For the love of Pioneer Woman!

I am positive every food blogger knows about Pioneer Woman and venerates her as the top dog of the food blogging world. I've made several of her recipes in the past months or so, just been on a Pioneer Woman kick so I wanted to rave about some of the out-of-this-world goodness I have tried lately.

First up, her Baked Lemon Pasta. Run, don't walk, to your nearest store and pick up the ingredients for this! It was delicious and even better as leftovers, if you could imagine that! I actually cut this recipe down and made it as a side dish to tilapia for dinner one night. I would, however, happily make this as a main dish as filed on her site. Yum, yum, YUM!

Next up, I tried her Crash Hot Potatoes. Hello, easy potato insane goodness! Best part of this recipe? It's insanely versatile and would go with anything. I made this as a side to chicken but had extra so I saved them and used them as breakfast potatoes when I made "brinner"(aka breakfast-for-dinner) later that week.

Of course I caved and got Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I couldn't help myself. I also got a copy for my sister-in-law who is really trying to get more into cooking and baking. The pictures and the great stories make it great for someone just getting started.

So far I've tried two recipes from the cookbook: PW's Potato Skins & Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes. If you have the book I highly recommend both! My husband said the potato skins were better than from a restaurant! Not a bad compliment whatsoever.

Bad blogger

Yes, I am horrible blogger who has been cooking and baking and trying new recipes and not blogging about them. Or taking pictures for that matter. Here's one a tried a few weeks ago. It was good, not great, but good enough to make these again. They were easy and the Fiber One cereal made me not feel so bad about eating them.


Double-Chocolate Muffins
(from FiberOne.com)

Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:35 min
Makes:12 muffins

1 cup Fiber One® original bran cereal
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in food processor).

In medium bowl, mix cereal and buttermilk; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in oil and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients except chocolate chips. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan. Serve warm

Still catching up on Easter recipes....

Every Easter for our Easter brunch I make a French Toast casserole of some sort. You would not believe how many French toast casserole recipes there are out there. As a lover of French toast I have no problem with trying out a new one from time to time.

This recipe, from MyRecipes.com, is defintely a keeper. I used cinnamon swirl bread instead of cinnamon raisin bread since I had some non-raisin lovers in our crowd of guests but the end result was delicious. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

I used regular eggs in this recipe and just online to figure out the conversion of egg substitute to real eggs. I also replaced the sugar with Splenda.

Stuffed French Toast
(from MyRecipes.com)

24 (1-ounce) slices cinnamon-raisin bread
Cooking spray
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
2 cups egg substitute, divided
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
Bottled cinnamon-sugar (optional)

Trim crusts from bread. Arrange half of the bread in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Combine milk, 1 1/2 cups egg substitute, half-and-half, and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Pour half of milk mixture over bread in dish.

Combine 1/2 cup egg substitute, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and cheeses in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over moist bread in dish. Top with remaining bread; pour remaining milk mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Uncover and bake at 350° for 55 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before

Not a good memory lately....

...but I still have a recipe.

I yet again have tried a new recipe and failed to take a picture of it. Sometimes I think I get so excited with how well something comes out that taking a picture is the last thing on my mind, all I want to do is eat!

Despite not having a picture, I am going to blog about this recipe because it was great! I loved the little crumb topping on these muffins. The only change I made was to add a splash or so of extra milk because the batter seemed a tad too thick, this may be because I was using 1% milk so I figured an extra splash wouldn't hurt!


Chocolate Chip Muffins
(from AllRecipes.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy).

Fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with a combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoon brown sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

Going bananas!

I have been craving banana bread all week. I am not sure why, maybe because I've been the victim of a nasty cold and banana bread is a comfort food to me. Who knows? Either way I wanted to make banana bread, and after scoring some dramatically-reduced-in-price browning bananas from the market, the banana bread fate was sealed. I've made a few different banana breads which I've posted to this blog before (Apple Banana Bread and Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread) but I just wanted some down home, traditional banana bread.

