Toasted almond French toast

This place of mine feels a bit like the chocolate-almond-breakfast channel because those things have got to cover at least three-quarters of what I do here!  Well, I've got two of those beloved themes going on today.  No chocolate but plenty of almond goodness for a breakfast.  Since I do love anything almond-flavored, toasted almond French toast is something I'd definitely be interested in ordering if I saw it on a breakfast menu.  Since I haven't seen it on any restaurant menus recently, it's a good thing I can just whip it up at home.  

This is simply French toast with an almond twist.  I spotted a recipe for it from Gale Gand's Brunch but in the book, it was more of a decadent recipe, calling for cream, whole milk, and more sugar than I'd typically use.  So I took the basic idea and just applied it to my usual French toast framework.  No cream, I stick with low-fat milk, and dialed down the amount of sugar (since we know we'll be dousing our French toasts with a good amount of maple syrup, after all).

Rather than using ciabatta bread per that recipe (great idea but I didn't have it), I used standard white bread (I grabbed what I had on hand but if possible, a thick bakery-style white bread is what I like).  I know you don't need me to tell you to go with that challah or brioche, or whatever you like for your French toasts.  A touch of almond extract in the custard and the flakes of sliced almonds on top will get you to this simple toasted almond French toast for breakfast. 

If you're like me and at all wondering if those almonds are really going to stick to the French toast slices, I can tell you they do.  

Farro with garlic-roasted tomatoes and edamame

Farro is one of my favorite grains to eat.  I love its nuttiness and chewiness.  I find it's a grain that's easy for so many to love because it's not quite so chewy and hard - like wheat berries (which I personally also love), for instance.  Its firm yet still familiar texture makes it a great component/accompaniment to salads, soups, stews, and so many other dishes.

I like mixing up our default brown rice with farro for dinner and making it a focal point of the meal by making farro risotto, too.  It's pretty easy to add farro (and other whole grains you enjoy) into your meals.  I especially love grain salads, particularly in the summertime when seasonal vegetables are plentiful (though roasted root vegetables are always nice, too).  

I'm always happy to check out farro recipes and I really liked one I saw from Cooking Light last December.  I adapted the recipe some but the main idea was having roasted grape or cherry tomatoes as a basis for the dish.  I love to roast grape tomatoes.  I typically roast a big batch of them with garlic to toss with pasta but why not do something a little different and mix it up with some farro instead.

And boy, this is one of those so-simple yet so-tasty little dishes.  I'm thinking it's a great side for summer barbecues but whenever I make something like this, I want to make a whole meal out of it all on its own because it's just so tasty.  

I played around with the recipe a little but it starts with roasting some grape or cherry (I used grape) tomatoes with garlic until they're just soft and somewhat crinkly, not so far that they are totally broken down into a sauce.  You want to soften and draw out the sweet-tart flavor of the tomatoes while keeping much of the structure intact.

I wanted to add a little more substance and color to the dish so I added edamame. It's one of those things I always have in the freezer because it bulks up so many dishes so well.  Here, it adds color and a complimentary texture to the farro.  It also couldn't be easier to include since I just plop them for a few minutes in the boiling water that I then used to cook the farro in.

Speaking of the farro, I use Trader Joe's quick-cooking farro, which cooks in about 10-12 minutes.  It's another must for my pantry.  Whatever you use, keep an eye on it and cook the farro until it just begins to bloom - avoid overcooking it so you're sure to get a nice chewy bite from the nutty grain.

To bring all the components together - the roasted grape tomatoes, the farro and edamame - is a little sherry vinegar, along with salt and pepper.  A small handful of chopped toasted walnuts finishes it off.  Please don't skip the walnuts, and do toast the nuts first!  The walnuts bring out the grain's nutty chewiness so well and toasting the nuts is an effort that produces a huge payoff in flavor.  

I'd be happy to have this in my refrigerator every day!
  

Chocolate-lemon scones

I never thought I'd come to admire scones as much as I do.  But now, I usually make a small batch when I have buttermilk in the fridge.  I'll bake half right away for breakfast and freeze the remainder for another day.  It's so nice to get acquainted with the freezer and to realize all the things, such as scones, that freeze so well for a quick meal when the time comes.  

While I've dabbled in almond scones, I usually default to this buttermilk scone recipe that makes six.  I use a little whole wheat pastry flour with the all-purpose, and usually flavor it with orange zest and dark chocolate chips (I've tried using mini chocolate chips but we prefer the bigger pockets of chocolate).  I didn't do anything earth-shattering here...I simply decided to substitute lemon zest for the orange.  I always default to orange zest when baking and if chocolate is involved (for good reason, I think), and I've been neglecting lemon.

