Custard Eggs

Ugh. Yesterday, I got my wisdom teeth out. Thankfully I seem to be recovering quite well, though I am a bit puffy and sore. My brilliant mother came up with the idea of tying a pair of pants filled with bags of ice around my head, which is surprisingly effective. And I suspect it will become the newest fashion trend. 

Yesterday all I ate was soft, cold stuff. Which was great at first, until I wanted something more substantial. And until my dad brought home a big, glorious box of peaches. Sigh. But I'm grateful for the fact that I haven't had any major tooth issues, even if it means I'm slightly hungry all the time. 

 

Today I am allowed to progress to soft, warm foods, and I knew the perfect thing. Eggiwegs! (gotta brush up on my Nadsat). Last summer, I made these scrambled eggs that were slow cooked over a really low burner, and they turned into this delicious, custardy mush. Mmm. They were perfect. Some people are thrown off by the texture, because they're completely smooth and creamy, but I think it's awesome. And it's nice to have something with more significant amounts of protein again. If you have any good wisdom teeth foods, share them here!

Custard Eggs

from Cooking for Geeks

Crack two or three eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. Don't add salt, pepper, milk, anything. Transfer to a nonstick pan on a burner set to the lowest heat possible. Stir continuously with a silicone spatula so no curds form. You want to avoid hot spots, and no part of the pan should ever exceed 160ºF. Continue stirring until eggs have reached a custard like consistency. This takes anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls

It's getting to that point in the year where I just don't want to do anything anymore. I don't want to study. I don't want to eat cafeteria food. I don't want to share a kitchen with strangers. There are ten days left in my sophomore year of college. It's insane. When I was younger I was terrified of being at this stage of my life. How am I going to learn how to drive a car? Pay bills? Write research papers? 

It hasn't been as scary as I thought. It's kind of mundane, actually. It's not as if I was in 4th grade one day and 20 years old the next, having to deal with the world. You ease into it. Time's nice that way (maybe to make up for all the instances when time isn't so nice). On a side note, when I was young, I thought 20ish was a perfectly reasonable time to get married. People have their lives figured out by then, right? Hahahahaha. Oh, me. 

Right now, all I want to focus on is sinking my hands into some buttery, silky dough and forgetting all of my troubles. It works pretty well. Believe you me, brioche dough makes some killer cinnamon rolls (Literally! Not literally. I don't want to kill you.)'

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls 

(This dough makes enough for a double batch of cinnamon rolls. I divided it in half and made some plain brioches as well)

adapted from Dessarts

dough:

50 mL water, 100-115F-ish
5 eggs
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 cup flour (you may need a bit more)
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbs cold butter

Temper your butter by wrapping it in plastic and patting it down with a rolling pin. You want it soft and cold but not melted. Store it in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest. Mix warm water, sugar, and yeast, let sit until super foamy. Combine yeast mix, flour and eggs in a bowl, knead until smooth, using a stand mixer or your hands.

Gradually add in the cold tempered butter. Work the dough until it is smooth and satiny. Be sure to scrape the dough off the sides and paddle during mixing (If you're using a stand mixer. Otherwise, just knead the heck out of it). Place the dough in a large oiled bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. Punch it down into a ball, wrap in plastic tightly and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least four hours. You may want to double wrap it and put it in a bowl in case it expands out of the plastic.

Cinnamon Rolls (makes about 15 rolls)
Half batch of brioche dough (recipe below)
2 Tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbs butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese
3 Tbs milk
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll out the brioche dough on a floured surface (preferably a cool surface) into a 15 by 11 inch rectangle to 1/4 inch thickness. Spread the butter over the dough leaving a 1/2 inch border. Spread the cinnamon sugar evenly over the butter. Roll the dough lengthwise. With the seam side down, cut the dough at 1 inch intervals. (I used dental floss to get nice clean cuts)

Place the rolls on a baking sheet. Try to tuck the roll tails under each roll. Cover them with plastic and a kitchen towel. Let them rise until doubled. Bake at 350°F until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to cool.

