Nov 23
According to the magazine where I found this recipe, avocado, tomato and mint on rye is a classic Aussie cafe staple. I, myself, have never heard of it before, and perhaps that’s because whenever I go to a cafe I tend to order a coffee and cake rather than an actual meal! Read more
I’ve made brioche before, and I’ve made cinnamon rolls before. But I’ve never made brioche cinnamon rolls. I’m so proud of myself for this one – I did a really fantastic job on these. Read more
Jul 9
One of my most favorite comfort foods is French toast. I just love it, especially on a cold, winter morning, or in some cases, a cold, winter evening for dinner! I don’t know who invented French toast – who would have thought to coat a slice of bread in raw eggs, milk and cinnamon and then fry it? – but I praise them!
My own basic recipe for French toast is below. I usually pour some maple syrup over it, sometimes with bananas, if I have any. Sometimes I even caramelize the bananas. But last week, I had a heap of leftover salted butter caramel sauce from the popcorn ice cream I had made and wanted to do something special with, something that I could share with others.
An idea suddenly popped into my head one night. I was craving French toast (which was not at all unusual for me!) and was thinking of ways I could jazz it up. How about caramel French toast? No… it would need a fruit to go with it… how about apples? Yes, how about caramel apple French toast!
And you know what? It was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. It was so good, that I found myself making it again the very next day.
May 24
When you look at a food magazine, the photo on the cover should invite you to open up the magazine, have a look, and then convince you to carry it to the checkout to purchase it. Most food magazines deliver this invite pretty well to me, especially if it has something sweet on the cover.
In this particular case, I was at the library browsing through the small selection of back issues of delicious. magazine. That’s when I saw it. A photo on the cover of November 2009′s issue that looked like a stack of Heaven with Heaven sauce and Heaven cream and a scattering of Heaven thrown on top. I clutched on to it immediately.
What was actually on the cover was a beautifully arranged stack of 3 coconut pancakes. In between the layers was a hearty creamy dollop of creme fraiche and sliced bananas. From the very top of the stack of pancakes, caramel sauce drizzled down and scattered about the stack was shredded coconut and a dusting of icing sugar.
Oh. My. God. The photo looked fantastic. And then, I made it for myself.
My stack looks sort of similar to the photo on the cover, but it doesn’t have the elegance that the cover photo did! But in the end, it didn’t matter to me one single bit what it looked like, because this is one of the most delicious stacks of pancakes I have ever eaten. Ever.
Sep 30
I believe that pancakes are supposed to be super easy to make, however mine never turn out fat, fluffy and golden brown like the pictures. My pancakes usually end up soggy in the middle and flat, and if I let them cook any longer they turn very golden brown!
Whatever I do wrong when I make pancakes, I consistently do it wrong (I did have a few exceptions with pumpkin, chocolate chip and peanut butter pancakes). So I stopped following recipes and bought a box of pancake mix – all I needed to do was add water.
My first batch from the box pancake mix were fluffy, but they were still soggy inside and too golden brown on the outside, how disappointing! I read a bit closer on the box and found a useful tip – use shortening instead of butter or oil to grease the pan with when you’re making pancakes because shortening doesn’t burn as quickly. I would try this the next time I made pancakes.
Following a recipe which was on the back of the box, I made apple cinnamon pancakes. To make this, the pancake mix is made the regular way with the addition of water, but applesauce and cinnamon were also added to the mix. And I used shortening to grease the pan.
The result? One batch of the best pancakes I’ve ever made! Because the pancakes didn’t burn as fast (due to the shortening), the insides of the pancakes were able to cook completely. The pancakes were one of the fattest and fluffiest ones I’ve seen. The applesauce and cinnamon gave the pancakes a nice flavor, and was an instant favorite of my 2-year-old son’s.
I’m pretty sure that if you’d like to try the applesauce and cinnamon flavor, it should be able to mix into any plain pancake mix – whether a box mix or a homemade mix – without a problem. For a batch of 12 pancakes, you need to add 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. I used unsweetened applesauce.
Pancakes are great for breakfast, but I never am awake enough to prepare them in the morning! Our apple cinnamon pancakes ended up being dinner for us! :)
Jun 16
I really have been in a pancake mood lately. I really liked my chocolate chip pancakes and wanted to make them again, but I thought I’d do something different this time – make peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes!
The peanut butter pancake recipe comes from Sunny Anderson; I just added the chocolate chips myself. I made the batter, dropped the batter into the frying pan, and then sprinkled about one teaspoon of mini chocolate chips on the batter in the frying pan.
The blackberry syrup, or even any other flavor of berry syrup, to accompany the peanut butter pancakes would have been fantastic, but I had no berries at the time and just used maple syrup.
The first recipe I’ve decided to try from my new The Taste of Home Cookbook is for brown sugar oat muffins. The original recipe did not list ground flaxseed as an ingredient, but a tip for baking muffins is listed next to the recipe. It reads as follows…
Add Some Flaxseed
Milled flaxseed is packed with heart-healthy oils and is a good source of fiber. Besides sprinkling it on cereal or blending it into smoothies, it can be substituted for some of the fat in breads and muffins. Try using 3 tablespoons of milled flaxseed instead of 1 tablespoon butter or oil called for in a recipe. Be sure to use milled or ground flaxseed to enjoy all its wholesome benefits.
So I added 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed to the dry ingredients, and reduced the oil in the recipe by 1 tablespoon. The result is an awesome wholesome-tasting muffin that is just perfect for breakfast.
Brown Sugar Oat Muffins (with Ground Flaxseed)
Adapted from The Taste of Home Cookbook
Makes 12Ingredients
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used light)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil, minus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla extractIn a medium bowl, combine the oats, flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and flaxseed. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until combined.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full*. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.
* I filled the cups closer to 3/4′s full.
Mmm, I can’t wait until tomorrow’s breakfast to have another one! :)
Jamieanne has a passion for food and baking that dates back to her early childhood. She is the author of The Sweetest Kitchen blog, which features her favorite recipes from magazines, cookbooks and other food blogs. Keep up to date with Jamieanne and her blog by following on:
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