Scones

I had a dream I was drinking black tea and eating a scone. Which must be a sign that I needed to try and make some scones!! Apparently scones are very basic but sound fancy and intimidating.

This was a fantastic basic recipe that could be adapted for many different flavors. You could add different dried fruits. I've included the footnote that is from the All Recipes site.

There are quite a few steps...but don't worry! It really comes together nicely and these scones were elegant, flaky, and so tasty!!

Would I make them again? Yes. Would I only make them on special occasions? Probably. While they weren't a ton of work - they are rather unhealthy with all the butter and sugar and I probably shouldn't eat them all the time!

Scones
Adapted from: All Recipes
Makes 8 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced into tablespoons, very cold right from the fridge

1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants), optional

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 large egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a food processor: mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add sliced butter. Pulse until texture of coarse sand.
• In a small bowl, whisk yogurt and egg until smooth.
• Add wet mix into food processor and pulse until starting to combined.
• Put on the counter, lightly floured, and start to knead. The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.
• Pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. 
• Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a Silpat lined cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. 
• Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Footnotes

Cranberry-Orange Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated orange rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried cranberries for the raisins.

Lemon-Blueberry Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and substituting dried cherries for the raisins.

Fluffy Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

There is so much to celebrate right now. It is finally spring (although it hasn't stopped raining and was 45F yesterday), so much fresh fruit and veggies at the grocery store, AND my beautiful kitchen remodel has finished!! We now have gorgeous counter tops and large to the ceiling cabinets! We even added recessed lighting instead of one florescent light in the middle of the kitchen!! Let us all just agree that it is a glorious day. I am so giddy to start cooking again in this lovely lovely space!

I have a few recipes that I haven't had time to post so lets start with these fluffy Blueberry Muffins! I've been craving blueberries so I decided to make some muffins this morning! Of course I didn't have all the correct ingredients so I've adapted it from the original recipe provided by King Arthur Flour. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

I used silicon baking cups instead of paper or greasing the muffin tins. The muffins popped out of the silicon cups easily.
I used frozen blueberries.
I used Almond Milk with a squeeze of Lemon Juice.
I omitted the sugar topping.

And before you poo-poo these healthy (ish) muffins...they were so light and perfect for breakfast! 

Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Yield: 18 muffins

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup oats (or sub with additional flour)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (or a little more if you want them sweeter)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (heaping) blueberries, fresh or frozen (or other berries/diced apples)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil (or olive oil)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or plain (not Greek) yogurt; or 1 ½ Almond Milk + 1 tbsp (ish) of lemon juice
cinnamon-sugar or coarse white sparkling sugar for topping, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the cups of a standard muffin pan; or line with paper baking cups, and grease the paper cups.
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients, including the blueberries.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, lemon juice, and milk/yogurt, and oil.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just to combine.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 3/4 full.
Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.
Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes (or when they're cool enough to handle) transfer them to a rack to cool. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Store leftovers loosely wrapped at room temperature.

Pancakes

Pancakes are a weekend breakfast staple in our household. However, I really dislike that they take a long time to make and the chef doesn't get to eat with the rest of us. We also would prefer the kids to eat homemade pancakes with minimal ingredients vs Eggo Waffles - so I was looking for a way to mass produce pancakes in a quick efficient manner. 

We found this recipe because it is specific to almond milk and we normally don't have regular milk at home. The almond milk keeps the pancakes softer and the edges won't crisp up as much. 

I have a whoopie pie pan that I have never used and thought this would be the perfect excuse for it! When I make whoopie pies I use a small cookie scoop to ensure the sizes are the same. I purchased the pan when I was on a breakfast sandwich kick and thought this would be perfect to create sandwich sized egg patties. 

If you don't have one of these pans you can also use muffin tins and put enough batter in them to cover the bottom. I think they would poof up to become mini pancakes.

If the kids were willing to eat square pancakes then I would try making them in a 9x13 pan and cutting them. That would probably be the easiest way...but a girl can dream right?

