Tag: Breakfast

Sunday Morning Blueberry Muffins

On By lukephillaryhIn Ode to NYT2 Comments
Blueberry muffins simple recipe Julia Moskin recipe
Blueberries + Carrots + Walnuts = Perfection

Pancakes? Too sweet. Bacon and eggs? Too greasy. Yogurt parfait? Eh, been there, done that. Oatmeal? Don’t even ask. Sunday morning breakfast can be full of options, but with half of the weekend already over you deserve to be picky. You may want to lay in bed all day and treat yourself to an indulgent breakfast; or keep it lean before a 5 mile run. Hillary usually wants to be lay in bed a little bit longer while I’m gearing up to go…we compromise with a long walk. Whatever your appetite, day’s plan or mood, these whole grain blueberry muffins will surely satisfy.

This recipe comes from Julia Moskin via The New York Times. We omitted the orange streusel topping because we wanted these muffins to still have some simplicity. Filled with carrots, blueberries, oats, walnuts – there’s nothing more you really need. Indulgent, but still healty-ish, it’s the perfect way to start your morning. And if you take sometime to make these on Sunday morning, you’ll have muffin breakfasts for the rest of the week!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal (preferably fine-ground)
  • 2/3 cup rolled oats (not the instant version)
  • 2/3 packed light brown sugar
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp nutmeg (or additional cinnamon)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
  • 1 1/3 cups coconut oil or neutral oil like canola
  • 2/3 cup maple syrup or honey
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups grated carrots or tart apple
  • 1 1/2 cups blueberries
  • 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Directions:

  1. Assemble all the ingredients on your table / countertop for birds-eye Instagram photo. You are baking on Sunday morning, it deserves documentation.
  2. Heat oven to 425°F. Heavily butter your muffin tin or use paper liners.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flours, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt
  4. In a smaller mixing bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil, maple syrup and eggs.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and carefully mix. Don’t over mix, the batter can be a bit lumpy. Stir in carrots, blueberries, and walnuts.
  6. Let the batter rest for 15-20 minutes. You can use this time to post the earlier “prep” photo to your Instagram story. After resting, give the batter a light stir to make sure it’s thick and fluffy.
  7. Plop enough of the batter to almost fill the muffin indentation. Mound the center so you’ll get nicely rounded tops.
  8. Place tin in oven and reduce temperature to 400°F. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool muffins in the tin on a rack for 5-10 minutes and then remove.

Details: Makes about 24 small/medium sized muffins

Canelés de Bordeaux

On By lukephillaryhIn Luke's Dishes, Uncategorized4 Comments
Cannelés de Bordeaux Mimi Thorisson Trader Joes
Powder sugar perfection

Canelés are the perfect treat. They’re bite-sized, super sweet, crunchy and custardy. You can enjoy with a morning coffee, as an afternoon snack, or have a couple after dinner for a little sweetness. And when sprinkled with powdered sugar, they’re très photogenic – perfect for Instagram.  We discovered this recipe via Luke’s mother, who mastered making canelés by following a recipe in Mimi Thorisson’s A Kitchen in France. Proper French pastry chefs use copper molds, but a silicone mold (recommended by Mimi) makes life a lot easier. The only qualm we have with canelés is that they require some serious patience! You must make the batter at least 24 hours in advance. We suggest making the batter Saturday morning so that you can enjoy these little gems with Sunday brunch…and lunch, dinner, and midnight dessert!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups + 2 TBS whole milk
  • 1-2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 TBS unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup dark rum (tip: we bought two mini bottles of Kraken Black Spiced Rum)

Directions:

  1. Note! Batter must be prepared at least 24 hours before baking, so plan ahead.
  2. In a medium saucepan set at medium-low temp, whisk together milk and vanilla seeds. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let it rest for 5 minutes then transfer to a large bowl.
  3. Whisk in the sugar and flour slowly, avoiding any lumps. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix until incorporated. Stir in the melted butter. Pour in the rum and whisk the batter until smooth. The batter should have the same consistency as palachinkes (aka crepes).
  4. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours (can be up to 48 hours).
  5. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  6. If using silicone canelés molds, you do not need to brush with butter. Copper/metal molds are trickier to use. Consult more professional canelés-makers for suggestions.
  7. Fill molds about to 2/3, be very careful to not fill too much. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes then turn down the oven to 350°F and bake for additional 50 minutes.
  8. Let canelés cool in their molds for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar when you’re ready to enjoy!

Details: Most silicon molds hold 15 or 16 canelés, we had a bit of batter leftover once our mold was filled.

Baka’s Palačinke

On By lukephillaryhIn Luke's Dishes2 Comments
Crepes Croatian food nutella
Luke demonstrating perfect palachinka form

I am a proud half-Croatian, which means even though I can’t speak a full sentence, I can still root for the soccer team and visit family on the beautiful Dalmatian coast. One of the biggest treats of growing up with a Croatian mother was the occasional palachinka (known as crepes to most) breakfast. This recipe comes from my grandmother, “Baka” in Croatian, who happened to celebrate her 85th birthday earlier this week. Baka’s recipe calls for seltzer or club soda, which gives the palachinka a perforated appearance. As I demonstrate above, the key technique for palachinka making is a tight roll and an even sprinkling of powdered sugar. Jam and nutella make the perfect filling for this classic Croatian breakfast.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 TBS sugar
  • 1 1/4cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • Dash of vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup seltzer
  • 1/4 cup canola oil for pan/skillet

Directions:

  1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients. flour, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
  2. Whisk the wet mixture with the dry ingredients, being sure to add slowly or in couple of batches. After fully incorporated add the seltzer. It is important that it be added last! The palachinka batter should have the texture of melted ice cream. If it does not, adjust with extra milk or flour. You can refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to 24 hours or start cooking right away. A crepe pan is ideal for cooking, but a small skillet will also do.
  3. Heat the pan to medium-high and add about a teaspoon of oil. Swirl the oil around the pan.
  4. Lift the pan off the flame and pour about 1/4-1/3 cup of the batter to the center of the pan. Swirl the batter around until it covers the pan evenly. Cook on one side for 2 minutes and then flip with a silicone spatula or spoon (wooden spoon works well too, just don’t use anything with sharp edges!) and cook on the other side for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Important note! Cooking time will get shorter and shorter as you go because the pan will get hotter. Adjust accordingly. Check out these visuals to study up on the swirling and flipping technique.

Serve with a variety of jams and ideally Nutella. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top for a little flair and extra sweetness.

Details: Makes 8-10 crepes.