When I saw this recipe, which comes from an issue of delicious. magazine from April 2010, I first noticed how easy and fresh it is.  The combination of flavors really intrigued me as well.

This simple little Aussie cafe breakfast classic is so quick to make that you could have it for breakfast before work or school.  Or if you don’t work or go to school, then it makes a great brunch.  It’s so fresh and delicious, you’ll love it!

The original recipe serves 4, but I splurged and gave myself 2 slices of toast instead of just 1!  It’s a versatile recipe in that you don’t really need exact amounts – just add the ingredients to suit your tastes.

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First, let’s talk about the brioche.  What is brioche?  Baking Bites explains it best by saying, “Brioche is an enriched French bread, meaning that the dough contains a high proportion of fat it in. Adding ingredients like milk and oil will enrich a dough. In the case of brioche, the dough is enriched with lots of butter and egg yolks. This gives the bread a very fine, very soft crumb and an almost flaky texture, in addition to turning the crust a dark golden color after baking.”

I first made brioche a month or so ago, from this very easy recipe at Almost Bourdain.  It was a breeze to make and when it was done, I was rewarded with this beautiful loaf of brioche.

I mainly used it for French toast!  But it made me wonder what else I could with it, and cinnamon rolls popped into my head.  I recalled the previous cinnamon rolls I had made, which were the first ones I had made with yeast (last year I had posted a cinnamon roll recipe that did not require yeast) about 4 months ago.  It was a copycat Cinnabon recipe.  They tasted delicious, but they didn’t last long enough to photograph!  My plan was to make the brioche dough for cinnamon rolls, and use the filling (a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon) and icing (a cream cheese glaze) from the copycat Cinnabon recipe.

I was pretty much just winging it, as I wasn’t sure how thick I should roll the dough out to, or if I should cut the filling recipe in half.  I even had no idea how many rolls the dough would make!  I made the brioche recipe from Almost Bourdain up to the point where I had finished kneading the dough by hand.  I then used my rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangle shape, I’d say it was about 1/3″ thick?

When I was done rolling it, I spread some slightly cooled, melted butter on top of the dough and sprinkled the full recipe for the Cinnabon filling (1 cup packed brown sugar + 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon, mix well) evenly on top of the butter.  I went over the filling with the rolling pin to make sure it was packed on well.  Starting from the longest side of the rectangle, I rolled up the dough tightly (but not too tightly).  I cut each roll about 1/3″ – 1/2″ thick, or somewhere around there.  Be careful when cutting the rolls as you don’t want to flatten the roll.  Use a warm damp sharp knife (dip the knife into a bowl of warm water, or hold it under warm water from the faucet) and dab it onto a towel to dry off excess water.  Then using a wide sawing motion, and gently holding one side of the roll, cut one slice.  You’ll need to repeat that process with each slice, being sure to wipe off any dough and cinnamon on the knife before proceeding.

I ended up with 14 rolls – I had 3 small ones from the ends of the roll, so I scrunched them up in a corner of the baking pan.  After placing the rolls in the pan (I put a layer of baking paper on the bottom of the pan), they’ll need to be left in a warm place again to rise until doubled in size.  This took about an hour for me.

Preheat the oven to 350F and place the pan in the oven when the rolls are ready.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.  And when you take them out of the oven, this is what you’ll have…

While the rolls are baking, you should prepare the cream cheese glaze.  I did cut this recipe in half, because when I made it before I thought that it was way too much icing.  Also, I wanted to be sure to be able to taste the brioche.  The cream cheese glaze recipe is – 4 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, 3/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons (or 1 ounce) softened cream cheese, 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.  Place all the ingredients into a bowl and use an electric mixer to mix until fluffy.  As soon as the rolls came out of the oven, I put a dollop on top of each roll, let it melt for a minute, then spread the dollops over the rolls with an offset spatula.

How indulgently delicious does that look!  I tried one straight after icing and it tasted incredible, I was so pleased!  I even took some to our neighbors across the road, which they enjoyed for afternoon tea.  I stored the rest in the refrigerator (because of the cream cheese) and when we wanted to have one, we reheated it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds.  They definitely tasted better straight out of the oven, however.

