Archive for the 'breakfast' Category
I may be done with banana bread. For a little while, anyway. We just need a break from each other. I may just be tired of the avalanche of bananas each time I try to locate something in the freezer. And in the fall, I do love the idea of baking with squash and sweet potatoes. And I always get this sense that I’m somehow taking care of everybody when I have a loaf baking in the oven.
Let’s keep that illusion going.
This is – yes – more of a cake. It’s dense and moist, and crackly on top. Somehow baking it in a loaf pan makes it seem more suitable for breakfast and snacking, but if you baked it in layers and slathered it with cream cheese frosting, you’d have yourself a pretty substantial cake. I cut back on the sugar, but it’s still pretty sweet. I’m quite sure, however, that most coffee shop baking is loaded with the good stuff – butter, sugar, oil – ignorance is bliss, right?
Oh hey! You can totally make this with grated raw winter squash – like butternut or pumpkin – in place of the sweet potato, too.
Zucchini & Sweet Potato Loaf
adapted from Bon Appétit, November 1992
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil (or half oil, half applesauce or pumpkin puree)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients along with the zucchini and sweet potato. Add walnuts and stir just until combined.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes, until golden and the top is springy to the touch. Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature.)
Makes 1 big, hefty loaf.
November 17 2011 | breakfast and cake | 4 Comments »
When I placed one of these babies down in front of W, he declared in his best British accent: “bloody hell! That pancake is amazing!” (One of the most entertaining Harry Potter influences is imitations of Ron Weasley, saying “bloody hell” – or more, “bwoody ‘ell“, as if it were the most natural commentary a six year old could give.)
The Club Club girls had their community cookbook launch this weekend. When I went over to photograph them Lisa told me about her contribution to the book – banana and bacon pancakes she had had in Chicago (or New York? somewhere cool and food-centric) that blew her away and inspired her to make them once she got back home. Of course when it came to write the recipe down, it was a bit tricky, as it tends to be when you regularly wing it.
“You just make pancakes, really,” she told me, “and put bacon and bananas in them.”
And so I did. I stirred crumbled bacon and chopped bananas into a batter that already had a pureed banana in it (one that had blackened in the freezer, making it extra juicy and mashable). Bonus: you then get to cook the pancakes themselves in the bacon drippings, if you’re so inclined.
And then just now, when I flipped through the book to Lisa’s recipe did I realize she caramelizes the bananas and serves them OVER the bacon pancakes! Hello! That changes the game entirely! Will make them next Sunday and report back.
But these are pretty awesome. Even 13 year old Em, who like totally hates bananas, devoured hers.
And guess what! I have a copy of their book, warm from the presses, to give away!
Banana & Bacon Pancakes
6 slices bacon, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour (or use half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. melted butter or oil
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 ripe banana, chopped
In a heavy skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp; drain off almost all the drippings (keep them in a small dish) and set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and oil. Add it to the dry ingredients along with the overripe mashed banana; stir just until combined. Stir in the cooked bacon and chopped banana.
Warm the skillet up again. (The great thing about cooking the bacon first is that it sort of gets the skillet going, so that the pancakes cook perfectly from the very first go.) If you like, add a bit of canola oil and swirl it around the pan. Ladle in some batter and cook over medium-low heat until the edges look dry and bubbles begin to pop on the surface. Use a thin, flat spatula to flip the pancakes over and cook them for another minute, until they are golden on the other side.
Repeat with the remaining batter. If you need to keep the finished pancakes warm, keep them uncovered on a plate in a 200ºF oven. Makes about 8 pancakes.
September 05 2011 | breakfast | 18 Comments »
We’re off to the west coast this morning, to Vancouver Island – Victoria first, for the Victoria Taste Wine & Food Festival, and then across to Tofino. Being a planner ahead when it comes to road trips – particularly in the arena of food – I made up a batch of chewy granola bars to pack along. This will almost certainly cut down on the number of buttered bagels I pick up at drive-thrus on the way.
Tony & Penny at Highwood Crossing have a great recipe – I hadn’t made granola bars with sweetened condensed milk before – and of course you can add anything, nuts, seeds and dried fruit-wise – even chocolate chips. (Which no, doesn’t count as a fruit.)
Sweet and Salty Granola Bars
adapted from Tony & Penny at Highwood Crossing
3 cups Highwood Crossing rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds, chopped walnuts or pecans, or a combination, toasted
1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds (or combo!)
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries. chopped dried apricots or a combination of dried fruit
1 300 mL can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup Highwood Crossing canola oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9″x13″ pan with foil or parchment paper, overlapping the sides for easy removal of bars.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Press evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Cool slightly, then flip out onto a cutting board and cut into bars.
July 19 2011 | breakfast and snacks | 15 Comments »
We’re all in California right now – I’m lying in bed on the first morning in Disneyland, the boys completely wiped, still snoring, but the plan is to bolt out of bed in time to be among the first at the new Star Wars ride when the park opens at 8. Then we have brunch with Chip n’ Dale (the Disney ones-that’s a whole nother theme park) at 10.
We were in San Francisco for the past 2 days. I have a ton of pictures waiting to be flipped through and uploaded. Meanwhile, these are the biscuits we made for my Dad on the morning we left (Sunday), following some pretty nasty dental surgery. He wanted something soft to nibble on, and loves any version of these sticky biscuits. We made them with maple syrup, and delivered them en route to the airport.
Every cinnamon bun lover should have this recipe. You can swap the maple syrup for honey or golden syrup, and/or add a shake of cinnamon before you roll the dough up. It’s instant gratification in the morning. And you won’t miss the butter – I promise! There’s a dab in the pan to keep you happy.
Maple Sticky Biscuits
Stickiness:
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Biscuits:
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
Filling:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Combine butter, brown sugar and honey in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl and heat until melted and smooth. Pour over the bottom of an 8”x8” baking pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the milk and canola oil and stir by hand just until you have a soft dough. Do not overmix!
On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough into a 9” x 14” rectangle. Sprinkle with brown sugar and nuts (if using) and drizzle with maple syrup. Starting from a long side, roll tightly jelly-roll style into a log. Cut into 9 biscuits using dental floss or a serrated knife, and place cut side down in the pan.
Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Invert onto a platter while still warm.
Makes 9 sticky biscuits.
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June 15 2011 | bread and breakfast | 15 Comments »
I’m back to my McGyvering ways, this time orchestrating a meal around two leeks that I did not want to compost. I tend to get stuck at potato soup when I come across a leek, but this time the sight of them triggered the memory or a recipe I had set aside. I found it. I had Gouda! I had bacon! I started to make it, cooking the bacon, then the sliced leeks, until crispy, thinking it was essentially a frittata, wondering why it was called a pancake and why I had set it aside, anyway. Then I noticed the flour in the batter – ah yes, a pancake. A light, eggy pancake, something similar to those puffed apple pancakes, only savoury. Exactly the sort of thing I’d file away in my mental card catalog.
Bacon, Leek and Gouda Pancake
6-8 slices bacon, chopped
2 large leeks (white and light green parts only), halved and thinly sliced
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
a spoonful of grainy mustard (1 tsp – 1 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Gouda
Preheat oven to 450°F. In a large ovenproof (cast iron works great!) skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Set aside, pouring off all but a couple spoonfuls of the drippings. Cook the leeks in the pan for 5-8 minutes, until soft and turning golden.
Meanwhile, whiz together the eggs, milk, flour, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Scatter bacon over leeks in the skillet and pour the batter overtop; sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until slightly puffed and golden. Cut into wedges and serve warm. Serves 6.
May 19 2011 | breakfast and eggs and one dish | 17 Comments »
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