I tripled the pancake batter below and created 40 silver dollar size pancakes in about 40 minutes (includes getting out the ingredients, making the batter, doing dishes, and cooling time). This did take a while but while the pancakes were baking I was able to do other things around the kitchen (like the dishes!). We stored some in the fridge and others go into the freezer. To warm we microwave them for 20-30 seconds (if not frozen) and about 45 seconds if frozen.

From a visual these are very pale pancakes but the kids liked them better that way, if you want them to be darker/more golden you can add a little butter in each hole before adding the batter. Also use the melted butter in the batter instead of the oil. 

These pancakes are pale, soft and fluffy and cakey! Enjoy!

Slightly lumpy pancake batter

2 tablespoons of batter for each hole

Let cool 3 minutes before removing from the pan

Pile of warm fluffy pancakes!

The perfect size for  mini sausage sandwiches!

Pancakes

Adapted from Silk Almond Milk

makes about 13 mini pancakes

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1-2 tablespoon sugar or honey
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Almond milk, any flavor but Chocolate (or regular milk)
2 tablespoon oil or melted butter
1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together Silk, oil and egg.
Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir just to moisten—a few lumps are fine.

Griddle: 

Cook pancakes on a griddle over medium heat. 

Pour 1/4 cup of batter on the pre-heated pan. 

When larger bubbles start to form and the edges are turning slightly cooked, flip the pancake. It takes about 1:30-2:00 per side.  

Serve immediately or let cool and store in airtight container in the fridge.

Whoopie Pie Pan:

Pour 2 tablespoons of batter into each hole. 

Bake at 375F for 9-12 minutes. If too pale you can toss under the broiler for a 30 seconds. 

Serve immediately or let cool and store in airtight container in the fridge.

Fast Blueberry Muffins

Uh oh! I have breakfast duty for work tomorrow! What can I make without having to go to the store? I had some dried blueberries in the pantry, so muffins it is!

I hydrated 1/2 cup of the blueberries by soaking them in hot water for 30 minutes. While they were soaking I made the batter. Frozen blueberries would work as well. The original recipe had a yummy crumble on top, but that would require taking out the food processor which would then need to be washed...so I didn't add it, but I'm sure it would have been incredible! I did sprinkle a little sugar over the tops of the muffins before baking.

Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from All Recipes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil + 1 egg + ? milk = 1 cup
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Turkey Sausage and Sun Dried Tomato Frittata

A quiche without a crust! How easy! A frittata is a mix of eggs and stuff to make a yummy breakfast that can be served hot, room temp, or cold. This is a great make ahead brunch item. 

The stuff for this one was sun dried tomatoes, turkey breakfast sausage, and herbs. But the recipe below can easily be tweaked to your flavor preference. Swap in bacon for the sausage, use cheddar cheese or gouda instead, add in peppers or broccoli, etc

Other recipes cook at a higher temperature for a short period of time too, some add in a little flour or baking powder to give it some poof!

Turkey Sausage and Sun Tomato Frittata
serves 6-8

5 eggs - 7 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or cheddar)

3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes (marinated with garlic, oregano, basil, and olive oil)

6 links of turkey breakfast sausage, pre cooked

3 tbsp each garlic chives and green onions

Scramble together: eggs, milk, and mozzarella cheese

In a frying pan, heat the Sun dried tomatoes. If a bunch of oil is in the pan pour it out or you’ll have greasy eggs.
Meanwhile, heat 6 links of turkey breakfast sausage, it in the microwave for 60 seconds, chopped it up then put it in the frying pan. Toss in about 3 tbsp each of garlic chives and green onion into the frying pan.

Put into a glass baking dish and let cool for a few minutes. Pour egg mix over the slightly cooled filling and then semi stir so everything is not at the bottom. Cook at 325F for 60 minutes.

Pineapple Banana Bread

Here is a fast an easy quick bread! I had some bananas and pineapple that was about to go bad, so I thought to find a recipe that used both!  The original recipe called for maraschino cherries and flaked coconut and 2 cups of sugar. I reduced the sugar to 1 cup. Next time I might sprinkle a little on top to get that crusty banana bread but not have so much sugar in it. 