It’s kind of funny that after I made these cinnamon rolls last week, I suddenly started seeing a lot of other food blogs baking cinnamon rolls.  It must just be the season!  Here’s the copycat Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, from Pass The Sushi; bacon cinnamon rolls from Framed Cooks; caramel apple cinnamon rolls from Annie’s Eats; and pumpkin cinnamon rolls from Naturally Ella.  Looks like everyone loves cinnamon rolls!

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.

Preparing the apples and French toast is easy; it’s the salted butter caramel sauce that could give some people a problem.  The original recipe for the caramel sauce comes from David Lebovitz, and it can be found at Almost Bourdain, where I found the recipe for the popcorn ice cream with salted butter caramel sauce.  It involves melting down 2 cups of sugar in a large Dutch oven, and cooking it until it becomes a dark caramel color.  This wasn’t as easy I had thought it was.  When I was making it, the edges of the sugar did not liquefy.  I had to stir it a little bit, and noticed that the bottom of the sugar was very, very golden already, so I started stirring and eventually got it to a really beautiful caramel color – it took a while though.

Next step is to take the melted sugar off the heat and stir in 1 2/3 cup heavy cream.  Apparently it’s supposed to bubble up furiously, so be very cautious at this stage.  But mine didn’t bubble at all!  Instead, after I added it, the caramel became a huge sticky chunk.  Hm, that’s not what was supposed to happen – I hoped that I hadn’t ruined it.  I returned it to the heat, and continued to stir, stir and stir (my arm was so tired by the end of this!) to melt that chunk back down.  And eventually it did melt down and I was so glad I hadn’t decided to throw it out!  The sauce was very smooth at this point, and to finish it off, I added 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (or you can use fleur de sel if you’re lucky enough to have it) and stirred until I had this gorgeous-looking, drool-worthy caramel sauce.  It was simply to die for.

So, when all that is done, you can keep the sauce in the refrigerator for up to one month.  I had heaps leftover after the ice cream was all gone.

For the French toast, you’ll need to thinly slice up half of a sweet apple, I used Pink Lady.  But don’t slice them too thin, and you can peel the apple if you like (I didn’t).  Fry the apple slices with a bit of the caramel sauce until they’re tender and a little bit transparent.  Set aside, then make the French toast.  You can use my way, or you can use your way, doesn’t matter to me!

For my caramel apple French toast, I used a gourmet thick-sliced white bread.  You can use any type of bread you like.

Just looking at these pictures as I post them makes me wish I still had some caramel sauce leftover to make this French toast again!  :)

Caramel Apple French Toast

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce
adapted from Almost Bourdain
makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
2 cups (400 g) sugar
1 2/3 cups (400 g) heavy cream
2 tablespoons (30 g) salted butter
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel or coarse sea salt (or to taste)

Method
Spread the sugar in an even layer in a large metal Dutch oven or casserole, at least 6 quarts (6 L). Set over moderate heat and cook without stirring, until the sugar near the edge just starts to liquefy.

Using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, begin gently stirring, encouraging the melted sugar around the edges toward the center and delicately stirring up any sugar melting on the bottom as well. The sugar will start to look pebbly as it cooks, but keep going; it will melt completely as it turns amber.

Continue to cook until the sugar turns deep brown and starts to smoke. (Don’t worry about any large chunks of caramel.) The darker you can cook the sugar without burning it, the better the final sauce will taste. It’s ready when it’s the colour of a well-worn centime, or penny, and will smell a bit smoky.

Remove from heat and quickly stir in about a quarter of the cream. The mixture will bubble up furiously, so you may wish to wear an oven mitt over your stirring hand. Continued to whisk in the cream, stirring as you go to make sure it’s smooth. Stir in the butter and salt. Serve warm. If you like your sauce a bit thinner or less rich, add 1/4 cup (60 ml) water.

Storage: The sauce can be made up to one month in advance and kept refrigerated. Rewarm the caramel in a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave.

French Toast
Adapted from myself
Serves 1-2

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon, or to your taste
Dash of nutmeg
4 slices thick-sliced gourmet bread, or bread of your choice
unsalted butter, to grease pan
1/2 Pink Lady apple, thinly sliced, peeled if you like
1-2 tablespoons caramel sauce (recipe above), plus extra to serve

Method
Prepare egg mixture for the French toast by placing eggs, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour into a shallow dish and set aside.