This is actually a recipe shared by one of the ladies on my local nest board. It's easy and quick and most importantly, delicious! I actually used 4 bananas in my batter, only because my bananas were a bit short in stature, and oh, I stole a few bites from the first three bananas before I put them in the batter. So 4 bananas it was! I omitted the nuts from this recipe since I prefer my banana bread sans nuts, but I'm sure they would be a great addition for those who love banana nut bread.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

1/2 Cup softened butter
1 Cup sugar
2 Cup flour
1/2 Cup sour cream
2 beaten egg
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Teaspoon baking powder
3 mashed banana
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 for topping chopped pecans or walnuts

Blend the soft butter and sugar until creamy. Add sour cream, bananas, eggs, vanilla and mix well.

Combine all dry ingredients and add that to wet mixture and mix.

Pour into 9x5 inch loaf pan, sprayed with nonstick spray. Top with walnuts or pecans and bake at 350 for about 55 minutes.

Corn Muffins

The other night I just felt like baking. but I had nothing particular in mind to bake. So, I started going through my cabinet for inspiration and when I saw my bag of cornmeal I decided to make muffins. And what better recipe to use than the one on the back of the bag?

I made these in jumbo muffin tins and extended the baking time to 25 minutes. I'm not sure if that was for too long because these came out a bit dry. Although, I tend to find corn muffins to be on the drier side as far as muffins go typically. They tasted alright though and I think that next time I'd just watch the baking time more closely.

Golden Yellow Corn Muffins
(from Indian Head cornmeal)


1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup soft shortening
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, ans alt in a bowl. Cut in shortening. Mix egg and milk together and add to dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.

Fill greated muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, makes 12 muffins.*
(*for jumbo muffins I baked for 25 minutes which I would reduce next time; made 5 muffins)

More veggies than I knew what to do with...

So you know my previous post where I said my friends were not able to come over for dinner?

Well the other result of that was a an overabundance of fresh veggies in my house. For the Asian themed dinner I'd planned I was going to make tempura vegetables. And well now I had a lot of veggies!

I thought that I really needed to make some all of those veggies before they went bad. It would take 2 of us alone too long to get through them. I blanched some of the veggies but for my zucchini I decided to try to make a Zucchini bread. I tried to make this recipe I found a little healthier since there was a lot of oil in the recipe (and no applesauce for me at home to sub with) so I used 1 cup of white sugar & 1 cup of splenda, then used 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. I also added some nutmeg ane extra cinnamon for more flavor. I also added about an extra 1/4 cup of zucchini due to me getting a little grater happy, but I figured the extra moisture did not hurt.

I forgot something though - baking powder - and realized it too late in the game - OOPS! So these loaves ended up a little dense and flatter but still very much edible and tasty. I brought one loaf into work where it was quickly devoured by my co-workers.

Next time I would add some brown sugar maybe, or even more cinnamon. I still felt like it needed a little more oomph (however the wheat flour and splenda may have cut the oomph factor a tad so I will blame it on me and not the original recipe). Either way, still a keeper!

Zucchini Bread IV
(from AllRecipes.com)

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar (I subbed and used 1 cup sugar, 1 cup splenda)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups AP flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I added an additional 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture.

Divide batter into prepared pans. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done. (I used 2, 9x5 inch loaf pans and only needed about 40 minutes of baking time)

Good things come in small packages!

I recently bought 3 tubes of crescent roll dough, they were on sale and I had a coupon. Sometimes a good deal is hard for me to pass up! Pilsbury has unlimited ideas for the uses of a of their products so I decided to go look for some unique uses for their crescent roll dough and ran across this little gem - mini cinnamon crescents.

So easy, so good, and so adorably cute - these are going to become a regular at our house!

I made most of them sans raisins for my husband and unfortunately was not able to glaze these since I apparently am out of confectioner's sugar. Even sans the glaze, these were definitely a cute little breakfast treat!

Mini Cinnamon Crescents

(from Pilsbury.com)

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations™ refrigerated flaky dough sheet
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon apple juice or milk


Heat oven to 375°F.

If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.

Spread 1 tablespoon butter evenly over each dough rectangle. In small bowl, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over rectangles. Sprinkle each with raisins. Starting with short side of each rectangle, roll up; pinch edges to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 5 slices. Place slices, cut side down, in ungreased 8- or 9-inch square pan.

Bake 17 to 23 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix powdered sugar and apple juice until smooth. Drizzle over rolls. Serve warm.

Egg Muffins

Nope, not from McDonald's...Egg. Muffins.

