Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties

My favorite breakfast, as of late, is a whole wheat english muffin with an egg. I decided to add more protein to the dish with a chicken sausage patty. I looked around at a few different recipes and settled on a savory one from recipezaar for turkey sausage. The reviews said it was very spicy, so I cut back the black and cayenne pepper by half. With those amounts, I found it to be not at all spicy, so I might increase them for the next batch. I was pleasantly surprised to find that fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts, in place of the turkey, were easy to grind up in my mini food processor, and held together very well!




Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties
Source: Adapted from recipezaar
Yield: about 13 patties

1 lb ground chicken
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients (use less pepper if you don't want a spicy taste) and blend well. If time permits, refrigerate overnight to let the meat absorb the flavor of the spices.

2. Form into patties. Heat a non-stick griddle or pan over medium heat. Spray pan with cooking spray. Add chicken patties and cook until brown on one side, about 5-10, then flip and cook through, about 5 minutes. Freeze leftovers. Don't overcook or they will dry out--remove from the heat as soon as they're no longer pink inside, but still juicy. (if you prefer a moister texture, you add a splash of olive oil or an egg to the mixture just prior to cooking).

Baked Doughnuts

Doughnuts seem like one of those things that you can't skimp on. It falls in that category of - If you don't fry it, don't bother. I am never deterred by such claims because frying just doesn't appeal to me. It takes the fun out of things by making me and my kitchen smell... fried. Yuck. Heck, I don't even like pan frying anything, as seen in my search for a great crab cake. I've had this recipe for baked doughnuts bookmarked for quite some time now, and rediscovered it yesterday when I was organizing my saved recipes.


In my never ending attempt to avoid white flour, I did some substituting here. The recipe calls for 5 cups of flour, so I did 2 cups white flour, 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour. I don't know what I was thinking, whole wheat flour does not belong in doughnuts! I should have stuck with equal amounts of the first two, but instead I just have extra hearty doughnuts. Also, the point of not frying is to avoid some fat, so I certainly wasn't going to finish them by dunking them in melted butter. No, no, pure sugar is a much better choice. ;-)


I made a glaze with a cup or so of powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and enough milk until it was the consistency I wanted. After dipping a few doughnuts, I added cinnamon to the glaze. Yum! I like those doughnuts the best.


These certainly don't take the place of fried doughnuts, and the texture is somewhere between a cake doughnut and one of the really light and fluffy ones. True to form, I overbaked the first batch a bit (pulled them out at 8 minutes - I hate my oven sometimes!). Overall, not a bad treat!

Baked Doughnuts
Source: 101 Cookbooks

Don't over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit - they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender - not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts - too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking. These really need to be made-to-order, but you can make and shape the dough the night before if you want to serve them for brunch. Instructions: after shaping, place doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, and let rise in a warm place before baking.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don't have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

I have recently discovered Clean Eating magazine, and love it! (What is eating clean? Look here and here for some tips.) There are some interesting articles and great recipes. I wouldn't say that I've completely converted to clean eating (since my husband still looooves Velveeta), but I've certainly made more of an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables, and make things from scratch so I can control the ingredients. This allows me to make changes such as using whole wheat (often, pastry) flour in place of white flour, and avoid a lot of preservatives and other such junk.


The latest issue of Clean Eating has a ton of recipes that looked great to me, and I decided to dive in over the weekend with oatmeal banana pancakes. Breakfast around here is usually eggs, oatmeal, or a protein bar, but every once in a while, we treat ourselves to pancakes. I was especially intrigued by this recipe because of the substitution for maple syrup. A combination of pomegranate juice and honey sounded delicious! Of course, I forgot to get the juice at the store, so we had to settle for cranberry juice in it's place.

These turned out delicious! The pancakes have a nice little bite from the whole oats, and a light banana flavor that isn't overwhelming. The fruit syrup is SO GOOD and we are definitely making these again!