Heat a frying pan over low-medium heat.  Add about 1-2 teaspoons (just eyeball it) unsalted butter and let it melt.  Add sliced apples and 1 tablespoon of the caramel sauce.  Stir to melt caramel sauce and coat the apples.  Cook the apples until tenter and a little bit transparent.  Add 1 teaspoon or more of caramel sauce if the apples are looking dry.  When done, remove from the pan and set aside (keep warm, if possible).

Do not clean the frying pan after cooking the apples – the cooked-on caramel will give a great flavor to at least your first batch of French toast.  Keep the pan on the heat and increase the heat a little bit.  Add 1-2 teaspoons (again, just eyeball it) of unsalted butter to the pan and let it melt.  Coat a slice of bread on both sides in the egg mixture, then place into the frying pan.  Cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes, then flip the bread over and cook the other side until golden brown.  Repeat with the rest of the bread, adding more butter before you add more bread to the pan.  You can cook two slices at a time or more, if your pan is big enough.  Set aside the cooked slices and keep warm while you cook the rest of the bread.

I like to add more cinnamon and nutmeg to my egg mixture after coating each slice of bread just to make sure the next slice has the same amount of spice!

To serve, arrange French toast on a plate.  Place caramel apples on top of the toast, then drizzle the whole pile with caramel sauce (not too much though, so it won’t be too rich!).  You may need to heat the caramel sauce in the microwave to make it pourable, if it’s been in the refrigerator.

Then enjoy!  If you make it, let me know how you like it!  :)

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.

Let’s start with the caramel sauce.  It is drop-dead easy to make – just throw the ingredients into a saucepan and simmer for a few minutes.  And it’s super sweet.  But that’s okay, because the tang from the creme fraiche balances everything out perfectly.

What you’ll find most time-consuming is that the eggs for the pancakes are separated.  The yolks are whisked along with the regular ingredients (milk, flour, baking powder, etc.) and the whites are whisked to stiff peaks then gently folded into the batter.  I used my stand mixer to do that because I don’t have the patience to do it by hand (unlike Jonathan on MasterChef Australia, have you seen that guy whisk egg whites?  Wow, he’s like a human KitchenAid!).

Anyway, you’ll get about 9 pancakes.  Divide them up into groups of three, layer with a dollop of creme fraiche and sliced bananas, give the caramel sauce a stir, then drizzle over the pancakes.  Lastly, dust the whole plate with icing sugar and sprinkle with shredded coconut.  And there you have it, one of the most divine, heavenly, indulgent dishes you could ever have the pleasure of eating.

My pictures just don’t do it justice, really.

Just a quick tip – I had to whisk my creme fraiche to get it all nice and creamy, otherwise it was firm, like a block of tofu.  It was the first time I have ever had creme fraiche.  I could never eat this stuff on its own, it packs quite a tangy punch for me, but it was perfect with these pancakes.

Coconut Pancakes With Caramel Sauce, Bananas And Creme Fraiche
Adapted from delicious. magazine, November 2009
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
1 cup (250ml) coconut milk
1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
3 ripe bananas
Unsalted butter, melted, to grease
Creme fraiche, icing sugar and shredded coconut, to serve

Caramel sauce:
50g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup firmly packed (100g) brown sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
150ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
For caramel sauce, stir all ingredients in a pan over low heat to dissolve sugar, then simmer for 5 minutes, until thickened. Set aside.

For pancakes, place egg yolks, coconut milk and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Mash 1 banana and fold in to combine. In another bowl, whisk egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold into the batter.

Heat a non-stick frypan over medium-low heat and brush with butter. Using a heaped tablespoon of batter for each pancake, add 3-4 spoonfuls to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden and cooked. Keep warm, while continuing with the remaining batter to make a total of 9 pancakes.

Slice remaining bananas. Arrange the pancakes in stacks on serving plates, alternating with banana slices and creme fraiche. Drizzle with caramel sauce, then dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with coconut.

To Valli Little, the creator of these pancakes – YOU ROCK!

Here’s the photo from the cover of the magazine that made me fall in love:

See what I mean?

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!  :)

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.

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 12

Ingredients
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 extract

In 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!  :)