Fluffy French Toast

This year for Valentine’s I wanted to do something sweet and romantic for my husband.  I decided on breakfast in bed.  I made a list of what I wanted to serve-fresh fruit, coffee and freshly squeezed juice and French toast.  I have a go-to French Toast that is very simple and easy but I wanted something extra special for my Valentine.  I found a recipe that while still simple, added a few sweet touches and decided to go for it. 

The night before I waited until my husband went to bed, then I spent a ridiculous amount of time designing a cheesy card on the computer.  Then I set the kitchen up so that it would be ready for me first thing Sunday morning.  I had the coffee maker ready to go.  I cleaned the fruit, cut it and wrapped it in the bowl I would be using.  I got out the tray that has only ever been used when I was on bed rest with the twins and set out the plates, silverware and napkin as well as a juice cup and coffee cup.  If my husband had come downstairs in the middle of the night he would have known what I was up to, especially with little post-it notes to help my groggy brain and the griddle all hooked up and ready to go. 

I absolutely love surprises and the anticipation almost kept me from sleeping and I was up and out of bed early the next morning squeezing Clementine's and brewing coffee.  I cut several pieces of Texas Toast with heart shaped cookie cutters-but the idea was better than the carried out plan.  Fortunately, we abide by the ‘it’s the thought that counts’ rule around here and those pieces were enjoyed no less than the more presentable, full sized pieces. 

I didn’t get to try the Toast until after I had surprised my husband (he did offer me some of his but I turned it down) and it was superb.  Absolutely delicious.  Two kids, my husband and I ate an entire loaf of French Toast that morning, it was that irresistible.  This recipe is so quick and easy that it will most definitely replace my old French Toast Recipe.

Fluffy French Toast

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Loaf of Texas Toast

Directions

1. Preheat griddle to 350*F. Spray with cooking spray.
2. Whisk flour and milk together.  Add eggs, vanilla, salt and sugar.  Sprinkle cinnamon on top.  Dip toast in mixture and cook on griddle 3-4 minutes per side.
3. Serve warm with favorite syrup or spread.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

When it comes to baking chocolate chips, nuts and zucchini are three of the things I love to see on a list of ingredients. My favorite quick bread is zucchini and my favorite cookies are chocolate chip and I will take both with nuts, especially walnuts or pecans. This muffin incorporates all three as well and is a wonderful afternoon snack or morning pick me up.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt). Combine egg, oil, applesauce, buttermilk and vanilla. Combine with flour mixture and fold in zucchini, chips and nuts.
3. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. I like to use a cookie scoop, about two good size scoops fills the tins 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated oven. These freeze well.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Sometimes I have an item I want to bake in my head but no recipe that meets that something. Does this ever happen to you? I decided that I would really like a coffee cake like muffin, heavy on the cinnamon and with a yummy streusel topping. So I glanced through cookbooks and searched the internet and just didn't find what I was truly after. Finally, I decided to use a sour cream coffee cake recipe as a base and work from there. The result was quite delicious. My two year old son put it quite simply after his first muffin, "More, more, more." That's exactly the way I was feeling.

I have frozen these and defrosted them overnight to wonderful results. I have also, because I am the Queen of Impatience, taken them straight from the freezer and just heated them wrapped in a paper towel with equally pleasing results. I have made another batch and just frozen them to have on hand when I am too lazy to make breakfast but want something more than cereal of a Fiber One bar.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

(muffins)

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup eggbeaters (or 2 large eggs)

1/2 cup light sour cream

1/2 cup fat free buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(topping)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pecans (fine pieces)

1/4 cup ground oatmeal

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line cups with baking liners.

2.) Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla; mix well.

3.) Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl; flours, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to cream mixture.

4.) Combine streusel topping in separate bowl, using pastry blender to cut butter into other ingredients.

5.) Put small dollop into each muffin tin, top with some of the streusel topping. Finish filling muffin tins with muffin batter.

6.) Bake in oven 18-20 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

Sock It to Me Cake

You may have heard of a Sock It to Me Cake, until this week I had not. Turns out it's a pretty popular cake. I was looking for a pecan cake to make in my bundt pan and this is what I kept finding. So alas, I decided to use my only yellow cake mix in the pantry, make a few alterations to the recipe and give it a try.

The toasting and chopping of the pecans were the worst thing about this cake. I personally hate toasting nuts. All too often I burn my nuts and have to start over and nuts are not cheap. So if I'm not burning my nuts I am under-cooking my nuts where the whole process is probably pointless. And I hate chopping nuts. I buy my nuts in bulk at Sam's because I like to save money, but chopping nuts causes a little anxiety attack to begin because my OCD mind gets frustrated with the vast difference in my nut pieces. But I made this cake even with the toasting and the chopping. The cake was good but I think in the future I would chop my pecans even smaller and maybe skip the whole toasting process altogether.

Sock It To Me Cake

Ingredients

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cup light sour cream

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1/2 cup eggbeaters

1 cup toasted and chopped pecans

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.) Grease bundt pan. Toast pecans for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Chop pecans.

3.) Blend cake mix, sour cream, applesauce, sugar, water, eggs, and eggbeaters. Beat on high 2 minutes. Pour 2/3 batter into greased bundt pan.

4.) Combine pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle oven batter. Spread remaining batter evenly over sugar mixture.

5.) Bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 25 minutes.

6.) Mix confectioners sugar and milk. Remove cake from bundt pan and drizzle with glaze.

Ultimate Double Chocolate Ghiradelli Cookies

For the past two years we have thrown a Cookie Exchange party around Christmas. Everyone seems to be in the mood for baked goods and who couldn't use a few more cookie recipes to try out. The first year I was going to make Snickerdoodles but decided at the last minute to make Oatmeal cookies that we christened 'Jake Just Got a New Haircut Cookie' from that period of time when every new baked good was given a name depending on what had happened that day. This past year I was going to make Snickerdoodles and then my husband suggested I make these cookies that I had taken for a test run the week before the Exchange. They were pretty fabulous so I was easily swayed.

These cookies are a bit more work than your average cookies, or at least my average cookies, but they are so rich and divine that it really is worth what seems like a fair bit of hassle. These particular cookies pictured are actually made from a leftover log I had in the freezer from the cookie exchange that I had never baked. They were still as awesome after sitting in the freezer for a month as they were the first day. In fact I had all but forgotten what a pain in my arse they were that they may have even been better this time around.

• Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies courtesy of Ghiradelli (the best chocolate on Earth?)
• Ingredients:
• 
  
• 2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Melt the bittersweet chocolate chips and butter in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick; stir in the chocolate mixture.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder; stir into the chocolate mixture. Gently mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Using a sheet of plastic wrap, form the dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. Because the dough will be quite soft, use the plastic wrap to hold the dough in the log shape. Wrap tightly; refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
6. Unwrap the dough. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 3/4-inch slices. Place the slices 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until a shiny crust forms on top of the cookies but the interior is still soft. Let cool on the cookie sheet. Then remove from the cookie sheet with a metal spatula.
8. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.