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes
Source: Clean Eating magazine
Makes 10 to 12 five inch pancakes, or 20 four inch pancakes

For the syrup:
1 cup Pomegranate Juice
2 tablespoons of honey

For the pancakes:
3 medium bananas (I used frozen), plus 1 sliced banana for garnish
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats, ground to a course flour in food processor
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
Olive Oil cooking spray

Whisk juice and honey together in saucepot. Bring mixture to boil over medium high heat, then drop the heat to medium. Simmer mixture and reduce it to syrup, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let syrup cool before using. (Mine thickened as it cooled.)

To make pancakes, add bananas, milk and vanilla to blender and puree until smooth. In large mixing bowl, whisk together ground oats, rolled oats, flour, salt and baking powder. Fold banana puree into dry ingredients to a form a thick batter, taking care not to overwork it. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites into batter. Heat a large nonstick griddle coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Drop 1/4 cup batter for 5-inch pancakes onto griddle. Cook until lightly browned, about 1 1/2 per side. Serve with banana slices and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup.

English Muffins

My new breakfast habit is making my own egg sandwiches in the morning. Now that I have discovered you can cook (cracked) eggs in the microwave, an egg breakfast during the work week became much more feasible. I wanted to see if I could make good english muffins at home, so I had control over the ingredients, size, etc. I found a number of recipes that used shortening, which isn't exactly the (healthier) direction I want to go. Then I stumbled upon a recipe that uses egg whites! I was intrigued and decided it was worth a shot (don't they look good?!). I made some alterations in the flour. It calls for 4 cups of bread flour, but I went with 1 cup bread flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, and 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour. Since the pastry flour has a lower protein content than the bread flour, I added a little protein powder and wheat germ to make up a little of the difference.


One of my favorite parts of the english muffin making process was that there is no need to turn on the oven! This will make it easy to continue making them throughout the summer. Due to the additions I made, they had a great hearty, nutty flavor. I think the 3" size is too small, however, so next time I will go with 4" for my sandwiches. I think these would be a great alternative to burger buns for us, as well! (I am realizing just now that I never toasted the muffin! It was still warm from the griddle so I didn't notice!)


English Muffins
Source: Cookingbread.com
Makes 18 3" muffins
Adaptations in italics

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 small egg whites
fine cornmeal

In a large bowl pour in lukewarm ( 110F ) water. Add instant yeast, baking soda and 2 cups of bread flour. Mix till smooth. Allow to sit for 5 minutes uncovered. In the meantime, add egg white into a separate bowl and beat with an electric mixer. You want them to become stiff and moist. Once the egg white have formed stiff peaks; add to dough batter. Using a rubber spatula fold in egg whites till incorporated into the batter. Start to add in the rest of the flour, a 1/4 cup at a time. After the first 1/4 cup mix in salt. When the mixture becomes to hard to mix in the bowl. Pour out onto a flat surface. Knead for about 5 to 6 minutes till it becomes smooth and silky. Add a little oil to a clean bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Turn dough over till all sides are very lightly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk, about 1 hour. Afterwards, pour out onto a flat surface. Press to release some of the air from the dough. Using a rolling pin roll out to a 1/2 inch thick. Allow dough to rest for 3 minutes to relax. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out circles. Place the cut out pieces onto some cornmeal. When you have left over dough just gather together and cut out a few more circles. Sprinkle the tops with more cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes. About 5 minutes before you are ready to cook the english muffins turn on your griddle or fry pan to 350F or medium heat. Spray with a little oil spray and once the griddle is hot. Place the muffins on and fry. If you are using a fry pan you may only be able to fry 3-4 at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes. Then turn over and fry for another 4 minutes. Do this once more to a total of 16 minutes.

BB: Easy Sticky Buns

I learned a few things making this week's recipe for Barefoot Bloggers.

1. These are really really good (when not burnt).

2. I should pay more attention to potentially oozing brown sugar/butter all over my oven, because airing out a smoke filled kitchen with it's 10 degrees outside is less than enjoyable. (Secondary lesson here is to copy down the ALL the instructions, since the parchment lined baking sheet would have helped. Tremendously.)