I found this gem on Kalyn's Kitchen. These Egg Muffins are a fun idea, and leave you with a lot of possibilities for what to put in them. For my versions I chopped some cooked bacon and added some shredded cheese to the mix. My other version involved diced roasted red peppers, onions, and shredded cheese. There are also instructions for freezing these which is always good to know, I'm one of those people that can't stand if food goes to waste and also appreciate the convenience of being able to take something out of the freezer in a pinch for time.

I won't post the recipe and let Kalyn's step by step instructions (which are great by the way) do the talking. This will be yet another breakfast staple in our house for sure!

Crustless Quiche Tarts & Tasty Tools!

Last week I was running low on free time and easy, quick ideas for dinner. I thought of just making breakfast for dinner when I remebered that my friend Dani had recently given me mini tart pans that I wanted ooooooh so much. I figured, why not make some quiche tarts instead of the typical scrambled or sunny-side up eggs?

Problem is, I didn't have any of my favorite doughboy's premade crust on hand and making my own crust would kind of have killed the whole "quick and easy" thing I was shooting for - so cooking spray it was and crustless they became.

I peeled and diced my potatoes first so they'd be boiling while I combined the rest of the ingredients. Since I made them so small they cooked up in no time and having the potatoes in the quiches really gave them some substance so I'm happy I went that route. The rest of the ingredients, well - they were a combination of things I had in the house (like leftover Italian sausage) that I thought would work well in the quiches. I think the thing I like best about quiche is you can add pretty much anything you want to it. I love making my own combinations. And I also love how eggs are not just for breakfast anymore!!!

I am also submitting this recipe to Joelen's Tasty Tools event which this month is featuring the whisk! I love my whisk and don't know what I'd do without it.

Crustless Sausage & Potato Quiche Tarts

1/2 Cup mayonnaise
5 large eggs
About ¼ cup milk
2 cooked Italian sausages, diced into small pieces
2 tablespoons grated onion
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled, diced into small pieces, boiled and drained
1 Cup(s) shredded Colby jack cheese
1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
1/4 Teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously spray mini tart pans with cooking spray

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, mayonnaise, milk, pepper, salt, garlic, and Italian seasoning until thoroughly blended with whisk. Stir in sausage, cheese, onion, and potatoes. Pour into mini tarts.

Bake for 12 – 18 minutes, or until knife comes out clean.

Makes 6 mini tart sized quiches

Another wayward, pictureless recipe....

I think I may be losing my mind. I forgot to take a picture for one of the muffins in the previous entry and forgot to take a picture of the Strawberry Bread I made as well. I've decided to share the recipe nonetheless because it was tasty - not too sweet but just enough, and it was sure as heck easy to make. One of these (since the recipe makes 2 breads) made its way to my local nest board "secret baker" recipient as well.

Strawberry Bread
(from BettyCrocker.com)

1 bag (16 oz) frozen whole strawberries, thawed, drained
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt


Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of two 9x5- or 8x4-inch loaf pans with shortening; lightly flour.

Slightly mash strawberries; set aside. In large bowl, mix sugar and oil. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in strawberries until well mixed. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Muffin Mania

There is no question there's been a lot of muffin making in my kitchen as of late. I've made 2 different batches in less than a week's time - unfortunately the muffin baking frenzy started almost 2 weeks ago so I am behind on this. Anywho, both batches I made in my jumbo muffin baking pan. Because we all know....there is nothing better than a big ole muffin.

Due to my negligence, there is no picture for the 2nd recipe - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins from Baking Bites, so just use your imagination a little for what mine look like, and check out the originator's pictures instead! I sent those out as part of the Secret Baker exchange my local nest board is doing. I didn't actually get to try them but my recipient said they were good. My husband was jealous he didn't get to have one of them himself. He did, however, greatly benefit from the first recipe - Dorie Greenspan's Coffee Break Muffins - because he pretty much ate every single one with the exception of me eating the tops of one of them.

Which brings me to the age old question of:

Why are the tops of muffins the best part of a muffin????


Coffee Break Muffins
(from "Baking from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I actually subbed this with 3/4 tablespoon coffee syrup, which is local to New England and may not be found everywhere)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 stick unsalted butter melted & cooled
1 large egg
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract


Center rack in oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Butter and spray 12 molds in regular siz muffin pan or fit with paper cups (I instead sprayed a 6 cup jumbo muffin pan). Place the muffin pan on baking sheet.

