the rolls, but I don’t like the old powdered sugar & water frosting. Cinnamon rolls (like carrot cake) needs to have cream cheese frosting or caramel. Or both. Back to google I went this morning. What I found borders on the divine.

Next time you have an evening to pre-plan for breakfast, or you just want to spoil your family, this is a great recipe!

For the rolls:

• 1 cup sourdough starter – room temp.
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons butter – very soft
• 1 egg – room temp (or warmed up in a bowl of hot water)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast

for the filling:

• 2 Tbsp butter – very soft
• 1 Tbsp butter – melted
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice – divided
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine the starter with the milk, butter and eggs. Stir these up until they reach a soupy consistency. Add in the sugar, salt and yeast. Stir until combined. Add in the flour, 1 cup at a time. If it gets too hard to stir, dump it out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the rest of the flour in.

Knead for a few minutes, until the four is all incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky.

Put unto an oiled rising bucket or bowl and put it into your cold oven for 5 hours or overnight. Leave the light off. You want this to have a sow rise overnight, but not as cold as the refrigerator. Mine had just doubled overnight.

In the morning, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out in a rectangle to a 1/2 to 3/4″ thickness. Let it rest for a couple of minutes like this.

While the dough is resting, prepare your pan. I used a 9″ square baker and a mini loaf pan. In the baking pan, spread 1 Tbsp of the butter in the bottom of the pan so that it is covered with a thin layer. Get the sides and corners too. Sprinkle 1/3 of the sugar and 1/3 of the brown sugar into the bottom of the pan.

Back to the dough. Gently spread the remaining soft butter over the dough, adding the melted butter when you have it mostly covered. Be careful to leave one long end free of butter so you can seal the roll.

Sprinkle the sugar over the butter so that is covers the dough – you may need a bit more or less. Do the same with the brown sugar – sprinkling it with your hands. Cover the whole thing with ground cinnamon. I like a lot of cinnamon, some don’t like as much. Use the cinnamon to your taste. If you want them, now is the time to add dried fruit or nuts.

Roll the dough up, starting at the long end OPPOSITE the bare edge. When you get to the edge that has no butter, etc, on it, get your finger wet and run it down the edge to help it stick. Press it with your fingers to seal it.

Get a length of dental floss that is about 18″ long. Slip it under the end of the log and bring your hands up and cross them, slicing the dough cleanly. I made mine about 1″ to 1-1/2″ thick. Do this down the length of the dough, filling the pan.

I used about 2/3 of the roll as cinnamon rolls, and left the rest whole and tossed it into a mini loaf pan and baked it as cinnamon swirl bread. yum!

Let them sit to rise for about 20 minutes before pre-heating your oven. Preheat your oven to 350F. Before putting the rolls into the oven, I spread a bit of butter over the tops and sprinkled with brown sugar and drizzled with agave nectar. I like caramel-y rolls.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the rolls begin to brown.

These can be turned over into a pan and served as caramel rolls as-is, or you can add cream cheese frosting.

For the frosting:

• 1- 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar – white or powdered works fine
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. In a separate chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add to the cream cheese mixture and whip just to combine – about 30 seconds.

Yep, that’s it.

Be careful when whipping the cream that you don’t over whip it and make butter… although for cinnamon rolls, that would be really tasty too. Starting with a well-chilled metal bowl helps.

So, now your rolls are out of the oven – perfectly caramel-y – and you have this big bowl of frosting. Spread it on thick. Then add some more. The rolls are still warm, so some of the frosting will melt down into them, making a deliciously creamy caramel in the bottom. Since you have just a teeny bit of frosting left you have a choice. You can either lick the bowl clean, or save it to dip fruit into. Or put a bit on each plate for people to add more to their already-covered rolls. They will love you for it.

No, this is not a low-fat recipe. But it is a tasty treat on days that you just want to splurge a little. It is very easy to put together, and in the morning it takes just over an hour start to finish – including baking time. If you start them in the afternoon you can put the pan of rolls into the refrigerator overnight and pull them out when you get up and turn the oven on. If you are using a stoneware pan, you will need it to warm up first though – just a reminder. Metal has no problem going into a hot oven still a little cold.

Let me know what you think! I’m going to go have another roll…

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so you need to make sure it’s a good one!

The kids are heading back to school next week, so we are enjoying the last few days of having “weekend breakfast” during the week, and today was no exception!

I came across a recipe for Mayan Hot Chocolate… something that I have always loved. Yes, the Aztecs invented hot chocolate, or Xoclatl as they called it. This isn’t completely authentic as it often had red peppers in it as well, but this gives you a good “south of the border” flavor. There is mote history on the linked page…

2 ounces (squares) 100% chocolate (baker’s or unsweetened)
1 cup hot water
3 tablespoons honey
dash salt
3 cups hot milk
4 sticks cinnamon bark
Chop the chocolate and heat it in the water until melted. Add honey, salt, and beat the hot chocolate water with a balloon wire whip as you add th warmed milk. To make it more frothy and give more food value, you can beat up an egg or two, add hot chocolate to it, then pour it into the chocolate cooking pot and continue to whip, (but this isn’t authentic). Serve the hot chocolate in mugs with cinnamon-bark stick stirrers in each.

Of course, with the kids drinking it, I had to add a bit more sugar to it, but this dark-chocolate loving girl thought it bordered on the divine! I used a dash of ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks because that’s what I had.

Alongside this delicious confectionery one of the small ones wanted pancakes… and eggs… oh, and why not toss some bacon into the mix too!