3. I do not know how to voluntarily disconnect my smoke detector. (maybe this is a good thing?)

I don't have good pictures because I definitely had some issues, and I don't think I flipped them soon enough. When I did, the bottom had already hardened. Anyway... here's a glimpse of what could have been...



Easy Sticky Buns
from Back to Basics, page 240
Chosen by Melissa of Made by Melissa
Be sure to check out how everyone else faired, here.

Makes 12
We used to make really delicious sticky buns at Barefoot Contessa, but they took two days to make because the yeast dough needed to rise overnight in the refrigerator. I was dying to find a way to make them easier, so I decided to try baking them with Pepperidge Farm puff pastry dough, instead. OMG are they good … and they’re really easy to make! Light, flaky dough filled with brown sugar, toasted pecans, and sweet raisins — my friends go crazy when I make these.

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted for the filling
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins (I used craisins)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I saw these on Good Things Catered and thought they'd be a great addition to the basket I was making for a friend that recently had surgery. Even though I found out a little too late that my orange extract had evaporated, they still turned out fabulous! I can't wait to make some that I can keep for myself!

Cranberry Orange Muffins
Source: Good Things Catered

~2 c. all-purpose flour
~1 Tbsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp salt
~2 large eggs
~1 c. milk
~2/3 c. sugar
~6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~1/4 tsp orange extract
~2 Tbsp orange zest
~2 c. fresh cranberries

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper cups
-In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt
-In another bowl combine eggs, cream, sugar, butter, extracts and zest.
-Whisk until thoroughly combined.
-Add dry ingredients and fold until just moistened.
-Fold in cranberries and divide batter among muffin cups.
-Bake for about 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
-Let cool 2 - 3 minutes before removing from pan.

Pear and Ginger Brioche Snails

Here is a twist on a great Dorie Greenspan recipe... Brioche raisin snails. I wanted to incorporate pear, and while looking at her pastry cream variations, saw ginger pastry cream and thought it would go so well with pear! Dried cranberries seemed like a great substitute for the raisins. I was sooo excited to flambe something for the first time, and since I had the pear theme going, I went with some pear brandy. Yum!

Hello, gorgeous!





Pear Ginger Brioche Snails
Slightly adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

~1/2 cup craisins
~1/2 cup diced pear
~3 tablespoons pear brandy
~1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
~Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 recipe for Golden Brioche Loaves(page 48), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating overnight)
~1/2 recipe Pastry Cream (page 448)

Put the craisins in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water and let them steep for about 4 minutes, until they are plumped. Drain the craisins, return them to the saucepan, adding pears, and warm them over low heat while stirring constantly. When the fruit is very hot, pull the pan from the heat and pour over the brandy. Standing back, ignite the liquor. Stir until the flames go out, then cover and set aside. (The fruit and liquor an be kept in a covered jar for up to 1 day.) Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long, with a short end toward you. Spread the pastry cream across the dough, leaving 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Scatter the fruit over the pastry cream and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Starting wit 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 up to 2 months; see Storing for further instructions. Or, if you do not want to make the full recipe, use as much of the dough as you’d like and freeze the remainder.)

With a chef’s knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends if they’re ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into rounds a scant 1 inch thick. Place the snails on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly cover the snails with wax paper and set the baking sheet(s) in a warm place until the snails have doubles in volume–they’ll be puffy and soft–about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When the snails have almost fully risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the wax paper, and bake the snails for about 25 minutes, or until they are puffed and richly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from sheet.

Golden Brioche Loaves

2 packets active dry yeast
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 3/4 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

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.

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. The next day, pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Use immediately for snails or wrap well with saran wrap and foil and store in the freezer.

Pastry Cream

1 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cups sugar
8 teaspoons cup cornstarch, sifted
4 to 5 quarter sized pieces of fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Bring the milk and ginger pieces to a boil in a small saucepan. Cover and let steep for one hour.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the steeped milk through a strainer to catch the ginger – this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly–as I always do–put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water, and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

BB: Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

Pancakes are always a hit in our house, so I was really excited to see them as this week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe! I made a few substitutions, that have recently become pretty standard for me. First, I used greek yogurt (2%) in place of sour cream. I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also had some frozen bananas I wanted to use up, so I chopped them and mixed them in with the wet ingredients instead of sprinkling them on the batter as it cooked. These pancakes are amazing!! I ate way too many, but we still had half the batch leftover to freeze for another day - yay!


