Recently in Breakfast Category

1 loaf challah or thick french bread
1 cup corn flakes
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 pound of bacon

Cook the bacon, then chop it finely. Mix crushed corn flakes, sugar and cinnamon and spread evenly in a pie pan. Mix the eggs, milk, apple juice and vanilla in a second pie pan. Cut the bread into thick slices, at least 1-1/2 inches deep. Soak each side of the bread in the egg mix for 10 seconds, then dip into the other pan to coat with corn flakes mix. Dip the other side into chopped bacon. Cook in preheated frying pan with a little butter until both sides are crispy, then top with whipped or ice cream. Serve with this expression, knowing you have mastered Mother's Day breakfasts.

A friend of mine passed this recipe on to me and it is soooo good and soooo easy.  My girls had a blast measuring and mixing all the dry ingredients.  The best part about this recipe is that you can substitute pretty much any variation of seeds, nuts and dried fruit.

Birdseed bars

Stir the following ingredients together
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup oats
1 cup cornflakes

Melt in a sauce pan until dissolved and toffee like in colour (approx 5 mins)
100g butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 brown sugar

Mix through the dry ingredients - Spread on a baking tray lined with parchment and refrigerate.  Once cool and firm, slice and store in an air tight container.

Jake is volunteering as a Camera Assistant on a short film that is being shot here so I asked if I could donate some baked goods for the morning craft table. I decided to do a sweet and a savory scone to cover my bases. Being that we just went blueberry picking (again) I decided to go with Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze for the sweet and Bacon and Cheddar Scones for the savory.

The blueberry recipe came from Tyler Florence on the food network. It's decent but definitely not a home run. I am going to include a link to the recipe here and spend my time talking about the savory scone.
Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

These bacon and cheddar scones should be illegal! Bacon, cheese, butter and buttermilk. The only way they could be worse for you is if I could find some way to fit lard into the recipe. I am sure my friend Chris over at Idea Duck would have a heart attack just reading the recipe. I am SO happy to be sending these out of the house! When they were done they tasted like a very delicious version of the bacon cheese biscuit from McDonalds.

This recipe came from The Pastry Queen: Royally good recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe cookbook which was a gift from a friend of mine in Austin.

Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Scones
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons (or more to taste) freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese (I used 1 cup of cheddar and 1/2 cup of Asiago)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into 1-inch pieces
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper in a large bowl on low speed. With the mixer running, gradually add the cubes of butter until the mixture is crumbly and studded with flour-butter bits about the size of small peas. Add the grated cheese and mix just until blended.

Add the green onions, bacon and 3/4 cup of buttermilk to the flour and cheese mixture. Mix by hand just until all the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough is too dry to hold together, use the remaining buttermilk, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Stir as lightly and as little as possible to ensure a light-textured scone. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured flat surface. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten the dough into a circle about 8 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 to 10 equal parts (I did 8 and thought that they were a little too big).

Whisk the egg and water in a small mixing bowl to combine. brush each wedge with the egg wash. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle. Serve warm.

This was in the Martha Stewart Living mag. I haven't tried them yet but they sound yummy!

Whisk 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger and salt; 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves. In a separate bowl, stir together 1 cup milk, 6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree, 2 tablespooons melted butter, and 1 egg. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat, pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook about 3 minutes per side.

I bought a children's cookbook several months ago and have been trying out various recipes on Sophie. This pancake recipe is now a staple for us. I make the full batch and freeze the extras for a quick breakfast later on in the week.

1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup plain, full fat natural yogurt
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsp maple syrup
vegetable oil for frying

Mix together the beaten egg and the yogurt, then stir in the milk, flour, and maple syrup. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan until sizzling hot. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons into the pan, leaving plenty of space around each one and flatten slightly with a spatula. They should spread to about 1 1/2 inches across. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden brown on each side.

The pancake is sweet enough to serve plain but is also good topped with yogurt and fruit.

Jake recently came back from Austin Texas where he heard of a breakfast place that serves up Gingerbread Pancakes. I did a little search on line this morning and came up with this recipe that is pretty tasty. This is a small batch (it made eight 3" pancakes).

1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp melted butter

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and set aside. Whisk together remaining ingredients and stir into dry ingredients. Scoop by 1/4 cup onto skillet on medium heat.

I wanted to bake something this weekend and turned to my new Joy of Cooking cookbook that I got for my birthday. Jake and I have loved cream scones since our trip to New Zealand where we were served warm scones with jam and butter after a beautiful helicopter ride. I wanted to try something new instead of just the same recipe. This one turned out to be easier than cream scones as it didn't need to be chilled before cutting. It has a great tender texture although my husband thought they were a bit too crumbly as he wanted to spread butter and honey on them and it fell apart when he tried to cut it in half. The recipe called for raisins or dates but I substituted cranberries instead and it was great.

Position rack in center of over. Preheat over to 450 degrees.
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1 Tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c cranberries
1 large egg
10 Tbl warm melted butter
1/3 c milk

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the oats and cranberries, using your fingers if necessary to separate the fruit. In a separate bowl whisk together egg, butter and milk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients all at once. Using a rubber spatula, mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be quite sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and form into an 8-inch round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. using a spatula transfer the wedges to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on rack or serve warm. (Who doesn't want to eat these warm?)

After putting Sophie down to bed the other night, Jake came upstairs and let me know that he had promised her I would make her pancakes for breakfast. I love making her pancakes and got a yummy recipe from a childrens cookbook that we make every once in a while. It so happened that I had also received he Williams Sonoma catalog that day. Jake and I were thumbing through the recipes in the catalog that evening and noticed this recipe. We all enjoyed it on our pancakes the next morning.

1 pint fresh raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup plain yogurt

In a food processor, combine the raspberries and the 1⁄3 cup sugar, and pulse until the berries have broken down and the mixture is liquefied. (I just mashed them in a bowl with a potato masher.) Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing with a spatula. Taste and add more sugar, if needed. Transfer 1⁄3 cup of the puree to a small bowl; reserve the remaining puree for garnish.

Add the cream and yogurt to the 1⁄3 cup puree and stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Whip until thick and serve on pancakes or waffles.