I blitzed the bananas in the food processor and I did 10 oz fresh pineapple also pureed in the food processor. This made the bread very moist, almost fudge like and difficult to cut. I would stick to the 8 oz of pineapple when you try out the recipe. When you do the bananas there can't be many lumps because they will boil when the bread gets cooked and make a mess. 

Here is the original banana bread recipe that I have from my mom.

Next time I would include a handful of chocolate chips.

Pineapple Banana Bread
Adapted from All Recipes

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cups white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups mashed very ripe banana
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and then flour a 9x9 pan and a 12 muffin pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon. Add the walnuts, eggs, oil, banana, pineapple, and vanilla; stir just until blended. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. The muffins took about 40 minutes. 

Egg Salad

Quick and easy snack or lunch. I like to refrigerate and serve cold rather than eating it right away. Check out how to make perfect hard boiled eggs here

Egg Salad  

Egg salad doesn't photograph well

Makes 2 servings. 

8 hard boiled eggs, chopped (I take out a few of the yolks because I don't care for the taste)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup chopped green onions

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp paprika 

1. Combine eggs in a bowl with the mayonnaise, mustard, and green onions.
2. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Stir and serve on your favorite bread or crackers.

Mom's Best Banana Bread

I forgot to take a picture, luckily my
godmother sent me a picture of her banana
bread bites! This batch was made
with cashews.

Here is an original family recipe which as been passed down for generations! Well, at least one generation. This is mom's incredible banana bread recipe. The recipe below is even formatted and worded the same as how she sent it to me!

This is a hearty, moist, and dense quick bread which means there is no waiting for dough to rise or needing to proof yeast or do anything funky.  Just mix up ingredients, pour into pans, and bake it!

I also learned that banana bread ships easily if you need to mail it anywhere.

Note #1: What does "Prepared and floured" mean? Prepared and floured pans means spray your pans of choice with non-stick spray, then add a tsp or tbsp of flour into it. Tap the pan until the flour coats the edges, corners, and bottom of the pan. This helps the removal process and you really shouldn't skip this step. 

Note #2: How many cups is 4 bananas? Honestly, I have no idea. I made it with about 2 cups of mashed up bananas which was 3 really big bananas. Be sure to mash them really well otherwise the little banana lumps will burst and create a burned mess on the edges of your muffin pan or bottom of the oven.

Note #3: Double this recipe. Seriously, it is awesome and will be eaten far too quickly.

Possible changes that I have done in the past? Add chocolate chips and swap using walnuts or cashews.

Storing the bread is easy, leave it out on the counter over night to let it cool completely before sealing it up into an air tight container. You can leave it at room temperature. I'm not sure how it will stay fresh for because I've never had it any bread left after 3 days.

Enjoy!

Update 1/11/2015 - I subbed almond milk for regular milk. This didn't change the texture of the bread itself but it did change the crisp of the outside of the bread. Normally banana bread has that almost caramelized crunchy crust. The almond milk gave the bread a softer crust, similar to the inside of the bread. Bananas - I had frozen bananas that were going to start go bad. Peel them before freezing. To use them I let them defrost on the counter then when they were getting soft I pureed them in the food processor.For this try I used both walnuts and chocolate chips. I baked it in a 9x9 glass pan for 35 minutes. Yummy!

Banana Bread Recipe

By My Mother

yields: 3 mini loaves (40-45 minutes) OR 18 mini muffins (12 minutes) and 2 mini loaves OR a large loaf (45 minutes) OR 12 Jumbo muffins (22 minutes)

1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup white + 1/2 cup brown)
1 stick of butter, soft-room temp

2 eggs

¼ c. sour milk (1/4 c. milk + 1 tsp. vinegar) or buttermilk

2 c. flour*

¼ tsp. salt*

½ tsp. baking soda*

1 tsp. baking powder*

4 ripe bananas – well mashed, approx 2 cups

½ -1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
½ -1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F and prepared pans with oil and flour

Cream sugar and butter
Add eggs and blend well
Add sour milk

Add * ingredients on low in mixer
Add bananas and nuts

Pour batter into prepared pans 2/3 deep
Bake until when you test the cake with a toothpick it comes out clean

Swirly Coffee Cake with Greek Yogurt

Here is a coffee cake that you will just adore! It is almost dense enough to be considered pound cake. One of the best parts of this recipe is you can make it ahead of time. A great coffee cake for breakfast or brunch. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, thanks for another great recipe!