Banana Sour Cream Pancakes
Barefoot Contessa Family Style, page 177
Chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Unsalted butter
• 2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
• Pure maple syrup

Directions

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.

JM Blueberry Muffins

As I mentioned, my parents were just here visiting and I had made some blueberry muffins for them. My mom mentioned that she had the recipe from Jordan Marsh... a recipe for which they were famous. Of course I told her to send it to me, and of course I used the leftover blueberries to make the Jordan Marsh recipe as soon as I had time!

Despite the fact that I just didn't bring my A-game to the kitchen that day and they don't *look* spectacular.... they certainly do *taste* spectacular! I planned to take just a bite of one, as I had already had breakfast, but couldn't help but to eat the whole thing! If you are in the market for blueberry muffins, this recipe, at the very least, deserves to be on the short list!

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12

~2 cups sifted all purpose flour (I used 1/4 whole wheat flour)
~2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
~½ cup butter
~1 ¼ cups sugar
~2 eggs
~½ cup milk
~2 ½ cups blueberries
~2 tsp sugar, for dusting tops

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease well muffin pans (bottom and top).

In large bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until well blended.

Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Then add flour mixture to butter/egg/sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating by hand just until combined.

With a fork, mash ½ cup blueberries and add into mixture. Add rest of blueberries, mixing in gently. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool in pans about 1/2 hour before removing.

Homemade Protein Bars

I am always looking for something that packs a lot of bang for your buck for my husband to eat. He needed something to give him a good jump start in the morning, and when I saw these protein bars over at It's Melissa's Kitchen, I thought they looked great! I made them once, and my husband was hooked! He requested them all! the! time! and wanted them bigger (of course). So I tweaked the recipe and added a few things. We each have one everyday for breakfast! Here is my version:

Homemade Protein Bars
from It's Melissa's Kitchen
Makes 20 regular or 16 large bars

~1.5 cups natural peanut butter (I use Smuckers Natural, Crunchy)
~3 cups chocolate whey protein powder
~6 cups oats
~6 tablespoons ground flax seed
~6 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
~1 cup milk (plus additional as needed to blend)

Combine protein powder, oats, flax seed and wheat germ in a large bowl, stir with a wooden spoon until mixed. Add peanut butter and milk, and stir with spoon or mix with hands (messy, but the most effective method!) until thoroughly combined. Add additional milk as necessary to bring all ingredients together. Line a 9x13 pan with parchement paper. Press mixture into the pan evenly. Place pan in the freezer until bars are set. Remove from pan using parchement paper, then peel the paper off. Cut into 20 regular bars or 16 large bars.

Nutritional Information for 1 regular sized bar:
Calories - 290. Total Fat - 11g. Sat. Fat - 2.1g. Carbohydrates - 29g. Fiber - 4.5g. Sugar - 4.4g. Protein - 22g.

BB: Herb Baked Eggs

I was very excited to hear about a new blogging event, Barefoot Bloggers. This particular group seeks to prepare recipes from the wonderful Ina Garten (of Barefoot Contessa), twice a month. I'm certainly doing my share of baking around these parts, so an event to incorporate some cooking challenges seemed like a great thing.

The inaugural recipe is Herbed Baked Eggs. I was really excited about this as my husband loves eggs, and it just sounded so good! I followed the recipe, baked them up, took them out, made some toast, started snapping some pictures... then we finally settled down to eat. One touch of the spoon to the eggs and I knew we had a problem. These were *definitely* not cooked! I ended up popping them back in for another 5 minutes, which finally cooked the whites... AND the yolks. :-( I chalk it up to the bowls not being large enough for them to really spread out and cook quickly and thoroughly. The fact that I was using a toaster oven to broil *may* also have something to do with it. :-) Once they were properly cooked, we completely enjoyed our wonderfully flavorful bowls of herbed baked eggs. I certainly see more of these eggs in our future!