In large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon, & salt. Stir in brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk coffee, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough, a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Divide evenly among muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes (about 24 minutes for me in my jumbo pan) or until a thin knive inserted in center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack & cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.



Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins
(from Baking Bites)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.

Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12. (***Note: This made 6 jumbo muffins which I sprayed to prepare pan; baking time was about 24 minutes at the same temperature indicated above)

Robin = Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger lately, my entries have been sporadic, but as I mentioned it's more because I've been cooking and baking, but since I haven't had a lot of time on my hands, much of it is nothing new or exciting to blog about.

Rewind to Sunday, however, and I did make something worth blogging about - Carrot Cake Pancakes! I just haven't gotten around to posting anything until today!

As I mentioned in my entry about the TWD Bill's Big Carrot Cake recipe, carrot cake is really something I've gained an appreciation of the past few years. I actually really enjoy the stuff now and hey, it's a way of getting veggies into your diet, right?

So, much to my excitement, I saw a commercial on TV recently for IHOP advertising their "All American Pancake" menu features, one of which being Carrot Cake Pancakes. I told my husband we needed to go there for breakfast one more to have them. I woke up on Sunday morning and while lying in bed I was thinking to myself, why pay for them, when I can just make them myself? I had all of the key players in the house - buttermilk, carrots, pecans, coconut (a great Dorie addition to carrot cake), and I even had some leftover cream cheese frosting from my most recent batch of red velvet cupcakes.

I started with a basic buttermilk pancake recipe which I found on myrecipes.com. From there I added the players above, plus some pecans. I had added a little extra buttermilk to the mixture feeling it was kind of thick. After my first batch of pancakes I found them to be a little too dense, so for the next batch I put on the griddle I added some more flour. This helped the "fluff factor" quite a bit and made for all around nicer looking pancakes (I've tried to account for those changes in my recipe). To top it all off I heated up some of that cream cheese frosting and drizzled it over the pancakes in place of maple syrup. The result - pure yumminess!

I am also submitting this entry to the Pancakes on Parade blogging event - which is exactly how it sounds! It's an event collecting pancake recipes of all sorts!

Carrot Cake Pancakes
(base of Recipe - "Basic Buttermilk Pancakes" - from myrecipes.com)

1 cup plus 2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 plus one tablespoon cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
About 3/4 cup grated carrot (I actually gave mine a little whirl in my food processor rather than work at grating them early in the morning!)
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Cream cheese frosting, heated (just a combination of cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, butter, and some vanilla)


Whisk together first 5 ingredients, cinnamon, and nutment in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, milk, egg, and butter in a separate bowl; add to flour mixture. Then add carrots, coconut, and pecans. Whisk just until blended. Let stand 10 minutes.

Pour by 1/3 cup of batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or nonstick pan. Cook until pancakes are covered with bubbles and edges turn brown. Turn and cook other side 2 minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle with heated cream cheese frosting.

Makes about 12-14 pancakes

Recipe Remix: Grilled Breakfast Sandwich

It's Recipe Remix time again. This an entry into the second installment of mine and Danielle's adventure - this time the theme was breakfast. There were 6 different foods to choose from - pancakes, french toast, crepes, breakfast sandwiches, eggs benedict, or continental breakfast.

Me, I chose breakfast sandwich because I knew there were so many different ways I could "remix" a typical breakfast sandwich that you would get at a fast food chain. The hardest part was deciding on which direction I wanted to go with it. In the end I decided that I'd pay homage to my grill, yup, that's right, I made a breakfast sandwich on the grill.

Thomas's English Muffins are now making sandwich size "grillers" and that began my grilled breakfast sandwich inspiration. I knew eggs would be involved but, what else? Not ham, not sausauge, not bacon - they are all too predictable. So, I decided on Portuguese Chourico instead!

