Braided Lemon Bread
My dad has taught me a lot over the years. He taught me how to drive stick and made me drive from a full stop up a hill, over and over until I didn’t stall. He educated me in the rules of NFL football, quizzed me about team names, coaches, and quarterbacks, and taught me to love the Niners (in good times and bad). And, he taught me how to be resourceful in the kitchen.
In my dad’s kitchen, nothing is wasted. Food ingredient OR time. Leftover odds and ends of onions, peppers, and last night’s pork chops go into Sunday morning omelettes. Prep dishes are washed as the meal is being cooked or dessert is being baked, so that after you’ve finished eating or baking, all that is left are the dishes you ate off of. These are practices that I’ve happily brought into my own kitchen, and just one of the infinite ways that my dad has shaped and influenced my life. Thanks Dad, I hope you had a fantastic day!
So remember that lemon curd? We didn’t come close to finishing it off with the pavlovas, but I used the rest in this tasty breakfast “brastry” (bread pastry? no??)! A soft sweet dough is filled with a cream cheese and lemon curd filling, and when baked, will fill your kitchen with the most lovely smell; you’ll be able to close your eyes and imagine that you’ve opened that little coffee pastry shop you’ve always dreamed of.
Honey Millet Muffins
There is this fantastic little place in La Jolla. With an extensive brunch menu that I still have all-too-vivid-and-drool-inducing dreams about. Delicious lattes in cups the size of small bowls. Six (6!!!!!!!!) different kinds of eggs benedict. Free coffee and homemade coffee cake while you wait for your table. And… some amazing jumbo sized freshly baked raspberry millet muffins.
So when I saw this recipe for honey-kissed millet muffins, I jumped at the chance to bake these at home in the hopes of recreating The Cottage muffins!
These muffins are not those muffins. Actually, they were completely different, except for the fact that they both contain millet, a happy round little grain, which added (literally) POP to the muffins. But I found that I loved these muffins too! They are substantial (from the whole wheat) without being heavy and are sweetened with honey instead of sugar, which alleviated any guilt about eating three two for breakfast and prevented mid-morning crashes which can often occur from sugar-laden muffins. The best part about these muffins was that honey was in fact the paramount flavor (albeit, a subtle one), and I enjoyed the delicate floral sweetness and realized that I do not appreciate or celebrate honey as much as I should! I had added berries to half the muffins (in attempt to recreate The Cottage muffins) but then found that I actually preferred the plain ones because I could better enjoy the honey flavor.
Until I return to La Jolla for those raspberry millet muffins (57 days and counting!), these muffins will easily fill the void.
Best Buttermilk Pancakes
It’s the weekend. And that means breakfast at home.
This weekend? A favorite… pancakes.
My parents often made pancakes on the weekends when I was growing up and it was always felt like such a treat. The pancakes came from a quick mix in a yellow box, and until I left for college, I thought that was the way everyone made pancakes. In fact, they are still the pancake that I compare all other pancakes to!
These buttermilk pancakes are my current from-scratch favorite. I like to add fruit to the inside (and outside) of my pancakes to help alleviate the guilt of eating cake (smothered in real maple syrup) for breakfast. But the cakes are light, fluffy, and oh-so-addictive. The hardest part about making pancakes is not eating all of them as I cook them (two at a time on a medium-sized saucepan is not quite efficient enough for my empty stomach in the morning)!
Today I added a few fresh blueberries and lemon zest. It was a perfect way start to my Sunday.
The Single Lady Pancake
This may be the best thing to happen to my breakfast repertoire. Not because it’s the most amazing pancake I’ve ever eaten… but because it produces a single (yet generous) portion of pancake goodness from ONE (the recipe called for two, but in my haste, I serendipitously found it was possible to successfully use only one) mixing bowl and ONE flip in the pan. This, my friends, is a revelation… it makes pancakes possible on a WEEKDAY!!