Herbed Baked Eggs, from Barefoot in Paris.

~1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
~1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
~1/4 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
~1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
~1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
~6 extra-large eggs
~2 tablespoons heavy cream
~1 tablespoon unsalted butter
~Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
~Toasted French bread or brioche, for serving

Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

Combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and Parmesan and set aside. Carefully crack 3 eggs into each of 2 small bowls or teacups (you won't be baking them in these) without breaking the yolks. (It's very important to have all the eggs ready to go before you start cooking.)

Place 2 individual gratin dishes on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of cream and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each dish and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each gratin dish and sprinkle evenly with the herb mixture, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes, until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked. (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly.) The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven. Allow to set for 60 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.

Tasty Tools: Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins

My husband loves bananas. But for the past few months, I've brought them home green (because he likes them way before the first appearance of a brown spot) and they have hung on our lovely banana holder until they are almost covered in brown spots. As a result, I have about 8 bananas in the freezer right now. This morning I had SEVEN dark brown bananas, and refused to put all of them in the freezer.

So I went off in search of a recipe that could use the most bananas at one time. My google reader had a number of offerings, but they only used 2 bananas, as most, and I wouldn't have enough of the other ingredients to double the recipe. I came across a recipe from Giada for Banana Muffins that used 4 bananas for 18 muffins, and decided to run with it. I knew I wanted to add a few things, switch a few things, and subtract a few things... so off I went. Then came a stroke of genius... as I went to the pantry to grab the peanut butter, I saw....


the jar of nutella! Screw the mini chocolate chips that I had in mind - these muffins were getting a heart of nutella! With this addition, I think these muffins really push that fine line between a muffin and a cupcake. Maybe they are mupcakes?

As I got going, I also realized these would be perfect for April's Tasty Tools Event, which highlights scoops of all kinds. I used a mini ice cream scoop (no idea what the technical term is) to deliver two heaping scoops of batter per muffin, surrounding a heart of nutella. These come together so easily, which is an added bonus!
These were sooooo delicious, but a teensy bit drier than I'd like. That probably has to do with the extra 1/2 cup of dry ingredients I added. Below I have tweaked the recipe to use less flour so it won't be quite as dry. But seriously - YUM - what a nice treat!

Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins
Yield: 23.5 muffins (had I not been lazy, I'd have picked a bit from the others to make it a whole 24)

~1.5 cups all-purpose flour
~1 cup whole wheat flour
~1 teaspoon baking soda
~1 teaspoon salt
~1/2 teaspoon baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
~1/4 cup wheat germ
~1/4 cup ground flax seed
~3/4 cup sugar
~1/2 cup sour cream
~1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
~1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
~3 large eggs
~1 tablespoon vanilla extract
~4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
~Nutella, about 6 Tbsp, enough for 3/4 tsp per muffin

1. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or spray with baking spray such as Baker's Joy. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, wheat germ and ground flax seed in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, applesauce, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

3. Fill the bottom of each muffin cup with one heaping scoop of batter and spread with the back of the scoop to cover the bottom. Drop about 3/4 tsp of nutella onto the center of each cup. Follow with another heaping scoop of batter, making sure to surround the heart of nutella with batter. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached (but maybe a little streak of nutella!), about 20-25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins are great warm, but if they are saved for later, a few seconds in the microwave should bring back the the warm gooey heart.

Nutritional Information (...ready?): Calories - 176; Total Fat - 6.1 g; Sat. Fat - 1.7 g; Cholesterol - 30 mg; Sodium - 158 mg; Carbohydrates -27g; Fiber - 2g; Sugar - 10 g; Protein - 4.6 g.

First... a layer of batter

Second... a heart of nutella

Then... a second layer of batter

Fresh out of the oven, with nicely risen tops

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

TWD: Pecan Sour Cream Biscones...errr I mean Biscuits

Welcome to another Tuesday with Dorie (go here for more)! This week's recipe, Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits, was chosen by Ashley of eat me, delicious.