There is no true recipe for this, more of a method. As my pieces of chourico were grilling, I buttered the outside halves of my english muffins (I had multigrain ones). I actually used melted butter that I seasoned with some garlic powder and onion powder for some extra kick and let those grill away. I finally got to use the side burner of my grill and made the eggs over there (I chose to make the eggs overeasy, but really you could make them however you want). Meanwhile I added American cheese to one side of my muffins and spicy brown mustard. Once the chourico was nice and grilled up I placed it on top, along with the egg and top half of the muffin. The following resulted....

Oh and to add the the "remix" flair of this - we had it for dinner, not breakfast! Who says breakfast sandwiches are just for the morning hours??? Anyway, despite not having an actual recipe, the theme of my entry is it's not only different ingredients that can make a recipe new again, but it can also be the method, which in my case involved grilling!

We have gotten a ton of great entries this time around and are looking forward to posting the roundup sometime next week so keep an eye out for it!

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

When this week's TWD recipe for Pecan Honey Sticky Buns was announced part of me was excited, but part of me was tempered with a little fear. Working with yeast has always been something to intimidate me until my friend Danielle and I had a "cook date" a couple of months ago. She was determined to help me overcome my fear of yeast and we made a lovely french bread together.


Armed with that knowledge and experience, I went into the newest Tuesdays With Dorie assignment with excitement with an ever-so-little nagging fear I might mess something up. Conversely, I knew that this was a chance to boost my confidence if this turned out right.


While the process of making these sticky buns was a bit labor intensive - it's basically a back-to-back days process of letting the dough rise - it was well worth it. I am happy to report I did not mess anything up! Admittedly I was initially concerned with how dense the dough seemed when I took it out of the fridge on Sunday morning. Those fears, however, were alleviated when everything came together beautifully.

The morning I made the actual buns I had opened pretty much every window on the first floor of the house. It was so nice and breezy outside. Then I realized in order to get my buns to rise one last time before baking they were supposed to go into a warm place. My answer to this was to heat my oven to 170 degrees (the lowest it would go) until the preheat phase was over. I then turned it off and propped the door open while I finished up the rolling and cutting processes. So the oven was warm but by no means hot (i.e. I could touch a rack without issue). I then put them in my baking dish, covered with wax paper as Dorie suggests and put them in the oven, with the door still propped open. This gave them a slightly warm environment for rising that my house would not have given with that beautiful breeze flowing in through the windows. About halfway through the rising process I turned the oven on again for about 1-2 minutes, not even letting it heat up to the 170 degrees and turned it off (all while leaving the oven door propped open a couple of inches). This, of course, may not be the right method to go about this, but it worked for me as my rolls rose nicely and were pretty much touching each other which Dorie indicated (see picture above) was the green light for baking.

As far as baking times goes, I am beginning to realize I need to cut the baking time for all of Dorie's recipes down a couple of minutes. I checked my buns after they had been in the oven for about 22 minutes and they were already golden brown. I took them out and realized they were still slightly soft inside so I popped them back in for about 2 minutes and they were perfect. So, it took about 24 minutes to finish mine, not the full 30, which, on the flip side could be due to me cutting them a little small since I got 17 buns out of the recipe, not 15. (But for what it's worth, I needed to cut down the time for the brioche loaf too....)

These sticky buns are absolutely decadent, I think I may have gained a few pounds just by eating one. Anything with that much butter ought to be good. I baked the other half of the dough recipe right into a brioche loaf as suggested in the directions rather than freeze the dough, I've frozen the bread which I look forward to having someday soon as well. All in all, this recipe was definitely time well spent!



Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
(from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)






Makes 15 buns (I got about 17 out of my recipe, I think I cut the first few a little small)


For the Glaze:
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)
For the Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:
1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)
Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).

To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.

To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.


To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glaze recipe accordingly).

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.

Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.
Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.
The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What you’ll need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):

2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

What you’ll Need for the Glaze (you would brush this on brioche loaves, but not on the sticky buns):
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes. (Robin's note: watch your stand mixer during this process since it will take a walk on you....mine crashed into my nearby toaster oven unattended!)

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)

The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.

Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)

Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.
Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

Easy Cheese Danish

I go through phases with cookbooks, sometimes I am using them like mad, other times not so much. Sometimes I will buy a bunch all at once, and then go months and months without even opening another one at a bookstore or book fair or wherever.


Right now I'm in the former state on both accounts. I recently received my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook by Ina Garten. She isn't the most exciting Food Network chef to watch by any account, but I find I always get great tips from her and her recipes do always sound delicious so I bought the book.