I love pancakes. I really do. But sometimes, I don’t enjoy the process of making pancakes so much. They’re not crazily intensive or fussy in terms of ingredients or the order in which they are added and mixed, but they can be quite demanding in terms of cooking time. Especially if you, like me, are only using one medium-sized saucepan to cook 2-3 small pancakes at a time because you refuse to use a second saucepan on principle (because even though you’ve used several bowls and measuring cups and utensils to mix the batter, the thought of that ONE EXTRA thing to wash is just TOO MUCH). By the time I have cooked the whole batch, the majority of them have already cooled to the point where their surfaces have lost the subtle crispyness, and I’ve already nibbled on a few of the pancakes made along the way while standing at the stove waiting for the subsequent pancakes to cook. These things conspire together to lessen the ultimate feeling of elation when you finally sit down and take your first bite of properly buttered, fruit-topped, and maple-syrup-smothered pancakes. And that just makes me sad.
So here’s to a one-bowl, one-flip wonder that produces a hearty and filling pancake (with oats! bananas!) that retains its satisfying crispyness (due to the speed at which it will reach your plate plus the technique of cooking it in oil- I know, seems strange if you’ve only previously cooked them in butter, like me, but it is seriously AWESOME, especially if you’re a crispy texture-holic like me!). More importantly, this pancake will reach your demanding stomach in record time- I didn’t even have the time to take more than this rather unsatisfying iPhone picture (deepest apologies!).
Berry Scones
I’ll admit it, I’m a total scone-a-holic. I blame it on the bakery on the first floor of my building, Mariposa Bakery, which offers at least 3-4 different kinds of freshly baked scones every day. Cherry walnut, orange currant, strawberry oatmeal, blueberry lemon… I know (have tasted) them all! Before them, I had no idea of the beauty of a good scone (its addictive powers!) and its infinite flavor combinations; my experiences pre-Mariposa were restricted to the Starbucks ones which are good, but not excellent, and taste a bit paste-y in comparison, likely because they are not baked the day of or on site. Mariposa’s scones are crisp on the outside, yet light and soft on the inside, slightly buttery but not too cake-y, more dense than a muffin, but not at all dry or overly sweet. It’s quite dangerous living in such close proximity to these delectable biscuit-like vehicles of butter and fruit, and I have to stop myself from stopping in there every morning on my way to lab. I save Mariposa scones for special days, when meeting friends there for a caffeine fix away, or for heavy lab days with 12+ hour timecourses or full Saturdays/Sundays.
The thing about scones is that though they are actually very simple to bake, they really taste the best the day of, while their outsides are still crisp and crunchy in contrast to the fluffy inside. This is simultaneously my excuse for consuming entire batches by myself within 12 hours as well as my excuse for NOT baking them to begin with as a preventative measure against eating an equivalent of a stick of butter in scone form.
Of course, there are some mornings (like yesterday) where my stomach DEMANDS scones, and with the prospect of spending the better part of a sunny 70 degree and not humid day in lab, I gave into my craving and baked these berry lemon scones. I couldn’t decide between blueberry lemon or strawberry orange, and so I just put in BOTH blueberries and strawberries- which resulted in these rather patriotic scones.
I’ve posted a scone recipe before, but I am always searching for a recipe that results in scones similar to the gold standard of Mariposa’s. There are endless permutations of scone recipes: buttermilk vs. cream, egg vs. no egg, obscene amounts of butter vs. less obscene amounts of butter… I have always been tempted to do comprehensive testing and comparison of these recipes, however have always been deterred from this endeavor in light of the issue elaborated above (wherein I eat the whole batch in one day). This recipe is CLOSE to those heavenly Mariposa scones.. it’s got the crisp exterior and biscuit-like interior, whereas previous attempts have resulted in more cake-y like interiors (which are good too! I just prefer less cake). Checking back to previously tried recipes, I find that the difference is that there is less butter (!!) and less liquid. In the end, I think this is close.. very close… for next time I would either use a fattier liquid (heavy cream) or 2 tablespoons more butter to see if I get even closer to Mariposa’s!
Berry Scones
adapted from Orangette
makes 8-12 scones
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup diced strawberries and blueberries
lemon zest from 1 lemon
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Beat together the milk and the egg and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture (or cut using a pastry blender, or process using a food processor..) working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and whatever additions you choose, and stir or toss to mix.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring the dough together gently with a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead no more than 12 times. (My dough was a bit sticky so I had to add a bit more flour).
