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Malted Waffles with Baked Brown Sugar Banana Ice Cream

May 6, 2012 By 44 Comments

Good Baked Sunday Morning everyone!  And I’m having waffles!

Okay.  So I didn’t really have these for breakfast this morning.  Ummm.  I had them for my dinner last night!  A great group of bakers and fanatics for the cookbook, Baked Explorations, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, have been making these Malted Waffles in some form or another.  Please check out Baked Sunday Mornings to see what my fellow baking explorers did with this recipe.

So in keeping with the theme of my blog, I decided to turn them into dessert waffles!  The batter was particularly light and airy.  And the waffles were more chewy and never crisped up quite the way I am used to.  Another reason why I decided to turn these into dessert waffles was because while the recipe called for malt powder, the only thing I could find in all of the markets in my area was Ovaltine!  And while these waffles were not very sweet at all, I just thought the flavor might be enhanced with some home made Baked Brown Sugar Banana and Walnut Ice Cream!  And to top it off…..a drizzle of Malted Chocolate Sauce.  Let me show you what the ice cream did for these waffles….. [Read more...]

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Carrot Ginger Trifles

February 16, 2012 By 57 Comments

It’s Kitchen Improv!!!

Is it the third Thursday of the month already?  Then it’s time for another Kitchen Improv reveal!  Thanks so much to Kristen from The Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for being the fabulous fearless leader for this wonderful group of creative cooks and bakers!  Every month, Kristen gives us two ingredients to combine in any dish of our choice.  I love this idea and am glad that we are given a month to think about it.  While the ingredients are not so very off the wall, given the nature of my blog, I find it kind of challenging to think of them in ways that work for a dessert!  This month, we were given carrots and ginger.  And what I came up with is sweet with a touch of savory.  Come take a closer peek….. [Read more...]

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Apple, Ham & Smoked Gouda Galettes

January 22, 2012 By 47 Comments

“A HUNGRY STOMACH SELDOM SCORNS PLAIN FOOD.”  Horace

Have you ever been so busy that you forget to eat?  And then when you finally have a moment to realize that you are hungry, what you eat tastes so incredibly good.  Which leads you to wonder, was it really that good?  Or was I just really that hungry?!  I decided to try this humble galette today.  It’s made in stages.  First the dough for the crust.  Then it chills.  Then you fill it.  Chill it some more.  And then bake it for a half an hour or so.  And in between I kept myself kind of busy.  So at 4pm when the galette was ready..I realized that I hadn’t had anything but a cup of coffee today..and I was more than ready to eat it!  So simple yet flavorful.  A warm, flaky, tender crust, sprinkled with grated smoked gouda and just the right amount of pepper is filled with buttery apples, apricot jam, mustard and ham; lavished with an egg wash and a pinch of sea salt; and then baked to a golden perfection!  Yes…I was hungry…..but this was delicious! [Read more...]

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Baked French Toast

December 4, 2011 By 62 Comments

Welcome to another beautiful Baked Sunday Mornings!

I’ve been feeling bad that I have missed a couple of weekends with this awesome group because I really enjoy meeting the new people who are just as fanatical about cooking from this wonderful cookbook as I am!  It’s a great book – Baked Explorations – by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Fortunately, for me, it was a pretty easy assignment and I welcomed this after a rather difficult week.  And there really is nothing more comforting to me than a warm, chewy, sweet french toast.  I kept pretty true to the original recipe, making just a few changes to accommodate my fridge and pantry.  Here are a few more pictures with the changes that I made…….. [Read more...]

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Wild Blueberry Oatmeal in Warm Maple Cream

September 18, 2011 By 34 Comments

“YOU HAVE TO EAT OATMEAL OR YOU’LL DRY UP.  ANYBODY KNOWS THAT.”  Kay Thompson, author of ‘Eloise’.

Growing up in New England, and especially in the winters, my dad would very often make me oatmeal for breakfast.  To some, this may have seemed like the dreaded, dreary breakfast.  I think oatmeal has a bad rap of being a sticky, clumpy, heavy gruel.  But I have always loved it! Dad always served it with milk and maple syrup.  And I remember secretly wishing that he would be distracted while making it, because I was sure to find a lump or two in my bowl.  And I loved finding the sweet, unexpected texture of those lumps!

I still love oatmeal and eat it all year round.  And who says oatmeal can’t be sexy!  So I’ve tried to elevate it a little bit from it’s rustic form; while still giving a wink and a nod to my dad, who I miss with all my heart.  A neighbor gave me this recipe some time ago telling me how she tweaked it from when it was given to her.  And I did my own tweaking to get it to my personal liking.  Here are the basics, but I hope you will feel free to tweak away……. [Read more...]

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Pear and Gorgonzola Stacks

September 13, 2011 By 71 Comments

“BE MODERATE IN ORDER TO TASTE THE JOYS OF LIFE IN ABUNDANCE.”  Epicurus

HEY!  Who put the salad on my dessert blog?!?