I just tried the first recipe out of it the other night for Easy Cheese Danish. This really was easy and they came out tasty. Next time though I think I would reduce the lemon zest since the filling came out a little more lemony tasting than I would normally expect from a cheese danish, all in all though, this recipe is definitely a keeper!



Easy Cheese Danish
(from Barefoot Contessa at Home)





8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 extra large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.


Place the cream cheese & sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment and cream together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest and mix until just combined. Don't whip!


Unfold one sheet of pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10x10 inch square. Cut tthe sheet into quarters. Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold two opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes.


Bake the puff pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.

A Banana Bread Bakeoff!

Last week while browsing Is My Blog Burning? for new events. I stumbled upon one hosted by Not Quite Nigella. NQN is hosting Banana Bread Bakeoff! The timing was perfect - I had a few bananas getting overly ripe from consumption and was hoping to use them soon by baking a banana bread.

I've had a recipe bookmarked for awhile on myrecipes.com for Chocolate-Marbled Banana Bread. It's from Cooking Light. I really love banana bread, I'll take any excuse to make it so it's really no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to participate in this.

Oh...and...and I really, really love chocolate. Does it get any better than that combination?

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

(from Cooking Light via myrecipes.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray


Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Brownies...in your waffle maker...I'm not kidding!

In a couple of weeks I am hosting a brownie swap among my friends, inspired by none other than Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventures. Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of searching for brownie recipes as of late.

I came upon this one from the Food Network and while I didn't think it was good for the swap, I thought it would still be fun to make. I thought this would be a twist on the typical waffle sundae!
These were definitely tasty, but despite them being made in a waffle iron, I think I expected them to be a little more dense and brownie-like. Instead they turned out fluffier, like a brownie flavored waffle. I think next time I will increase the chocolate to yield a fudgier result.

My expectations aside, there's no denying that this was a tasty treat! I am actually also tagging this as a breakfast dish as since it was not overly rich, you could easily serve it in the morning just as well as it can serve as a dessert!

Waffle-Iron Brownies
(from Food Network)
















1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tablespoons milk
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
Powdered sugar for serving, if desired

Preheat a waffle iron. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and milk. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat. Add the unsweetened chocolate and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Place into a pan of cold water to cool the mixture to room temperature.
With an electric mixer, beat in the eggs. Gradually blend in the flour mixture until smooth.

Drop rounded spoonfuls of the brownie mixture into the preheated waffle iron. Close the iron and cook for about 2 minutes until the brownies are done. Remove and cool on a rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Monthly Muffin Challenge: March

It's been a busy March and I practically forgot about my own personal Monthly Muffin Challenge but luckily I remembered this morning. I decided to bust out a long archived I'll-try-that-one-day recipe for Ham and Cheddar Muffins - a nice savory twist on a typical muffin. I chose the mini muffin option on these since my mini muffin pan hasn't seen any action in awhile. What a cute little addition to your weekend breakfast! I should mention I skipped the onion step, since my hubby doesn't like them but otherwise followed this to a T. So easy!

Ham and Cheddar Muffins

(from myrecipes.com)

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 medium-size sweet onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose baking mix
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 cup finely chopped cooked ham

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; add onion, and sauté 3 to 5 minutes or until tender.

Combine baking mix and half of cheese in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
Stir together milk and egg, blending well; add to cheese mixture, stirring until moistened. Stir in onion and ham. Spoon into lightly greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake at 425° for 18 minutes or until golden (approximately 14 minutes in a min-muffin pan). Let stand 2 to 3 minutes before removing from pans.

Yields 12 (3-inch) muffins or 2 1/2 dozen mini muffins

Easter Eats!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we hosted Easter brunch. This was our 2nd year so and I really enjoy hosting a brunch. It's a change in pace from the typical holiday-type dinner that we are all accustomed to, likewise Easter and brunch are a perfect fit.

Per usual when entertaining, in my haste to get everything out of the oven and served before it got cold, I neglected to take pictures of most of my meal. However, here is how the menu looked:
* Fruit & cheese kabobs
* Orange Cream Mimosas
* Broccoli, Chicken, and Mushroom Quiche
* Bacon, Onion, & Cheese Quiche
* Scrambled eggs, ham, and cheese in puff pastry pockets
* Corned Beef Hash
* Mashed Potato Hash Brown type casserole
* French Toast Souffle
* Blueberry Bread (confession: this came from a box mix!)