- Pat dough into a round approximately 1/2 inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack.
- Attempt, and fail, at eating less than 2 of these the day they are baked.
Buckwheat Pancakes
Pancakes!
With buckwheat flour!
And maple syrup!
And blueberries!
HOOOORRAAAYYYYY!!!!
They say the breakfast is the most important meal to fuel yourself for the day. So Sunday morning, I fueled up for a day in lab with these pancakes! I loved the nutty, earthy flavor of the buckwheat in these cookies, and these pancakes did not disappoint. The pancakes are mildly sweet with the addition of honey, and the flavor of the buckwheat really makes these pancakes unique and very filling.
Buckwheat Pancakes
from a whisk and a spoon, originally from Dorie Greenspan’s Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight
makes about 12 pancakes, about 5-6 inches in diameter
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder and soda, and salt together.
- In another bowl, thoroughly whisk the milk, buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and honey together.
- Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry, and mix with a whisk or spatula until just combined. It’s ok if there’s a few lumps! You will have a thick, dark batter that looks as though powdered coffee has been sprinkled through it; as the batter sits, it will become thicker, stickier, and more elastic- that is fine.
- Lightly butter, oil or spray your griddle or skillet; preheat over medium heat.
- Spoon 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake, allowing space for spreading. When the tops are speckled with bubbles that pop and stay open, flip the pancakes and cook until the other sides are brown.
- Serve immediately with toppings of your choice, or keep the finished pancakes in a preheated oven while you make the rest of the batch.
Morning Glory Oat Muffins
Perhaps these muffins won’t win any beauty contests, but they definitely would go home with FIRST prize in the tastes-great-AND-is-relatively-HEALTHY-so-tastes-EVEN-BETTER category! They are kind of like the lovechild of granola (bars) and these whole wheat muffins- integrating the hearty appetite-satiating ingredients commonly found in granola (rolled oats, dried fruit, coconut, and pecans) into the form of one of my favorite breakfast embodiments (in which cake is thinly disguised as an acceptable breakfast item)- a muffin!
I love breakfast, but the schedule of the weekdays (a.k.a. the inescapable guilt I feel when I am not in lab performing experiments the MOMENT I have woken, resulting in the loss of my previously cherished ability to SLEEP IN) doesn’t easily permit the leisurely prepared breakfasts that I love: omelets, french toast, pancakes, waffles, quiche, freshly baked scones! WITH A SIDE OF BACON AND HASH BROWNS! As a result, I have started baking/cooking large batches of breakfast to last me through the week- things I can pack up and either eat during the walk to lab, or things I can warm/toast up once I have gotten experiments started. Through the recent cold chill and rainy days of March and April, steel-cut oatmeal was my go-to breakfast for the week; it’s easy to cook up a big pot, it’s tastier than rolled oats oatmeal (to me) and the toppings are endless so you won’t get bored too quickly (I love it with toasted almonds and coconut, dried cranberries, and/or fresh fruit).
This week (and in all likelihood, for weeks in the future), this muffin will be my morning buddy. As I mentioned earlier, not only does it taste GOOD, but it’s totally chock-full of things that are good FOR YOU! They actually taste so good that you would think they are NOT good for you. There’s 2 whopping cups of shredded carrots for natural sweetness and moisture, a whole apple, plus whole wheat flour, oats, and nuts. There is quite a bit of sugar (though less than other muffin recipes out there), but no butter or oil (applesauce is used instead). The best part? One of these babies (toasted lightly with a bit of butter) kept me fueled and focused until lunch- rarely do I survive past 10 am without a snack! This recipe is a keeper; they are truly glorious morning muffins!
Morning Glory Oat Muffins
adapted from honey & jam
makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup raisins (i used dried cranberries)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated (i used a pear and just diced into small pieces)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup wheat germ (optional, I did not opt to add)
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
Demerara sugar for sprinkling on top (I skipped this step this time)
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Line standard muffin tin with liners or grease generously.