When I tasted these chocolate chip-lemon scones, I realized I should have been more heavy-handed with the lemon zest (here might have been a good way to use lemon extract) and I missed that strong flavor we've gotten so accustomed to from the orange zest.  I decided we needed to splurge on a glaze so I made a simple lemon glaze with confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  

A glaze makes any baked good a little more luxurious, don't you think?  And it is an added richness that's called for and even necessary once in while.  The extra pop of sweetness, the lemonade-like flavor and richness rounded these simple chocolate chip-lemon buttermilk scones out nicely.

Some mornings deserve a cup of tea and a scone.

Chocolate amaretti cookies

It is well-documented that I love almond paste and making cookies with it.  It is just a quick way to chewy-cookie heaven, with a pungent dose of aromatic almond flavor thrown into the bargain.

I was watching Giada De Laurentiis make chocolate amaretti cookies on her show the other day and turns out, it's the almond paste (or "macaroon") cookies I make all the time, with a dose of cocoa thrown in.  Sounds great!  Of course, I need to make a chocolate version of my favorite chewy almond cookies so I got right into the kitchen to do just that.

Giada uses a food processor but I made these cookies in the stand mixer like I usually do because the mixer is sitting right on my kitchen counter whereas the heavy food processor is wedged into a corner of the pantry downstairs.  

It works out just fine whichever equipment you use.  It's just a matter of breaking down the almond paste with some sugar and dark cocoa in this case.  Egg whites bind the whole thing together, without the need for any flour in these recipes.  You could add some orange zest if you like but I kept it as is.  I had a vague concern that the cocoa might mask the almond flavor too much so I tossed in a few drops of almond extract; turns out, that wasn't really necessary but a little extra almond insurance doesn't hurt as long as you don't go overboard.  

I topped the cookies with a sprinkle of coarsely chopped sliced almonds for a little bit of crunch without using more sugar.  These cookies are naturally sweet but they do beg for a little decoration on top.  And I can tell you these chocolate amaretti cookies were delicious, being the familiar almond paste cookies I know and love.  You've got a ton of sticky chewiness in every bite.  The edges are just a little crisp giving way to a very chewy center.  The cocoa or chocolate flavor is actually not very strong.  I think it nicely tempers some of the sweetness of the almond paste and gives you a hint of cocoa but while they look dark and chocolaty, the almond flavor and chewy texture remain the star of the show.  I'm very good with that.

Diner-style buttermilk pancakes

Since I'm still waffling about whether or not I should buy a waffle maker, I keep busy flipping pancakes on the weekends!  Truth be told, it's a good crisp waffle that I crave more often than pancakes but because my son and husband enjoy pancakes so much, I make them all the time (as you might have noticed).

In the last few years that I started making pancakes at home (from scratch, because, yes...I once used boxed pancake mix), I have discovered some delicious recipes and I make most of them very often.  It dawned on me recently that I don't have a basic buttermilk pancake recipe.  

The buttermilk pancakes I do make are Gwyneth Paltrow's overnight recipe; honestly, those babies are so delicious that I didn't really feel the need for another buttermilk pancake recipe but they are quite different from your typical diner-style buttermilk pancakes.  Whereas the diner ones are your fluffy, relatively mild-tasting flapjacks, the overnight recipe makes relatively thin, super-soft, ultra-tender and tangy pancakes.  The overnight sitting is pretty much a necessity and I like the idea of having a simpler, more familiar buttermilk pancake recipe in my repertoire.

Well, mission accomplished.  I spotted this diner-style buttermilk pancake recipe from the latest issue of Food Network Magazine.  I was particularly intrigued by the idea of adding a little baking soda in the pancakes to help with even browning.  I do have to say, even after making these, that I'm pretty convinced that the evenly browned pancakes we get from our diner comes from a well buttered griddle more than anything else (I use a little cooking spray). So while my homemade buttermilk pancakes didn't look exactly like the ones I get at our local diners, they were fluffy, moist, and tender, with a familiarly milder buttermilk flavor that we recognize.

I'm happy to have this easy, tasty recipe for buttermilk pancakes that I can whip up very quickly for breakfast.  Since I always find myself with extra buttermilk whenever I do buy it for a recipe, I know it'll come in handy.

Toasted steel-cut oatmeal with brûléed bananas

So we go now from cake to oatmeal.  I am a huge oatmeal eater (I eat more oatmeal than cake).  I know I've mentioned my affinity for it before.  It started as more of a subtle liking, occasional bowls of old-fashioned oatmeal growing up. The smell of plain oatmeal has always been something familiar that I love.  

