Bite Sized French Toast

One of my favorite breakfasts when I was little was by far French Toast! What's not to love about it?? So, when I realized we had some "less than fresh" bread on our hands, I thought this was the perfect solution to use it up!

I used regular sandwich bread, but you could use the thicker Texas Toast or even a bakery type bread- whatever suits your tastes. It does work best to use a sturdy or "stale" loaf of bread. I wanted to make these into "bite size" pieces for the kids. There is something about bite sized food that is super fun for kids! Score one for Mom!

Ingredients (6 servings)

1 loaf bread
6 eggs
1 cup milk (I used 2%)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
butter
powdered sugar
syrup

Directions

Remove crust from bread and cut into fourths.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.

Heat skillet to medium heat and melt a tbsp of butter. Dip the bread cubes in the mixture to fully coat. Shake off excess and add to hot pan.

Turn bread to brown both sides, about 5 minutes total.

Keep these warm while you continue to cook the remainder.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

We are having one of those rare snow days in Texas today so everyone is snuggled at home! I was surprised that they cancelled school at 10pm last night before there was even any precipitation. But of course, it was a good call as there is a lot of ice (and some snow) out there this morning. So far, my husband's work is delayed 2 hours, but we're still hoping that they cancel. Even if they don't cancel, he'll work from home, so that's not too bad.

Anyway, back to the food! We eat pancakes quite often around here and I've had a chocolate chip pancake on my list to try so why not today? These turned out very fluffy with a hint of chocolate goodness. Not surprising, but these did not last long at all! Guess the kids are fueling up to go play in the bitter cold!! I'm sure you could simply add chocolate chips to your favorite recipe for a yummy result. The kids prefer their pancakes plain while Tony enjoyed his with syrup. I was somewhere in between and just used butter. :-)
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Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, pour batter onto a hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top and cook until brown.

ENJOY!

Waffles

My kids love waffles, but there are so many different recipes out there! I finally settled on this one from Allrecipes.com. I changed up the directions a little and this batter makes a light waffle with a nice crunchy texture- yumm!



Ingredients

2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron.

2. Separate egg yolk and white into two bowls. In the bowl with the egg yolks, add the flour, milk, oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix until combined- there will be some small lumps.

3. Beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

4. Lightly fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not completely mix- you want some lumps! This is what gives the waffle a crispy outside texture.
5. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup and pour the batter onto the hot iron.

6. Cook until golden brown and yummy!!

ENJOY!

Buttermilk Biscuits

As I was browsing a site yesterday, I came across a picture of biscuits that made my mouth water! So, this morning I set out to make some Buttermilk Biscuits. This recipe is from the Better Homes & Garden New Baking Book.

The recipe as written called for 1/2 cup shortening, but I substituted unsalted butter. I also cut the temperature down from 450 degrees because I thought mine browned a little quick. I have learned over the past few months that the key to getting "layers" in your biscuit is in the folding of the dough. Their recipe didn't mention this, but I folded and rolled the dough 3 times before cutting the biscuits. It provided a tall, layered biscuit with a soft and buttery texture- perfect!




Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 ts salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter (or 1/2 cup shortening)
2/3 cup cold buttermilk

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter or shortening until the mixture resembles crumbs.


Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk all at once. Stir with a fork just until moistened.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough by folding and gently pressing 10 to 12 strokes or until dough is nearly smooth. Roll dough out to 3/4 inch then fold in half. Repeat this 3 times.

Cut dough with round cutter (2.5"). Place 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

I made one batch with a 1 1/2 inch cutter and one batch with the 2 1/2 inch cutter. The smaller ones were perfect for the kids who gobbled them up! The bigger ones worked well for our breakfast. I thought that these were a little better for my husband's post run breakfast than last weeks huge cinnamon rolls! These were VERY yummy!!

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

One of our favorite "breakfasts" at Disney World is the HUGE cinnamon roll from the Main Street Bakery at the Magic Kingdom (drooling here). That is a must for us on every trip- can't wait to have one in May!!

There are a few good cinnamon roll recipes floating out there and I decided to start with this one titled "Clone of a Cinnabon" from Allrecipes.com. This makes a really great cinnamon roll that we all enjoyed. This is definitely NOT a last minute or spur of the moment recipe though. I used my bread machine for the mixing/ rising part and from starting the dough to enjoying the delicious rolls is 3 hours! Having cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning is a tradition in our house, so that means getting started early! Or just bake them the night before and reheat ;-)

A few notes on this recipe...I read a lot of the reviews and many people suggested that you double the icing, so I did. But as much as I love icing, in the end I only used the amount listed below. Double the icing would have been way too much for me- but that's purely a personal taste! A few reviewers had problems with the cinnamon mixture oozing out of the bottom, but mind held together fine. When I make these again, I will turn the temperature down to about 375 and cook a little longer. I felt that the tops were getting too brown while the parts of the rolls that were touching were still gooey (uncooked gooey- not yummy gooey). So, just a few modifications to make this an awesome breakfast or dessert!

Ingredients
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Place ingredients in the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (Mine recommends wet ingredients followed by dry ingredients). Select dough cycle and start.

2. After the dough has doubled in size, turn it onto a lightly floured surface; cover and let rest 10 minutes. In a small bowl,combine brown sugar and cinnamon.



3. Roll dough into a 16 x 21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/ cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls.

Place rolls in a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. (Many people recommend cutting these using a piece of dental floss, but I find that to be too messy. A serrated knife works perfectly for me).

Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. (If I don't have a "warm" area to put these in, I preheat the oven to 200 and turn it off, then put the rolls in the oven to rise- works like a charm). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

These are of course served best nice and warm. The wonderful wife that I am had these ready for my dear husband right after his 6 mile run Sunday morning! Talk about ruining a workout, huh?

But I'll take this to mean that they were good....

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Pancakes

These buttermilk pancakes are definitely a staple in our house! They make a really great breakfast or a quick and cheap dinner! We have very fond memories of our son calling these "pan-pies"....we're a little sad he doesn't call them that anymore- but maybe we can get his little sister to call them that...hmmm :-)

If you know anything about us, we have a true love for Disney and you can't have pancakes here without a little Mouse!


Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl combine egg, buttermilk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy). Stir in fruit at this point if desired.

2. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased skillet. For dollar sized pancakes, use 1 tbsp batter. Cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until pancakes are golden brown, turning to second side when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry. Serve warm. Top with syrup.



Enjoy! (Man...now I want pancakes!)