- In a small bowl, cover raisins (or dried cranberries) with hot water, let sit for about 10 minutes to allow to plump up. Drain after plumped.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple (pear), pecans, coconut and raisins.
- In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce, eggs, orange juice, vanilla extract, and brown sugar until thoroughly mixed.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the flour and fruit mixture. Mix with a spatula until just combined.
- Spoon into muffin tins. Sprinkle tops with demerara sugar, if using.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes (my muffin cups were quite full, it took about 28 minutes).
- Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before removing the muffins from the tins.
Baked Eggs
Though my family is not religious, we did participate in the tradition of dyeing and decorating eggs for Easter. When we were younger, my mom would boil dozens of eggs as an instant child-proofing measure for the activity, thereby minimizing the mess and collateral damage to the kitchen. When we got older, we adopted a more sophisticated method of poking small holes in the top and bottom of the egg, and blowing out the yolk and white so that the colored and often bedazzled (we had a glitter phase) shells could be kept indefinitely. Even now, my mom still displays an example of my Easter artistic genius in one of her large cabinets of random curios and trinkets; it sits proudly between the carved jade dragon and Buddha souvenirs from China.
I haven’t decorated an egg in years, but I treated myself to a special egg breakfast this Easter instead. I had seen baked eggs here and here, and was curious about the texture of the egg and yolk. I love both the crispyness of a fried egg and the luxurious softness of the yolk of a poached egg, and it seemed that baking eggs may encompass both these attributes.
I started with a base of bread (the stale ends of a loaf finished days before) and a few cherry tomatoes, added some sautéed spinach and mushrooms, and popped 2 eggs on top. After a dusting of salt and pepper, and a healthy handful of both gruyère and parmesan, I baked the dish in the oven for 15 minutes, until the cheese had formed a crispy crust over the eggs, but parts of the yolk maintained a luxurious flow.
It was a tasty breakfast, simple to put together, and felt like a complete meal. The eggs were not crispy enough to rival a fried egg, but the browned cheese did add a nice salty crunch, and the yolk was certainly reminiscent of a poached egg. Next time I would add bacon or sausage, to add more punch of flavor and omit the layer of bread altogether and just serve the eggs with a nice crusty buttered piece of toast.
Baked Eggs
adapted liberally from Smitten Kitchen and Bitchin’ Camero to accomodate what I had in my kitchen so that I didn’t have to change out of my p.j.’s on a Sunday morning to go to the store…
serves 1 hungry person who loves brunch
2 eggs
1 slice of bread (stale is OK)
1 tablespoon cream
4-5 cherry tomatoes
2 big handfuls of baby spinach, probably equivalent to 2 cups
3 cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/8 small red onion, finely diced
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/8 cup of grated cheese, gruyere or parmesan or both or any other melty cheese
salt and pepper
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Cut bread slice into cubes, about 1/2 inch each, and place in bottom of ramekin or small baking dish. Pour the cream over the bread. Cut tomatoes in half and add to the ramekin.
- Heat small skillet on medium high with about 1 tablespoon of oil. Add garlic and onions and cook for 2 minutes until beginning to soften. Add mushrooms and cook for additional 4-5 minutes. Add spinach and cook just until wilted, about 2 minutes. Season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste. Add vegetables to the ramekin, on top of the bread and tomatoes.
- Crack two eggs on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the grated cheese.
- Bake until the egg whites are set, about 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your baking dish.
Breakfast Bread Pudding with Strawberries
Sometimes, I’m just as excited about what to do with leftovers as the initial dish… is that weird? I love having leftover meat and rice so I can make toasty fried rice; salsa and tortillas for melty cheese-y quesadillas; challah bread for rich french toast… and this weekend, it was leftover brioche burger buns for a strawberry bread pudding!
That I ate for breakfast. What?
In my mind, this is no different than having french toast for breakfast. Both have a bread base, soaked in a custard of milk/cream + egg + some sugar and flavoring, then some application of heat to cook the custard and bring it all together. Bread pudding is one of those dishes (like omelettes) where variations of ingredients are endless and presents an opportunity to use leftover, unused, on-the-verge-of-going-bad ingredients that are sitting in your kitchen right now: leftover bread and fruit (fresh, dried, or frozen).