Toasted steel-cut oatmeal, slightly sweetened with honey and topped with brûléed bananas

In the last few years, oatmeal has become such a regular part of my diet and I honestly love it.  It started about five years ago when I wanted to shed a few pounds. If you can believe it, I started eating oatmeal as an after dinner dessert to fill me up! Eating it became a habit and I discovered steel-cut oatmeal and became hooked.  I now often have a big bowl of steel-cut oatmeal as the basis, or carb portion, of my dinner.  My son either assumes or will ask me if I need an "oatmeal spoon" when he sets the table for dinner. 

A warm bowl of steel-cut oatmeal is one of my favorite things

So I have been really intrigued by the idea of toasting the oats before cooking.  I think the idea's been around a while but I'd never thought about it.  With the growing interest in eating whole grains and books like Whole Grain Mornings and Good to the Grain (I love the titles of these book, by the way) bringing it to our general attention, I started seeing it touted everywhere in the last year or so (here and here, for instance).

Being a creature of habit, I didn't finally try toasting my oats until recently.  You take a little bit of butter (a tablespoon for 1 cup of oats; I use steel-cut), melt it in your pan, then add the oats and let it toast for about 4-5 minutes.  The oats will brown a bit and you'll smell a nutty aroma by the end of that time.  Then, you add your liquid and continue to cook your oatmeal as you normally would.

This toasted oatmeal makes for a firm and chewy texture 

Toasting the oatmeal should bring out the oats' nutty flavor.  I think when we eat anything, we want maximum bang (flavor) for our buck (calories).  So is toasting the oats worth the extra fat and calories from that pat of butter?  Here's what I came away with:

- The added flavor in the final oatmeal from toasting the oats was subtle.  I think I expected a big punch of extra flavor (like you get when you freshly toast nuts for baked goods) but it was more of an accentuation of the oats' nutty flavor.

- The big surprise for me was actually the impact on the texture of the oatmeal! Toasting the oats seems to keep them firmer, to keep the integrity of the oats more intact so they don't break down as much during cooking (I think the effect of toasting makes the oats cook more slowly, absorbing the water a bit less readily).  So if you're like me and love your steel-cut oatmeal firm and chewy - as opposed to more creamy - toasting them is a great way to ensure the texture. 

- While I don't have plans to toast the oats for my near-daily doses of oatmeal, I would when I want to make a truly "special" bowl of oatmeal.  Like many great recipes, it's often the culmination of small steps and ingredients that make for something special on the whole.  So for times when I want to "do up" my oatmeal and make a true meal out of it, I would toast the oats.  Maybe I'd cook the oatmeal with a bit of milk (instead of just water) for a little more sweetness and richness, and add a pinch of spice.  I would think about adding other special touches to it like, say, some brûléed bananas and nuts on top.  This was the first time I added caramelized banana slices to my oatmeal (I knew that kitchen torch would come in very handy!) and it was so delicious that it almost stole the show.

I generally have my oatmeal quite "plain".  That is, I cook it in water, and eat it with a little honey.  I love that simplicity but now, I'm more inclined to think about jazzing it up on occasion to keep things interesting!

Part II...
So maybe you figured I couldn't possibly talk any more about oatmeal but no...there's a little sequel to this story!  Bear with me, if you're willing...  

After making this and writing about it, I was watching a cooking show with Bobby Flay and he made toasted steel-cut oatmeal by dry-toasting (no butter) the oats first in the oven.  He asserted that the way to make the creamiest steel-cut oatmeal was to cook the toasted oats for just 1 minute before storing it in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours).  When the time comes to finish it, the cooking time should be cut by about half.  I may prefer a firmer, chewier bowl of oatmeal in general but I wanted to give his method a try...

Two-tier pistachio-orange-chocolate cake

Birthdays and anniversaries require cake so we're having cake today for this little Blog's 4th Anniversary!  

When I realized this anniversary was coming up, I started thinking about cake. Surprisingly, I didn't have a queue of cakes I wanted to make sitting on the sidelines so I kept it simple and just asked myself: what kind of cake do I want to eat?  And pistachio cake popped into my mind.  I've been on a pistachio kick lately and, to me, they're kind of like pears in that I'll go for a while without eating them and forget how good they are until I eat them again. 

So pistachios it was!  In the back of my mind, I was seeing this chocolate pistachio cake of Martha's that I always found alluring.  I stuck with the torte idea (which I tend to think of as nut-based, European-style, cakes) but instead of making a chocolate-pistachio cake, I made it a pistachio cake with chocolate.  I wanted the bright, nutty flavor of the pistachios to shine.  I based the cake on a recipe from epicurious and added the chocolate elements.  Pistachios and orange with chocolate is one of my favorite combinations so that's what we have. 