Combine the cream cheese, milk and sugar in an electric mixer and whisk until smooth. Drizzle or pipe over the rolls.

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

Small things that made me happy today:

- Seeing a naked hermit crab, still searching for the perfect shell

- Watching my father's fish that was born with one normal fin and one tiny chicken wing fin thrive amongst its other fishy counterparts. 

- Trying a kiwi berry (the texture kinda threw me off, but I'm glad I tasted it)

- Getting my hair cut for the first time since December and feeling all light and fluffy. 

Mm. So many moments that made me smile throughout the day. Another one of those moments? Being able to eat a warm hot cross bun for breakfast. It's so wonderful just sitting back and relaxing with a cup of tea and the spring sunshine, not having to worry about getting to class.

 

Hot cross buns are a Good Friday food (I just happened to make them that day, yay for learning!) studded with dried fruit and orange zest. Bleh. I am not a fan of what my mom calls "dead fruit". I am a person of simpler tastes (i.e. chocolate chips. Good ol' Nestle).  Well, I'm off to bed, hopefully to have another day filled with simple pleasures :) 

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns 

adapted slightly from Butter

For the buns
3 packets instant dry yeast (21g, 3/4 oz)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups bread flour
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

For the glaze
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp hot water

For the crosses
60g white chocolate (2 oz)

To make the buns, combine the lukewarm milk, sugar and dry yeast in a small bowl. Set aside for 15 minutes. It should become frothy and increase in size.

Fit your mixer with the dough hook and put the flour and salt in the bowl of your mixer (if you don’t have one, you could do this by hand). Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the melted butter, lightly beaten egg and frothy yeast mixture, as well as the chocolate chips.

Turn the mixer on low and knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. My dough was a bit dry so I ended up adding a little extra milk. Place it in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and set aside in warm place for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.

Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.

Once the dough has risen, knock it down and knead lightly. Divide the dough evenly into 15 or 16 balls and place them close together on the baking tray, in a 4 x 4 or 5 x 3 arrangement.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cover the hot cross buns with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 20 minutes.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. While the buns are baking, prepare your glaze.

For the glaze, dissolve the sugar in the hot water.

Once the buns are cooked, remove them from the oven and quickly brush them with a few coats of the glaze.

To make the crosses, melt the white chocolate in the microwave in short bursts, stirring in between. Put the chocolate into a small zip loc bag or piping bag, snip off the end and pipe crosses across the chocolate chip buns.

Serve warm. Makes 15-16 hot cross buns.

Secret Recipe Club - Crumb Cake

Guys, I am so stressed out. It's the week before spring break, and everything is happening at the same time, and it's kind of awful. I honestly almost forgot to do my Secret Recipe Club post, which would have made me feel like a horrible person.

I didn't forget! I went to Sweet Flours, a lovely little blog run by Allison, who has the bluest eyes ever! Haha, anyway, after a little digging, I found a crumb cake recipe I really wanted to try out. Have you ever had these donuts? I am not a donut eater, but occasionally a box of them will make its way into the house and everyone will be on them like a pack of starving dogs. You have to get the one with the most crumbs! You do not have to fight for the most best piece of this cake. No lame sparsely scattered crumbs here. The cake is completely obscured by crumbly goodness, so all the pieces are the best piece. Everyone can be happy.

Well, I've had my fun. Time to get back to my pile of schoolwork *sigh*

 

Crumb Cake
from Sweet Flours

crumb topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)

cake
1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk

confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Topping: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Cake: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

4. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Following photos below, break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.  Cut into 12 large or 16 reasonable sized pieces.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones

Oof. I just found a large cocoa patch on my jeans. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's rather unsightly and I hope it hasn't been there for long. I'm glad no one walked in to the bathroom, only to find my scrubbing my inner thigh while wearing these bad boys (don't ask).

This recipe was chosen via poll on the facebooks. If you aren't already a fan of me there, you should totally get on that. Don't you want more me in your life? Ahem, okay, I feel like I've talked about how freezing bananas and then thawing them out makes them slither out of their skins but I'm not sure I emphasized how creepy it is. I was holding them at arms length the whole time. I don't think I will ever get over this. It's like living in fear of those tubes of biscuit.

