Love me some bagels!

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bagels, bakery, baking, breakfast, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy breakfast, easy cooking, eat, eating, everything bagels, food, fresh, homemade bagels, kid friendly, kids baking, quick cooking, toast

Continuing my pandemic weigh gain I deciding to dabble in bagel making. They are crazy easy to make and even easier to eat. Make these today!

NEW YORK-STYLE BAGEL RECIPE
Makes: 8 medium-sized bagels
Total Time: ~2 hours

Optional Toppings: Everything seasoning, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds. (Everyone in my house prefers plain bagels, so I went with 3 Everything and 5 plain) 😉

Preparation:1. In ½ cup /120ml of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons (4 ½ teaspoons) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups / 300ml warm water
3 ½ cups (500g) bread flour or AP flour what I used (you will need extra for kneading)
1 ½ teaspoons salt

2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and sugar mixture.

3. Pour 1/2 cup / 90ml of the remaining warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed. Depending on where you live, you may need to add anywhere from a couple tablespoons to about ¼ cup/60ml of water. You want a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it. I had to use all the water.

4. On a floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Try working in as much flour as possible to form a firm and stiff dough.

5. Lightly brush a large bowl with oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

6. Carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces (I did not have a scale so I made a ball and cut it in half and half again and again until I had 8 pieces). Shape each piece into a round. Now, take a dough ball, and press it gently against the countertop (or whatever work surface you’re using) moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion pulling the dough into itself while reducing the pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball forms. Repeat with 7 other dough rounds.

7. Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.

8. After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet or granite or wooden board, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425ºF.

9. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top (a couple seconds). Let them sit there for 1 minute, and them flip them over to boil for another minute.

10. If you want to top your bagels with stuff, do so as you take them out of the water. I didn’t brush them with egg wash I just sprinkled on and voila!

11. Once all the bagels have boiled (and have been topped with your choice of toppings), transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet or in my case I oiled the parchment paper on my baking sheet.

12. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. I rotated the pan 1/2 way through.

13. Cool on a wire rack… or if you are my kids tear one open slather it with butter or schmear it with cheese cream and devour it.

Enjoy putting on the pandemic pounds !

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Vanilla Bean Scones

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baking, breakfast, butter, cooking, delicious, easy breakfast, easy cooking, eat, eating, food, kid friendly, scones, vanilla, vanilla bean scones, vanilla beans

These Best Ever Vanilla Bean Scones are the perfect homemade coffee shop treat for vanilla lovers! Follow all my pro tips for making the best flaky scones!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 vanilla bean or you can use 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter COLD and grated
• 3/4 cup cream – I used heavy but you can use coffee cream
• 1 egg

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Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Start by sifting the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a clean, dry bowl using a sieve or sifter. Tap the sieve against the palm of your hand until all the dry ingredients have passed through it and you’re left with the lumps. Push the lumps through the sieve with your finger tips.
• Next, slice a vanilla bean down the centre lengthwise using a paring knife. Skip this step if you are using vanilla bean paste or extract
• Open it up and scrape out as many of the teeny tiny vanilla bean seeds as you can using the back edge of your knife.
• Even after you’ve scraped out all the vanilla seeds you can, don’t throw away the rest of the bean! Put it in your sugar container for vanilla sugar.
• Add the vanilla bean seeds to the flour mixture and blend in using a whisk. Try your best to break up the clumps of vanilla bean seeds, but if there are a few tiny clumps left that’s ok. The vanilla bean seeds will probably disappear into the flour mixture, but don’t worry. They’ll become visible again once the wet ingredients are added.
• In a liquid measuring cup, measure the cream and add the egg. Whisk together using a fork and set aside.
• The next few steps should be done quickly, as you’re working with cold butter and you want the butter to be as cold as possible when it hits the heat of the oven. This will result in a flaky scone, rather than a heavy and dense one.
• Grate your butter, right from the fridge, into little pieces and dump it into the flour mixture.
• Using your hands (wash them well first and remove any rings), pick up handfuls of the butter and flour mixture, rubbing the pieces of butter and the flour between the heels of your hands to create “sheets” of butter. You should act quickly here, and don’t allow the pieces of butter to sit in your hands for any length of time as the heat from your hands will cause it to soften. The goal is to create paper-thin pieces of butter, small and large throughout the mixture. Once there are no thick chunks of butter remaining, only thin sheets, remove your hands from the mixture. Hands equal heat, so handle the mixture as little as possible.
• Pour in the wet ingredients and mix roughly with a fork. Do not over mix, or the result will be heavy and dense. Once the wet ingredients have been incorporated but there are still several streaks of flour, turn the dough out onto a clean and floured counter surface. Press the dough down into the counter and then fold one half over the other half like you are folding a piece of paper. Press down again and make another fold. Repeat this 2 or 3 more times, gathering any outlying dough bits and flour into your folds. Don’t knead the dough like you would if you were making bread, and don’t stir or mix the dough like you would if you were making muffins. Scones are technically a pastry, so the goal is flaky layers that are created by the thin sheets of butter and all the folding.
• Once your dough is formed after folding several times, shape it into a 10-inch rectangle (approximately).
• Again, be careful not to handle the dough too much, so a few little cracks here and there are fine. I sometimes sneak in a few mini chocolate chips for Holly into 1/2 the batch. 😉
• Cut the rectangle into 12 squares with a very sharp knife
• Arrange the squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about 18-22 minutes. I usually set the timer and start watching them after about 16 minutes. You want them to stay nice and white and not get too brown, especially on the narrow end of the triangle.
• Remove them from the oven when they’re just barely golden brown on the bottom and the surface of the scones lose their shine. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Eat and enjoy !