So, I got out the bacon (from a locally raised pig – so much better than the store bought stuff!) and started that in the pan while I mixed up the ‘cakes. When the bacon was done, I cracked a few eggs into the pan with the leftover bacon grease (in my opinion, the hands-down, best way to have a fried egg!) and set them fry with the yolks intact. Then I flipped them and smashed that yolk bubble. Yum!

Once the eggs were done, giving the pancake batter a few moments to rest of course, I made some good, thick pancakes.

With all of the ingredients, the obvious choice was a pancake sandwich! Yes, pancake, fried egg, 2 strips of bacon, a sprinkling of shredded cheese and another pancake. Delish!

Of course, if you are a die hard syrup person, you can pour syrup over the sandwich and eat it with a fork, but there is something fun about eating pancakes with your hands in this way! It must satisfy that kid that is buried deep down inside.

No, this is not the most heart-healthy of meals, but the kids sure do love it! Perfect for Saturday mornings…

Ah, yes, I am talking about moist & delicious scones – not hard rocks. These are fluffy, moist, sweet & *almost* vegan. I have adapted the recipe from one I was given many years ago and I have almost got it to a vegan point… I just haven’t found a worthy replacement for the butter.

You want to try these at home!

2 cups unbleached white (bread) flour
1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter – chillled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup coconut cream
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. egg replacer & 3 Tbsp. water
- or -
1 egg

optional:
1/2 cup currants or dried fruit of your choice
- or -
1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Prepare a baking sheet (I use a Silicone Wonder Mat, but you can lightly butter it)

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Distribute the butter cubes over the mixture. Using a pastry blender or two knived scissors fashion, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a seperate container, combine the cream, vanilla and egg or egg replacer. Mix them thoroughly and pour them into the flour mixture. Stir them until just combined. Stir in the fruit, if desired.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and – with floured hands – pat the dough into a round or rectangular shape about 3/4″ thick. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. Using a pastry cutter of butter knife, cut the dough into triangles and place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the scones for 13-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Reomve from the oven & allow to cool for 5 minutes – yes, you can wait that long even though your mouth is watering!

Serve them with assorted jams & preserves, lemon curd, whipped cream, butter, honey… whatever your topping of choice, or eat them as they are. I also recommend coffee, tea or cocoa. They can be kept for up to 3 days in the microwave or an air-tight container (if they last that long!)

**
Problems:
“My scones came out flat & hard, what did I do wrong?”
You worked the dough too much. Stir them until the dough is just or almost combined & work it just long enough to finish combining it & shape it. Do not knead the dough, as it will cause it to flatten & get hard.

“Many of the scones I have seen are shiny, why aren’t these?”
If you want them shiny, brush them with an egg glaze made of 1 egg and either 1 tsp. water or milk.

“I used blueberries and my scones are all purple”
If you are using frozen berries, make sure that you don’t mix the dough very long. The more you mix it, the more juice wil be released.
For fresh berries, toss them lightly in flour before adding them, and don’t mix them much.

“Where do you find coconut cream? Will coconnut milk work?”
I get coconut cream at an Asian market. Safeway stores have a pretty good Asian section, and may have the cream. Or look online. IF you can’t find the cream, coconut milk should work – just don’t go for the lowfat stuff as it is too watery.

“Can I use whipping cream instead of coconut cream?”
Yes. That is the original recipe. Many people are afraid of the coconut taste, but it is very mild and very tasty! It adds a touch of sweetness that is unique.

“What about the sugar – what is evaporated cane sugar?”
Evaporated cane sugar is just that – what is left from sugar cane juice when the liquid evaporates. It is a natural sugar that has not beed refined to take averything good out of it. Yes, you can use regular bleached white sugar, this is just better for you.

“What is the egg replacer? Where do I find that?”
The egg replacer that I use is from Bob’s Red Mill. There are other brands (I think Ener-G is another one) It is a powder that is mixed with water to replace eggs as a binding agent. For those looking for a vegan meal, it helps bind things instead of eggs. If you don’t have it & aren’t avoiding eggs, use an egg.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Ω teaspoon salt
1 æ cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Powder sugar for dusting
3 inch metal heart shaped cookie cutters

Instructions:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Gently fold in the chocolate chips. In a separate bowl combine the milk, eggs, oil and brown sugar and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (do not over mix)

Heat the griddle or skillet over low to medium heat. Brush the heart-shaped cookie cutters with a little oil and place in griddle. Pour º cup batter into cookie cutters and cook until pancake starts to bubble. Remove the cookie cutters then turn and cook for another minute on the other side or until slightly golden

Sprinkle with dusting sugar and serve.

Based on a German Apple Pancake recipe, it is the perfect dish for brunch or for any special occasion. If you have an apple slicer/peeler/corer. by all means use it for this dish! We often freeze a bushel of sliced apples in the fall to use all year long for this and other recipes.
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Preheat oven to 400°F. In a 9×12 baking dish randomly place 4 Tbsp butter. Put the dish in the oven until the butter is melted.

Filling

3 apples – peeled & thinly sliced or chopped

1/3 cup white sugar

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 tsp. apple pie spice OR cinnamon

1 tsp lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and set aside.

Batter:

5 eggs – at room temperature*

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup milk – at room temperature

½ tsp. salt

1½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until frothy, then let stand until pan is ready

When the butter is melted, run the blender again to make the batter frothy. Remove the pan from the oven and quickly add the filling and batter. Bake at 400°F for 45-60 minutes, or until browned. The pancake will puff up and create its own caramel sauce. Serve hot out of the oven. Enjoy!

*To quickly get eggs to room temp, put them in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes.