Saturday Morning Challah French Toast

This is an exciting weekend. The weather is getting nicer and my sister is visiting! We went to the circus and made challah bread together. The natural progression is french toast for breakfast!

Last time we saw each other in NYC, I found this little cookbook at Strand that I love. It's got great pictures and instructions. And mouth-watering recipes, including Vanilla Challah French Toast.

This is by far the best french toast recipe. Challah bread makes all the difference. Stay tuned for a post on homemade challah bread.

Challah French Toast
Makes three servings
Adapted from Perfect Jewish

6 large slices of challah about 3/4 in. thick
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter

Whisk eggs milk, orange juice, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract together in small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a medium size dish or baking pan. Soak bread slices 2 minutes on each side in batches. Heat butter on frying pan over medium heat. Fry bread slices on each side for 2 minutes.

Dusted with powdered sugar and served with strawberry and maple syrup.

Weekend Overnight Baked French Toast

Weekend breakfast is the best thing in the world. Of course, it's the weekend, so right off the bat, every meal is better than a weekday meal. This weekend, however, we made some extra decadent french toast with the leftover Hawaiian bread. The recipe is almost too rich. We tried to scale it back. Be forewarned, too much delicious french toast in your mouth may result in an upset stomach.

Oh, and one more thing...even though most of the work is prepared the night before, you still have to bake it for 40 minutes. Don't be like us and wake up an hour before we had to leave the house to make it. 

Baked French Toast with Walnuts

Adapted from NPR

1/2 loaf of Hawaiian bread

4 large eggs

2 cups 1% milk

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp butter, cut in pieces

1/4 cup cream

Night before: cut and place bread pieces in baking dish. 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Pour mixture into baking dish. Turn the bread slices to soak the other side. Cover and set in fridge overnight.

Prepare toppings: roughly chop walnuts and sugar in food processor. (We pulverized ours...oops...it's still tasty though!) Add butter and cream. Blend until just incorporated.

Next day: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread topping over the bread. Bake for 40 minutes.

Sunday Morning Cherry Lime Dutch Pancakes

After watching Paula Deen make Dutch pancakes with apple pie filling, I couldn't wait to try it myself. This Dutch pancake recipe was very easy to follow, and the result was fantastic! Instead of apple pie filling, I used cherry pie filling with lime zest. It was a simple yet fancy Sunday breakfast.

dusted with powdered sugar and paired with hazelnut coffee

Cherry Lime Dutch Pancakes
Makes 3 servings

3 oz cherry pie filling
Zest of 1 lime
3 eggs
Scant 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix lime zest in cherry pie filling. Evenly fill three ramekins with cherry pie filling.

Whisk eggs until fluffy and light-colored. Sprinkle in salt, sugar, and flour. Beat in milk and butter until frothy. Add egg mixture in ramekins. Bake for 20 minutes.

When they first come out they are puffed up like souffle.

Thank goodness they're not souffles, because they will fall. But it's ok!

This is the first time Bill and I have tried dutch pancakes and we weren't sure what to expect. The verdict? We were very impressed. They are delightful, fluffy pancakes. The cherry lime filling bubbling out makes me want to just dig into it.

And that's just what I did. I think I burnt my tongue.

But it was all worth it. A good breakfast is the best way to start any day of the week, especially a Sunday. And this was a great breakfast!

Bread of the Week: English Muffins

It's been too long. We're back from sunny California. Aaand there's no bread in the house. But we happen to have just enough to make bread! Flour, yeast, butter, milk, and my trusty bread book.

This is the second time I attempted making English muffins. First make a soft dough and let it rise for three hours.

Heat a frying pan and cook the dough for eight minutes on one side.

Eight minutes on the other side.

Bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for eight more minutes.

"Fork-split" muffins after they're cooled. Darn...no nooks and crannies this time. The dough has to be even softer. Nonetheless the enriched dough is soo tasty. Maybe I'll make a loaf next time.

Saturday Morning Waffles

I'm on a quest to find the perfect waffle recipe. This one is pretty good. Fluffy, but not quite crispy enough. Perhaps some butter will help.

My quest continues.

Still, it's muy delicious on a Saturday morning. Dusted with powdered sugar and served with strawberries.

It's quickly devoured.

Saturday Morning Crepes

Sour cream filling with strawberries and blueberries.

Steamed Buns With Chives

My mom has been trying to teach me how to make mantou and stuff buns for three years now, but she has not had a chance to because we live so far apart (especially when we lived in Alaska). Last week I found this recipe on love and olive oil and it looks so good, I had to try it. I think my mom would be proud.