Egg Bites – Premake your breakfasts for the week in 20 mins!

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breakfast, cheese, cooking, delicious, easy breakfast, easy cooking, eat, eating, eggs, food, fresh, jalapeno, kid friendly, kids baking, muffins

I love eggs but I can’t be bothered to make an egg every morning.. I mean who has time for that?

Enter egg bites, baked in the oven, customizable to whatever your tastes are. Easy peasy… just how I like my mornings.

All you need is an oven, a 12 muffin tin, 8 eggs and whatever extras you want! To save a mess I use silicon muffin liners.

Here is what you need:

• 8 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbs heavy cream
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 slices of diced bacon
• 1/2 onion finely diced
• 1 whole jalapeño finely diced
• 1/2 cup feta crumbled

Sauté the onion, bacon and jalapeño in a pan until golden. Drop a 1/2 Tbs of this mixture into the muffin tins.

Whisk up the 8 eggs in a bowl. Add the heavy cream and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add 1/4 cup of the egg mixture into each muffin tin. Top with roughly 2 tsp of crumbed feta cheese.

Put these babies into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Voila! Now in the morning your only concern is making a Coffee, trying to get dressed in private and herding cats.. err I mean your children. 😉

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Avocado & Eggs on Toast

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avocado, breakfast, eggs, meals in 5 minutes, summertime, toast

I have been obsessed with avocados lately. They are delish. So creamy and rich, nothing beats a ripe avocado. 

Here is a simple and easy breakfast that takes 5 minutes and will hold you until lunchtime. It is full of protein and healthy fats.

What you need:

1. 2 eggs
2. 1 slice of toast
3. 1/2 avocado
4. Sliced cherry tomatoes
5. Fresh cilantro, basil, chives 
6. Pinch of salt and sriracha (optional)

Toast the bread. Smash your avocado. You can just have the avocado plain or mix it with herbs and tomatoes. Fry your eggs and cook them to your likely. Eat. 

   

  

 

   

     

Toast and Eggs

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breakfast, easy breakfast, eggs, eggs and toast, simple food, toast

One of the fondest memories I have of my grandma was when she used to visit with us and make us breakfast in the mornings. Her specialty was boiled eggs and toast soldiers. Just thinking about it makes me smile. I am sure most people share similar memories.

I felt so special getting this “fancy” breakfast.

Toast and Eggs

I have a take on this breakfast that is great for kids and adults. It is super easy to make. If you include boiling the water the entire recipe takes 9 minutes to make. Perfect for before school or on the weekend.

Grown up Eggs and Soldiers

• 1 egg
• 1 slice of your favorite bread ( I used ciabatta)
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

Take a pot of water and boil it. Add the egg to the water for 6 minutes. Toast your favorite bread and butter it. Dice it up into cubes and put into a bowl. Remove egg, run it quickly under cold water and peel. Place the peeled egg on the toast cubes and slice it open. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Just like grandma used to make only more grown up.

Boil the egg for 6 minutes

Toast and butter your bread. Dice is put it in a bowl.

Run the 6 minute egg under cold water for 30 seconds

Place peeled egg onto of toast cubes and season with S & P.

Slice and eat!

 

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I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com