I didn't give this cake a lot of pre-thought before making it and wow, I was very pleasantly surprised by the cake I ended up with!  It was totally scrumptious, really moist and full of nutty citrus flavor, capped off by that coating of chocolate ganache. I will be making this one again and again.

The cake is made with ground pistachios but since it's not propped up solely on ground nuts (there's flour in it, too), the texture is moist and dense but also stands firmly in traditional cake territory as well.  I find cakes made entirely with ground nuts can be too rich and moist for my taste so this was a great balance.  There's a lovely chewiness to it also that I adore.  Orange zest works so well with pistachios and while I already have chocolate well represented in the coating, I couldn't resist adding another hint of chocolate in the cake itself.  So I grated an ounce of dark chocolate and folded it into the batter at the last moment.  You might not be able to detect the shaved chocolate within the cake but I'm comforted to know it's there.  

I attempted to make this a little more special by creating a two-tier cake, a 4-inch on top of an 8-inch base.  As you can see, I swaddled the cake in chocolate ganache, which is like an irrepressible reflex for me.  I am exploring my new interest in water ganache so it was made with just dark chocolate and water.  I'd use a little less water next time for a thicker consistency but I'm so far very happy with the water ganache option.  I topped the cake with a little decoration of chopped pistachios and cocoa nibs.  I would say this cake is a good representation of the kind of cake I love to eat - a moist, flavorful cake featuring nuts and chocolate!

I'm so glad I made cake to celebrating four years tapping away on this blog!  When I first started here, I didn't know how long I'd keep at it, and I still don't.  I'm almost surprised I'm still plugging away here but the truth is this continues to be a fun outlet for me and a motivation for learning.  I love thinking, talking, reading, writing, cooking, and eating food and that hasn't changed.    

I've learned to be comfortable in this space and I enjoy the freedom to make and show what I want without being pinned down to anything.  For a non-creative person like me, I really love the act of creating these pages - seeing these posts come to be with a recipe, some time in the kitchen, and then some words and a few pictures. There is a great sense of satisfaction in it that I'm very grateful for.  

If there's one thing that I feel a little sad about in the last four years of joining the food-blogging world (in my own very amateur, minor way) is the exiting of blogs that I got to know and enjoy.  While many blogs I started visiting four years ago are still going strong, some have stopped blogging altogether or reduced their posting significantly.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed their words, recipes, inspiration until they were gone and I miss many of them.  I trust that those who have stopped blogging are happy and busy, and I'm sure they continue to eat well.  So I'm having a piece of cake and celebrating food blogs of old, the ones that continue to go strong, and ones yet to come that do so much to inspire and entertain me.  Thank you!  : ) 

Rice Krispies Easter eggs

I really wasn't planning on making any Easter treats this year.  I was content to munch on my little bags of Cadbury mini eggs and to just stockpile Easter goodies (for my son, of course...) from Target.  But then I watched The Pioneer Woman's Easter episode and saw the rice krispies eggs.  Since I had about half a box of the cereal sitting in the pantry, I just couldn't resist!  

The Pioneer Woman stuffed a Cadbury mini egg - those delicious little chocolate eggs ubiquitous at Easter - inside each of her krispy eggs and since I love any excuse to buy and eat more of those crispy, creamy, dreamy chocolate eggs, I was all for it. But then I was telling my husband about my plans and he had a funny idea.  Why not stuff a Cadbury creme egg (he's the creme egg lover in the family) inside instead? Then, you've really got the whole egg theme going.  I think he thought that's what I meant in the first place when I was describing the project but after he said it, it seemed such a hysterical idea that I had to try it.

So I did and you can see what I ended up with!  Those eggs totally cracked me up (haha...corny joke alert).  We all had a good giggle out of these creme-egg-within-an-egg eggs!

Besides the creme eggs, I did make a bunch of rice krispies eggs filled with a mini chocolate egg inside and also a few with some classic M&M's tucked into them too.  I was a little worried about the rice cereal setting before I had time to mold each of them around the plastic egg but it really wasn't a problem if you work relatively quickly.  Being rather impatient and given that fear of the cereal setting up, I started with large plastic egg molds before switching to a few smaller ones.  I think the smaller ones look a bit more realistic but the larger ones make quick work of it. 

I had a good time whipping these eggs up.  These tasty little eggs, with their chocolaty surprise inside, are just plain fun.