I have tried this recipe before and the dough smelled wonderful! However, I didn't have the proper pan. Using the right pan actually does make a difference. I had used a glass 9x9 baking pan, but the cake is so dense that the middle did not cook in time for the edges to not dry out.

I did make some changes to the recipe. I used 3 large eggs instead of 3 extra large eggs, equal quantity of Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, all purpose flour instead of cake flour, and I semi doubled the streusel topping. I say semi doubled because I didn't think it needed that much extra butter or flour.

Next time I would put more streusel in the middle so it would have a nice swirly line. I used about 1/2 cup I think. I would use closer to a full cup. Its coffee cake! Live a little! :)

I would also consider making it without the streusel and using blueberries and lemon or raspberries in the cake.

Update: 5/28, made this using the sour cream. This was a softer cake compared to the more pound cake texture the Greek yogurt cake. What would I make next time? I don't think you can go wrong either way!

Layer 1

Top layer! I almost forgot to take a picture haha

updated 10/13/2015: This is one of my new baking pans and we have a new camera that I wanted to try out! Below, I halved the amount of cake and kept the amount of streusel the same, delish!

Swirly Coffee Cake

For the cake:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain Greek yogurt or Sour Cream
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel: (this is doubled already!)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch pan that has the hole in the middle.

Cream the butter and sugar in the mixer with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, and then add the vanilla and Greek yogurt.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in your food processor (or in a bowl and mix with your fingers) until it forms a crumble. Mix in walnuts, if desired. 

Pour half the batter into the bottom of the pan, layer with streusel, top with the rest of batter and remaining streusel.

Cook 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pan. Serve at room temperature. 

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Looking for a quick dinner? Or breakfast? This french toast was so easy to create!

I used Trader Joe's Multigrain Country Bread which I don't really care for for sandwiches since it is a little on the drier side. BUT this was perfect for this eggy french toast! I'm not a fan of syrup so I wanted to make a fruit topping (last time I used raspberry jelly, delish!). There were apples waiting to be used to this would be perfect! The topping is based around an apple pie filling. You could also add apple pie spice or nutmeg if you wanted.

Next time I would use half the amount of yolks (ie 2 eggs, but separate one egg from the yolk) to see if it would change the texture while making it a little healthier.

Naked French Toast

Topped with Apples and Cinnamon

A lil dollop of jelly

French Toast

The general rule of thumb is 1 egg per slice of bread. For 6 eggs (6 slices of bread) I used about 1 tsp cinnamon and vanilla, 1/4 cup of water.

In bowl (or a 9x9 baking dish) scramble the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and a splash of water (or milk). Dip bread slices in egg batter and let the egg get a bit absorbed (about a minute). Heat frying pan over medium, cook until brown on one side (approx 3-5 minutes), then flip and cook the other side.

Apple Cinnamon Topping
Tops 6 slices of french toast

1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp brown sugar, packed
1 tsp (ish) cinnamon
a splash of water (2 tbsp?)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, small dice, I didn't peel it

Heat skillet over medium. Melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the apple and walnuts and stir until coated. I wanted a little "sauce" so I added a splash of water. Cook until apples are starting to soften and a sauce is starting to form.

Epic Cinnamon Rolls

Girls Night! Anyone looking for some holiday brunch ideas?! Our theme this month was Breakfast for Dinner. We had Craisin/Raisin/Coconut Baked Oatmeal, a Spinach, Onion, and Gouda Quiche, Blueberry muffins, some Breakfast Sausage, Fresh Fruit, and Cinnamon Rolls.