Strawberries have been on sale at my nearby grocery store, and despite it still seeming very early for strawberry season, they have been surprisingly sweet! I can never resist strawberries (the 2 pints sitting in my fridge right now are proof), especially after the winter when I am dying for signs of spring and the coming of warm weather. It’s as if I think that eating spring/summer produce would make those seasons appear faster… And, it seems like I am not the only one who has been buying strawberries recently and incorporating them into baked goods… I think shortcakes may be on the horizon to help me finish off these strawberries!
I made a simple blueberry maple syrup to dress my bread pudding, because I have noticed that I like to suffocate my sweet weekend breakfast foods (i.e. pancakes, french toast, waffles) with the equivalent of a daily portion of fruit. Most likely this is in attempt to trick myself into thinking I’m eating a healthy breakfast. (See, there’s a BUNCH OF FRUIT on the plate.. therefore it is HEALTHY.) This bread pudding is really no different from french toast, except that there is a more custard-y (pudding-like, if you will) texture towards the bottom of the baking dish and a crisped and browned texture towards the top. It is slightly sweet and bright with the fresh strawberries and orange zest in the custard, and a perfect indulgence on a weekend morning.
Bread Pudding with Strawberries
adapted from Food Network
I halved the recipe to account for how much bread I had and I baked the pudding in a loaf pan. I think baking in individual serving-sized ramekins would be great (if I had ramekins) and would prevent funny unappetizing pictures like the one above.
2 1/2 leftover brioche buns, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups of cubed bread)
2 large eggs
1 cup of milk
zest from 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup diced strawberries (or other fruit)
- Whisk together eggs, milk, orange zest, vanilla, sugar in a large bowl. Add bread cubes and toss around to coat. Let soak for 10-15 minutes, then mix carefully to avoid breaking up the bread and allowing the other pieces to soak up the custard.
- Meanwhile cut up fruit and grease a 9 x 3 x 5 inch loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Pour half the bread and custard mixture into the loaf pan. Spread half the strawberries onto the bread mixture, then pour the rest of the bread mixture and add the rest of the strawberries.
- Bake for about 25-35 minutes, until the pudding is slightly puffed and browned. Let cool slightly (if you can, I, of course, cannot) before digging in.
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten all health-conscious on you, by trying to incorporate whole grains where they may not be wanted. These muffins may have whole wheat in them, but there is also a WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER! (ok, so the stick of butter IS divided among 12 servings, so unless you eat half a dozen muffins for breakfast- I won’t judge you- these muffins really are not that bad.) I didn’t choose to bake these muffins because they seemed like a healthier alternative with the whole wheat addition- I actually like the flavor of whole wheat. It’s nutty and earthy, and yields a slightly more dense and satisfying texture.
And these muffins are seriously fantastic. They are super moist and packed with soft and juicy apple chunks that, unlike some other baked goods (i.e. store-bought mushy apple pie fillings), still maintain their shape and inherent apple-ness. There is a pleasantly warm cinnamon flavor and a sweet satisfying crunch from a generous sprinkling of brown sugar on the their tops. I think these may be my new favorite weekday on-the-go breakfast!
And the smell while they’re baking?? Sigh. Baking is seriously the best almost-free home fragrance.
Don’t worry, there are sure to be more butter-laden, dairy-filled, overly-indulgent posts in the near future!
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
adapted from Smitten Kitchen, originally adapted from King Arthur Flour
makes 12 large muffins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 packed brown sugar (1/4 for the muffin batter, 1/4 or more for sprinkling on top)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped to about 1/2 inch chunks
Optional: 1/2 cup chopped nuts (i.e. walnuts, pecans)
- Pre-heat oven to 450 F.
- Grease and flour a 12-muffin tin, or use cupcake liners.
- Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream the butter (about 3-5 minutes) and then add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Beat until fluffy (another 5 minutes).
- Add the egg and mix well.
- Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.)
- Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 400 F and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