The Fruit & Cheese kabobs were a great little idea I had seen on KraftFoods.com. Strawberries, kiwi, and grapes on wooden skewers and alternated with cubes of Monterey Jack Cheese. I gave my husband the distinct honor of cutting and assembling these. I was quite impressed with the results - very nicely laid out - go Greg! I thought this was easier than making a huge fruit salad. These were easy and fun to eat! No good excuse to not have gotten a picture of these since they were done an hour before guests arrive, I just simply forgot!

Unfortunately I don't have a real recipe for the 2 quiches. I had decided on my fillings in advance and prepared them in their own containers so that on Easter morning I just had to beat the eggs, throw the fillings in, and pour everything in the pre-baked pie shells. I had a basic quiche recipe that I intended to use as a guide for the number of eggs to use, cooking time, etc. That plan went out the window. I added more eggs, half-and-half, etc. then the "guide" called for. To be honest I couldn't even tell you how many eggs I did in fact use, nevermind any other measurements. Trying to recreate my recipe here probably would only spell disaster. What I can tell you though is that they came out good!

The scrambled eggs, ham, and cheese pockets were a last minute inspiration. My friend Lindsay had mentioned something of the like to me a couple of weeks prior and it clicked with me this could be fun for Easter. Basically all I did was scramble eggs to the semi-runny state, and then laid out a little egg, a sprinkle of cheese, and some diced ham into a little puff pastry pocket. I got 3 pockets for each sheet of puff pastry (I used the fold lines as my divider). It worked out nicely and despite my fears the eggs weren't dried out at all.

There are 3 recipes I can provide you with though...

The first being is homemade Corned Beef Hash. I got this from one of my buddies, Pam, on my local Nest board for my Easter brunch last year. Since it was so popular last year, I didn't think twice about including it on this year's menu. I love how easy it is and how it's something I can prep and then not think about again! You'll never find something this good from a can!

The next recipe is for Paula Deen's Mashed Baked recipe. It's a cross between mashed potatoes and hash browns. I thought this might be a nice bridge between breakfast and lunch and hence fitting of brunch. It was delicious. I lightened it up a bit by using low fat cream cheese, low fat sour cream, and low fat cheese.

Lastly is a French Toast Souffle from myrecipes.com. I don't really know why they call it a souffle, because it's really not a souffle. I digress. It was good, but not great. I really enjoy Paula Deen's French Toast Casserole that I've used in the past (including last Easter) more. I'm sure that has something to do with this recipe being from Cooking Light and Paula's recipe...well...let's just say 2 sticks of butter can change everything!

Corned Beef Hash

3 Cups cooked corned beef
2 small chopped onion
3 potatoes, peeled and diced into small chunks
1/2 Teaspoons salt
1/2 Teaspoons black pepper
1 Cups beef broth

Run first three ingredients through food processor. Mix well with all the remaining ingredients. Press into well greased pot. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.

Mashed Baked
(from FoodNetwork.com)

4 cups frozen hash browns
1 (7.6-ounce) package butter and herb mashed potato mix
1 stick butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups boiling water
2 cups prepared French-fried onion rings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a pot of water to the boil and add the hash browns. Cook for 5 minutes and drain.

In a large bowl, mix together the cooked hash browns, mashed potato mix, butter, cream cheese, jack cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Stir in the boiling water.

Place in a greased 2-quart casserole dish. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle the onion rings over the casserole and bake for about 5 to 8 minutes longer until onions are golden brown.

French Toast Souffle
(from myrecipes.com)

10 cup (1-inch) cubed sturdy white bread (such as Pepperidge Farm Hearty White, about 16 (1-ounce) slices)
Cooking spray
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat-cream cheese, softened
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2/3 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup

Place bread cubes in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Beat cream cheese at medium speed of mixer until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add milk, half-and-half, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over top of bread; cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Remove bread mixture from refrigerator; let stand on counter for 30 minutes. Bake at 375° for 50 minutes or until set. Sprinkle the souffle with powdered sugar, and serve with maple syrup.