I knew I was in trouble as soon as saw the recipe... biscuits. I've never made biscuits before; I don't have a biscuit cutter or pastry blender. Dough is not my friend. If a recipe cautions against overhandling, rest assured I will overhandle it. Nevertheless, I set out to conquer these delicious sounding biscuits.

Things were just wrong all over the place. My brown sugar was clumping and when it came to the butter, oh the butter, I was clearly missing something. How does one mush a 1/2 tablespoon chunk of butter into pea-sized bits?! I forged on, doing the best I could. Being completely unimaginative, I simply used a knife to cut out the "rounds" of dough that were soon to become biscuits (though since they are more like scones I have dubbed them "biscones"). I decided that this gave them "character" but I really only succeeded in perpetuating the biscone identity crisis. When they came out of the oven, looking more like an overpuffed cookie than a biscuit, I decided that they still looked darn good enough to eat and dug right in. They certainly were.
See look! They puffed... a little.


From Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits (Makes about 12 biscuits)

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bow. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between-- and that's just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you've got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading-- 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don't worry if the dough isn't completely even-- a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits ca be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting-- just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

(Mashed) Potato Pancakes

Like a lot of people this time of year, I had some leftover mashed potatoes (ok, a LOT leftover... who knew 3 potatoes would make that much!). I decided to try my hand at potato pancakes this morning. Wow! I've never had potato pancakes before, so maybe that was part of the infatuation, but I loved these! I started with a recipe from Allrecipes.com, and doctored it up a bit (shown in italics).

Ingredients:
2 cups mashed garlic potatoes
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

few dashes Frank's hot sauce
1 tablespoon butter (I used canola oil for cooking... somewhere between the computer and the stove I forgot it said to use butter!)

Sour cream (for serving)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together potatoes, beaten egg, salt, cayenne, black pepper, onion powder, flour, Frank's, and cheese. Heat oil on a large griddle at medium heat. Drop potato mixture onto griddle 1/4 cup at a time. Flatten with a spatula to 1/2 inch thick. Fry approximately 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve hot with sour cream.

I was afraid to go to far with the heat (spice) on these, but next time they could stand a little more, so I'll kick it up a bit. Overall... these had me wishing for more leftover mashed potatoes!

Platinum Chef 4 Inspired Recipe

I don't know that I'll officially enter Platinum Chef Challenge 4, although mole would have been a perfect way to use the remaining ingredients after this creation I am presenting here today. I just never got around to figuring out how to make it (though a call to my future mother-in-law would have probably done the trick). I will, however, present my PCC4 inspired recipes over the next few days (provided they turn out good!).

I start with an original recipe, which is a huge leap for me. It was an even bigger leap because I have never cooked with sweet potatoes before, and have maybe only eaten them once in my life. This took about three batches to get it where I wanted it. I tend to be my own worst food critic, so I still feel like I should be improving on it somewhere, but I presented it to my fiance this morning. He said it was "Good", but then went back for a second one, which is a more telling sign than saying it's good. :-)

Cheesy Spicey Sweet Potato Muffins

• 1 egg, beaten


• ¼ cup milk (I used 2%)


• 2 tbsp nonfat plain yogurt


• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce


• 2 tbsp sugar


• 1 cup flour


• ¾ cup cornmeal


• 1 1/3 tbsp baking powder


• ½ tsp salt


• 1 ½ tsp chili powder


• 1 cup sweet potato, shredded


• ¼ cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used low fat cheddar made with 2% milk)


• ½ cup Monterey jack with jalapeno cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine first four ingredients in medium sized bowl. Add sugar, mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and chili powder, mixing to combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing just until fully incorporated. Add the sweet potatoes and cheese, mixing just until evenly distributed through batter. I use foil muffin liners because I don’t have a muffin pan, and filled them approximately ¾ full, which made about 10 muffins. Bake for 20 minutes.

Servings Per Recipe: 10
Calories: 170 Fat: 5.5g Saturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 34mg Sodium: 435mg Potassium: 93mg Total Carbs: 24g Fiber: 1.5g Protein: 6.7g