Mkay, scones. I've made british-y type scones before, with clotted cream and lemon curd, but never this type of thing. The important thing with scones is cold butter. This makes little pockets in the dough that creates layers, since the butter isn't like, fully incorporated. It separates the dough! Make sure to work quickly, so the heat of your hands doesn't melt the butter. Got it? Now off you go!

Scones taped to the wall outside my friend's door. Haha.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones

adapted from the family kitchen

2 very ripe bananas (about 8 oz or 1 cup once mashed)
2-4 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1.In a large bowl mash the bananas, add the milk and yogurt and stir together. Set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking power, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Cut the butter into several pieces and work it into the dry ingredients with a fork or your fingers until the butter is completely worked in the looks like small peas.

3. Pour the flour mixture into the banana mixture and stir well until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

4. Place the dough on a piece of plastic wrap and pat it into a disk about 1-inch thick and wrap it tightly. Freeze the disk for about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 400F.

6. Remove the plastic wrap and place the disk on a lined baking sheet and cut into 8 even wedges. Pull them apart a little bit to allow for expansion. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until just golden.

7. To make the glaze, melt the butter and milk together in the microwave. Whisk in the brown sugar, vanilla and confectioners sugar until completely smooth. Once the scones have cooled drizzle the glazed directly over them and serve.

Aebleskiver/Takoyaki/Pancake Spheres

Let's pause for a moment of silence as I mourn the loss of the KitchenAid mixer. After 17 years, the motor finally quit on us. I made my first chocolate chip cookies with that machine...it has a special place in my heart. It's been replaced by a sleeker, slightly fancier model (the bowl has a HANDLE!) but I will always never forget the classic model I grew up with. 

On to brighter subjects. I made solid balls of pancake! Pretty cool, right? My mom bought this pan on a whim, and I remember using it exactly once. The result was amusing, but time consuming and tedious. Since I currently attend a VERY Scandinavian school, I've crossed paths with aebleskiver again recently. They weren't tedious at all! I filled some of mine with a mixture of cream cheese and powdered sugar, others with nutella, and some were left plain.

I love finding out that certain foods are enjoyed in different ways all around the world. Aebleskiver go by the name takoyaki in Japan and are commonly enjoyed as a savory street food, filled with octopus. Mm. Food connects everyone. Isn't that a lovely thought? 

Aebleskiver

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or ground cinnamon
1 large egg 
1 cup milk 
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine 

In a bowl, mix flour with sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. In a small bowl, beat egg to blend with milk and 2 tablespoons butter. Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir until evenly moistened. Place an aebleskiver pan over medium-low heat. When pan is hot enough to make a drop of water dance, brush pancake cups lightly with melted butter (or cooking spray) and fill each to slightly below the rim with batter. In about 1 1/2 minutes, thin crusts will form on bottoms of balls (centers will still be wet); pierce the crust with a slender wood skewer and gently pull shell to rotate the pancake ball until about half the cooked portion is above the cup rim and uncooked batter flows down into cup. Cook until crust on bottom of ball is again firm enough to pierce, about another minute, then rotate ball with skewer until the ridge formed as the pancake first cooked is on top. Cook, turning occasionally with skewer, until balls are evenly browned and no longer moist in the center, another 10 to 12 minutes. Check by piercing center of last pancake ball added to pan with skewer--it should come out clean--or by breaking the ball open slightly; if balls start to get too brown, turn heat to low until they are cooked in the center. Lift cooked balls from pan and serve hot . Repeat to cook remaining batter.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

Brrrr...it's chilly. Feels much more like fall than summer. It's tea and a movie weather. 

Look at the spoon...refraction!

So I guess I can justify making something pumpkin-y because of the tricky weather?  Canned pumpkin, mind you, I wouldn't go out of my way to look for a very out of season pumpkin at this time of year. In my other kitchen ventures, I'm definitely into using in season produce. Berries, avocados, peppers, tomatoes, basil...peaches...you will soon learn of my peach love. Take advantage of all the beautiful colorful fruits and veggies available at this time of year! 