I like to cook.  I love to eat.  But my PASSION is for desserts!  Sometimes I wonder if, because I write a dessert blog, people assume I’m eating desserts for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  (Ok ok….I won’t lie.  I DO like a little sweet something with my coffee in the morning!)  But I do otherwise eat well.  And I particularly love that fine balance of sweet and savory.  And this little salad, which I had for lunch today, was just that.  Again, the pear is perfect here because it is not an overly sweet fruit.  But add the contrasts of tangy and chewy cranberries, crunchy bacon bits, crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnut pieces, fresh greens in a citrus vinaigrette, and all of this drizzled with honey…..and you cannot imagine what a salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, savory sensation this was!  Oddly….or maybe not….my favorite flavor combination here was the little chunks of blue cheese drizzled in honey!  Lots of room for variation here, too.  But this is how it all went down for me……. [Read more...]

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Banana Split Ice Cream Bread

August 24, 2011 By 44 Comments

Well it’s been a rough week for me as I have found myself off my feet most of the time with a knee injury.  And since it’s been impossible to hobble around the kitchen on my crutches, I decided to make life easy for myself and post another installment of I’ll Have What She’s Having…!  This particular recipe is for Ice Cream Bread.  And it couldn’t be easier.  Because all you do, literally, is mix together your favorite ice cream with some self rising flour.  Into a bread pan and into the oven.  And just under an hour later you have a moist, sweet, delicious bread.  And that’s that!  And with so many ice cream flavors and combinations for mix ins, you could probably make this bread a hundred times and never have the same bread twice!

I chose to use some Ben & Jerry’s Banana Split ice cream (strawberry and banana ice cream with walnuts, fudge chunks, and fudge swirl); and I added some additional walnuts and coconut for some mix ins!  Of all the baking I do, honestly, breads and muffins are not exactly my strengths.  So I am scratching my head on how I have this perfect bread sitting on my kitchen counter!

This recipe comes from Maranda at Jolts & Jollies.  While this is not a new blog, it is new to me.  And I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon it.  But I’m glad I did!  I don’t know Maranda personally, but she seems like a lovely, warm and compassionate person.  She shares many wonderful recipes from main dishes to desserts.  But as you might have expected….it’s her cakes and sweets that have caught my eye!  And when you pop over to her site for this recipe, you will see why!  Maranda has such a great variety of recipes, with clear cut instructions and wonderful photos!

So for an easy, delicious, fool-proof bread (not to mention that you will probably already have what you need in your pantry and freezer)….please go on over to Jolts & Jollies.  Say hello to Maranda, see how she chose to make this bread,  and check out the rest of her wonderful blog.  You will be as glad as I am that you did!

 

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Strawberry Breakfast Cookies

June 27, 2011 By 20 Comments

“THE BREEZE AT DAWN HAS SECRETS TO TELL YOU.  DON’T GO BACK TO SLEEP.”  Rumi

I am not a big breakfast eater.  I prefer to skip breakfast and indulge in a larger and very leisurely brunch.  And I prefer to eat breakfast for my dinner!  Go figure.  What I really love to eat for breakfast are pastries and sweet things with either a cup of cafe au lait or tea with milk and sugar. And while I LOVE a good sticky bun; sometimes a simple piece of brioche with a little jam is all I need.  Mostly, these days….my breakfast is on the fly.  And so anything made portable is great!

These breakfast treats are really good and very simple!  They are a cross between a scone and a cookie.  And again, the ingredients can be so versatile.  The secret ingredients in these little gems are……. [Read more...]

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Pancake Souffle Muffins with Strawberry Maple Syrup

May 29, 2011 By 7 Comments

“HE WHO GOES TO BED HUNGRY DREAMS OF PANCAKES.”  Maltese Proverb

 

Well now.  Anyone who truly knows me, knows that my thinking and my dreams are rarely conventional!  And so I was happy to have stumbled upon a recipe for these savory sweet creations! They are a perfect combination of the taste of a pancake, with the texture of a souffle, all in the compact little shape of a muffin!

Very easy to make, and again, I love making recipes that lend themselves to variation.  I added cinnamon to the batter.  But still, they are not very sweet.  Which is good, because the pure maple syrup and strawberries add plenty of richness.  And the  ‘muffins’ are nice and light.  Here is where my unconventional mind is going with these…….. [Read more...]

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Maple Blueberry Sauce

April 23, 2011 By 4 Comments

“ALL HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON A LEISURELY BREAKFAST.”  John Gunther

 

It is so nice when I have the time to make breakfast.  Most mornings I am gulping down a quick yogurt while standing up; or grabbing a Starbuck’s along the way to work.  Sometimes it just feels good to treat yourself right and make something a little special.  This is one of my favorite recipes; quick and easy.  The ricotta makes it a little savory, while the lemon keeps it light and fresh and the blueberries  add the right touch of sweetness.  A great idea for breakfast or brunch.  And it’s definitely a great way to start the day.  Today, it was a burst of sunshine on my rainy morning! [Read more...]

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