Have you ever watched the Cinnabon folks magically create those delicious cinnamon rolls?? It is quite an art. I have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch before but I have been very intrigued and pinning many different recipes. This one caught my eye since the dough didn't have to rise or need random ingredients or yeast! Great for an impulse throw together recipe! It had the added benefit of letting me use the food processor. Though you could also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

I couldn't believe how easy and tasty these cinnamon rolls were!! Because it was a new recipe it did take me longer, but you could whip these babies up in less than an hour! And 20 minutes of that time will be tapping your foot while smelling the cinnamon glory that awaits you! You can also pre-make them and leave them in the fridge to cook in the morning.

Two things that surprised me was that these were not overly sticky sweet (more cinnamon less sugar sweet) AND there really wasn't as much butter in them as I had expected. I thought that these rolls were similar to the Pillsbury pop out of a can ones, minus all the preservatives. 

The recipe below was adapted from Don't Forget Delicious: Fastest Cinnamon Rolls. I substituted in sour cream for the ricotta/cottage cheese (I'm kind of cheap...) and made my own buttermilk concoction of milk and white vinegar (yep, still cheap!). I didn't have cardamom or allspice so I used nutmeg in its place. Another option for buttermilk would be using plain yogurt. I think I might try that next time.

My dough was very sticky (probably from the sour cream/ricotta swap) so I had some trouble with it sticking to...my hands, the counter, the cutting board, the knife, my phone from when I tried to take a picture (limited pictures during the dough process), the recipe, my laptop, the stove, etc. Long story short, I would add more flour next time. However, working with dough can be a trial and error situation - you learn what dough consistency you are looking for, you also never know about humidity or heat which can also impact the dough textures. Also, when adding in flour, add it in a little at a time because the dough texture can change quickly.

Cream cheese frosting would also be good, but I made more of an icing glaze since I had these ingredients in the house. Again, these ingredients vary but go with whatever consistency you want - thicker add more sugar, thinner add more milk.

Future variations: adding in walnuts or pecans, using the dough base for fruity rolls or chocolate chips.

These are pretty heavy, one was quite filling. Recipe made 8, we ate 7, there were 6 of us.

Even though they may not have been the prettiest of cinnamon rolls (this time!), the recipe is a keeper and I would try it again for a brunch or family breakfast.

Sour cream, "buttermilk", sugar, melted butter, and vanilla

Add the rest of the ingredients

Dump onto floured surface, kneed, flour some more, roll it out

Apply butter with back of the spoon and then pile on the sugar/spice combo

Spatula that helped me roll

While they look like they are struggling, they smelled awesome - so at least they would be tasty!

They expanded a lot during baking!

Add icing and serve!

Update 1/12/2014: I tried to make the Ina Garten cinnamon rolls but the yeast didn't rise properly and the rolls were tough and dry. Honestly, not worth trying other recipes when this one works so well!!

Update 2/1/2014: I want to make these without planning and I never have sour cream, ricotta, or Greek yogurt in the fridge (both good substitutes for sour cream). I found a baking substitute and it actually worked! I did a rough estimate to make the substitute from 1 cup to the actually requirement of 3/4 cups. 1 cup sour cream = 3/4 cup sour milk (milk & vinegar) + 1/3 cup butter. These are extra moist and should bake for closer to 30-35 minutes and cover with tinfoil towards the end to keep the rolls from getting too brown. 

updated picture with our fancy camera!

Cinnamon Rolls 
Makes 8 rolls

Dough

• 3/4 cup sour cream : see above for substitute
• 1/3 cup "buttermilk" : milk + 1/3 tbsp white vinegar = 1/3 cup; let sit 5 minutes after combining before adding into mixture
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• approx 2 cups all purpose flour (up to you to determine stickiness)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Filling

• Just under 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Icing

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, or to taste
• 3 (ish) tablespoons milk (or until desired consistency, I used light cream)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 8 or 9″ baking pan with cooking spray. 

Combine the sour cream, "buttermilk", sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in food processor and process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together (approx 5-8 pulses). 