You can make these yummy soft buns with any filling. My mom likes five spice tofu with chives, but unfortunately I only found smoked tofu, which is a little strong. I filled half with the chives, and half with dumpling filling (beef & tofu). Bill likes the meat buns :)

Meat. Yum.

Steamed Buns With Chives
Makes 20 buns

filling (for 10 buns):
2 cups chives, finely chopped
1 piece of flavored pressed tofu, finely chopped
1 oz mung bean noodles, cut to pieces
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

dough:
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp honey
2 1/4 tsp quick rise yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk

Asian chives are larger

Soak the mung bean noodles for half an hour. Mix together chives, tofu, mung bean noodles, soy sauce and sesame oil.

In a small bowl, mix together warm water, honey, and yeast. Let it sit for five minutes, until bubbling. Mix flour and salt in the stand mixer. Add the yeast mixture and almond milk. Knead with dough hook for five minutes. Dust with with flour and hand knead a couple times until smooth. This is a very soft dough. Let it rise in an oiled bowl for an hour or until doubled.

Divide dough into 20 pieces and cool in the refrigerator. Take four pieces out at a time. Roll each pieces out and fill with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of chive mixture.

Gently gather dough together while lightly pull upwards. Press dough together to ensure seams are closed. Keep in refrigerator until ready to steam, or freeze to enjoy later.

Line the steamer. (My steamer came with the rice cooker). Steam in rice cooker for 30 minutes, or the time to cook one cup of rice. If frozen, cook for 45 minutes, or the time to cook one and a half cup of rice.

If you've cooked them but can't eat all of it, they can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. Easy lunch!

Breakfast Cinnamon Rolls

I've made these Cinnamon Rolls from The Bread Baker's Apprentice a few times before, but they used to come out dry. Then I saw the Pioneer Woman's Christmas special on The Food Network and was enlightened. This time I added extra butter, and plenty of glaze. They turned out mouthwatering.

I used the recipe straight from the book, but instead of lemon extract, I used vanilla extract for the buns. Then I drizzled (poured) two tablespoons of melted butter before sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar. It gets kind of messy from then on. My mom thoroughly prepared me for rolling dough as we've been making Chinese Scallion Pancakes together since we were children. Although, my sister was always the superior roller. Cut 12 rolls and, following the lead of the Pioneer Woman, place them slightly touching in a cake pan.

Place them in the fridge overnight, or over two nights. Take them out four hours before baking to let them rise.

Once risen, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the glaze with two cups of powdered sugar, warm milk, and zest from one orange. Glaze right after the buns come out of the oven.

Yes my glaze could have been thicker, but it was sweet enough for three caffeine-deprived travelers and two  hungry hosts. Quick, put on another pot of coffee!

Leftovers? Yes, please! Reheat in the microwave to prevent the icing from drying out.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I've been wanting to try this recipe for the longest time. I hope it's not too late to write about a pumpkin recipe! She's not kidding when she said you've got to try them. They are delicious! 

I don't have pumpkin spice, but it's easy to make. Just follow these instructions. I love that there's cornmeal in these pancakes, but I think I'll lower the salt next time. Top  them with some cinnamon pecan butter and maple syrup. Mmm mmm.

To make the cinnamon pecan butter, whip 4 tablespoons of butter in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of chopped pecans and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. The nuttiness is delightful. These yummy pancakes started the day off right.

Rice Milk Pancakes with Sweetened Pears

We ran out of milk the day before grocery day. I thought it was good timing. Since there's no milk for cereal in the morning, I'll just make pancakes. Oops, I forgot you need milk to make pancakes too! Fortunately, we had a carton of rice milk, so I adapted this great recipe from allrecipes.com (Eating cereal with rice milk would be out of the question for some members of the family). It's the fluffiest pancake I've ever made. I'm sure the original tastes just as good. :)

Rice Milk Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp rice milk, original or vanilla flavored
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, melted

Sweetened Pears
1 pear cored and sliced
1 tbsp sugar

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix rice milk and Greek yogurt in a large bowl until smooth. Add the egg and the butter to the milk mixture and whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the milk mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Cook pancakes on a skillet or a griddle.

Prepare the pears. Sprinkle the sugar on the sliced pears in a small sauce pan. Cook on medium low heat for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Top pancakes with confection's sugar and/or maple syrup. Serve with the pears on the side.

Does anyone else like pictures of half eaten food, or is it just me?