I wanted to show off my new measuring spoons.

Ahem...anyway...back to pumpkin...which doesn't sound nearly as exciting as it did before I started blathering about summer things. But weather totally affects cooking, right? And right now, here, it's cold and rainy. So pumpkin bread it is. Side note, don't take it out 20 minutes before the timer goes off because your brother wants you to take him to McDonalds and you don't want to make him wait and get all irritated. It won't cook all the way. Also, don't let your mother slice it up, throw it into the oven and try and save it by turning it into biscotti. She may leave the house and forget about it, leaving you to find a scorched mess in the (luckily not burned down) kitchen. 

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

adapted from Joy the Baker 

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can use some wheat, I didn't have any)

2 cups brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups

1 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup water

1 cup chopped walnuts (or not, if you don't feel like it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.  

In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in.  Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan. 

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.  

Brioche

I'm developing this baking patience that I never used to have. Maybe it's something that comes with age? It shows up everywhere, but is especially necessary in bread making. There's just so much peace in getting just the right temperature for yeast to thrive, kneading rolling...waiting. 

Whoa, magic yeast!

That waiting for the dough to rise period is a good time to think. Or slide around on the hardwood floor in your socks, either works. 

I had some egg yolks hanging around in my fridge that needed to get used up, so my bread cravings + lonely yolks = Brioche. Brioche is a wonderfully tender french bread (probably due to the fact that it's loaded with eggs and butter. Yay.) The dough was a dream to work with, really soft and smooth. Also, it makes killer french toast. 

 

Seriously. Don't even try to resist. 

Brioche

adapted from Almost Bourdain

Ingredients

2/3 cup milk
1½ tsp dried yeast
5 egg yolks, at room temperature, lightly beaten
3 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
2 T sugar, plus extra for dusting

10.5 T butter, diced and softened

For brushing: eggwash

  

(sorry for the annoying tabbing, can't figure out how to make it go away.)

1. Warm milk until it reaches around 100-110 degrees F. Combine yeast, 1 tsp of sugar  and half the milk in a bowl, stirring to dissolve. Stand in a warm place until foamy (8-10 minutes).

2. Whisk remaining milk with egg yolks in a bowl and set aside.

3. Mix flour, remaining sugar and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a dough hook, until combined. Make a well in the center, add yeast mixture and yolk mixture. Beat on medium speed until a smooth dough forms (4-5 minutes).

4. While mixing, gradually add one-third of butter at a time, beat until dough is elastic and pulls away from sides of bowl (8-10 minutes). 

5.Transfer to a lightly buttered bowl, cover and stand until doubled in size (1½-2 hours). 

6. Punch dough, knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, shape into a loaf and place in an 9"x 5" greased loaf pan. Cover, stand until doubled in size (30 minutes-1 hour). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350.

7. Brush top with eggwash, dust with sugar, bake until golden and risen (25-30 minutes).

Monkey Bread 2.0

I'm a grazer. Not literally, though that might be useful in a pinch (curse you appendix for abandoning humans). I mean I like eating small amounts at a time. So eating in a dining hall was kind of hard for me. What if I wasn't hungry at mealtimes? Or only wanted to eat a light meal? Or or or what if there was something good and I only wanted a little but would like more later? Such a difficult life I lead! 

It may look like a homely ball of dough now, but wait until you see what it becomes!

So I definitely did not acquire the freshman 15 this year (could have also had something to do with the complete lack of alcohol consumption). But, complaints about my state of hunger were probably familiar to my friends.

Being hungry at home is a totally different story. If I want to make cinnamon bread at 10 p.m. then by golly I will! And it will be warm and delicious and I will eat it for every meal if I want to. So there.

Still kinda homely isn't it. Welp, you'll still love it, right?