The dough will be soft and moist. If it is sticking to your hands, add a little more flour.

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12×15-inch rectangle (approx same size as plastic cutting board size, err on the side of smaller rectangle). I had lots of holes as I rolled the dough out too thin, but it also could have been because my dough was sticky.

Brush the dough with the melted butter, (drizzled the butter and then spread with back of a spoon) leaving a 1/2-inch border unbuttered around the edges. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar and spices. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and press gently into the surface. 

Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough. If you are having trouble with the dough sticking, I used a floured narrow spatula to scoop up the edges to roll that way.

With a sharp knife (floured if dough is still too sticky), cut the roll into equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan; they should fill the pan and touch slightly, but don’t worry about gaps. 

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 - 25 minutes. Let it cool for 5 minutes.

While baking is in process... In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Spread onto warm rolls. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

I dolloped the icing on the rolls and served right out of baking dish.

Bacon, Broccoli, and Zucchini Quiche

I was looking for tasty and easy breakfasts to make for when friends came over. I thought quiche would be a good idea. I didn't know what recipe to use, but I figured you can't go wrong with Paula Dean's recipes!

Of course I made a few changes, most unplanned. I was out of eggs, so I used 5 instead of 6. I used broccoli and zucchini instead of spinach since the spinach was expensive. I considered kale but the store was out. Instead of heavy cream I used light cream and reduced it to 1 cup. I swapped Swiss cheese (which is a weird cheese) to mozzarella cheese (according to my friends, its not a real cheese). I read a review that said to add in a dash of nutmeg. I added it in, but I couldn't really taste it.

Refrigerated pie crusts sometimes come in packages of two, but you can always freeze the other. To defrost, I left it on the counter, it took about 30 minutes and rolled out fine.

The egg mix was delish! I would recommend trying different veggies to change the whole meal up.

To reheat: Preheat oven to 350F, heat slice for 10 minutes, turn off oven, let it stay in the oven for another 10. This heats it up nice while keeping the crust crispy.

Bacon and Veg Quiche
Makes 1 pan, 6-8 slices

5 eggs, scrambled
1 cup light cream
salt & pepper
dash of nutmeg (a very small pintch)
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 pieces of bacon, cooked than crumbled
1/4 of a small onion, diced
1 cup of chopped broccoli
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 refrigerated pie crust

Cook bacon, drain frying pan as needed. Don't wash the pan, cook the onions for a few minutes. pull off the burner if the pan is too hot and onions start to brown. Add broccoli and cook approx 4-6 minutes.

In a bowl, combine scrambled eggs, cream, salt & pepper, nutmeg, bacon, and cheese.

Put the pie crust in the 9 inch round pan. Place zucchini in the bottom. Pour the egg mix over the top. Bake for 35 minutes at 325. I did the last 10 minutes at 350. Take it out when the top is set and starting to get a little golden.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Apple!? Yes of course! This is a very simple and straightforward recipe.

This is supposedly for 6 pancakes but I made two and I ate them both for dinner. I also made some bacon and considered making eggs... but that was beyond me. Anyways.

Heat a small pat of butter on a frying pan on medium heat.
Saute 1 small/med size apple with 3/4 tsp of cinnamon. Stir around for about 3-5 minutes. Apples should be tender but not mushy.

Meanwhile, combine your favorite pancake batter. Mine is store brand "just add water." To this 1 cup of plain buttermilk pancake mix, I add 2/3 water (according to the directions), plus an additional tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of vanilla. Combine but it should be lumpy.

Melt a small pat of butter in the frying pan, or use the pan that you just made bacon in. In the hot skillet, pour in the pancake batter and sprinkle in the apple pieces (you can always mix it in the batter, but don't over mix or you will have tough pancakes!).

When it starts to bubble at the top/the edges start to look like pancake edges/when you shake the pan it moves slides on the pan, shove a spatula underneath and attempt to flip it. Then let it cook up until its crispy on the outside and there is no runny batter leaking out the side.

Enjoy!