It's kinda like monkey bread but more homemade. Do you know monkey bread? Chunks of ripped up biscuit dough thrown in a bag with cinnamon sugar and baked in a bundt pan? Well, meet the grown up version. Is there an inherent weird shapedness in this type of bread? I guess crevices help spread the cinnamon sugar around...mkay, enough musing. Bake long and prosper? 

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

from Joy the Baker

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces unsalted butter

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned

In a large mixing bowl (I used just the bowl of my stand mixer) whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted.  Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract.  Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125 degrees F.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.  Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter.  The eggs will feel soupy and it’ll seem like the dough and the eggs are never going to come together.  Keep stirring.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes.  The mixture will be sticky.  That’s just right.

Place the dough is a large,  greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  *The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning.  If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.

While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling.  Set aside.  Melt 2 ounces of butter until browned.  Set aside.  Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch  loaf pan.  Set that aside too.

Deflate the risen dough and knead about 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out.  The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long.  If you can’t get the dough to 20-inches long… that’s okay.  Just roll it as large as the dough will go.  Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough.  Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.  It might seem like a lot of sugar.  Seriously?  Just go for it.

Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips.  Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.  Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown.  The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw.  A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.   Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto  a clean board.  Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the  upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.

Weirdly Blue-Berry Muffins

Um. I've been making things and not posting. I guess every food blogger does that, right? I made these for Valentine's Day, and didn't take pictures. They were weird. I feel like red velvet is weird in general, but also delicious.

Cooooooool!

 My sister complains rather frequently that I only make weird stuff that she doesn't like. Hey! I...resemble that. But not ALWAYS. 

Much of the time when she accuses me of this, I make her blueberry muffins. I've tried a ton of recipes, and this one is the best I've found. It always works. Since I didn't have any fresh blueberries, I used frozen. Which turned the batter a weird grayish purple. 

Unappealing?

But, they baked blue! Hooray! If you're lazy like I was feeling, you can just sprinkle sugar on the tops. Mm, crunchy. If you're feeling ambitious, make a streusel-y top. I'll show you! 

Blueberry Muffins

• 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
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg, almond extract and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups close to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Yeah, two posts in a row. I just couldn't stick these two together. So along with the more conventional and arguably better tasting french toast, I also made...

Pancakes? What's wrong with pancakes you say? Well, nothing really. Pancakes with a can of Mountain Dew isn't exactly a breakfast of champions but you know...oh, wait. I combined the two. Yep. Mountain Dew pancakes. I couldn't help myself. After a friend told me about his disastrous Mountain Dew pancake making experience, I was way too intrigued not to try it myself. I was determined to do (Dew? Ha...) it better. 

They look so innocent! 

I just took a basic pancake recipe and replaced the milk with Mountain Dew. I didn't have any pancake mix or I would have just done it that way, I encourage you to mess around, try different sodas, etc. Oh, how did they taste? Well....they were okay. My friends may disagree with me, but I couldn't taste the soda at all. I'm glad I tried it. I ended up leaving most of them on top of the heater by the door. 

They got eaten...

Mountain Dew Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Mountain Dew 
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  
• 1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
• 2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Just Like Mom Makes It...

Gah! Snow! Where did that come from? 

This is not appropriate for mid-November

It is much too cold to leave the dorm for breakfast. I made some french toast. You should too. I had these random slices of bread in my freezer, and they desperately needed to be used before they got all disgusting and moldy. French toast is eeeeeasy.  

All you really need to do is beat some eggs into submission, slap some bread in there and cook it up. But I'd recommend adding some cinnamon and almond extract to the egg mixture if you have it. Or vanilla. But almond is better. Makes it smell so delightful. 

How do you eat french toast? I slather mine in butter and powdered sugar. Yum. 

French Toast

6 pieces of bread (whatever bread you like) 

2 eggs 

2/3 cup milk

couple shakes of cinnamon

1 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract. 

1. Beat all the ingredient together in a shallow bowl (or whatever you have) 

2. Heat up a pan on medium-highish heat, grease with LOTS of butter

3. Dip each side of the bread into egg mixture, cook both sides until golden-y brown.